Xps 9550 battery swelling causing malfunction and harm?

Hi dellfrustration666666,

Thanks for posting. Apologies that your system is not performing as expected.

If the system is under warranty, please contact me privately. Be sure to include your personal information (name, address, telephone, email) and your computer's service tag number in your message. Thanks.

If there is no warranty, then you could contact our Out of Warranty team to get a quote for a paid service call -http://dell.to/1vnT6CQ

Get the battery out of the system before a $100 battery replacement becomes a system damaged beyond repair.

Then order a new battery and either replace it, or have a local computer shop do the job.

HI,

I am glad I saw this message.  My XPS 9550 that my kids use has the same issue with the keyboard popping out. It's gotten really worse over the last few days. After reading your comments I called Dell and I was furious to hear from the CSR that the 'special promo' of replacing the battery ended 2 weeks ago?!  I have a potential fire hazard in my hands and Dell is refusing to replace the battery. Can someone help me explain  navigate this issue with Dell? 

Thanks. I have taken the battery out. I can't believe Dell will not replace the battery knowing there are potentially hundreds of thousands of laptops out there. Also, when I asked the rep why did I not receive an email, I was told emails were sent out to only a certain batch received it and the deal ended 9/30/18, without a warning. 

Dell's customer service has gotten bad to worse and it's one reason I will never go for another dell product in my life.  

This is an issue for ALL systems using batteries of this design.  Not surprisingly, it started with Apple, which was the first to use them.

https://lifehacker.com/check-your-macbook-pro-s-battery-when-the-trackpad-stop-1692572006

The only way to avoid the issue completely is to avoid any thin/light system that uses a battery sealed in a plastic envelope - and there are VERY few notebooks now that don't use these.  Just about the only ones in widespread distribution are some of the T-range Thinkpads and some large gaming systems from Clevo.  If you don't want the spectre of a swollen battery, these are your only options.

For everything else, the batteries will swell up at life end.  At the first sign of the issue, the battery should be replaced immediately.

Good luck with that.  As would be the case if you ignore the brake sensors on your car and have a crash when the brakes fail entirely, you do have a warning there's a problem.  Dealt with properly, it's not a safety issue.  Ignore the symptoms at your own peril (chances are the system will self-destruct long  before a fire erupts).

Do you really want to sacrifice the entire system for the cost of  a replacement battery (a part that by design isn't going to last the life of the system any more than the brake pads in your car will last the life of the car)?

Batteries are wear items.  Replace.

Hi, for the sake of clarity I want to make sure that consumer experiencing bulging batteries and are concerned about safety are aware of this. This not a legal opinion, but I've read up on this on wikipedia. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Product_liability) 

it is not up to the consumer to ensure that the purchased product is safe. it is the manufacturer's job. Generally, manufacturers have what is called a "duty of care" to its consumers. The common sense notion is that manufacturers shouldn't have something in their product that will harm the consumer.  

If what someone said above is true, that these bulging battery has been a common issue, then Dell should have known through their research. Yet they chose to do use this battery probably knowing of its risks in burning the consumer. That seems pretty wrong, doesn't it? 

Your example is not quite analogous to the situation here. In your case, the consumer ignored the brake sensors and then had a crash. But a) we don't know if the the manufacturer of the car put in a bad brake. Here we do know that Dell put in a bad battery. Yet, they decided to go along with it anyway. B) what are the "warning" signs in the case of a laptop? There is no warning sign on your windows desktop that says "battery bulging might burn." In fact, there is not even a sign to indicate that what causes the trackpad to rise is a bulging batter -- one has to find that out on this forum. Should the consumer be expected to research all of the potential causes? That seems pretty unreasonable isn't? The consumer should be able to expect that once he bought a product, the product is reasonably safe. If something is wrong, then there should be a reasonable warning to let the consumer know that whatever happens next it's up to the consumer. In this instance, was there? No. 

So you recommend that the consumer should just fix the battery himself. Funny, because doing that would be your equivalent of saying: well there was a warranty and the problem occurred within this warranty period, yet you decided to fix this issue yourself with the possibility of breaking it in the process. I'm within my warranty. The battery is messed up now. Why should I fix it myself? When I purchased this product, I paid for the warranty. 

In other words, I think I have a pretty solid case. It's not as simple as "oh it's broken, just replace it yourself." I hope people won't be mislead by your comment into thinking that they should just fix it themselves when it is still within their warranty. 

Dell has the obligation of ensuring its products are safe. 

All the information you're looking for is here:

https://www.dell.com/learn/us/en/ph/safety

Long before the battery ever becomes a safety issue, if left inside it'll destroy the system to the point where it's unusable (not unlike ordinary alkaline batteries in any device powered by them - they can leak without warning and will stop the device from powering on).

Actually, I'm not looking for any information. 

Also, now you've changed your argument to say battery is dangerous in general -- and I would largely agree. But so is the glass in the screen. It could crack and cut your eyes and make you blind. As are the plastic and fine metals. For that matter, so is breathing in air. Oxygen is slowly aging you to the point of death in 70 to 80 years. 

So thanks for the link. Should have sent it to me before I bought the computer.

You'd do well as a Dell Representative to warn your potential customer that they should read that link so they can learn that: "before you buy, give this link a read. it'll tell you about how our battery might swell -- and 'generally' it won't burn, but should it burn you cannot sue us!" 

Have you considered that? Working for Dell? 

You know what I consider? -- oh yes you know. It's why you are so responsive, isn't it? 

Of course, this is a Dell problem (to those with blinders on).  Can't happen to any other make, can it?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zlx6nrEEbc8

https://forums.lenovo.com/t5/Lenovo-Yoga-Series-Notebooks/Yoga-2-11-battery-swelling/td-p/3543598

https://support.hp.com/us-en/document/c05151476

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9yyLtuLBaIA

The more you refer to the fault of others in their products, the more you prove that Dell was fully competent in addressing the battery issue. So show all the videos and links you can find. If someone as sophisticated as you can, in a matter of two sentences, reduce everything down to "just open it yourself and fix it since other companies have this issue too"  and a. in the course possibly damage the computer, b. definitely break your warranty, then I guess you have set the standard for quality control at a pretty low bar and also set the quality of customer service at a point of idiocy.

Sorry - can't change your made-up mind with the facts;  good luck to you.