Problem with Studio XPS 13

The following letter details my troubles with the Dell Computer Company and the defective Studio XPS 13 Laptop they sold me.

I purchased the laptop on June 26, 2009 in preparation for using it in my college studies. I spent exactly $953.99 on the computer, expecting that at this price, I would be getting a quality, reliable machine I could use in my studies at college. Being a college student on a budget, this is the most I could afford on a laptop, hoping it would last my 4-year career at college. Unfortunately, over the course of the last six months, I was greeted with neither quality, nor reliability. I will now outline my issues in detail:

First, the fan on my laptop failed. I first noticed it making a whirring noise, that gradually got louder and louder, until finally it was a loud and fast repeated clicking. I immediately contacted Dell's tech support to help me with the issue. After four hours of uninstalling and reinstalling drivers for the fan, it still made the noise. The tech finally determined the fan had to be replaced, and said a technician would be out  in the next two days to fix it. Two days later, when the technician arrived, she found out that Dell had sent the wrong fan so I had to wait an additional two days for the right part to come in and for it to be fixed. All-in-all, I had to take away 4 days of waiting and countless hours with the technicians on the phone and the technician that came to fix the problem away from my studies. As a college student, I cannot afford to be this long without a working computer, nor do I have the time to pursue a repair for nearly 5 days. Little did I know this wouldn't be my last issue concerning Dell's quality and reliability.

Several weeks later, my optical drive stopped working completely. It wouldn't read any disk. So, I again proceeded to contact Dell's technical support. Again, I wasted 3+ hours with the tech on the phone trying to diagnose the problem. Finally, it was determined the optical drive needed to be replaced. Strike two for quality control. Again, I waited two days for the technician to show up and spent an hour with him while he fixed my computer. I, once again, had to take time from my studies to seek repairs on a machine that was, at the time, not even 3 months old. Two major hardware failures in three months. The laptop now ceased to be reliable.

Finally, I thought my troubles were over. But, a few weeks later, I encountered another major problem. I use Skype nearly every day to keep in touch with friends and loved ones while I'm away at college. It was working flawlessly for months and failed out of the blue. I again called Dell's support team to help me with the issue. The technician worked for 4 hours trying to uninstall and reinstall the software, drivers, everything he could think of, and could not fix it. He proceeded to try and pass the lie that it was a problem with Skype, not my computer. This does not logically make sense, as it was working flawlessly previously and works flawlessly on all my friend's computers. The technician referred me to a software support team to help me further. They told me they couldn't help me unless I paid a by the hour fee for their services. I should not be required to pay for repairs on a 5 month old machine under warranty. To this day the issue has still not been resolved.

In between all these issues, I've had two major cosmetic problems with the machine. The metal decorative silver backing on the lid is coming off and the rubber bumper between the LCD screen and the keyboard has come completely off. This could lead to scratches on the LCD. Such cosmetic problems should not happen on a 6 month old machine.

So, I recently went home on my winter break holiday. About a week in, my laptop wouldn't start up. Windows wouldn't load and it kept telling me that it was a hard drive failure. Now I had a failed hard drive to deal with. At this point, I contacted Dell and demanded a refund or a Brand New computer replacement. Four major issues in 6 months was unacceptable. I spent hours on the chat, not to mention the first representative hung up on me. I had to get a supervisor on the line, as the technician wasn't understanding my issue. It took a while, but finally the supervisor said he would send me a replacement hard drive and a refurbished laptop replacement. I was not happy, seeing as I paid near $1000 of my  hard earned money on a machine I needed to be reliable and work and it didn't, and now I was getting a refurbished, pre-owned machine. I received the hard drive in the mail, and low and behold, it was refurbished. Another non-quality piece of hardware. I proceeded to install the hard drive in the machine, and to my surprise, I found the four screws that were supposed to be holding the hard drive caddy down to the chassis completely missing. Now my failed hard drive made sense, as four missing screws allowed the hard drive to move around and could cause it to fail. This shows that absolute lack of quality control with Dell and the kind of unprofessionally constructed machine I was sold. I am not about to install a replacement hard drive only for it to fail again.

I wasted countless hours that should have been spent studying to fix this computer. Hours that shouldn't need to be wasted in the first place. Clearly, I was sold a defective computer. I am hereby requesting the following from Dell: a complete refund of the $953.99 paid for the machine as I was sold a malfunctioning unit, and recovery of all my lost data from the drive at Dell's expense, as the hard drive failure was due to the four missing screws they forgot to put in my laptop hard drive caddy when they put it together. I am extremely disappointed with Dell. They have, so far, refused to resolve this issue in a satisfactory manner. I want this issue resolved in a satisfactory manner immediately. It has negatively affected my college studies, and I need it to be resolved.