Laptop Shipped With No Battery, 2 hour tech support call

Question

I recently purchased a Dell XP13 laptop, and I ADORE it. But I noticed something strange. When I tried to determine how much battery time was left after I charged the laptop for the first time, I got a 'No Battery Detected' message. I reviewed the parts list from my order and there was a battery listed there, so clearly a battery was SUPPOSED to be there. I called tech support this morning to get this resolved. 90 minutes on the phone with the tech, doing (and sometimes repeating) test after test, with long lags of silence in between, only confirmed what I knew when I called - the fact that my laptop shipped WITH NO BATTERY. I cannot understand how this was missed. This is one of the most basic components of the computer! After 90 minutes, the tech told me they would send me a battery and deploy a tech to come and install it for me 'because I was not comfortable doing this'. I am perfectly comfortable replacing a laptop battery. The actual problem is that you have to remove the back of the laptop, which requires the tiniest screwdriver known to man with an uncommon head shape. The tech then came back to say that my warranty requires the laptop to be sent back for repair. At this point they had wasted almost two hours of my Saturday, and my patience was exhausted. I politely informed him that Dell sent me a laptop with a key component missing. This was not some hardware or software issue that arose long after I started using the machine. Therefore, this is not a warranty situation and I am not sending my laptop in for repair. I told him that if he could not send the battery and send a technician to install it, then he needed to connect me with a supervisor that can make this happen. I spent another 15 minutes on hold waiting for the supervisor, who also suggested that I was 'uncomfortable about replacing the battery myself'. I explained once again that this was not the case, that the only issue is the special screwdriver that is needed to open the laptop. I was so frustrated at this point that I told him to just send me the battery and I will find the right tool. A very simple fix here would be to send the screwdriver WITH the battery - problem solved. After buying a $1K laptop, they should be able to spot me a stupid little tool. I then had to wait again as I was transferred back to the tech I worked with before, where he spent 10 more minutes performing the simple task of ordering the battery and confirming my mailing and email addresses, which should already be on file as part of my account. I am a software support manager, and I understand that there is a troubleshooting process and often a script that techs must follow. That being said, there also has to be a point in the process where common sense and basic customer support should kick in. How many ways did he have to be told that there's no *** battery in my laptop? He wasn't just taking my word for it (I wouldn't expect him to) - all his tests showed this! And when you've wasted this much of a customer's time, all because your company sent them an incomplete product, don't just woodenly recite the warranty and think this is acceptable! I really love this laptop, but now I pray that nothing serious goes wrong with it. Dell's tech support needs some serious improvement.

beamermt79 · Answer

That is super weird that it didn't come with the battery! As for the screw type, if its not a small Phillips, it will be a torx t4 or t5.  You can pick up a pack of multi-head screw drivers for like 6 bucks at Walmart.

DELL-Chris M · Answer

A regrettable and unusual situation. I am not the Customer Care Liaison, but I can speak to the technical issues. I have never heard of a Laptop shipping without a battery? Not connected to the motherboard, yes, but missing? I do see battery JHXPY on the component list. It appears that you and the technician went into the Bios- General- Battery Information and it stated, No battery detected'. The only way to visually verify if the battery is missing or if the battery cable is not connected to the motherboard is by removing the rear base cover (page 13). But, we do not have a Dell part number for the torx screwdriver which is why we cannot dispatch one. I see that the dispatch was setup to send out a battery. If it were my laptop, I would purchase the torx screw drivers and take a look.

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