Dell does not support or warranty products not sold directly thru dell unless properly registered.

Thanks for the replies guys, called Dell this morning and they are sending an engineer around tomorrow to replace the screen. They were very friendly and helpful!

@speedstep - they have a legal obligation to provide 12 months warranty regardless of where the laptop was purchased and I as a consumer am not required to pre-register for support.

Thanks for the replies guys, called Dell this morning and they are sending an engineer around tomorrow to replace the screen. They were very friendly and helpful! @speedstep - they have a legal obligation to provide 12 months warranty regardless of where the laptop was purchased and I as a consumer am not required to pre-register for support.

"they have a legal obligation to provide 12 months warranty regardless of where the laptop was purchased"

"I as a consumer am not required to pre-register for support."

The Dell Site says.

Dell-branded hardware products come with either a 90-day limited warranty, a one-year limited warranty,

a two-year limited warranty, a three-year limited warranty, or a four-year limited warranty 

for systems purchased in the United States.

Whenever a unit is being physically transferred from one country to another, and may or may not involve a transfer of ownership.

There will be no additional cost for the transfer of NBD (next business day) service contracts to countries with whom Dell does direct business;

however, there may be additional costs for same day contracts.

In addition, transfers can only be completed to countries in which Dell normally does business.

To qualify for international service, you must purchase the Next Business Day On-site Response Service.

The International Notebook Service is for customers who are traveling with their Commercial notebooks for a period of less than 6 months. Any period of time longer than 6 months requires a Global Tag Transfer to be completed . See - http://www.dell.com/globaltagtransfer

Dell will not provide warranty to Items Sold by 3rd Parties not Authorized by Dell.

There are three methods for engaging technical support when travelling internationally:

The call center that you contact will perform a problem diagnosis. If repair is needed, the phone technician will arrange

for service by contacting the Dell call center in the country where the customer is located.

A dispatcher will contact the customer and arrange for service.

Thanks for the info speedstep, BUT... I live in the UK - standard 12 month warranty from the manufacturer (specified on-site in this instance), plus up to six years liability from the supplier as per Sale of Goods Act. I also assume that the 90-day warranty must only apply to used goods? There is no way (in the UK at least) that a company could get away with selling new laptops with a 90 day guarantee.