On Your Side: Dell Warranty Surprise

Term of guaranteed operation runs from initial purchase, not arrival of replacement system, vendor says.

Amber Bouman is an editorial assistant for PC World. E-mail her at onyourside@pcworld.com. To read previously published On Your Side columns, click here.

My friend has a Dell PC that won't boot. We tried for a week to get tech support through normal Dell channels. Dell told us the warranty had run out, yet the online documentation says it remains in effect for three more months. We even spoke to a manager, who told us he could see that the Web documentation showed the warranty was still good, gave us a case number, and said he'd call back--but never did. We contacted Dell's corporate office, leaving messages and faxing a letter, all with no result.

Barry Dansky, Melbourne, Florida

On Your Side responds: Dell officials say the balky system is a refurbished model Dell sent to replace a PC that malfunctioned more than a year into a three-year warranty that expired nine months ago. The original warranty should have applied, but Dell erroneously extended its term by a year when the exchange occurred.

Dell says such errors are rare; and as an act of good faith, it said it would work to extend the warranty protection to the date promised online. However, Dansky says his friend has since purchased a Mac.

Amber Bouman