Hey Everyone,

So just over a year ago, I purchased a new Dell Inspiron 9400 from the Dell.ca website. For the first eight to ten months, the battery would last at least 1.5 if not two hours without a recharge. Recently, however, whenever I’d pull out the power cord, the battery would give strange numbers about how much power is remaining. It would say something like “28 minutes…” and just a few minutes later it would say “8 minutes.”

So I decided to call up Dell technical support and was introduced to a catch in their sale of notebooks. The 3 year warranty with CompleteCare that I have apparently does not extend to the battery. I was not made aware of this at the time of purchase, and the friendly voice on the phone now told me that usually the battery is only covered for the first year. So I thought, “well that’s alright - I am within the first year right?” Sadly I was informed that I was just a few weeks past the first year mark and therefore the battery was no longer covered.

Then, the friendly voice on the phone said, “But what I can do for you, sir, is connect you to our [forget the name] department and they can quote you on the price of a new battery.” The tone with which he gave me this sales pitch, as if he was doing me a huge favour by connecting me to a sales person to purchase a new battery because this battery had barely lasted a year, was priceless.

In any case this post is just a heads up to all those who own or are planning to purchase a Dell notebook. Check your battery regularly and if it has issues, get them fixed within the first year. :)

stay in high spirits,

-k.s.

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Photo Source: Kansir