Slashdot Log In
Dell Laptop Burns House Down
Posted by
kdawson
on Sat Feb 10, 2007 11:48 PM
from the dude dept.
from the dude dept.
Nuclear Elephant writes "The Consumerist is running a story about a house burned down by a Dell laptop. 'My 130-year-old former farm house was engulfed in flames, with thick dark smoke pouring out of the windows and roof... Hours later, after investigation the fire marshal investigator took me aside asked me if I had a laptop computer. Yes — I told him I had a Dell Inspiron 1200.' It was determined that the laptop, battery, or cord malfunctioned after its owner left for work, leaving the fire to spread through the entire house. All attempts to contact Dell have failed. 'I have tried to call Dell to at least notify them of my problems, but each time I have called I get transferred into an endless loop of "Joe" or "Alan" all speaking a delectable version of English I presume emanates from Bangalore. I have been outright hung up on each time I get someone who speaks a reasonable version of English, or sounds like they might be in charge of something. Promises of call backs have gone, of course, unreturned.'"
This discussion has been archived.
No new comments can be posted.
The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.
Full
Abbreviated
Hidden
Loading... please wait.
Pshaw! (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Pshaw! (Score:5, Funny)
Parent
Re:Pshaw! (Score:5, Insightful)
Parent
Obligatory Simpsons quote (Score:5, Funny)
Parent
Re:Pshaw! (Score:5, Informative)
Parent
Re:Pshaw! (Score:5, Insightful)
Parent
Re:Pshaw! (Score:5, Funny)
That's not true at all. I signed an online petition and starting getting lots of spam.
Parent
Re:Pshaw! (Score:4, Insightful)
So, if he knows this (and I think it's safe to assume he does), why is he calling Dell? A house burning down is not like a hard drive dying. Calling them on and the phone and expecting to have a casual chat about a matter relating to insurance claims and possible legal action is asinine and simply obnoxious. "Notify" them? Gimme a break. No wonder they hung up on him. It's the only safe thing to do when a guy calls you repeatedly and fishes for comments about an issue that may be discussed in court.
I'm sure the guy is taking appropriate steps to protect his interests. This stuff about calling Dell is nothing but entertainment; it's completely irrelevant to resolving the matter, and he knows it. He's just wasting their time and trying to embarrass them.
Parent
Re:Pshaw! (Score:5, Informative)
Parent
Re:Pshaw! (Score:5, Insightful)
It sounds like he got escalated multiple times. But what could they do for him? Any company will route you to someone who will take down a complaint. ("I'd like to make a complaint" has never failed for me.) But that's not what he wanted to do. Any company will route you to the legal department if you have something legal to say... but he didn't. He didn't want to initiate any official process, because he's quite sensibly going to leave that to his insurance company and possibly his lawyer, if it comes to that.
In fact, he says he only wanted to "notify" them of his "problems," which he was surely able to do. It only takes thirty seconds to tell the story, so he probably "notified" half the people he talked to. There's no explanation of why he kept calling, who he was trying to reach, or what kind of satisfaction he wanted from them.
So what should Dell have done? Transfer him to the legal department -- no, he wasn't calling with any legal business. (He was probably offered the option anyway.) Let him tell his tale to a non-lawyer -- fine, he did. Have a non-lawyer discuss or even acknowledge what he said -- no way in hell.
That's the point. There was no right department because there was nothing they could do for him. He can't even clearly say what it was he wanted. That's a pretty good way to get transferred around aimlessly and hung up on, especially if you get escalated to busy people who can tell you have no clear aim in calling.
Another good way to get hung up on is to badger people about something they've told you they can't discuss. Suppose you were in a car accident and the other guy kept calling you and asking to talk about his medical problems. Wouldn't you start hanging up on him?
Parent
Re:Pshaw! (Score:4, Funny)
Parent
Re:Pshaw! (Score:4, Informative)
In any case, I've spent extensive time on the phone with Dell's customer support. Although they may speak excellent Indian English, this isn't even close to American English. They may speak as clearly as royalty, but that doesn't mean that they're comprehensible to Americans. On a couple of occasions, it has been necessary for me to ask the rep to transfer me to someone who had a more American accent, and that helped a bit. Regardless, I can guarantee that their first tier customer service centers were nowhere in the United States.
Parent
Re:Pshaw! (Score:5, Insightful)
Sounds more like you got screwed on the original purchase.
Parent
Guess they'll have to drop the upcoming commercial (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Guess they'll have to drop the upcoming commerc (Score:5, Funny)
Parent
Agent for service of process (Score:5, Informative)
Dell's a corporation. They're either a Texas or a Delaware corp. (Probably Texas.) They'll be registered with whatever the local equivalent of the secretary of state's office is. They'll have provided the name and address of a person or agency authorized by them to receive service of process (in the event they're sued or something). Send a certified letter to that person/agency. You'll get someone's attention right quick, without plowing through India.
You might also think about talking to a tort lawyer. From what I got from this article, you've probably got a pretty good consumer products liability claim. (Even if you're not interested in pursuing it, whomever insured your farm house -- it was insured, right? -- is probably interested in recouping their loss. And, enough of these exploding Dells have made the news of late, it might force Dell to be substantially more careful when designing their next round of laptops... But, then, I'm a trial lawyer, that's how I think. :)
Good luck, sorry to hear about your loss!
Is this a first? (Score:3, Funny)
bwoop, bwoop (Score:5, Informative)
The parent, being an attorney, may be taking for granted that everyone knows about coordinating with insurance companies.
Read your policy, and look for fine print about attempting to recover damages on your own. You could seriously alienate your insurance carrier if you made a misstep in the legal system that blocked their chance of recovering money using their own lawyers.
Parent
Just curious... (Score:4, Insightful)
Parent
Re:Just curious... (Score:5, Funny)
Parent
Re:Agent for service of process (Score:5, Interesting)
Parent
Dell Tech Support? (Score:5, Insightful)
It's not a bug, it's a feature! (Score:4, Funny)
I think it's in the Screen Saver settings someplace:
"[x] Enter Burn-House-to-Ground mode after [ 30 ] minutes of inactivity."
Slashdot fixed it! (Score:5, Interesting)
So before everyone starts ragging on Dell, remember there are at least a couple of good apples there.
Re:Slashdot fixed it! (Score:5, Insightful)
I used to know a guy who worked for the local council cutting grass. One day he was driving to a job and noticed someone trying to cut a big site full of high grass with a small domestic lawn mower. He stopped, unloaded the slasher, did the job as a favour and was on his way in five minutes.
All was fine until the guy with the mower called the council to publicly thank the employee who had helped him, wherupon all hell broke lose.
So whatever you do don't ring Dell to report this guy for being good. Dell don't want to be good and we should judge the company by its official actions, despite the fact that 99% of the people who work there are nice people who rescue kittens, etc.
Parent
Re:Slashdot fixed it! (Score:5, Interesting)
Parent
calling Dell.... or a lawyer? (Score:5, Insightful)
In the event that this was not faulty manufacturing or parts, for example if the man frayed his cord and left it damaged, then he doesn't have a leg to stand on, otherwise it should be pretty straight forward if it shows it in the report on the fire.
Dell Laptop... or Sony Battery? (Score:3, Insightful)
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
Dell records the serial numbers on every single item they send out - computers, power bricks, batteries, software bundles - it's all there on their pick lists. Why is it that consumers have to contact Dell to find out if a particular item is under Recall status, why aren't Dell actively contacting them?
Simple. Caveat Emptor (paraphrased) (Score:5, Funny)
Parent
Let the insurance company handle it. (Score:5, Insightful)
A humble suggestion (Score:5, Informative)
First and foremost, I am sorry for the loss of your home. The best suggestion I can give you is:
Get a copy of the Fire Marshal's report that specifies the source of the fire being the laptop in question, deliver it to your insurance company, and then go talk to a lawyer.
It sucks, but as an individual, you have less a chance of gaining the attention of the company in question (never mind the /. post) than the lawyer pool of your insurance company will.
Good Luck
Re:A humble suggestion (Score:4, Insightful)
Parent
One wonders where the liability is (Score:3, Insightful)
His model isn't on Dell's official list [dellbatteryprogram.com] of affected models. So, one wonders, was it the "laptop, battery, or cord" that started the fire? I would imagine that if the cord wasn't severely mangled, and assuming the laptop itself didn't have a very serious manufacturing flaw (that probably would have prevented it from working in the first place), perhaps the transformer was at fault.
Reading the article though, I found it very... unsatisfying. It seems more that the real news is the writer's inability to get any meaningful correspondence with Dell about this particular issue... but then again, that isn't really news.
No surprise... (Score:5, Interesting)
5 years ago, 6 out of 100 of our new 17" Dell monitors went up in flames, over the first 3 months. This was fortunately an office building with very high ceilings, so there was little risk. I've long imagined just how bad that could have been in a private home, with a low ceiling, and wall nearby. That experience alone stopped me from ever buying anything from Dell.
All the articles on Notebook fires are very old news. Dell's been having fire problem with their entire product range for about the past 10 years. Passing it off as Sony's fault ignores Dell's long history of similar ocurances with all of their machines.
Since it happened to me, I've been wonder when I'd hear about a class action against Dell, but it's never been forthcoming. I guess residential building fires can cover up the evidence pretty well. Sooner or later, it's going to have to come out.
Why bother? (Score:4, Informative)
This is why you get a lawyer and let him/her to the leg work... this is going to turn into a legal issue anyway, why screw it up before it starts by giving Dell some words or description of the events that they can use against you.
All it takes is one "maybe" or "possibly" or "it could have been the cat" and your case is gone with your house.
You posted this on
Insurance (Score:5, Insightful)
Insurance policies have a clause in it re: subrogation. E.g. If Dell is really at fault--the insurance company will pay you directly, and then go after Dell for the money..
BUT your policy also has a clause in it saying that you must not do anything to obstruct the insurance company's ability to subrogate. This little slashdot stunt and posting your story online may just do that.. You may have fscked yourself twice over.
Is this real or a hoax? (Score:4, Interesting)
Am I the only one who doesn't believe? (Score:4, Insightful)
Seriously, has this been sourced?
laptop charging on the sofa? (Score:4, Insightful)
I'll take the odds that the sofa was the most flammable piece of furniture in his house. We do this all the time, but still...we should know better. I would probably also be asking whether there were functioning smoke detectors or a more sophisticated alarm system in place. Something very basic, but, again, too easily forgotten.
Duh! (Score:5, Funny)
... Ok, I'm leaving.
Something fishy... (Score:3, Informative)
"Hours later, after investigation the fire Marshall investigator took me aside asked me if I had a laptop computer. Yes -- I told him I had a Dell Inspiron 1200..."
Since when does the fire department conduct an investigation into a fire that determines the source within hours of the fire taking place. Especially with something that would be hard to determine- such as the fire being started by an electronic device that presumably would have been fairly well destroyed if it was as small as a laptop and made of the less than tough plastic and other materials that laptops are made of. The account seems to be fairly short on details to be pointing the finger at Dell. And as others have pointed out- why isn't this guy calling his insurance company instead of Dell? They are the ones who would be paying him for the house.
Good luck! (Score:3, Interesting)
I chased the thieves two blocks before they were able to give me the slip. The whole thing was on security camera (in daylight), and the police informed me that they had a clear picture of the entire incident.
When I reported the incident to Dell, they replied to me the next day via e-mail and said that my claim was rejected because there was no sign of force to the premises. I was stunned, and so went to read the policy. Yes, it said that "Theft of attempted theft not accompanied by forcible and violent entry" was excluded. I then noticed that the policy on the Dell website was somewhat different to the policy provided to me via hardcopy, but they both had a similar clause.
Finally, I decided that if they wanted to get technical, I'd do the same. After carefully reading *both* policies, I noticed that they both had wording similar to "CompleteCover Service is only available with the purchase of a Dell Latitude or Inspiron portable computer, or Dimension or Optiplex or Precision desktop computer, or Axim PDA (The "Product") but is not necessary that you purchase CompleteCover Service to buy a Product from us."
So what did I purchase? Obviously they had no document explaining exclusions for my XPS, since it appears they didn't have a valid policy!
At one point, I was verbally informed that XPS was a Latitude. When I captured many screenshots of the website as evidence against this, Dell denied that this was ever stated.
There were a few other arguable points I could have made, but in the end Dell just wouldn't listen. I only ever spoke to call centers in Asia where the accent was so thick it was hard to understand. I had one e-mail admit there might be a problem with the policy and they will try to fix it in the near future, and many apologies, but every e-mail always quoted "There was no theft of attempted theft not accompanied by forcible and violent entry". E-mails were sometimes hard to read due to invalid sentence structure.
I have been advised not to try and fight this. I am quite broke (my wife is out of work, I am on a small income and only just paid the stolen laptop off), and feel powerless to do anything. I feel the best I can do is encourage people not to purchase anything from Dell. It sure seems like I'm not the only one with a bad experience.
Some advice (Score:4, Insightful)
Repeat "no comment" to yourself aloud a few hundred times to get used to it.
Next, call your insurance company. Let them sort it out. Let their lawyers fight it out with Dell if the laptop is determined to be the cause.
We don't let lawyers write code, by the same token, you shouldn't try to handle this with Dell yourself. You shouldn't be contacting them at all.
Re:Let's assign blame accurately (Score:5, Funny)
"Dude, you're getting a fire extinguisher!"
Parent
Inspiron 1200 NOT part of recall (Score:5, Insightful)
I would like to know if the battery in the defective unit was one of the batteries subject to recall. If it was, then the owner bears some responsibility.
IANAL (and this is not legal advice, yadda yadda...) but I think that, in order to prove that in court, you'd have to prove that A) the battery was one of the Sony recalled batteries B) The customer could reasonably be expected to have been aware that the battery in his laptop was one of the recalled batteries C) Despite knowing that the battery was dangerous and subject to recall, the customer did nothing to get a replacement
But more than this, the maker of the battery was likely of Sony origin and quality.
Which would only add a co-defendant in the lawsuit, if the guy were to go down that road.
And really, what is Dell supposed to say to claims of "you've burned my house down?"
Excellent point. If someone accused me of that, all I'd say is, "No comment." The next thing I'd say is, "Let's talk confidential settlement. Howzabout I give you a million dollars for your house, without admitting any liability?"
Parent
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
You don't have many friends outside the geek community, do you? Me neither but I know at least three people who owned a Dell laptop and knew nothing about the battery recall. When I told them about the recall, they got really surprised and worried, went online, checked with Dell, and it turns out that their batteries were eligible.
Summary for easy understanding: Dell did not do enou
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
Re: (Score:3, Funny)