I would like someone to explain this to me. First, let me set the stage:

I purchased a Dell laptop in November 2022.

Fast-forward to December 2023. Not quite 13 months after my purchase, I lifted the lid and heard crackling. At this time, the framework pulled away from the screen, leaving me with the ability to see several of the screws inside.

“What the —-? I exclaimed. At that point, I ceased attempting to lift the lid, for fear that the laptop would crack in two and cease to function.

And it remains that way to this day.

I’ve been unable to pay some bills on my cell phone (don’t really know why) and since I currently have an injury to my left eye, a larger screen is preferred. So you can imagine how pathetic I must look, attempting to use a partially-open laptop, while I explored my options, not to mention very time-consuming.

Electronic repair shops seem to feel that to repair it would be complicated, time-consuming, and not worth the cost to the customer, me.

Since when do they worry about the cost to a customer?

Right, the amount of time the repair person would need to spend on it is probably not worth that person’s time is what he most likely meant.

The parts are worth half of what I originally spent on the laptop and would cost me more than half that price to fix it, is what I was told.

How could that be?

Even if it is true, that it essentially depreciated fifty percent in less than 13 months, it will cost me a lot more than that to buy a new one.

Why is this allowed to occur? More importantly, whatever happened to craftsmanship and durability in products, especially electronic products? And don’t get me started on the one-year warranty that many manufacturers include now. What’s up with that? I shouldn’t have to purchase an extended warranty, in essence, hedging my bets against having to buy a new product if the not-so-new product fails.

Why are companies that manufacture high-cost goods, for example, laptops and televisions, allowed to get away with turning out substandard goods?

I found an old invoice pertaining to a laptop I bought in 2010, which included a three-year warranty. Now what do they give us? Again, a one-year warranty, unless you cough up more coins, which I think is ridiculous.

How about you? What do you think?

We all know what a headache it is transferring data from our old electronic devices, along with worrying about how to dispose of them every so often. It’s even worse when you have to do it twice in less than 1-1/2 years.

Needless to say, I’m not purchasing another Dell, although I did read reviews and see consumers’ photos of Hewlett-Packard laptops having the same problem. I feel that manufacturers of electronic devices and other so-called durable goods should not even be allowed to put inferior products on the market, regardless of the country where they were manufactured. It should be a universal law.

Don’t even get me started on one-year warranties they include now for appliances. I say again, there ought to be a law against it.

(c) 2024 Pamela D. Beverly