Laptop with false specs

28064212

my3cents wrote: »

When did missing parts become a "Support" issue.

The problem is a Sale of Goods one not a technical issue.

Sale of Goods resolutions are repair, replace or refund. Replace and refund are obviously not going to be of much use in this situation, and what department do you imagine are going to be handling a repair? Even if they do have a competent person looking at it, what if they open up and the reason it only has 4GB is because the other RAM slot doesn't work and was supposed to be sold as a refurb? What if it's cheaper for them to simply replace it with a model they already have available, and resell the 4GB machine?

I'm not saying that the machine will definitely be wiped no matter what. I'm saying that sending it back to the retailer with data on it that you need would be incredibly stupid.

lukin

ssmith6287 wrote: »

whats the model number on the laptop?

The service tag is J09ZG52

lukin

Levi Juicy Knitter wrote: »

I'm not being smart but have you asked them?

No I would just rather call in and ask them in person.

my3cents

lukin wrote: »

The service tag is J09ZG52

Assuming thats a Dell, I'm not nosy enough to check, then from the support page you can run the tool that gives you the current config. Print that out and hand it to the supplier to show what RAM is the the system.

Dravokivich

With different ram, it's possible you've been handed the wrong box when purchasing it. So I wouldn't get all sentimental about anything you've done on it. Just make sure you can backup everything you've done and go back to the shop looking to get the right one.

LariToper

Definitely leave it as is. It may have voided your manufacturers warranty (it also mightn't have), but that's irrelevant seeing that you were mis-sold the product. I'd be interested to see what happened here, are the specs on the side of the box? Wonder if it has 2 x 2gb cards or 1 x 4gb card (where a second card may have gone missing at some stage).

rubadub

LariToper wrote: »

Wonder if it has 2 x 2gb cards or 1 x 4gb card (where a second card may have gone missing at some stage).

I was advising to check, he said he did and one slot was empty and the other had a single 4GB.

People were saying not to "break the seal", and MarkR said he has never seen a seal on a memory compartment, neither have I.

I am still wonder why so many people thanked the post saying to reinstall Win10, maybe I am missing something here?

On most laptops the RAM is supposed to be a changeable part, so no "service only" seals on it. (though I mentioned I would not if it was a bugger to get into, e.g. some tiny laptop with no readily accessible memory area)

It would be similar to someone saying they bought a car which was supposed to come with a spare wheel in the boot as standard, and the car having some "spare wheel" detection light in the front. The light is not lit up so the new owner suspects there is no spare wheel, and people are saying "well jaysus, do not go open the boot to check whatever you do, you might break the seal!" (people advising not to check for the ram to see if it is seated correctly). And the people saying to reinstall win10 is the equivalent of saying "better get a new set of tyres on that car, and wind the mileometer back, you do not want them thinking you went actually driving it for a day and only them discovered the spare wheel was missing".

They could have got the car resprayed and the roof cut off, I would still expect to get my missing spare wheel. Its not like it has the incorrect onboard graphics card, which would be more like a car having the incorrect motor installed, which would be a big deal (and still not the buyers fault for not inspecting on day 1), its just ram.

my3cents

OP from your service tag the configuration reads to me that the system was supplied with 4GB of RAM and a 1TB HDD.

I mention the 1TB HDD as its not part of the base unit there won't be any RAM in the base unit either so you get the RAM as detailed in the components (TM98X : Module,Dual In-Line Memory Module,4GB,1X4G,1600MHZ,DDR3).

ssmith6287

my3cents wrote: »

OP from your service tag the configuration reads to me that the system was supplied with 4GB of RAM and a 1TB HDD.

I mention the 1TB HDD as its not part of the base unit there won't be any RAM in the base unit either so you get the RAM as detailed in the components (TM98X : Module,Dual In-Line Memory Module,4GB,1X4G,1600MHZ,DDR3).

My thinking there, they simply gave you the wrong laptop. Do all of the other specs match up eg cpu type/speed, hdd, gpu?

Also in my experience the longer you leave it the the less chance you have of rectifying the problem. E.g if you have the laptop a month then we can assume it has worked fine and well, if you present with a stick of RAM missing then whos to say you simply didn't take it out and are chancing your arm, also in this case where there's potential for the wrong machine been handed out, who to say you didn't buy a lesser model and are now chancing your arm to try and get a better model. Im not accusing you but if you want it fixed then get it sorted asap or forever hold your peace

sKeith

Invoice/Receipt says 8gb. Dell tag number says machine shipped to them with 4GB. A mistake was made by reseller and they should easily recognise their mistake and upgrade your machine to 8GB.
I'd prefer 1 stick of 8GB, but they are likely to just give you another stick of 4GB. If you want to upgrade ram yourself again later, you will need to discard some ram if all slots are full.

lukin

I called in yesterday with the lappie and told them about the RAM. They apologised and agreed to give me 8GB RAM. They won't have it until Monday however. They didn't boot it up, I just showed them the single stick inside so they didn't know about the new OS I installed on it.

ssmith6287

lukin wrote: »

I called in yesterday with the lappie and told them about the RAM. They apologised and agreed to give me 8GB RAM. They won't have it until Monday however. They didn't boot it up, I just showed them the single stick inside so they didn't know about the new OS I installed on it.

Result

lukin

ssmith6287 wrote: »

Result

Hopefully. Obviously when I visit them on Monday and they stick the new RAM in they will have to boot the laptop up to see if it is recognised in My Computer.
At that stage they will see I have installed a new OS in it.
They will hardly tell me to "*** off" and take the RAM out again (I hope).

sKeith

lukin wrote: »

Hopefully. Obviously when I visit them on Monday and they stick the new RAM in they will have to boot the laptop up to see if it is recognised in My Computer.
At that stage they will see I have installed a new OS in it.
They will hardly tell me to "*** off" and take the RAM out again (I hope).

On boot, tap F12, it'll enter a one time boot menu.
Choose diagnostics.
It'll show amount of RAM and test it. Can take up to an hour to complete.
Or choose Enter Bios. You can see amount of RAM there.

You do not need to boot into OS, but so what if you do. The only issue the staff will have is that they are unfamiliar with the OS, not that its not okay to have it. You have every right to have no operating system on the computer if you wanted to, or linux, or esxi.

rubadub

And try and get the single 8GB stick as sKeith mentioned.

mada82

What's with all the over complicated stuff here. Ring the shop tell them 4gb ram is missing.

They will probably just offer you another stick to put in.

If they want to replace the laptop then do a clone or system image before bringing it back.

Stop second guessing what they will do and just ring them.

L1011

rubadub wrote: »

And try and get the single 8GB stick as sKeith mentioned.

Some systems have higher performance when using paired memory instead of single sticks.

donegal.

lukin wrote: »

Hopefully. Obviously when I visit them on Monday and they stick the new RAM in they will have to boot the laptop up to see if it is recognised in My Computer.
At that stage they will see I have installed a new OS in it.
They will hardly tell me to "*** off" and take the RAM out again (I hope).

Why would they care?

Dravokivich

OP, Are you sure it's only the ram that's different? They wouldn't assemble these in a shop. if you've been handed a laptop with different spec RAM, chances are a few other things will be different too. Such as the CPU.

daheff

rubadub wrote: »

And try and get the single 8GB stick as sKeith mentioned.

how about see what should be shipped with it and ask for that??

then you've gotten what you paid for.

srsly78

L1011 wrote: »

Some systems have higher performance when using paired memory instead of single sticks.

Yeah paired memory = 2 sticks with same specification. So buy another 4gb stick that's the same, will be grand.

Don't buy a single 8gb stick for this reason (dual-channel memory).

MarkR

Does it definitely have a spare slot?

http://eu.crucial.com/eur/en/compatible-upgrade-for/Dell/inspiron-14-(3442)

Seems to be showing up as only 1 slot total.

my3cents

See also the dell specification guide for the laptop ftp://ftp.dell.com/manuals/all-products/esuprt_laptop/esuprt_inspiron_laptop/inspiron-14-3442-laptop_reference guide_en-us.pdf ..... ONE SLOT.

lukin

Apologies, the last two posters are correct; only one slot at the back so the new RAM has to be an 8GB single stick (I hope they realise that).
As another person has said I should also check that all the other specs are what they are supposed to be.
It is possible that the the m'bord may not take 8GB RAM (4 GB may be the max). Or else 4GB may be the max usable by the operating system. If that happens they will have to refund me the value of the 4GB RAM.

28064212

lukin wrote: »

If that happens they will have to refund me the value of the 4GB RAM.

Legally-speaking, if a repair or replace is not possible, they only have to offer you a full refund. If you refuse to return the laptop for a full refund, they will be considered to have discharged their legal responsibilities.

They may offer a partial refund as a goodwill gesture, but they don't have to

my3cents

lukin wrote: »

Apologies, the last two posters are correct; only one slot at the back so the new RAM has to be an 8GB single stick (I hope they realise that).
As another person has said I should also check that all the other specs are what they are supposed to be.
It is possible that the the m'bord may not take 8GB RAM (4 GB may be the max). Or else 4GB may be the max usable by the operating system. If that happens they will have to refund me the value of the 4GB RAM.

It should take 8GB if the Dell spec sheet says it will and Crucial say the same.

5rtytry56

Any update OP?

rubadub

daheff wrote: »

how about see what should be shipped with it and ask for that??

then you've gotten what you paid for.

When they (or any company) mess up like this they sometimes will be willing to give you more (or higher spec) than you pay for as compensation, some people might have significant travel costs, parking etc. It's their fault and its not some outrageous request so they might agree -if the OP wanted it, some companies value goodwill very highly. The OP has had to go back once, and is now expected to return again, he has effectively not gotten what he "paid for", unless he does not value his time or other expenses. Many shops will charge restocking fees etc, to cover stuff like this, some shops will also rightly realise they have screwed customers over too, and have some similar respect.

In this case it seems it can only take a single stick anyway. Though paired will possibly perform better the single 8GB is usually worth more moneywise, and people might prefer the option to be able to upgrade even if it has slightly less performance in the meantime.

I have gotten several dells in the past which were overspec'd BTW

donegal. wrote: »

Why would they care?

I am still wondering about this myself, maybe I am missing something obvious

jonnycivic wrote: »

Well if the receipt has 8gb then wipe the OS, reinstall win10 and bring it back to them.

^^This post got 9 thanks, perhaps one of these 10 people can advise why they think it necessary to reinstall win10. Is this really an issue? I genuinely want to know. The amount of people thanking that post might have cast doubt in the OPs mind too.

lukin

5rtytry56 wrote: »

Any update OP?

Didn't hear back from them yet, they should have the RAM by now. I will chase them up tomorrow.

lukin

Called in this evening and got the 8GB stick put in.Thankfully it was recognised by the OS.
I'm happy but I'll make sure to check the specs of any laptop I buy in future so I am getting what I am supposed to get.