Back in May we ran a post detailing an issue with Dell’s Vostro 1310 and Vostro 1510 laptops which had been supplied with misaligned keyboards (see: Dell Stops Shipping Vostro 1310 & 1510 Laptop Models in Europe To Fix Misaligned Keys) and we quoted a Dell spokesperson who confirmed that Dell were aware of the misaligned keyboard issues and were taking action to rectify the problem. However, according to a couple of readers who have been in contact with us, it would appear that Vostro 1310 and 1510 laptops with the faulty keyboards are still being supplied to customers. Are you one of those affected?
On June 19th we received a comment from a reader by the name of Dave who states:
‘Our company has just received a new vostro 1310 and the lower set of keys produce the incorrect characters, ie the keyboard is shifted by one letter!! (c=v, v=b, b=n etc). I tried to contact Dell telephone support but was informed they had closed for lunch!! How am I expected to run a business with that level of support!!!’
A one off perhaps? It appears not to the case as today we received another comment, this time from a reader called Dave who writes, ‘They haven’t stopped shipping them at all!! I ordered a Vostro 1510 6 days ago unaware of the problem with the keyboard which was apparently identified by Dell more than a month ago and guess what, it has the same problem.’ He adds, ‘How can they take an order and payment for a product they know is faulty and still send it out as if nothing was wrong with it?’
In Dell’s defence we should add that, perhaps, these two units simply slipped through the net but, in order to establish whether this is the case, we would ask that any readers who have received either models with misaligned keyboards get in touch with us via the comments box at the bottm of the page as, if we receive enough feedback, we will happily approach Dell to ask for an explanation and a response.
Have you received one of these faulty models having ordered after May (when Dell was already on record as being aware of the problems)? If so, let us know.
(Incidentally, interested parties may find the comments from many unsatisfied customers on this post on Dell’s official blog.)
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Regarding the Dell Vostro still being shipped with a fault, it is more than a couple. If you visit their own forum you will get a clearer idea of how big an issue it is. One person wrote there yesterday that he has received 10, yes ten, of them in the same order!
this is the address of the forum for you to view
(Moved link to post body to give greater visibility - thanks Dave)
It is incredible how stupid Dell is.
I ordered a new Vostro 1310 on June 13 2008, received it on about June 18, and it has the faulty keyboard, so they are still shipping. However, I have yet to hear an accurate description of the problem, which is this: The Vostro 1310 UK keyboard has a wider-than-average left Shift key and a narrower-than-average right Shift key, so both shift keys are now the same size. In order to cater for this change, the backslash key was moved from the left end of the row to the right end of the row. If you touch-type (without looking at the keycaps) then the letters on the keyboard still work as normal although the backslash key is now on the right-hand side. So far, no major problem - just a matter of getting used to the new position for the backslash key. However, nobody told the person in the factory who puts on the plastic keycaps about this change. They put the plastic keycaps on in the usual order which means that the whole bottom row gives the appearance of being shifted to the right. Pressing the key that is ordinarily in the C location still produces a C - it just happens to be labelled X because it has the wrong plastic keycap on it. The problem is nothing to do with electronics and everything to do with the plastic keycaps being on the wrong pegs, so forget all this crap about fixes in keyboard drivers, etc. If I could lever the keycaps off and move them myself without breaking them then I’d fix it myself using only a swiss army knife, (and this is what the Dell engineer ought to do instead of taking the extra time to open the unit, swap out the whole smegging keyboard, and potentially upset the connections inside). But because it’s on warranty I’m not going to touch the keycaps unless Dell say I can have a go without voiding the warranty. I considered returning the whole unit for a refund or replacement, which I might still do, but it looks like the new one would have the same problem until Dell pull their finger out.
If you’re thinking of buying a Dell, please read the user comments at these links to get an idea of what you’re getting into.
http://direct2dell.com/smallbusiness/archive/2008/05/08/europe-vostro-keyboard-issue-what-we-re-doing.aspx
http://direct2dell.com/smallbusiness/archive/2008/05/14/europe-vostro-keyboard-update.aspx
http://direct2dell.com/smallbusiness/archive/2008/06/23/another-europe-vostro-keyboard-update.aspx
I reveived a brand new 1510 vostro with the keys misaligned. 27th June 2008, several weeks late. I thought i had the settings wrong but after investigation i found that there was a problem with the keyboard themselves.
Dell even lied to me and told me they could not get the funds for the laptop fron the account i gave them It had been refused by my bank. I instantly phoned my bank and asked for a reason why the funds had been declined and they repliad with “Dell have not even asked for the money so how could we refuse it”.
The reason for the delay in my order is still unknown.
I bought a Dell 1510 Vostro on 23/6/2008. The first Vostro was faulty form an electric point of view. They replaced it for me with a second one, whi ch had a problem with the lowere keyboard misalignment as others have noted. I called them, them, and they replaced the leyboared. Later that day, the laptop went faulty with a loud deafening noise. I contcted Dell, but they seem to have lost interst. I wrote to them, but they offered me a third replacemnt or refund having kept my money for 6 weeks. I said that if they refund me, then I would have wasted my money in their accont for 6 weeks. The customer relations manager replied saying that they have lost 2 computers. I dont understand, but is hat my problem? They should not have supplied me with faulty goods. They wont replcae it with a difeerent make and model, only with a Vostr 1510, which I refuse to have as I lost faith in Vostro.