TL;DR Dell delivered a faulty high end laptop, refused to refund under the Consumer Rights Act 2015, and their ProSupport “fix” that, at the present time, looks like will take in excess of two months; even though it only took 11 days to order and deliver the new (faulty) laptop.
I’ve been purchasing Dell computers since 2001 as I favour equipment that is reliable and well built and where the customer service in the event of an issue is excellent.
In October 2025 I purchased a new Dell Pro Max Plus laptop due to an issue developing on my current (non-Dell) main laptop. This was planned to be an initial purchase before I refreshed a load of other devices.
The Dell Pro Max range are the successors to the Dell Precision workstations, which is reflected in the price tag. I’ve had several Precision workstations, and all have been reliable.
To quote Dell themselves:
“Dell Pro Max PCs are the number one workstations in the world and are Independent Software Vendor (ISV) tested and certified, ensuring reliable, optimized performance for the most demanding professional applications. They are the most manageable and the world’s most secure commercial AI PCs, providing industry-leading device and data security.”
The ordering and delivery process was efficient. The laptop came in a well-built box giving confidence that it was delivered undamaged in all but the most exceptional of delivery situations.
A couple of days after the delivery, over the weekend, I unpacked the laptop and started to configure it. It is during this process that I spotted the hardware faults.
Windows has something called the WHEA-Logger. WHEA is an acronym for Windows Hardware Error Architecture. Effectively this boils down to Windows providing a standard mechanism for collecting and reporting on errors reported by the hardware or firmware. i.e. by the Dell laptop in this case.
You can read about the WHEA design here and error sources here.
Unfortunately, the Dell Pro Max Plus laptop has numerous examples of these errors, for example a few hours into starting up the laptop from unpacking it we have:
Obviously the next step was to report this to Dell.
The request was raised on the 19th, with Dell wanting to verify the errors. They asked me to complete the typical actions such as patching the system (it was already done), running the vendor diagnostics and reinstalling the operating system.
Unfortunately this included asking me to perform some actions not applicable to my system, which further erodes my confidence in their competence, such as:
Thank you for staying connected. We have checked with the internal team, and they have reviewed the logs. As per the information, we need to perform the BIOS rollback. Here is the link: Link: http://del.ly/61774AfqZ8
Where I respond with the error message shown when following their instructions:
BIOS update blocked due to unsupported downgrade
Soon after this I’m then asked:
Thank you for the information. I request you to please perform a Flash BIOS. Here is the link: Link: http://del.ly/61779AfSdZ
To which I reply with a comment taken straight from the top of the article:
This article does not apply to Dell Pro Max 16 Plus MB16250
At this point, on the 20th Dell finally acknowledged the hardware fault:
I apologize for this. The next steps we need to take, as per the internal team, are to go ahead and replace the motherboard.
As an interesting side-note, the Dell diagnostics failed to spot these errors, even though the WHEA logger collects these events from the Dell device itself. From my viewpoint this puts into question any claim Dell may have about predictive hardware failure detection – if your own diagnostics cannot even detect errors being reported by your own device that does not bowd well.
Part of the purchase included Dell ProSupport Plus, which offers next business day on-site service.
Unfortunately, according to Dell, the parts were not available for this new laptop.
After several days of chasing and apparent escalations that didn’t seem to do anything, just over two weeks after the delivery, another Dell support person stated:
I am initiating a cancellation of the dispatch ticket and raising a new ticket, so I can personally follow-up and get it to closure.
At this point, getting frustrated that no progress was being made, I attempted to get a replacement or refund initiated. Also, as a side note, I never heard from that agent again, nor did they respond to any follow-up.
The initial response from the alternative contact was promising:
We absolutely respect your rights under the Consumer Rights Act 2015 and want to ensure we resolve this matter in a way that best suits you.
To proceed, please confirm your preferred option:
1. Exchange
We can arrange a like-for-like replacement system. However, please note that the exchange process may take longer, as we first need to check the availability then we will initiate the exchange promptly.
2. Refund
This is the quickest and most straightforward option. If you choose a refund, I will initiate it immediately and also share contact details for our sales team, so you can place a new order directly. This route is typically faster than waiting for an exchange.
Given my previous very good experience with Dell over the previous two decades and hoping that this was a blip, I decided to go for the exchange, providing that I did not need to transfer more money.
Dell replied stating the exchange process including – “Payment Link: A secure payment link will be shared with you for the exchange product.”
Yes, I effectively have to buy a new laptop upfront, and then once they have the old one they can release the funds back to me.
This sounded suspect, so I said that in this case we need to go for the refund instead.
Their response – as in the person that just offered a refund – confirmed my suspicions:
Unfortunately, we are unable to process your return request, as your order falls outside our 14-day return policy
If you recall I mentioned the Consumer Rights Act 2015 earlier on in a message to Dell. I replied referencing the act again, and that products “must be of satisfactory quality”. Their response was to close the ticket.
So, it took Dell 11 days from the order to build and deliver the new laptop but, so far, after 15 days after the support request raised they are still unable (from my viewpoint unwilling is probably more accurate) to fix the faulty laptop. Perhaps they should take a little bit more time building new laptops before shipping to ensure they are not faulty.
So, from someone who was willing to purchase multiple Dell products both for myself and as the “IT guy” for the wide family (admittedly not that much for a business), Dell supplying a faulty laptop and absolutely failing at every stage in their customer service experience to resolve the issue and give me a warm feeling that the company values my business, I’m now someone who will now actively avoid purchasing Dell products and if my advice is sought, both personally and professionally (I work in the IT industry), I will advise others to say clear of Dell.
I’ll update this article if anything substantive happens.
Update 07-Nov-2025: 21 days after raising this will Dell I have an expected availability time for the system board of… 27-Nov-2025. Note that this isn’t the point at which parts are shipped but can be ordered!
