Inspiron E1505 Dead Battery problem

I bought the Dell Inspiron E1505 about two years ago. Like so many of the others who bought this laptop, my Type KD476, 85Wh battery died just after the one year mark. The problem started when the battery light began flashing. The battery has a usage button on it which indicated that the battery was fully charged, however, every time I put the battery in the laptop, the light started to flash again. I found dozens of blogs and tech sites like this one where Dell users have voiced the same issues with this computer and its battery. (Just enter, "Problem with Dell Inspiron E1505 Battery" into your browser to see what I mean) All Dell will offer as a solution is to tell me to buy a new battery. It costs about $169. to buy a new one from Dell. I've written messages to Dell Customer Service and even sent one to Michael Dell himself about this problem and got nowhere. My last messages to dell Support didn't even get a reply. The letter to Michael Dell wasn't even passed on to someone who might have replied to me. I was totally ignored.

The overall performance of this laptop was marginal at best, despite what anyone else thinks of it. My older Inspiron 1100 is a much better laptop and has never had any issues with it's battery. I was enticed to buy the more expensive battery when I got the E1505 because the Dell wen site said it would last longer. Obviously, that is not true. Dell Customer Service will not take ownership of the problem that I am many others have had with this laptop. I've bought five computers from Dell in the past seven years or so. The E1505 was the latest purchase. My older Dell computers all work much better than the E1505. Personally, the E1505 is a useless piece of junk to me, if I cannot use it as a portable computer. Instead, it remains landlocked to a wall outlet if I want to use it. I'm certainly not going to pay Dell $169. every year for a new battery. I either expected my money back, a free battery or a comparable replacement for the E1505, any of which I know I will never receive from Dell. They don't really listen to their customers. I used to be a big Dell supporter, but not any longer. Dell sucks as far as i am concerned! My next system will come from HP. I won't buy anymore Dell products and I'd suggest anyone else to avoid buying a Dell computer unless you also want a headache, or you enjoy being ignored by Dell when you have a problem with their products.

What you're saying is true. You'd still think that a battery that costs $169. from Dell would last a little longer than one year, wouldn't you? Mine actually failed a little over the one year mark. The whole time I had the E1505, it was plugged into the wall. I probably used it on just battery power not more than 3-4 times in that year. It was fine until the last time I unplugged it and used the battery alone. As soon as I placed it back in the notebook stand and plugged it back in, the light started to flash. Thinking that it was just recharging, I didn't give it a second thought until I came home from work the next day to find it was still flashing. The battery test button showed it to be fully charged, but the light continued to flash. As I said, the laptop works on external power, but no longer works with the battery. I let the battery go completely dead, and then tried recharging it, but it won't recharge. My older Inspiron 1100 is still running strong on its battery and it is at lest 2-3 years older than the E1505. I've checked out cheaper batteries online from various places, but many are not brand new. Many sites warn against buying some of these batteries. I have used knock-off batteries in other devices without any issues, but I am hesitant to try one in this laptop, especially after the Dell battery recall. I don't need the thing to explode on me. Also, after having no issues with the 1100, I can't accept that I am going to have to buy a new battery just about every year fro the E1505. If Dell knew these things had a short life, why in the world were they or are they selling them? And, for $160.?? I suppose that's what bothers me the most. I feel as though I was deceived by slick Dell marketing, combined with a false sense of security in the quality in their products, after having bought other computers from them.