Inspiron 5547 laptop pops open at the right side joint while closing

Hi all,

I bought Inspiron 5547 laptop in Apr 2015. I was facing exactly same issue, when i open lid, i can hear cracking sound and right hinge was coming out. Due to this, crack also appeared near power button (on keypad).

I called customer care many times, earlier they said laptop doesn't  have accidental warranty so it can't be replaced. But after visiting this forum, I was *** sure that this is laptop design fault and Dell MUST replaced the faulty part. 

So I follow up with customer care and asked - Is Dell intentionally giving faulty laptop and then asking users to pay for it?

Finally they agreed and today Dell engineer replaced the faulty parts.

Guys, please call customer care if you are facing this issue, they have to help you and will replace it.

Cheers

Also, i bought this for black friday last year so it is not even a year old yet.

Same computer, same problem. I will never buy another dell again. The same thing happened pn my 1525 too but i figured it was my fault. Now my second dell has same isdue so i looked it up and find it is a common issue. Unfortunately I am studying for finals so I needed my computer and kept using it. I guess the pressure of opening it did someyhing to the lcd or the computer because the screen wigged out so i restarted the computer, got some error messages saying it was repairing and now it will not start at all.

Sir, i'm also going through same problem of hinge issue.can you please tell me that .org site name on which you repoted. Here is email id <ADMIN NOTE: Email id removed per privacy policy>.

Dell should own it and fix it for free.

I thought I was the only one!

My 5547 was purchased last blackfriday from Microsoft Store deal.

Recently here is what happened - I must stress out the fact that I'm extra careful with tech in general. The right part near the hinge cracked and ever since it did it kept bothering me how did this happen?

What do we do now? I'm clearly out of warranty and I'm not gonna pay +$80  for the palmrest cover and spend the time to install it myself, this is a poor craftmanship and needs to be addressed by Dell.

but they won't, Dell does not even acknowledge their product is faulty, I have given up and will get it fixed by local tech repair centre but never going to touch Dell and also put my review on every possible online store so others don't fall for their story about product and testing.

I have the same issue, it's obvious this case is poorly designed.  The screws are just into plastic and with the load from the hinge at that area it's just not strong enough.  Mine failed about a week before the warranty ran out.  Since then it's been nothing but a hassle trying to get Dell to fix it.. 

A "dispatch" was set up on the 5th and then mysteriously "canceled" the next day and no one was able to tell me why or what the problem was.  After days of back and forth calls and emails and total inaction another "dispatch" was set up today. 

This machine has been nothing but trouble since I got it with flaky drivers, WiFi that dropped connection constantly until they did a BIOS update, and now this excruciating process of trying to get them to fix it.  I've owned at least 6 Dell laptops and recommended them to many of my clients, but there's no way after this fiasco that I would ever own or recommend another Dell.

This just happened to my daughters laptop which is just over a year buy 10+ days.  Dell wanted $269 for the repair.  It is obvious a design defect.

Guys, I see many of us having this problem and posting here but I am really not sure if Dell is even bothered about it. Is there any way we can make them realize that this is an issue and they need to acknowledge it?

I am currently trying the route of.  Hoping this route will work for defect repair, in process so not sure yet.  I don't think Dell really cares but we'll see.

I had the same problem with an Inspiron 5547 after 6 months of use. On average, I would open and close the laptop twice a day, always leaving the computer on my desk. I noticed some wobble in the display, and then found this thread. I took the computer apart and found out exactly what was happening (I thought maybe I could tighten something and avoid sending it off). The display is mounted to the palmrest assembly via two brass anchors molded into the plastic. What happens is that the plastic molding and anchors eventually break away from the rest of the palmrest assembly, leaving the right hinge separated from the rest of the case. When this happens, the hinge acts as a lever every time the computer is opened and closed, prying the case apart.

Here is a picture of the anchors still attached to the hinge:

And this is the underside of the right corner of the palmrest assembly, showing where two of the three anchors are missing (because they broke off):

In my case, I spent two hours explaining the situation to a dell representative, and on hold. He was a nice guy and very helpful. He said that warranty support does not cover the hinges, but he set it up for me to send the laptop to a Dell repair depot. He said they would inspect it and if they determined that it wasn't my fault, they would fix it for free. I dropped off the laptop at FedEx on a Monday, and it was returned the following Thursday, all at no cost to me.

The problem seems to be fixed, but I am concerned that, since the hinges are very tight, it may happen again after another 6 months. I intend to avoid closing and opening the laptop as much as possible.

So, be patient and continue to explain what the problem is, and that it wasn't your fault. I also told him about the existence of this thread on the Dell Community Forums, but he did not want the address.

Mine was fixed. People from Dell contacted me and mine was resolved for free and was fixed at my home,

Of course, Macbook hinges never break!

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And of course, there's the prospect of a swollen battery at about three years of age:

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(well outside Apple's warranty).