Tinman Dell has attracted the attention of the US consumer press by replacing a failed laptop sent to be repaired under warranty with an inferior one. Dell claimed the replacement had  comparable functionality although it had a smaller screen an a keyboard that presses Ctrl all on its own. (I always wanted one of those. sub.ed.)

The user who has gone under the name Elijah said that Dell won't make things right, and has pushed things to arbitration. The problem is that Dell stopped making the model that Elijah originally bought. Dell says it was required to give me product that has the same "functionality and performance" and they insist they have done that.

However Elijah has spent two months have been spent coping not only with the lack of a third of the pixels he'd gotten used to using, but also a keyboard that is missing 10 keys and has no Fkeys.

Meanwhile no one in Dell will talk to him and he has had to fill out the arbitration paperwork so that he can get this resolved under dell's legal framework. Ironically the cost of arbitration will be $2,500 which Dell must pay. However the cost of replacing the laptop properly is $1,200.

More here.