Dell was easy to work with and paid postage both ways, but Crouse said "you'll never get that cost paid back" for the time involved in the replacement. Children's uses an outsourcing company to handle its hardware needs, including the battery recall, he said.

"Things happen in the technology world, and you can't control everything," Crouse said.

One IT director for a large hospital in Texas said that about half of 200 laptops in use there had to have batteries recalled. "Dell jumped right on it," said the director, who asked that he and his hospital not be identified. "There was the threat of fire, and we didn't want users exposed."

Some users had to resort to using AC power until the new batteries arrived, he explained. Because the hospital had recently installed asset tracking software, finding the affected laptops was easy and quick. "We were OK with the replacements," the director explained. "Every now and then, something with technology will happen, and you recognize it's just part of dealing with a vendor. Things are not going to be perfect all the time."

Still, the director said that the recall is something he will remember the next time something goes wrong with a laptop and the hospital needs the vendor's attention or a small favor. "Everybody in IT has to work on having a good relationship with a vendor," he said. "Hopefully, you treat them professionally and they treat you back the same way."