5 month old Alienware 17r3 Laptop just died - Documenting the return process

It's as if my laptop's spirit just floated away.

My beautiful Alienware 17r3 just died. Bought it new online 5 months ago. One moment it was running Maya 2016 and Photoshop, the next moment everything went black. Now it won't power on. Alienware support says it's most likely a blown capacitor on the motherboard and will need replacement.

I'm documenting how they handle the RMA because I'm not seeing many positive documented returns, and I'd like to create one! I've been a long time Alienware fan and supporter, so I'd like the end product of this report to be a smooth return process as hard evidence that Alienware returns are indeed quick, easy and painless.

After speaking with a few very helpful managers, I've been promised that that the return box will arrive today (6/23/16), they'll start working on the repair this coming Monday (06/27/16), and the laptop will be returned to me no later than next Friday (1/07/16).

A portable workstation is essential to my career success. It's a major inconvenience to not have my only workstation for a week, but hey, life isn't fair sometimes. I'm really relying on these guys to outshine the negative online reviews, and come through with A+ service. My career success over the next few months directly corresponds to the speed at which I receive this laptop in working order.

Specs on the laptop:

• Alienware AW17R3
• i7-6700HQ 2.6 GHz Processor
• 16 GB DDR4
• 2 TB Samsung 850 PRO + 256 GB SSD Storage
• 17.3 Inch UHD
• Windows 10 Home

 

Did you try to request a onsite service? That might be a good option if you need the laptop quickly.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N915A using Tapatalk

 

Yes. I paid $575 for premium support for that exact reason. 2 different managers said that since the laptop is completely dead / won't power on, they can't diagnose a problem to tell the technician - so the technician won't know what part to bring. They need to diagnose, then the technician brings the parts with him. So if you have premium and your alienware completely dies (very common), you won't get the 2 day tech service you paid for apparently .

 

Update #1: 6/24/2016
The return box arrived quicker than expected, I left it with FedEx yesterday, and it left town today. The Dell/Alienware repar depot will have the laptop this coming Monday 27th at 3pm. So far, so good!

 

Update #2: 6/27/2016

Just got an email from Dell: "Your product has been successfully received and the repair process will begin promptly." When I log into the Dell repair status site, the status is "Unit Received"