AW support wants $60 for 2nd drive mounting kit R2?

Hi folks, just doing a sanity check. I bought an M17xR2 back in September with one hard drive. I recently purchased a 2nd drive (not from Dell), opened up the laptop to install it and while I have the frame/caddy for the 2nd drive there are no mounting screws or interposer. I searched the forums here because I remember this being an issue with the R2's a while back, and it looks like several people just called AW support and got the missing pieces shipped out no charge, and eventually all of the R2s after a certain point were shipped with the parts inside.

So, I called AW support and explained that I was just missing the screws and interposer. After holding for a few minutes the rep came back and said they could send me the whole kit for $59.99! That's almost as much as I paid for the new hard drive! I told him I thought the parts were supposed to come with the system (drive frame is there after all), and he said only the R3's come with it and the R1 and R2 only if you bought the 2nd drive with the system.

That obviously seems to be different than what some of you on this board have experienced. This was the first time I had opened the machine up since I got it, I would have called right away if I knew it was missing. So have I missed the boat since the R3 is out now? 60 dollars just seems excessive, especially when all I need are the 4 screws and the interposer. Does this seem right?

 

Tell them they are full of it and the full interposer/screws/caddy thing was fixed more than a year ago to where ALL M17x's should have been shipped with the full kit. It should be no cost to you as it should have been included in the original package. Period.

That...and hopefully you double-checked to make sure that foam that was inside the caddy didn't have the screws/interposer in it? I almost made that mistake...

 

The caddy etc is supposed to be there by default. This is how R2 is sent over to all those who order single hard drive combination. You are buying a product capable of having 2 hard drives. This is a feature which this is system has. Its a feature for you to use, and not a feature to be held back as hostage by some idiot who is half baked in doing his job. Dont ask. Just tell them politely but knowingly. If you ask ,they will like parrots quote a cost for it.Infact they might even ask you money for sending it over...Hahahah.! JUst kidding

Don't be rude. Just put it across plain and simple as a matter of fact.

 

Yes, I did check. There's a thin piece of foam tape on one side of the caddy (makes for a really tight fit with the drive in there) but that's it. Nothing else inside or attached.

 

The foam JaiaV is talking about is the black foam spacer that you had to remove from the caddy to put in the new hard drive. The Screws and Adapter are actually inside of it.

If not then the builder either forgot to put in the foam and package of materials (adapter and screws) or something went really weird and you just didnt get one.

Either way AW/Dell should be able to send you out the connector and screws, but not for 60 dollars. I would atempt to speak to another rep

 

Eh...I should've worded my suggestion better I'm a bit sick of Dell's cruddy phone support though and most of them really need to be educated or fired. They're absolutely clueless about the field their job involves, which really should be illegal or something (*shrug* wishes...right...?)

Definitely call them back and do what vads says, be polite but very very firm. Don't ask, tell: this is an M17x R2 with a secondary HDD slot. It requires a caddy/interposer with screws so that a second HDD should be fitted into the slot. This is a default feature which should come pre-installed in all M17x models (and it is an issue which has largely been fixed for at least a year). If they give you trouble, ask for a supervisor. There should not even be any shipping cost for this. It should be free, gratis to you as it should have been included already without any trouble on your part.

Part number:
9JPNY - HD Bracket + Foamkit (should have interposer and screws)

 

I think yours was missing because it was a refurb...

When I returned my R3, I was tempted to keep the 2nd drive kit simply because my 2nd harddrive was already attached to it.

But, knowing someone will probably by buying this R3 from the outlet store someday would be stuck without a 2nd drive kit, I took the time and effort to PUT IT BACK. Not all people returning their computers are going to do this so I think this is the risk you run when you buy a refurb.

Hope you get them to send it out to you for free...

 

Oh, you mean there should have been a foam piece that actually took up space in the caddy? No, definitely didn't have that. There's just a small piece of foam/rubbery feeling tape on one side that's like a millimeter thick. Even being a refurb, aren't they supposed to check these things out before reselling it? I wouldn't mind if it cost me $10 or even $20 with shipping but yeah $60 just seems crazy. I don't supposed the interposer is a standard design that I could maybe pick up elsewhere, or is it unique to Dellienware?

 

The interposers are unique to the case. I think the HDD0 and HDD1 are even different (been a while since I opened my case to do ought but clean it, so I could be wrong there). There was definitely supposed to be a foam piece with interposer/screws inside, even in a refurb, at least I would think it would make sense to put them in the refurbs too...otherwise you end up with problems like this! Prevention of problems = less cost to manufacturer = moar profit! but then again corporations don't think like that. They would rather leave something messed up, sell it, and then ask you to pay to fix something they broke in the first place.

 

I wonder, with all the cost saving stunts these corporations pull, could it not be a possibility that they might just repack a brand new returned system and send it out to another customer as freshly built. After all the tracking of manufacture is a reflection of their input. How do we know for sure?

These days, I simply go through all the hardware with softwares like HW monitor and observe the revisions as well manufacture dates of parts like motherboard etc. Got to observe the LCD panel and other parts for sign of usage.Also watch for thumbprints when you open the underside. You wouldnt find one if its brand new built as they do not work bare handed. But if it has been opened by technician, you would generally see prints on tape surfaces etc.

Its a dog eat dog world we live in...

 

I doubt this because there are severe consequences for selling a returned product as "new". However, the risk we run when buying a "refurb" is that Dell isn't going to send it back to the manufacturing line to make sure all of the "parts" are correct. They may do a quick restore of the HD partition back to the factory. But frankly if someone swapped out memory chips, wifi cards, etc, it mostly likely won't be caught. I don't even think they catch when someone returns a laptop with the wrong ad/dc power adapter...

 

Well, they're sending it to me but I had to fight for it. Called again and the rep told me the same thing, $59.99 so I asked for a supervisor. Then he told me the same thing, and said I would only have gotten the full kit if I had purchased the system with 2 drives or had bought the 2nd drive from Dell. I said I had correspondence from several people on a well known web forum that stated they had gotten the full mounting kit with their single drive systems, to which he told me that was not possible and that the R2 has never shipped with the 2nd kit without the 2nd drive. I said with all due respect I believe you guys and not him. Then I said I had read a posting on the same forum from an actual Alienware representative from last August that it was confirmed that all shipping systems, even single drives, should have the kit ( http://forum.notebookreview.com/ali...ive-caddy-secondary-drive-41.html#post6548905). As expected his response was that was not an official communication and should not be taken as fact. Fair enough, but why would anyone make that up? I was semi-yelling at this point, and I really hate that I had to get heated with the guy to get it resolved. Anyway he had me hold while he "checked with engineering" and came back saying that as of last October the R2's were shipped with the kit. I bought mine in September but "as a courtesy" they'll ship it to me. You know, if everyone who added a 2nd drive not from Dell had to buy this piece separate - fine. But I know several people on this board just called them and got it without a fuss (granted, a year or so ago and I wouldn't expect to get it free if I were looking for a part on an old system - but they're still selling the R2!), and at least from some time last summer it was supposed to just come with the system. In the end, I'm thankful that they are helping me get the part I need. But I'm really disappointed I had to get angry and argue to make it happen. I honestly hope I don't have to call them again.

 

I had a single drive, and mine came with the second HDD caddy. This was one of my main concerns buying the laptop in the first place, and I made it very clear to Dell on purchase that I understood that they should come with the caddy and they'd be hearing from me if it didn't. For a laptop with a non-discount price of $3000-4000 USD fully loaded, there was no excuse to leave out a $60 caddy set.

Glad you got it sorted out.

 

Congratz! And don't bother with Dell rep. 99% of the time they don't know what they say.

 

Congrats on getting the kit, it sucks that it took so much to do it though. I remember when I got my R2 it didn't come with the kit in it, and this was before they finally fixed it and standardized it coming with it no matter what the config, I got it without mentioning anything twice. I really think it comes down to the fact that maybe 1 in 10-20 of Dellienware's employees actually care and know how to do their job, it's really sad for such a big company

 

Well be rest assured you are not the first to have reached shouting point and wont be the last. I dont know why they cant be amicable and be candid about it. His reasoning of September or October etc is pure hogwash.

I know how it feels after you succeed and put down the phone. You feel more exhausted compared to being happy at the end of it....I really hope Dell would train them on PR exercise.

 

To be fair, I will say they were never rude to me nor did they raise their voices. All the hostility was on my side. I was just angry that they were telling me things that I knew were not correct - and the price they are trying to push is ridiculous. I am not the kind of person who will try to push for something "free" that I don't deserve. It's not like I was asking for a free upgrade or anything, I just want to be able to use the full function of the hardware that I actually paid for. If they intend to charge extra for something like that (that's required for the 2nd drive to work), it should say somewhere in the documentation "requires purchase of additional hardware" or something. The manual that comes with it doesn't say that, it just tells you to go in and use the parts! Another thing is they said they had to send the whole kit, not just the interposer. Well - if it only comes as a full kit and I already have the caddy, shouldn't that have been evidence that I was supposed to get all the parts in the first place?

Also the "if you bought the 2nd drive from us you wouldn't have to buy this separately" justification irks me. So, it's really like "well you didn't let us overcharge you for the drive itself, so we'll zap you here instead." If the kit was anything under $20, I might have just paid for it. Maybe on the R3's they don't provide it free, but the point is I don't have an R3 and at the time I bought my R2 it should have been there. Anyway like I said, in the end I'm happy they came through but I wish my experience had been different.

 

The screws an interposer are inside the foam underneath the second hard drive caddy.

I actually bought an interposer from ebay because I thought they hadn't included it. (Only cost me $13).

When I go to install my second hard drive I remove the foam, flip it over, and BAM there's the screws and interposer that was shipped with the laptop. I had a big you moment.

 

Right, that's where it should have been - but there was no foam under my 2nd drive caddy. There was nothing in it or underneath. I checked thoroughly to make sure it wasn't tucked somewhere I might have missed.

So, I received the kit yesterday - I wasn't expecting it overnight so that was nice. However I opened it up and there's the caddy and interposer, but only ONE drive mounting screw! I'm not going back after them for that. I can get drive screws. The interposer is really the key - nothings happening without that.

 

That's great,man. Yeah you can use 3 screws for the HDD and 2 screws to attach the caddy

 

What part# is listed on the packing slip?

 

It should say TRDD2 or something similar.

 

Yep - it should. I'd like to know what MetalMania's packing slip/invoice lists as the part# for what was shipped. Wondering if they have more than one SKU.

 

This kind of makes me wonder if the people building these computers often take the caddy to sell on ebay if a build comes through with no secondary drive.

 

Sorry on the late reply folks, been busy and haven't had a chance to check the board in a few days. I'll check on the part #, I'm not home now. I do recall a sticker on the outside of the box though saying "refurbished".