Alienware Warranty Question

So, now that the M17x R3 is out to order again, I'm planning on picking it up pretty soon. Problem is, my budget is around 1700-1800, and I can't fit a three year advanced warranty in to that. I plan on ordering the 2630qm, 4 gigs of ram, 1080p screen, and the 6970m, which after the aafes discount comes down to 1600.
But anyway, if i were to order it now, would it cost any extra to upgrade the warranty at a later date? Like if sometime in the next month or two could I call them up and get the upgraded warranty? Thanks!

 

That's what I plan on doing. My rep told me he'd call me after I receive it to see if I want to upgrade the warranty. Just tell your rep that's what you want.

 

It would cost MORE to upgrade warranty at a later date and (Source: Thread on AW Section) only the BASIC and PREMIUM are available, the advanced is not.

..You can do it, though.

 

Really? My rep told me it would cost the same as when configuring it... guess I'll just have to see.

 

http://forum.notebookreview.com/alienware/559274-you-still-can-get-warranty-after-one-expired.html

 

Hmm didn't see that post. Only thing about that one is, I think that maybe the fact that the warranty was already expired drove up the cost so high. I'm not sure though.

 

trust me, ive got alot of answers since i posed many questions to these reps. while ur warranty is still active and u extend it, it will still be more expensive than the choices you have buying it now

For example (rep gave me this example): "lets say u have a month warranty left, and u ask to extend it, if its basic warranty and u want to extend for three years, it costs around 450-500, if u have advanced and want to extend it for three yrs its gonna cost 600, and premium for 3 yrs is gonna be 700"

so get it NOW i say. and if it expires, its gonna cost another 200 to top that price off

edit: i forgot to mention both on my thread and this one, that since my warranty "expired" they had to "manually" create the cost of it (meaning the made it up no doubt). i dont know if thats the case for extending one that hasnt expired. my point is you can probably fiddle with them and see if they cannot cut the price down a bit.

 

In that case I guess i will have to wait a little while to order it.
Also, the aafes discount is only 10% according to the website now? I plan on calling when I do order, so hopefully I can bring that back up to 20%. My grandpa is the one who was in the navy, so i have to order through him.

 

Oh, and one other warranty related question. Since it is my grandpa who will technically be buying the system, how would the warranty work there? is it easy enough to transfer it?

 

You can definitely upgrade it after purchase. If you attempt to upgrade after the original warranty has expired, it's going to cost a lot more - about 2-3x the cost of getting the warranty with the system. (I found this out the hard way with my wife's Dell laptop.)

I don't know about extending the warranty if your system is still covered. No doubt it will cost more, but not to the same degree as being out of warranty.

Other have reported here that it's not a big deal to transfer your warranty. The process takes a couple of weeks, but other than that I believe it's fairly painless. Try doing a forum search on warranty transfer and see what comes up.

 

I have done it many times on my Dell systems so I can tell you it will cost you much more. To get another year of warranty after the initial purchase will cost you $550.00 for a system like the R3.

 

yes, transfering ownership is extremely easy, talk to any dell rep, say ur the new owner, and theyll ask you your information and its done.

 

Thanks for the help everybody. This was one of the main things i really wasn't sure about when it came to alienware laptops. I've been following these forums since the m17 r1 came out, and i fell in love with it, so i had most everything else figured out. haha

 

Sorry to hijack your thread, but can someone remind me again, which warranties are offered through aafes? And which one should I choose if I want the 3 year? I just know that the prices are 299-30% and 399-30% for the two 3year options.

TYIA!

 

im not too sure if its the same with aafes, though i can check, but dell only offers the basic and the premium after you ordered, so those are your two choices. both have the three year option as well, so it just depends if you would want the accidental included with EVERYTHING else, or just the hardware parts.

 

Can you check for me real quick what's the options that aafes offers right now? And can you explain the diff? Optimally I want that service where they can come to your pad and fix it for you, and the one where you have accidental damage warranty.

Thx!

 

hah, well i cant at the moment, because... well, im on an FTX, lol, i can on tuesday though!

 

'S koo. Can you tell me what the diff is between "basic" and "advanced" though? It doesn't say anywhere I look. Do either of those have accidental warranty?

 

so basic only covers if theres some type of hardware failure, they would be able to come out and replace whatever component has gone bad, (lets say HDD is corrupt for some reason and the only way to fix it is by replacing it)

now advanced has what basic coverage has, and on top of that, it covers accitendal stuff like you drop your laptop and it cracks your screen, or you spill water on it and it goes haywire... etc.

premium is a "glorified" advanced... i dont even know half the stuff on it...

 

Ah, okay. So what I want is advanced then. Thanks mang!

 

That's fine, afterall the threads name is "Alienware Warranty Question". Can't fault you for that.