DELL = Best Warranty / Customer Service!

I have never in my life seen such good warranty or customer service!

Before I start with my story, I personally know a guy who has an Alienware M17X R4 that he dropped from a 2 feet height and damaged it badly and when he called DELL, they actually sent him a new motherboard, it didn't work, then they sent him 2 new nVIDIA GTX 660M GPUs and it worked again! He didn't even have accidental damage in his warranty! I was shocked when he told me that s any other company if you simply open your laptop they will void your warranty! Let alone dropping it.....

now my story.....

First Alienware 18 I bought: i7 4800MQ / 16GB 1600MHz. RAM / Dual GTX770M SLI + Windows 8 Single Language

had a screen bleeding issue that was more obvious than just the regular bleeding visible in LCD screens, they replaced the screen twice but that didn't help, so they replaced my entire laptop with....

Second Alienware 18: i7 4810MQ / 16GB 1600 MHz. RAM / Radeon R9 M290X Crossfire + Windows 8 Single Language

I was very happy, small upgrade to the CPU and a better GPU

Then I started noticing these " CPU Cache Hierarchy Errors" in Event Viewer, it didn't affect my laptop or its functionality, but me being a perfectionist and having paid so much for this laptop, I had to fix that. I called them and they sent me a new CPU replacement, no joy, still the same problem.

After 3 weeks, when I had already given up on the problem and just though I'd live with it......

They send me a new laptop with upgraded specs:

i7 4900MQ factory overclocked to 4GHz + 32 GB 1600 MHz RAM + GeForce GTX 780M SLI + Windows 8 Pro

I am blown away!! a better CPU, better GPUs, more RAM by stock (even though I have my own 1866MHz. RAM), a Windows 8 PRO license instead of the Single Language! This was like a free gift I have never been happier!

The laptop I originally bought cost me $3000 USD and I know this new one cost $4000 USD since I wanted it when I was shopping for an Alienware at the local store but couldn't afford it!

This decision for the 2nd laptop swap was made from the DELL management that I am really grateful to! Now I know why people pay so much for an Alienware, it's the specs, the upgrade-ability, and the best warranty ever!
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On a side note, the CPU Cache Hierarchy error is still there upon every reboot, now I know for sure it wasn't the CPU since that's how it was the moment I installed Windows 7 but it doesn't come up in Windows 8.1 PRO by the way

Here are my GeForce 780M GTX SLI 3DMark Scores, they are way higher than the 770M and R9 M290X I had before although installing the modiifed latest nVIDIA Drivers failed, installing them without the mod worked but I noticed funny colors in games, like there would be random streaks of orange going on and off as if you had a film filter coating on the screen so I reverted back to the Alienware Drivers:



Link for validation (as requested by Mr. Fox :hi2 = NVIDIA GeForce GTX 780M video card benchmark result - Intel Core i7-4900MQ,Alienware 01W2J2

 

I have to agree with you with this one. After using MSI, ASUS and Sagers, Dell gives the best warranty.

 

Nice! Good beast you got there. They really took care of you.

 

wow nice trade you got there lol.

Does anyone know how much it cost to buy new warranty on a replacement notebook without any warranty?

 

It's a lot more expensive than an extended warranty on a new system. Not sure how much where you are, but in the US it's usually over $400 for a one-year extension. Some have managed to get it for about half that much, but most reps say the price is non-negotiable and won't give a discount on the warranty. They may or may not allow you to buy a warranty on a machine with an expired warranty. They often do, but sometimes do not. The most warranty you can have is 5 years from the original purchase date of the first machine. If you had a 4 year warranty on a machine replaced under warranty in year 4, the warranty time remaining will apply to the new machine and the most you could extend is one year, ending on a date corresponding with the purchase date (same month and day) for the original machine.

 

To be fair, 4-5 years is quite good, because you will likely want something bigger and better then (so to speak.

 

Ugh, $400 just for one year? Thats very expensive. $200/year I can live with. Will try to call Dell next week to ask. Im replacing the GPUs with 970M SLI but would like to have warranty for the rest.

The machine is brand new, its a replacement the seller got after many errors with his previous machine

 

Yeah, it's crazy how expensive. You can get 3 years on a new system for about that same price. It probably has something to do with fraud, people being cheap and only getting a standard one year warranty until they have a problem after expiration and then expecting Alienware to fix it as a favor. Adding a warranty to a system without one is a huge crap shoot for Dell. They don't know what kind of nightmare they are accepting a risk on and $400 might be a really bad deal for them, so the exorbitant cost in that scenario makes sense from a business perspective.

Yup, I think it's excellent. It's crazy to spend $3000 to $5000 on a machine and not have at least a 3 year warranty, if not 5 years. Even if you sell the machine in year 3 to upgrade to something better, having 2 more years of warranty makes it easier to sell and should fetch a much better resale value.

 

My general rule of thumb is an extra year of warranty for every $1000 increase in price.

 

After experiencing how good their warranty is, I definitely will extend my warranty! it's worth every penny and the good thing about DELL is when they don't have stock of the component that is faulty, they just upgrade you to the next best thing!

 

They often do, but not consistently. Others have had to argue to not be downgraded, especially where Extreme CPUs are involved. They are sometimes really bad about trying to pawn off next generation QM CPUs as suitable replacements for previous generation XM CPUs and that is a HUGE no no. A QM will never be a reasonable substitute from an XM CPU... ever. This issue seems to be a LOT worse with Dell EMEA support, but there have been a few here in the US that had to fight the same battle to avoid having their CPU downgraded from an XM to QM.

 

When I got my M17x R1, we didn't initially plan on going past the one year warranty because this was our first technological child and you always make grotesque mistakes with the first kid. Within four months, I had successfully advanced the idea of extending the warranty, so we put down another two years for roughly $260. As that ending cycle approached, I got nervous again and went ahead and extended it for the full length possible of the warranty; five years from the date of purchase.

Here is the list of repairs that Dell carried out by sending a technician with the appropriate overnighted part to my house to satisfy the warranty requirements:

3 motherboard replacements
3 GPU replacements
2 keyboard replacements (second one kicked in the system exchange)
1 battery exchange
1 AC power brick replacement
1 replacement and subsequent upgrade of the wireless card
1 replacement and subsequent upgrade of the internal hard drive
1 replacement of the slot-loading blu-ray drive
And a partridge in a pear tree

Eventually at the end of the warranty's life, I sent the unit to a repair depot to have two non-functioning USB ports replaced and while inspecting the unit, they determined the keyboard would need to be replaced as well due to a lighting issue. When they discovered they had no more R1 keyboards, I was set up with the "mystery laptop exchange" in my signature below. It's like they took my still-good but veteran 1965 Mustang and replaced it with a Dodge Viper.

When people ask me how in God's name I justify paying an extra $600 (conservatively) that the AW brand costs, I point to this laundry list of fix-em's, all carried out quickly and efficiently in my house. Think Toshiba is going to do that? I've been a Dell customer in general for fourteen years, and unless things go completely to hell, I'm going to stick by them. Every time my wife starts considering a Mac for her business, Dell rides to the rescue.

Alienware was better when there were more configuration options, and I still miss colored aluminum. I wish the build options weren't so rigidly set up at their bases, even though that ended up working heavily in my favor for system replacement. Having a blu-ray drive meant at least an i7 processor, and the SLI ability being lost boosted the GPU. To be honest, I've had zero issues with the 880m, and I pushed that pretty hard in Wolfenstein: The New Order on a game engine that is notorious for texture pops. It was great.

Warranties? I believe in them religiously. Protect your investment worth several thousand dollars.

 

wow!! that makes me wanna extend my warranty the moment I have some extra cash! thanks for sharing!

 

You wouldn't need a warranty like Alienware's if their laptops didn't crap out all the time.. My Asus G73JH had no issues for 4 years and loved it so much.. Since I got this Alienware, had one motherboard replacement, one keyboard replacement, heatsink replacement, PSU replacement in a 6 month period.. Once the Clevo P771 is out, bye bye Alienware..

 

With all due respect bro. The reason of me having an Alienware is because I had the worst experience with ASUS laptops in terms of quality.

G73Sw, bought a brand new one, opened the box, turned it on, keyboard lights don't work. I called the service center and they told me that was a common problem and I had to bring it in! What a hassle! buying a new laptop only to take it to the service center next day. Apparently there was a hidden option in the BIOS to enable it to work which the user can't see.

That was a 1 minute fix but the hassle of taking it to the service center was a big pain.

Next, withint one month, the screen started showing fuzzy lines all over randomly when I would open or close the lid. I called them, they wanted me to send it for a screen replacement. That's where it ended. I told them I don't want this laptop if it gave me 2 issues within so much less of time.

then I bought another ASUS laptop, why? coz I cannot afford Alienware, simple as that....

G75VW: 1) they put a low end Atheros WLAN Chipset that cannot even connect to 5GHz networks when at that time, even a cheap $300 USD ACER laptop could. No biggie, but very disappointing for a gaming laptop, I didn't know that I had to look for one with the Wireless-N Killer and not the standard Atheros WLAN chipset

2) it had a matte screen which I didn't know at the time that ASUS matte screens are the worst, the screen appeared as if someone spilled grease over it, very dull colors and on whites, like if you were surfing or on a white page such as Google, you would notice the white color as small dots of colorful rainbow specs...cheap Taiwanese junk......

I called them and complained so much that they decided to upgrade me to a 3D Glossy screen instead! Since their engineers are very lousy, they ended up burning my motherboard in the process so they gave me a G750JX as a free replacement.

3) The G750JX was ok, but again, it came with that same low end Atheros WLAN card! Why in the world can they not spend $30 USD or so to put a good WLAN card in a gaming laptop where speed is crucial is beyond me...... this laptop had a 3D screen/Glossy panel which is what I wanted...... this was the best ASUS laptop I owned, but after 3 months, I turn on the laptop, nothing..black screen......googled the issue and it appears this has happened to many others where you would get a black screen and only the CAPS LOCK / NUM LOCK lights are on......

took it to the service center, they made me wait for 7 days till they got a new motherboard as it was fried (I don't overclock or anything)

The moment I got the laptop back, I sold it and swore to never buy Taiwanese junk again

just my 2 cents worth

the point I am trying to make is, any laptop can have issues, but DELL's on site support where you get a technician at your place the next business day is one heck of a convenience that we seem to forget! At the time I had my ASUS' motherboard change, since I can't wait for 7 days to be without a computer, I had to buy a cheap $400 USD ACER laptop in order to not be disconnected from the world...... so there you go...

 

First-generation models are usually the testing ground for long-term wear and tear that go badly. The R2's didn't have nearly as many problems as the R1's did; from looking around, my story is only unusual in that they held off for doing a replacement system for so long and kept fixing the parts when they went bad. Usually they do replacement after only a third of those issues, but I was a pretty good (and patient and polite) customer and in the end, it was rewarded.

 

After all this great warranty and replacing my laptop twice upgrading each time to a better one for free. Now I noticed some scratches on my screen, I called DELL with no hope as I know scratches are not covered by warranty. They asked me to send them a screenshot of the screen which I did and guess what??! They are sending me a brand new screen soon as they determined the scratches are not physical damage but normal wear and tear and since I am still in the warranty period, they are sending me a new screen! I have never seen such kind of good customer service EVER in ANY company! I really want my next laptop to be a DELL just for their great warranty too bad they don't have any tempting options at the moment.

 

And here is my replacement 18.4" Samsung LTM184HL01 LCD

 

Completely agree on asus's part, i had a g75vw and to my experience the atheros wlan chipset was mediocre at best, horribly abominable at worst. The only way i solved the issue was to whip out the wire and hook it up to the modem, so much for "portability" eh? being literally tethered to the modem. Asus i think now have upgraded it at least for the g751, but i hardly understand why this was an issue in the first place, i mean a gaming laptop right? its natural to assume it should have the best wireless components for stable connection.

I did not notice that the screen was too blatantly bad, granted i had the 3d vision so maybe i dodged a bullet there

 

If you had the 3D screen, then it's all good because that's a glossy screen which is perfectly fine. The issue is with their crappy Matte screens, ASUS simply cannot produce or fit in a matte screen that has any form of quality. They used crap ones which look like you spilled grease all over them with washed out and grainy colors especially noticeable against white backgrounds

and yes that Atheros junk couldn't connect faster than 75MBPS LOL and couldn't see 5 GHz bands! A gaming laptop that has the cheapest WLAN chipset

 

Its like having a pristine mustang or a ferrari with the most garbage tires ever, wasted potential haha. Matte screens a lot of the time have worse color reproductions compared to glossy, so far only the ips ive seen so far from msi alienware and the new asus ips panels are good, tn panels are a bit rarer to find good ones (outside of own calibration after purchase), although the msi gt72 tn panels are alright.