It took long enough, but finally upgrading from 18x to 18x R2 courtesy of Dell.

Well here's my story. About 2 months ago I was gaming on my R1 (2860QM, 580M SLI) and the screen went black... followed by a plume of smoke coming out of the Ethernet and VGA ports! Needless to say it was dead. Sent the machine in for repair, got it back... and though it worked, the technician must have forgotten to re-install the SLI cable or something because SLI wasn't available on the Nvidia control panel, regardless of what driver I tried. Then I noticed how, now and then, the system would crash. Not a blue screen, no crash report left behind at all... but the screen would freeze and then go black, the sound would keep going for 5 to 10 seconds and then it would finally shut off and reboot. Hmmm... So I called Dell again and they put in a service ticket for a tech to come out and replace the video cards... apparently when I sent it into the depot, only 1 of the cards was replaced instead of both as they should have been. Well a couple of weeks go by and I hear nothing... so called Dell again and find out the ticket was canceled because the 580M part is end-of-life. ? And you didn't think it was important to tell me this? Ugh. Well the guy on the phone tells me they should have another shipment coming in anyway so he creates another dispatch for the video card replacement. 2 days later I check online and the dispatch is canceled AGAIN! I call on and find out there was something wrong with the batch of 580M cards they received... ugh. Anyways I get approved for a replacement laptop a week ago and FINALLY got a call today that they found a comparable machine.

Core i7 3840QM
32 (yes, THIRTY TWO) GB of RAM
Nvidia 680M SLI

No idea what anyone would need that much RAM for, lol. Anyway, I know that 580M to 680M is a big upgrade, so I'm very excited to finally get it, especially since I've been without a working laptop for weeks now. My current R1 has gotten to the point now where it won't go without rebooting for more than 5 minutes... sometimes even as soon as I get to the login screen. Occasionally the screen will freeze and instead of going black and rebooting it will come back about 10 seconds later will come back with that "display driver stopped responding but has recovered" message. I would imagine the graphics card is dead.

 

Good to hear that in the end they took care of you. Let us know how you like the new system!

 

I just bought a 512GB Samsung 840 Pro SSD to go in the replacement when I get it so I won't have to worry about juggling which games I have installed like I have to right now with my 256GB M4. That'll be nice. It's going to come to me with a pair of 500GB hard disks, ewww...

 

I wouldn't see the pair of 500GB drives as ewww but as free extra storage space haha lol

Cheers.

 

It's really great to hear that although it started as a possible support nightmare it ended up so well--Alienware did took care of you in the best way possible. The jump in performance from 580 to 680 is as wide as the Grand Canyon. Don't forget to flash those babies with a slv7 vBIOS and see the true power of the dark side

 

great to hear that you got to a good resolution after all. thanks for sharing the experience.

 

well first let me start by saying im the last person to rain on some ones parade.. buuuuuut.. I got to say that if you were out of warranty and you broke your machine.. and then after it was broke extended your warranty just to get it fix I damn sure wouldn't be posting about it in this forum..
I see to many people with legitimate issues getting the shaft that this slightly upsets me..

just saying glad you got it fixed and all but next time express some restraint and keep this to your self..

 

This is why I am not in the camp of extending the warranty later. With Dell pulling their 780ms from the M18 to make more profits and plans to go private to not answer to wall street, who knows what they plan to do afterwards. Companies tend to not let customers extend warranties after the fact for this very reason. It "can" lead to abuse so after machines break, people without warranty just buy it again and get stuff covered.

 

He is telling a positive story about Alienware support after a nightmare with a machine. I don't really see what the problem with the post is, I thought it was good.

Sent from my SPH-L900 using Tapatalk 2

 

Unless we are talking about the integrity of the OP... the same could be said about those reps who provided the terrible service as well...

 

this is the reason I said he should have kept this to him self.. he happened across a rep that was cool and allowed him to renew his warranty.. after he broke his machine.. now this is not an integrity question at all, its a simple fact that if you happened to get hooked up by a rep for what ever reason you keep that to your self..
Now there are going to be a million and one people quoting this thread as a basis for why cant they get the same thing.. and a couple of things will follow.. 1. the rep will get reprimanded for his actions or possibly let go..(and we all know there are few good reps you run across)

I am all for the OP getting the warranty and getting his machine swapped out.. but.. for any one else that happens to get this good of a hook up..please keep it to your self.. so that way future people may have a good experience if they are ever in this type of need..( out of warranty and there machine breaks)

now this could be Alienware just showing what an awesome company they are (but we all know that all ready)..

and yes I see he is relating a GOOD STORY/ OUT COME TO HIS TROUBLES, but the fact is he should have kept this to him self.. Dell/Alienware does monitor this site as well as others and it would suck if one person lost there income behind
help this guy out.. hence why he should have kept this to him self..

again no offence.. and like i said im the last one to rain on some ones parade.. and im honestly happy for you and glad you got an awesome out come..


I do have 1 question tho for the OP.. How long did you wait to call tech support after renewing your warranty? and did you let them know that your machine was broke prior to renewing your warranty?

 

<Laugh> You're much nicer than me. Everyone will agree the OP was cut a break. AW/Dell support does this at times with no consistent policy, but it's certainly not something they have to do....It has been posted a few times that they let this occur so I'm sure Dell/AW is "ok" to keep some customers happy.

Maybe he's bought a ton of Dell/AW stuff so they pulled up his account and said, no problem! If Dell/AW is ok with it, not for me to complain really. But I'm more on the side of not honoring these since I still feel these cases drive up the cost for more legitimate issues and replacements since they all add up.

Oh well, goodie for the OP!

I sell to retail in business so I probably am more biased towards the vendor since it's tough enough running a business.

 

We have seen more examples of Dell/Alienware going above and beyond the call of duty for customers than we have blunders in customer care. They frequently do more than required under the terms of the warranty contract and consistently do at least the minimum of what is required. There have been a few examples of mistakes, but they have a fantastic track record of taking care of business and that is the reason most of us are loyal customers. Having a policy and adhering to is 100% of the time is not necessarily the best way to do business. When things go in a positive direction for the customer because someone takes the initiative to think outside of the box, that's a good thing for the customer and for the company. That's really none of our business one way or the other.

First of all, nobody has, or should be, questioning another person's integrity for sharing a nice success story like this one. It seems clear to me that it was shared with good intentions. It's good to see acknowledgement and credit given when things go well and Dell/Alienware clearly deserves some praise here. Disgruntled customers can be counted on for a public spectacle, so this adds balance to the perspective of readers than haven't personally experienced what a great company Dell/Alienware truly is.

To DumbDumb's point, sometimes sharing the intricate details of the experience with the public, including examples of instances where unusual exceptions to policy are made is probably not a good idea. One can certainly make an announcement that they were handled in a fantastic manner and feel like a valued customer without going into depth with public disclosure of the finer details. Keeping details on the down low is probably the best approach to take for everyone concerned.

By sparing all of the intricate details it provides nothing for dishonest folks to point to as an example or basis for entitlement. It also provides no basis for regret on the part of a support rep or manager for having gone out of his/her way to do what they deemed to be the right thing under the specific set of circumstances. As they say, "no good deed goes unpunished" and "more is less." I think both of those clichés can be applied here.

So, with that said, I am asking myself whether it makes good sense to leave this thread open or lock it. I will wait to see what direction the discussion leads.

 

What about it stays open, but it undergoes moderation--as in editing--of the content of some posts, or simply close and delete it for everyone's sake. Who started the thread can simply open/post another, but this time more focused on the outcome and not on the details. Or maybe, we are just making a big fuss about and blowing out of proportions when no rep's job is at stake, and the whole thing was already supervised and approved.

 

I disagree. I'm glad he shared. That's what the open Internet is for.

Sent from my SPH-L900 using Tapatalk 2

 

I like that he shared also.. but some things need to be kept to ones self..

 

Well, this isn't the open internet. It's a private forum that is moderated based on forum rules and discretion. We allow a lot of stuff to get posted, but posting anything one wants to post doesn't fly. That's why it is not the "open internet" and freedom comes with limitations.

It's OK to disagree, too.

@rafix73 - It would be far better for it to stay open. Plus, I don't really want to have to delete stuff if I can avoid it. It would be preferable to have nothing posted that warrants deletion. Let's see if that works out.

 

I mean if the story is true and nothing is malicious about it... What's wrong with it?

Sent from my SPH-L900 using Tapatalk 2

 

The part about it being out of warranty for 3 months and renewing it before making a warranty claim for repairs outside of the warranty leaves room for speculation about whether or not that was proper, an example of deception, fraud or whatever. If it was done in a fraudulent manner that is wrong and should not be rewarded. That is the detail that could have been left out and not raised any questions. I think that is the part DumbDumb objects to. Or, it could be clarified better by the OP that nothing shady took place and a decision to reinstate coverage and allow the warranty extension happened with full disclosure.

If Dell made a conscientious business decision, then that is none of businesses and it doesn't need to be shared publicly. It might simply be a story that is worded poorly by the OP and does not accurately convey the sequence of circumstances or what actually took place. The thread title wording may also be conveying a message that the OP didn't intend to convey. Taken on face value, it's seems like an improper thing.

Baseless speculation about how it happened, underlying intentions or motives, and any other circumstances one way or the other is why the thread probably should be closed. If we just leave that alone and not have that kind of discussion taking place then there is no harm in it staying open.

 

@ OP,

I am so glad Alienware took care of you. I have learned that with Alienware, in the end the customer is taken care of. I have had my share of issues with my machine, but Alienware is making sure I am taking care of. I have to say you will like the replacement, and I am sure it will do you great service. I wan to thank you for sharing your positive story, often times people do not take the time to post their positive experiences and only come to the internet to post their negative experiences.

 

It's hard to tell tone on the internet, but it sounded like the OP was probably not open that it's already broke before renewing the warranty which is what made it more of a happy story. If he was under warranty or mentioned to the rep that he wasn't and just renewed it get coverage, I think he would have stated that originally since that's a pretty important point for this discussion and makes AW/Dell even more of a saint.

That said, since we don't know, I'll just not bother to guess at this point. I say if Dell wants to allow extending warrantys after they have expired, but all means, take advantage of it if they are allowing it. Clearly, what happened was approved completely so more power to Dell to allow this and make customers even more happy.


My word of advice which I hope is a take away from this thread is that don't rely on being able to extend the warranty after your purchase OR hope you can extend it even after it has ended coverage. That's just asking for trouble since Dell isn't required to do anything for you. As we've seen with reps not being able to custom build machines now and no 780ms for M18 machines unless you go with the 5k+ option, they may change this option in the future.

It's not like Dell is printing money at this point and suffering like the rest of the PC industry.

 

I have to say I wasn't really expecting this kind of controversy... is it weird to renew a warranty after it's already expired? I just renewed it online on the Dell site.

 

No that's not unusual. Expired warranties are allowed to be renewed. The question raised was whether or not it was disclosed at the time of renewal that the machine had a failure that required repair during the period while it was out of warranty. I know of a couple of other examples where this was allowed, but the customer was required to pay a flat fee for the out-of-warranty repair in addition to the cost of renewal. Again, this part of what happened is none of our business. It is between the customer (you) and Dell/Alienware. Whether or not is was appropriate to do that, or wise to disclose it publicly, is a controversial subject that we are not going to discuss. We don't know those details and speculation about your private transaction with Dell/Alienware is not appropriate. We're happy that your issue was resolved.