My terrible luck purchasing an M18x from dell.

Hmm.. It seems bugged?

Here's the original post: (as it seems to just be an empty thread at the moment)

Apologies ahead of time if I'm posting this in the wrong place. Also, don't mean to completely crap on Dell here, not my intention. Prolly a really long read too.

However.. I've had REALLY bad luck when purchasing a 3000 dollar laptop.

Way back in March, I got interested in purchasing an M18x. So, I started calling them up by phone to see if there were any offers I could take advantage of. Ultimately, it came down to a 5% student discount on top of the discounted price listed online.

The total came out to be $3067 for (Q2670M, 16gb ram, Crossfired 6990Ms, and 2 year advanced warranty), which included BCs ridiculous taxes.

When buying the laptop, I was told this is about as good a price you can get (Which I took the rep's word for) and put in my order. Not 2 hours after I do, I get a call from dell from another rep I talked to before suggesting I can get a 10% discount if I was still interested. I called back to the person I put my order through and was told this is impossible. So, this aggravated me slightly as it seemed like I was being run-around.

So, another week passes and I am told I'll be given a 100$ discount shortly after receiving the laptop. I figure, close enough and according to the rep that 10% was impossible in the first place, so why not?

Laptop arrives, and as it turns out overheats considerably (70 degrees idle, 95-105 degrees on fur mark). The front bezel of the keyboard was also too tight.. Or something.. Basically the Left Ctrl => Alt keys were all pseudo depressed at all times. You could still press the key, it just wouldn't come back up all the way (felt really weird when trying to type/game as you wouldn't know if the key pressed/came back up.). There must have also been an issue with the ram, as the PC would lock up for about 2 seconds every now and again, then turn back to normal. This would occur randomly from idle mouse movement to just surfing the web.

Tried formatting / reinstalling drivers / etc.

Fast forward another few weeks, Dell decides that they will send me a brand new replacement laptop + a 100$ coupon to use in the store + another year of warranty. Again, this is all great, but at the same time I just want a laptop that works when shelling out 3 grand.

New laptop arrives, with all the issues resolved. But now there's random crashing, and two blue screens of death within the first few days. This is without anything installed, just surfing the web. Formatted it again, and reinstalled drivers and it has crashed again since then (no blue screens yet, however).

These shenanigans aside as it turns out, 2 months in... That the original 100$ discount that they used to tide me over has not gone through. Following up with the rep, he assured me that he would get to the bottom of it and keep me posted. 2 weeks since that call, I have had no such correspondence and no change in my outstanding total either.


So, after all this time I figured "Why did I pay 3000 dollars to constantly have head aches from either the customer care or the PC itself". Now, I consider myself to be QUITE tech savvy as I've built several PCs in the past. Dealt with all the issues that come associated with that as well. Ultimately, I've wasted far too much time trying to make this laptop work as it should, rather than actually get around to some gaming on it.

Long-story not short: Decided today to return this beast. Luckily the 30-day satisfaction guarantee did refresh when they sent me the new laptop. Rather good customer care from Dell, I must admit. As much as I want to keep the laptop, I just can't merit spending this much for all the issues that I've had to face, and still face with it.

 

You are part of the problem
Why are you formatting/messing around with a laptop that crash during browsing and reach 100+C?

You should tell them about it asap and replace it, you keep replacing it until it works flawlessly without any more serious troubleshooting from yourself, if it didn't work you just move on and never bother with alienware again really.

 

No, the issues were there from the get-go (failed to mention this the first time).

Even the tech support guy mentions reinstalling drivers in the event there is a bad driver or something. The reformatting just saved time in suggesting there were multiple things I tried eventually leading up to formatting (clean install) and still persistent problems.

I have no reason to just format it out of the blue. These problems were present since I first booted the laptop up.


But that's pretty much it, isn't it. Had it replaced once, the 2nd laptop has less issues but still has them. I figure it's not normally like this, but at the same time you expect these type of things to work reasonably well given the price tag.

 

Did you get a full refund when you returned it?

 

I differ on this opinion, half the time they ask you to do a respawn anyway through the troubleshooting process, so he was being pre-emptinve to rule out a driver or software issue and do what dell makes you do anyway to speed up the process.

I did this with mine and it actually sped up the process of figuring out the problem I had to rule out software problems.

Dell was on strike 2 when they resolved my problem, which if they havent, I would have demanded a replacement system.
But I agree with the OP, for the kind of money you spend on this laptop, it shouldnt be complicated, it shouldnt have issues. Unfortunatly some find there are issues....when you spend much of your first 6 weeks with a malfunctioning $3k paperweight having to reset your schedule spending hours on the phone with tech support, waiting for techs to come and replace parts or send back to the depot, its very frustrating and leaves a bad taste in your mouth.

I feel for the op, and understand his reasoning to send it back. hopefully the R2 is better and one day he'll give Dell an opportunity again.
I myself am grateful Dell was able to resolve my issues in a reasonable fashion and I am perfectly happy with a fully functioning laptop. Though I am warry of a future purchase myself after 4 sequential Dell laptops...

Fortunatly the customer service/tech support is improved from the past, but still needs further improvement and try to prevent the need for it in the first place.

 

I think the paste wasn't properly applied. Either that or there is something wrong with the fans.

 

How is he part of the problem? He spent 3 grand on a computer, why is it so much to ask for a fully functioning computer? Dell should be bending over backwards to keep this man satisfied with his purchase........

People defend Dell/AW far too much, sure there are people who have great experiences with owning their products, but FAR too often scenarios like this arise where a customer gets screwed.

Maybe I am biased but having had a similar experience with a $2k purchase of an M1730 I don't believe Dell is a company who values the individual anymore.

 

Sounds like rubbish. My completely horrid experience with a $4k M1730 is precisely why I am convinced Dell values their customers. Their warranty service is the best, and they consistently deliver equal or better replacements parts or system exchanges than what their customers paid for, and they do it in a timely manner in all but the occasional exception to the norm. There are stories of similar nightmares with every brand, and I have lived through them. But, no other brand goes to the lengths Dell does to try to rectify their mistakes.

astkhat - best wishes to you in whatever path you decide to take. Sorry things did not go a smoothly as they normally do. No need for this thread to stay open at this point.