Absolutely disgusted with Alienware Service.

Ok, so bear with me, but I need your guys advice for this dilemma.

Anyways, there was a small, cosmetic problem with my m11x R3 (which I bought just over 21 days ago), where the keyboard was slightly elevated, imprinting itself on the screen when the laptop was closed. I called up Alienware (i.e. Dell) and told them about it, and they said it's no big deal, we can replace the keyboard.

5 days later, I get this lady who is dell's "onsite technician" who comes to replace the keyboard. Anyways, she opens my laptop, breaks the chip that supplies the power, and scratches up the plastic on my keyboard. All she had to say for it was "whoops", I'll order new parts and come back later.

This clearly pisses me off and I call Alienware and tell them how can they send a person who has no clue how to work with this model and clearly broke an essentially working laptop. I wanted a new one the next day, and not have a tech, who I don't trust anymore fix it. But the manager (who's name I will reveal if need be) since dell is "made to order", I'd have to wait 15 days for a new replacement or get a refurbished in 8 days. This was unacceptable, and they said they'll upgrade the network card and throw in an external bluray burner.

For the next week, I don't even hear from Alienware. I call them up, and they're like, well, it got delayed because of some conflicting issues of the technicians ordering parts. Until they cancel, they can't make an order for a new laptop. I was annoyed, but told them, because of this delay, to ship it to my new address in Dearborn. The next few days, I call to check the status and again mention the new shipping address.

At day 15, I call after hearing nothing from them again. I find out there is a order number now, with no mentions of upgrades or external bluray. And it's being shipped to my old address. I talked to the manager who I've been speaking with for the last week, and he's like, I'm sorry, we'll fix it.

3 days later, I find out it was on a FedEx truck to my old address. I'm pissed and call the manager, and he is again apologetic, and says he'll try and reroute it. It takes another two days to reroute it to the right address.

Finally, I get the laptop. No bluray burner in the box. ok, fine, don't care right now, just want my laptop. I turn it on...

Just a pure white laptop screen. turned it off, then on again, white screen, nothing else. Wait a while with the screen and nothing changes.

They sent me a broken model.

I'm furious on the phone, asking how can they screw up so many times, and what the hell is wrong with Dell's quality? In my anger, I told them to just give me a refund since I'm sick of talking on the phone for 2 hours every day for the last two weeks.

Now I haven't heard from them since Thursday of last week, but I realized today I'm getting screwed. Not only is Dell getting rid of a headache with a refund, but I lost out on having a laptop for 20 days and no compensation for their mistake. I emailed the manager today saying that I really just want my laptop. Honestly, I don't know what to do. I really like this laptop, but maybe this is sign that maybe I should stay away from dell.

And as much as I make fun of Apple, they would never do this to a customer. I'm seriously thinking of getting a macbook pro instead.

What do you guys think I should do? How do I contact someone higher to deal with this?

 

Ask for a refund with the external blu ray player and network card plus keep the laptop to sell for parts good luck this is one of the reasons I stay away from dell

 

That's very frustrating. I've been buying Dells for 15 years, spent an hour or two with technical support today and am sending my machine back due to a bad port.

I have to say though that I'd rather have a machine of this power that I can afford even though it comes with more service headaches.

 

They never sent those, and now they won't send them since they're giving me a refund (which I have no clue when it's coming since I have yet to hear from them since last Thursday)

I agree. I was so disappointed that a manufacturer like Alienware, known as a boutique high end computer company could be this difficult to work with. Honestly, I would be happy with my same laptop at this moment that just works!

 

they seem to mess up on updating information. i called to replace the hinges and i told them i moved and i have a new phone and she said okay ill update your info. then i wait a couple days call back and they said the service tech called you and u didnt pick up. but they were calling my old number lol

so your not alone they just have really horrible customer service.

and apple does have very good customer service if you dont have a preferrence of os's then you should try apple

 

Well you made your first mistake of not taking better actions. If you were truly upset about the crappy tech ruining your laptop then you could have just sent it back for a full refund and ordered another one or gone to a different company. I believe it is a 30 day return period. Honestly the manager probably just wanted you to go over the 30 day period by telling you it would take a while to get a new one and to sit tight.

 

Oh and just so you know Alienware does not technically exists anymore. Its called Dell. If you are expecting the Alienware from the past then you are wasting your time.

 

So I called up today at lunch to see what happened, whether they're going to refund my money or send me a new laptop. I talk to a guy, and told him that I wanted to speak to the manager I've been communicating with. He puts me on hold for 15 mins, then tells me the manager took a sick leave today and would email me from home. (what??) I tell I haven't heard back from him in 5 days, so I'd rather speak to another manager. Puts me on hold again for 20 mins, come back and tells me he's in a meeting and can't talk, and it's best to wait for the original guy to email me back. And apparently, there are only two managers there.

Unbelievable.

Dude, I was calling them everyday and on the line for 2 hours ever since they messed up computer up. What else should have I done?

 

Sorry to hear about that, I've had my share of bad experiences with dell. However, once you figure out how they operate, you can just use it to your benefit.

 

What do you mean by "how they operate"?

 

Dell is messing up the Alienware brand. Alienware should just buy their stake and separates from Dell. They were excellent when they were their own company.

 

We've all had bad experiences with customer service. Trust me. I've worked in customer service, and I can tell you that no matter how much of a positive attitude you have going in, these people are still only human at the end of the day.

What's the point of this story? In customer service, you get treated as well as you treat the person on the other end of the phone. The few times I've had to call Dell support, I was always very courteous and polite...and I always got EXCELLENT service. When I was having driver problems, they were able to diagnose my Alienware instantly, and the rep even gave me a private number to get ahold of him if I needed additional help. They went above and beyond. I never making demands or (as you state that you did) call them up and accuse Dell's staff of being incompetent/stupid.

the truth of the matter is that I've owned many different laptops, from different companies, and I've had to get technical support from all of them. Dell's is pretty average. They aren't vindictive over there... they WILL work with you. Like someone said, you need to find out "how Dell operates" and use it to your advantage. Since buying my Alienware M11x, I've never gotten bad service from Dell.

 

Dell, has some awesome computers with very affordable prices, but definitely subpar customer support compared to other manufactures.

The last time I bought directly from Dell, it was a Vostro, and they sent the note I customized to someone else, and in my experience, when you are polite and corteous, they tend to bull you, when you are pissed, loud, obnoxious and threatning to not only cancel your order, but to also denounce to customer protection organs, they tend to transfer to managers or retention sections, that speed things up and make things happen.

Do like I did, and buy directly from a retail store if possible, like I did with my M11xR1, unless the prices are too inflated, you can take the note right away, test it, and if it "breaks" during the refund period, well, just give it back to the store.

Even with Dell's crappy customer support, I still can't resist the temptation of buying the new M11xR3 or M14x, to me it's worth the potential hassle, but that's just because I'm a huge Alienware fan.

 

"And as much as I make fun of Apple, they would never do this to a customer. I'm seriously thinking of getting a macbook pro instead."

No.. they'd just tell the customer that they were holding it wrong, or your broadband wireless router that's always worked is the cause for iPad wifi issues or totally ignore Malware cases for weeks until forced to release a statement.


Go Apple.

All oems have issues and I accept that as I'm a rational human being

 

Regular Dell CSR sucks I noticed especially the ones with accents. When i ordered and contacted DELL EPP with their american CSR it was a much better experience especially with returns and refunds.

 

This is my last hardware from Dell. They're CS is horrendous. I can barely understand what they're saying and they can barely understand me.

 

Hang up, call back until you get someone who speaks better English. I've called support about 2 dozen times and most have spoken very clearly and had no problems understanding me.

Understanding basic troubleshooting? That's been a little more sketchy. Some have been able to think outside of the flowchart they all start off with while others can't manage that at all.

 

This happens with all vendors, you just happen to be on the bad end of the statistics.
Trust me, I have dealt with these various vendors on average more than the average person, and it happens. Dell actually has been some of the best in comparison with most.

I also couldn't help but laugh at your request for compensation without having a laptop for 20 days or whatever.

Sorry for your bad experience.

 

I would laugh too if it was my own fault. But they broke my laptop, not me. If you hit my car, your insurance would not only pay for the damages, but also for a rental car when my cars in the shop.

 

You are comparing apples to oranges here. Did you lose something those days without your working laptop? What did you do before you received your Alienware to begin with?
I just think you need to take a serious look at the situation and what you are asking for.
Also know, they won't comply.

 

I feel for you man. Just had my first encounter with CSR and onsite repair. My problem is incomparable to yours. I guess right now all you can do is persevere.

 

Update on the situation:

I finally got through to another manager, who said they'll get in touch with the first and get my refund. Got an email my refund is confirmed, just need to return the two defective products. FedEx'd them both today.

I'm done with dell/alienware. In fact, they've kinda turned me off from pc manufacturers for a while. I've always been a pc guy, but I'm awaiting the 2011 13'' mba as my new laptop. Apple just won a new customer with their service alone.

 

Pah, good luck with Apple.

Took a Macbook back with a very bad screen flickering problem. It was 5 months out of warranty. The "Genius" said it will be an expensive screen replacment and that we should have taken out the extended warranty.

This is an obvious manufacturing defect and you should expect a laptop to last more than 17 months but Apple don't want to know.

So much for Apple quality and service. They just lost a customer.

 

Every company makes mistakes. Dell has been extremely good at handling requests...They were willing to give you a new laptop... with upgrades...and all that was really needed was an apology and a second service visit. You would have been back up and running in a couple days...

You should be happy, not pissed.

 

A second service visit? No thank you. If the third party tech service they hired put a screw driver through a power supply chip, while scratching up my computer, why the hell would I trust them to rebuild the computer?

And it wasn't just one mistake. It was mistake after mistake after mistake.