Help! Hinge just broke and I'm overseas

Well, I've had my M11X R2 since September, 2010 and the left hinge just busted today. I was closing the laptop down to go home from work and "crack" the left hinge broke.

I bought the M11X in the US, but I'm currently working in China. I need my poor M11X for work and I'll be here for a year. I'm not sure if where to go to get this fixed.

Any suggestions?

 

Customers in the United States or Canada:

If you’re an M11x owner in the United States or Canada who has a problem with the hinge assembly, there are two options:

1) E-mail Dell Support at [email protected]; The e-mail address is provided for customers in the United States and Canada and it’s set up to manage this repair order only. Please contact Dell Support for any other issues you may have with your M11x.

If you do e-mail the Alienware team, for the M11x hinge fix, please remember to include the following:
•In the subject line, please include “Alienware M11x Hinge Fix Needed”
•your service tag #
•the address where your machine is
•phone number where you can be reached to coordinate the repair logistics, and the best time to reach you.

2) Contact standard Dell Tech Support. Here’s how to do it:
•Please visit support.dell.com.
• Select Support for Home Users
•Go toward the bottom of the page, on the left hand side under Contact Us and select Contact Technical Support
•Finally, select your preferred method to contact Technical Support (choose either E-mail or Telephone).
•When you talk to Technical Support, you can reference the following documents that outline the issue and the fix:
1.Delta Knowledge ID: 401161
2.DSN PSQN Document ID: 376475

Customers outside the United States:

If you’re an M11x owner in outside the US or Canada who has a problem with the hinge assembly, please contact Dell TechSupport in your region:
•Please visit support.dell.com.
• Select your country from the top left drop down menu, then select Support for Home Users.
•Go toward the bottom of the page, on the left hand side under Contact Us and select Contact Technical Support.
•Finally, select your preferred method to contact Technical Support (options include: E-mail or Telephone).
•When you talk to Technical Support, you can reference the following documents that outline the issue and the fix:
1.Delta Knowledge ID: 401161
2.DSN PSQN Document ID: 376475

Customers in the regions, please be ready to provide your service tag number, the address and country where your system is located and two phone numbers where you can be reached to coordinate the repair logistics when you call Dell.

Other things to keep in mind:
1.Standard warranty types will apply, so you may be asked to mail your system if your original contract was the “return to depot” variety.This does change once your system is out of warranty—all systems no longer under warranty must be sent in for repairs. Once you’ve contacted Dell, you should hear from someone within the next 5-7 business days to arrange the details of the repair.


2. Please note the email address and phone numbers I provided in the bullet points above are to support R1 and R2 customers who need hinge replacements. If you are looking for tech support not related to the M11x hinge issue, please contact Alienware Community Forums on Dell.com.

Feel free to ask any questions related to the Alienware M11x hinge repair process in the comments below. Thanks again for your patience.



I had mine fixed within 2 week
They replace the back , front and a new lcd with it.

 

Thanks kungfu-judo. Did you have yours fixed in the US or Canada?

 

USA - they will shipped a box to you and you will shipped the laptop to their depot I had it back within a week.
they had replace the back , front , and LCD .
Everything look like brand new again.

I Just Email them and got a response within 24 hours , Once I got it back I sold it on craiglist as excellent condition for 550.00 :

Alienware M11X R2 | Stealth Black | i7 | 8 GB RAM | 320 GB hard drive | Nvidia GeForce GT 335M | Windows 7 pro 64 bit

 

Thanks kungfu-judo. I'm looking for some feedback on how the replacement process will go in China.

 

Here's an update: The Dell support page for China is pretty much useless. It lists a phone number that doesn't work. I'll try calling again tomorrow.

I called Alienware in the US and they told me to do an international ownership transfer so that I can list my address in China and get the hinge replacement process started. I just finished that up, and it will take 15 business days for the transfer to be complete. Once that is done, they will send me an email and maybe they will have more information about who to contact from there.

Fingers crossed!

If anyone has any experience with Dell in China, please let me know. I'm in Hangzhou.

 

Here's another update if anyone is interested: I did the international ownership transfer and it actually came through the next day. Since it was the weekend, I had to wait until Wednesday (due to my own work) to call Dell here in China. The number that I tried last time, worked this time. I think I called right after work hours the last time, but it was strange because it said there was no such number. Anyway, this number 800-858-0950 got me through to Dell China.

After dialing, a recording says for Chinese press 1 and for English press 2. Pressing 2 takes you to a Chinese rep who doesn't speak English. I asked for an English speaking rep, but there were none. They said they do not have any English speakers, but there's a guy who might be able to speak some English. My Chinese is pretty good, so I went ahead with the call in Chinese. I was transferred about 6 times and each time I was told that I was out of warranty and would have to pay for the repairs.

I was finally transferred again and this rep (very kind and patient guy) took the time to talk with me. I took some pictures of the M11x and sent them to him. He still insisted that I have to pay for the repair. After telling him that Dell said they would do this repair for free, he said that he would have to check into the situation and get back to me.

Mid-Autumn festival is starting here tomorrow, so I'll have to wait until after the holiday for the rep to get back to me about the repair, probably Monday or Tuesday of next week.

Fingers still crossed!

 

Another update: I received an email from the rep that I spoke with the last time. He said that he had set up an appointment for a tech to come and repair my M11X. The tech called and wanted to set up the appointment for Monday, but I have to work the whole day Monday and Tuesday. She agreed to come on Wednesday, which is tomorrow. I was still unsure about whether Dell would be covering this repair. I emailed the rep to confirm this. He emailed back telling me it would be taken care of by Dell and I wouldn't have to pay anything; so far so good.

The tech will be coming to my apartment tomorrow, can't wait. I have the day off tomorrow, so I'll be playing some Outlast or Risen 2 (just picked it up on the Steam daily deal the other day ) while waiting for her to arrive.

Fingers really crossed that all goes well with the repair.

 

I'm glad you are on the right way now. Hopefully everything will be sorted out this same week.

 

Here is my final update on the matter. I've been swamped with work and haven't been able to post these last few days.

Thanks Aleinware-L_Porras! Everything was sorted out.

The tech came out on Wednesday as scheduled. I thought the woman who initially called me would be coming, but now I see that she was a dispatcher scheduling the time. The tech called me Wednesday morning at 9:00 am and said he was close by and would be at my apartment in 20 minutes. He arrived at 9:30 (it's a bit difficult finding my apartment due to all the construction going on and because the workers took down the numbers on the front of the building complex).

The tech came in and immediately got to work. I had a table and workspace set up for him. He didn't want any tea or coffee and began to check the M11X. As he worked I sat and chatted with him. He told me that they sent him out on this call because he had previous experience working with foreign customers. He has worked on computers for customers from Italy, Spain, Canada, the US and a few other countries. He was extremely polite, professional, and clean. Our whole conversation was in Chinese and he was glad about that. I think that his English level was not too high, but he said he did his best to help his customers.

He replaced the screen and hinge assembly in less than 30 minutes and then did tests to make sure everything was working well. When he opened my M11X he said it was one of the cleanest machines he had ever worked on and couldn't believe that I have been using it for 3 years. He said most of the computers he sees are caked with dust and dirt and the fans are crusted over. Well, that made me happy to hear. I do take care of my Alienware laptops.

I am happy to say that my M11X is back in business. The new hinge is smooth and feels good. The tech was excellent and did everything professionally. A few days after the tech came I received a call from Dell asking about my experience with the tech and checking to make sure that everything went well with the repair. I gave the tech a glowing review!

Overall, I am extremely happy with how everything went. Dell in China responded quickly and professionally, although it was difficult to communicate the hinge problem at the beginning. It seemed that none of the reps I spoke with on the phone knew about the issue and transferred me many times each time telling me that I would have to pay for the service. Each time I was transferred I had to explain the situation again. I know this is not just an issue in China, but it is difficult to do this in Chinese. Also, I guess the "hinge issue" is rather old now, but I'm glad that Dell is still honoring this. China's Dell call center greets you with "press 2 for English" but there are no English speakers. This will pose difficulties for anyone who does not have Chinese language skills. The emails you receive from the reps are in both Chinese and English, though.

My advice: if you are calling Dell in China and do not speak Chinese, get a Chinese speaking friend to help and have pictures (if applicable) to send to the rep. If you do speak Chinese, have a good dictionary and find the Chinese word for "hinge." Also, remember that "hinge" is a verb as well as a noun!