New (and soon to be former) owner -- Dell service is terrifying

Hello all,

I ordered my M11X R3 this April. It came May 11. On May 17 the computer refused to start completely. No idea what is wrong, just plain refused to start in any way. Called Alienware (which did not post their office hours correctly in their site), they followed me to open the under panel and remove the battery and drain the transistors, plug the battery back in, try to start (nothing, take the battery out, use AC (nothing). Then he sent me to Dell customer care to schedule a repair but my service tag is not recognized (not on the web site and not by phone).

2 days later, i am still at it. Dell and Alienware has been giving me the run around, claiming their service tools are down and call back tomorrow (2 days in a row). Thing is my 21 day return period expires next week and I suspect Dell is trying to push it past that date so they can shirk their responsibility and refuse to issue refund. (BTW< how is the 21 day rule start on invoice date? I didn't get it until the 11th but it was invoiced on the 3rd so I am 8 days short of the warranty period). At this point Alienware is now by FAR the worst computer ownership experience i have ever had and I want Dell to give me every cent they took from me.

Do you guys know any backdoor phone number/executives who i can call and demand action be taken?

 

The M11xR3 service tags seem like they never were entered into the system. I was able to have Chris M. from Dell manually associate it with my account. Once he does that, even though it still won't work online for a few days, it will be recognized right away from then on when you call and talk to a rep. Hopefully then you can simply demand a replacement system.

Here is the thread; PM him from there and provide the info he request:
Re: Support website saying Service Tag not from US but system WAS purchased in the US - Alienware Forum - Alienware Club - Dell Community

Hope that helps! It worked for me.

 

Thank you for your information. I wrote him a letter and hope he would reply. If Alienware does not give me my money back i will consider asking my credit card company for a charge back or other legal options. Call me paranoid i think Dell wants to push the service issue past next Tuesday so they can skirt the 21 day return period and cheat me out of my money and leave me with a very expensive paper weight.

 

the 21days is a very loose date that you should return the laptop by...

 

I know it's generally fairly easy to get a replacement system sent, but if you just want get your money back, they may try to hit you with a restocking fee.
I hope it works out for you one way or the other.

 

dude they will not be trying to push you past any 21 day return policy!!

they may be terrible but a call centre worker s not gonna be thinking about dells profits.

by the sounds of your issues you have nothing to worry about even if it goes past it- thwy will not be able to get away without a refund or exchange

 

the biggest reason why i did not end up buying an M11x. I owned an XPS M1330 back in the day when that was the hot notebook in town. Same thing as you... horrible customer service.

 

I will NOT suffer a restocking fee. If they refuse to give me a full refund i will pursue legal and other options.

 

Umm...welcome to the Alienware forum?

 

You're blowing this completely out of proportion. You're getting the runaround from some call center muppets - there is no conspiracy and there won't be any need to resort to 'legal' options. I'll PM you a solution.

 

Or not...since you dont allow private messages.....

 

I think users have to have at least 5 posts before they can send/receive private messages.

 

Yeah noticed that after I tried to send him a message - 3 posts. Oh well

 

I had the exact same issue happen when i received my m11x-r2. I called Dell and they told me they'd have a tech come out. I flat out asked for a replacement and 3-4 days later a new machine was at my door. I tested it and it worked fine, sent the faulty one back. Give them a chance, but if i were you I'd ask for a replacement right away.

 

Yeah, new machine doesn't work? Send it back. Dell and HP are both good about replacing machines quickly for new orders.

 

when the motherboard went bad i asked for a replacement on my R1 and they said, "im sorry but you dont qualify for a replacement" i was F#3# pi#^$ off.
all though they did have a tech come and replace the motherboard. i would have rather gotten a replacement tho. iv had a bad keyboard, bad motherboard, bad ac adapter, bad bluetooth. and yet no replacement. also the TECH that came for the first repair stripped out 2 of the CASE SCREW HOLES. so i had to find slightly bigger screws and get them to screw in tight so it would make new threads. ridiculous...

 

Technically you shouldn't have any warranty left after pinmodding (although, they couldn't have known that the first time out), so I think you should still be happy with a motherboard replacement lol. At least you didn't have to fork an extra $150+ for a motherboard.

I found Dell/Alienware warranty and support to be pretty decent from my experience, especially compared to my experiences when helping a friend with a Sony Vaio SB that had its speakers dead on arrival. Sony refused to replace the laptop and insisted that for it to be sent in for repairs instead. Ended up getting a refund on that.

 

i have more then 1 m11x lol. and before i had anything replaced i always went back and reversed my pinmod. its pretty simple. all it involves is reconnecting the pin to the board.

this was also before i did the mod. forgot to mention iv had 2 motherboards replaced. 1 when i got it brand new, the other time was a week ago, also, there is absolutely no way they could even see the mod. those pins are literally 1mm big.

 

Fyi, from my experience, its from date of delivery. (anyone can correct me) Just give Dell some time, its frustrating ya, I had a problem with my r2 and took them god knows how many days to fix it, but they still kept on trying to fix the problem until they did.

The r3 is a brand new product that's been out for a little over a month for sale, and owners have it for a few weeks? So Dell will be problems in the beginning of tagging their systems, if their system is down, then its down, they cant do anything until their tech department fixes it. Stuff happens, and if its a deal breaker, file a claim. Most probably they will charge you restocking fee, either within the 21days or after the 21days, you need to check that out, it changes from time to time.

 

wauw, congratulations.
It's amazing when people write something like this. You will not suffer a restocking fee? what else will you not suffer? do you just use threats about sueing and everyone and everything whenever you hit a problem? How is that going for you, like in general?:I


Can you come over as anymore narcissistic? If you pursue legal "and other options" you will still loose. You will loose on time and stress you spent scrubbling over petty pennys.
If you want my advice, then at least give the people on the phone a break. They can do nothing. It's a crappy job, and they are not out there trying to make you not get your money. They might even be another company outsourced by dell. It happens with a lot of CC departments.


I've worked in one for a phone provider for business users, and I am telling you - it's such a horrible a job. the accusations, threats and negativity and even anger and hate you get from customers about the company and their product, get's reflected on the phone operator who is the middle man who takes all the blame, while still being beaten by his work atmosphere - a couple of hundred people in small cubicles working in shifts. It creates a cattle-mentality and the humanity and respect of people slides out the window, as the companies strangle the phone operator for his lack of success of making the customers happy.

The phone operator could do something like making an extra discharge for fees, checks and what not that is not covered by Dell's service level agreement, but he might loose his job.

you always hear wild stories about customers calling in and giving some poor guy crap, until he bends over - breaks the rules and give the customer what he wants(a lower price, something for free, a replacement for free or something like that) but most places they are not allowed to do that, and are actually stealing money from the company they work at. the stimulus is so horrible, that they are actually committing theft to be more liked or getting a better customer service agent rating.

 

Many are reporting that Dell is unable to handle their service call over a system being down issue. With that said, I dont believe there is a conspiracy where they are trying to end your 21-day return window by not assisting you. Obviously if its a system issue (which there is no excuse it shouldn't be up and running), I'm sure if you obtain a case# you will be fine. That case record will have the date you called and notes can be added that you are unable to receive service over this 'system issue'.

As for how to deal with this, you can:

1. ask for a supervisor and explain exactly what you mentioned in your post and I'm sure they will reassure you that you will have a 21-day return option even if the period should expire due to the fact they cant deal with your issue at present due to their system downtime.

or,

2. take that case# you received when you called the first time and complete the webform mentioned in post#1 here:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/5713924-post1.html

Sorry you are having issues here. BTW, from your post it seems to me that you called the wrong AW #. AW Support can schedule service calls and you can reach Dell support 24x7 depending on what geographic region you are in.

Since this is a warranty repair/replacement issue, please post follow-up here:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/ali...placement-systems-warranty-repair-issues.html

We have a discussion thread in place for issues like this.

Good luck. Let us know what happens.

Thanks.