Unfortunate repair experience- hopefully a rare occuraance

Wrote earlier about some problems I had with my M11x-R2 and now I'm very happy to be getting it back into action but....

Well, I guess I have next business day support 'cause an odd fellow holding UPS boxes from Dell showed up at my door this morning saying he was here to fix my PC. Yay!... or so I thought....

He was friendly enough and quickly set up to replace my M11x's Motherboard, HDD, Battery and heatsink.

In trying not to turn this into a slam on this guy, I'll just list what should have been handled better and maybe it will help others with what to ask for and make sure of when/if they ever have to get repair work ... starting with my M11x itself.

/rant on

- I was very careful to place my M11 on a soft cloth since it was flipped over on the "soft touch" covered lid...it seems like it could be scratched easily, but the tech immediately put it on his work mat that was gritty and dirty. I requested he use my cloth or wipe down his mat so no debris would scratch my finish. He applogized, said he "had" to use the mat and brushed it off on the floor, asked if it looked ok. I just shrugged and he flipped my M11 over onto his mat. oookkkay... 15 minutes.

- I'm frantically trying to back up my no removed old harddrive since I didn't expect anyone to come by so fast (I have a dock that accepts bare drives and connects to a PC via USB turning it into an external drive- very handy) and he says Dell will want it back. I'm trying to do this on my Mac, but there are so many "admin access" issues, I switch to to Win7 boot camp. He's never seen this.. hmm... says he likes Macs, but doesn't own one anymore because there were "too many conflicts when he tried to install windows software on it"... uh oh... I don't bother explaining the differences between the two platforms. 40 Minutes.

- He gets everything put back together, boot up and- uh oh: part deux - Dell sent a drive without a system image. He calls Dell to ask what to do. I have been told my M11x with be up and running when he is finished, albeit, without my stuff on it. By now I'm relieved to have been able to copy most of my stuff off the old drive and am reformatting it to erase any personal info. I didn't get everything the way I would have if give more time, but it's good enough. I tell him this and he says "usually I tell the customer they can hang onto the drive so they can get their data off it and then they can send it back in, but you're awesome to have done it already!" Now he tells me- the drive is half way formatted... oh well... /grimace... At least the M11x is charging fine (one of the initial problems) so it looks like, hardware-wise, everything is fixed. He's still on hold. 1 hour 10 minutes.

- So Dell is going to send me system and OS DVD's do I can install Windows myself. This sounds fine except for the fact my external DVD drive has been loaned to my brother... who's in Peru... the Dell rep is on on his cell so I ask how I'm to install the OS from disc to a PC without an optical drive and couldn't they just send me an HDD that has been imaged. Part of my job description involves hardware upgrades and maintenance so I could handle the install. But no, for the same reason they wouldn't just send me all the parts in the first place, this warranty work has to be done by a tech if it involves hardware... sigh. I'm told to just go buy a DVD drive. What? I ask why I need to incur any expense- the reply is "oh, don't worry about it. You need one any way". Really? I haven't needed one yet- that's why my brother still has mine. "Then have him ship it back to you" Huh? That's about the same cost as the drive itself and he's bringing it back in 2 months anyway. I ask if Dell will send me one or reimburse me if I go buy one "what, reimburse what? Is he kidding? Tell him he's not getting a free drive from us" (I'm asking questions through the tech, but can hear the Dell guy talking)..Wow he actually sounds irritated at the suggestion- . All this time the tech is repeatedly explaining to me how an external drive works, how it plugs into a USB port and it will allow me to install the software...everytime he gets put on hold when I ask again for Dell to resolve this without me going out of pocket, I get the external drive tutorial. I'm trying to stay pleasant, but finally just cut him off "yes, I get it. I have one, but it's in PERU". 1 hour 50 minutes

Ok, I know external drives are $65-80 of less, but now it's a principled issue and I want this Dell rep to make something happen. Then, oops, the Dell rep is gone... was he cut off, did he hang up? Tech guy calls back, but is told they will have to look for the dispatch info and call him back... 30 minutes go by. This has now taken 2 hours and 20 minutes. I need to leave so I call the Alienware line mainly to file a complaint, but within ten minutes, I have a 'loaner' drive being sent out for me to use and send back. Done! SO now I have to spend the time reloading windows, drivers, extra software, etc. but at this point I'm relieved. I know it will be done with some care.

Yes, the faulty hardware was replaced in an amazingly speedy fashion, but I can't say this hasn't tainted the post-purchase experience that's part of what helps me decide and recommend brands to clients. Nice going Dell....

Thanks for letting me vent... cheers guys!

/rant off

 

Wait, they come to your door when you need a hardware replacement? My rep told me that I had to do it myself. What warranty do you have?

 

Ouch. My on-site repair went rather well. The problems I had were with AW support not being able to determine what parts should have been sent from the onset - despite the fact that the know exactly what my system configuration is based on the service tag - and taking almost two weeks to contact me in order to arrange for the on-site visit. That's the first thing they screwed up in your case. They're not supposed to just show up. You're supposed to get a call - technically 2 to 3 business hours after the support case is opened - from the technician who is assigned to your case. Parts are shipped priority overnight to the tech and so on...

Bottom line, there were multiple screw-ups in your case, not the least of which is that you got a tech who really didn't give a rat's patootie about his job. Hope it ends up resolving the issues you were having.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/alienware/549212-my-first-brush-aw-support.html

 

I have had 2 drives replaced since my Inspiron E1705 days... Now I'm not sure about today but when they send out a replacement drive, its always a blank drive. They do not send a drive out with your system all set up simply because each system is can be configured differently at the factory.

An easy solution - if you happened to make a backup rescue option with AlienRespawn, you can boot from it and have your system sitting at the 'out of box' state rather quickly. This is the ideal solution since if you use that W7 install media you will lose out on your diagnostics and recovery partition.

Sure, it sucks you have to reinstall your apps, etc., but that is always a factor when replacing a drive from the OEM or a new drive from a retailer. I didn't take the time to read your other posts since you started a new thread, what was wrong with the HDD?

 

You can down load a fresh win 7 for free and put it on a USB drive to boot a new install. It has all flavors on it you only need a legal key for it to work. Google it or I can find it and post a link. It is what I did on my m11x because I installed a SSD and they do not play nice with a clone. So what to do I found how too and now carry the USB in my bag incase.
Luck on the install.

 

Wow...sometimes, you need to take a step back and wonder how spoiled Dellianware customers can be sometimes. Try getting ASUS to come to your house to fix your laptop...lol.

Don't get me wrong, I still sympathize with the OP.

Oh, and like Alienwolf mentioned, get a copy of Windows on USB stick. Ever since I've done that, I've never touched a DVD again when doing a format.

 

This is where I started and its from Microsoft..
Microsoft Store: Windows 7 USB/DVD Download Tool Help

 

No argument about the level of service you get from most others. However, don't forget we're paying for that level of service.

 

Everyone pays for warranty services. Each laptop manufacturer includes 1 year in their purchase price. But Dellienware goes way beyond by offering in-home support on even their base warranty.

Ok, don't want to get off topic here and I still sympathize with OP

 

My point is, that the extra bit that Dell or Apple likes to throw in there is one of the reasons you see a higher price tag when you're comparing comparable systems. There's a reason ASUS and MSI and Acer are generally less expensive.

 

I also understand that the extra price you pay is for more powerful components as well as better build quality. Mind you I am only referring to Alienware computers, not inclusive of Dell machines.

ASUS actually provides many of their laptops with 2 yr warranties and 1 yr accidental. But I agree with Acer and MSI being cheap.

 

Sorry abut the delay replying. Been busy with Work, travel, etc. so I haven't yet gotten my system reinstalled to see that it's all working. I hope this is all that's left to do...

Quick update- Dell had the reinstall discs and a DVD drive out to me within a day, but I figured I'd go ahead and upgrade to the 500GB Seagate Momentus XT
hybrid drive since I was gonna have to redo it anyway and had always planned on getting this drive. Really wanted to go SSD, but I need more storage space than my budget would allow for an SSD. I was hoping Seagate would release a 1TB version by now.

Anyway, thanks for the sympathetic words regarding my original post and for the info on setting up a restore drive on a USB key. I'm gonna do this as well.

Cheers!

 

Well the tech kept mentioning how quickly he'd be done after putting in all the replacement part since the hard drive is custom imaged for each system and he would just let a setup routine run to get everything up and running. Then couldn't believe it was blank saying it was the first time he'd ever gotten a blank drive. So who knows... maybe Alienware does this for the M11x.

As for the problem with my original HDD, it wasn't determined there was an actual failure. They wanted to replace it after I tried running the diagnostics while on with the phone tech and since the system would shut down during the tests every time, I started getting an error message about a corrupt log file. I think it was replaced to cover a possibility.

I believe the main problem was a bad motherboard since the system failed even with the battery removed.

I'm pretty sure I do have an Alienspawn backup form shortly after I got the system. Not much other than a couple games had changed since then so I'll try to use that put everything back.

Thanks for the info and your reply!

 

Cool thank you! I'm going to get this set up for sure. Especially since it looks like I won't have that restore partition that the original drive came with.

 

It's the regular included 1 year plan. I didn't add anything special.

A while back when I was ordering several systems from Dell for various clients I noticed support plans would change from time to time or there would be special offers. I know I used a code for a set discount when I ordered this M11x, maybe on-site service was a feature of the special offer.

I'm just hoping you didn't get gypped somehow, as in the tech didn't see it on your plan or did and failed to schedule the on-site guy. did you ever check if you had it?

 

Id prefer to get the parts shipped to me so I could do it as I know Ill do a better job then their techs.

 

Yes, same here- especially after this experience. In fact, I do the basic stuff like HDDs, GPUs and RAM as part of my work, but for things like a new motherboard (laptops, I can install desktop mobos) or screen, Id rather have one of manufacturers guys do it. At the very least they've done if before.

This was the first time I'd ever had on-site service... ever.

 

The technician that solved my infamous hinge problem damaged the rubber grips on the bottom of the M11X. Got em' repaired. Now, they've fallen off again. Now, my time to release vent: URRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG DDDDDEEEEEEELLLLLLLL URRRRRRRRRRRR TECHNICIANNSNSN SUCKKSKSKKS!!!!! HIBNGEGSSUCK SO BADD URHHSHIUDBNY! +1 rep to anyone who could translate that.