Worst Luck Ever...

So,

I've been on the phone with alienware customer service for a combined time of about half a day over the past 4 months. I just felt like venting to see if I am the only one that has had such bad luck with their parts...

First problem arose about a week following the arrival of my m11x R2 (originally had an R1 but my brother wanted it so why not get the upgrade ) with a faulty GPU. Unfortunately, it took over 4 hours of stress testing and 2 hours of talking to finally get a crash and for the tech to finally believe me. New Motherboard shipped.

Fast forward 2 months and my "alienware" logo stopped working with alienfx, no big deal so I waited...

My left USB stops working and I am forced to call AW customer service again. This time they send a new motherboard and LCD to fix the alienfx in about 3 hours instead of 4-6.

They shipped a new motherboard but the new motherboard had a supposedly faulty CMOS battery (date/time resets to July 2010) This takes about an hour as well because I mention the fact that my alienfx still doesn't work. He say's its probably a software issue and to do a clean install of alienfx.

New CMOS comes in and the tech installs it BUT to no avail. Unfortunately the CMOS battery does not seem to be the problem and it stumps the tech who after 2-3 hours of testing goes home to "talk to his associates."

Now, I have the techs number and he doesn't respond to my call. I am pretty sure its the motherboard because the issue arose with the "new" (AKA refurbished) motherboard. I also did a complete reinstall of windows 7 to ensure the alienfx/motherboard issue wasn't software related which they stated it might be. It's not.

So, I'm stuck with a faulty motherboard for 5 days. Suffering validation errors on the internet because my time is off and my slight OCD with the lights are not fixed.

Furthermore, last time I was on with a supervisor they said my unfortunate situation cannot be remedied with a new laptop because they do not replace the whole systems, just parts. I am pretty sure all the replacement parts they have sent my way have a combined cost of a new R2. Ai ai ai ai... should've gone with Lenovo or Asus for my second laptop.

Sorry I just wanted to vent while I'm reinstalling my 300gb of software/games/projects. Curious to see if anyone else has had it worse? I'm calling my tech on monday to see if he's heard anything good... if he doesn't answer I'll call alienware AGAIN, and just give them this thread instead of explaining the whole problem to them for the 4th time.

 

ya i been dealing with them alot to about my heat issues check out my thread

 

Yeah I've been watching that. Customer service needs to step up their game. Hope yours goes smoothly I'll keep an eye on it. I just want this to be my last call. College starts up in a couple weeks. Not as easy to replace their mistakes then!

 

ya college starts on 22nd for me too so this is a pain for me also

 

I don't know why y'all are having such trouble getting support for your machines. I've called Alienware twice about problems (faulty GPU then heat problem) and both times got resolved quickly.

For GPU, I told them I've done the whole proper driver uninstall/reinstall process and it would still freeze on games and they sent in a new mobo.

For heat, told them my temps and they ran a system diagnostic and after that, new mobo. I also told them my hings were a bit off and without question sent new hinges and lcd.

Am I just getting lucky?

 

Haha i think you are. (at least from my point of view)

 

I had the same CMOS problem had to send mine out because the at home repair did not work. Its not all bad I made a list of things to fix I am hoping they will just replace it. The battery on my old one had 8% wear so It would be nice of them to change it because they will not otherwise.

 

Just to be clear, I'm still under a 1-year in-home repair warranty. Do you also have that? I got it for free with this refurb m11x-r2.

 

Yes I do. I have had 4 tech visits as of this point. 5 if you include the future one to replace whatever it is they messed up the last time.

 

Copy this post and email it to the CEO at dell, the escalation dept will call you on the phone with in 24 hours and they will resolve your problem. Even if it takes building you a replacement. Send it right out include your phone number and explain this was posted here. Good luck and this always worked for me.

 

Where can I find this email?!

 

Ill pm you

 

Thank you so much. I'll respond back with the results!

 

I have been "lucky" too... I´ve gotten new LCD, keyboard (twice), palm rest, motherboard, battery and charger all at no cost, 24 hours after my call wich took no longer than 1hr...

 

w00t!!!! Since I e-mailed on a sunday they got back to me today at 10AM. That has to be about the time they opened the office (central time) a called me and replaced my laptop in under 5min call!

I am going to be as unawkward as I can in thanking you alienwolf. I love you.

 

Your welcome, glade I could help. I have had 7 systems 3 which have been replaced so I knew you would be helped..

 

Post your spec's when you get them on your account page, should be in production soon.

 

What specs? They are sending me the same model.

 

Go to dell support log in, under ordered systems there should be a in production. Even if same model it will be there. Will give ship Est:
You had a R2 correct? You might get an R3 instead since they are not building R2's let me know what you find.

 

OMG... it says an R3 i7 with 540m and 2GB VRAM O_O

If this is lying I will be so bummed.

 

So apparently it says I owe 1090? Is this true?

edit: nvm hahaha

 

I had some patchy success with the customer support, my blue LED on my keyboard went out. I called alienware and the first guy i talked to told me to unplug my battery to "do a total power reset", i hung up. the second guy i talked to used a remote desktop to see what the problem was. he saw my problem and the next day a guy came and replaced my keyboard.

 

Congrats Deevu. Sounds like you went the same route as me. I paid full price though after getting a refund for old. However, mine was a refurb originally.

This r3 other than the fan/heat and my complaint about 3d max is what I hoped the r2 would have been.

 

My man I don't think luck has much to do with it. I think Dell is just a crap company. My experience with this computer is mediocre when I factor in any time I have spent with dell on the phone. They somehow manage to screw something up every time I talk to them. When I ordered the computer online via AW's website it wouldn't go through so I had to call them to order it. I had to send a link to the website I was using to get the correct price because they wanted to charge me $200 more to buy it through Dell's website. It literally took over 2hrs to order over the phone because the internet price was wrong. About 6 months into the purchase, the hard drive blew up and I lost a bunch of stuff. Not a huge deal as I backup my important files, but it is disconcerting to see a hard drive malfunction that early on in the purchase. So Dell then says they want to send a tech out to fix it, but I'm going to have to take off work to accomodate the hours that their contracted techs work. I don't think so. I get them to send me the part in the mail so I can fix it myself...but low and behold the tech shows up anyway and my roommate lets him in to fix the computer. He ends up taking the extra HD (mind you I am not home to say "no") saying that he will send it back because otherwise I will be charged for it. 2 months later I get a call from Dell asking me where the part is. I tell them to call their tech and they get a little huffy puffy with me because I don't have the techs number. DUH, you guys scheduled it? Are you so incompetent that you don't have this information? They ended up not charging me for the part, but really made it seem like it was my fault and they were doing me a favor. Oh, by the way...the tech scratched the sh*t out of the case on my m11x while fixing the computer and didn't put the bottom panel of the case back on correctly. Normally, I would call to complain but if I have to spend another minute on the phone with someone from Dell I think my head will explode. Wrote a polite letter to Dell about it, but they couldn't care less. Love the performance of this computer. There is nothing like it. But I never want to have to deal with Dell again.

 

Lol that is your invoice for what the value is. There is no charge to you, as they are letting you know that equal or better is what you are getting. Gratz on the R3 told you it would be posted there. Again gratz.

 

Thanks so much alien. Your help has been beyond appreciated. The Dell escalation employee has called three times and says it will be shipped by Tuesday. I am extremely grateful.

 

Thanks. As soon as I get the chance I'll check the motherboard revision on this one for you. Even if I have to pay full price and get a refund for mine I'd make some money. I paid 1120 for my r2 back when they were the cool gadget to get. So if anything I'd make 30bucks out of it haha

 

Hey DeeVu!
I've been reading a lot of your posts about your M11x R2 issues, and they're virtually identical to mine (also a victim of the M11x R2). Is there any chance of you sharing that email address with me? After talking with tech support for 6+ hours, it's really feeling like a dead-end...

 

I'll PM it to you

edit: you cant receive PM/emails
go here http://consumerist.com/2008/11/email-michael-dell.html

 

Thank you so much dude. I'll let you know what happens!