Alienware and Dell woes

I know I dont post here much, but Im just.. *so* angry right now I've got to share my tail of woe with Dell/Alienware "support"

So far I've had a new Alienware M15x for about 8 months, only about 5 of those months has the laptop actually worked without issues.

First the keyboard stopped working, so that was swapped out.
Then it stopped charging and the lighting rigs kept freaking out, so they replaced the motherboard
The screen had a clump of dead pixels, that has been replaced 3 times, each time the dead pixel problem is worse (and the screen I currently has still has a block of em right in the middle of the screen)

Oh! and the GPU keeps overheating (hitting 100c +)

The best laugh? Most of the serious problems (the overheating GPU primarily) seemed to have been *caused* by the engineers during the parts replace, during the 3rd (and last, and still faulty) screen replace I mentioned the overheating issue to the engineer who advised me to replace the thermal paste myself so, *under his instruction* I did so (This is important for later)

So replaced the thermal paste with the Engineer which improved the overheating to a small degree (the machine would no-long overheat and shut down but still ran terribly hot) so i was advised by the same engineer to call Dell, and that;s when the fun and games started x.x

So of course, I called Dell (this was back in February) the day after the engineer left me with a broken screen and over heating GPU.
This lead into a long winded series of events of me calling Dell at least once a week over the period of 2 months, speaking to over 15 different reps who promised to have a supervisor/manager call me back the next day and repairs which never came and recommending that I should email their support team, who also never answer back any email.. Until today!

A manager finally called me back today, the first time after *two* months of hounding them and their solution flabbergasted me. Because of the thermal paste change.. not only are they refused to repair the laptop (They also feel that it hitting 100c+ does not count as overheating) they are terminating the "service contract" and refusing to replace the screen either, despite the fact it was faulty when the engineer installed it!

So.. I'm really lost for words here, it feels like they are just telling me to sling my hook and leaving me with a busted laptop that's not worked 100% since the day I got it and I don't know what to do x.x

What are my options here? Does anyone have any advise they can give to help me with this..

 

That really sucks...

The only thing you can take from this is ALWAYS omit maintenance that you've done yourself. Hopefully someone here will maybe know a way around your problem.

 

Are you in the U.S? Dell has to be able to prove that what you did caused damage to the system. They can't just terminate your contract on a hunch. It's like buying a car and installing a stereo yourself. If your head-gasket cracks the next day, they can't prove that it was due to the stereo. I wouldn't panic. As a consumer you are protected by many laws and organizations that help in situations like these. My first and really only piece of advice is just to open a complaint with the Better Business Bureau (bbb.org).

 

If you paid for the system with a credit card, you might be able to work with them. You might be past the time limit to file a chargeback, but it wouldn't hurt to check.

 

Sadly I dont live in the US; however we do have Trading standards in the UK so I'll give them a phone today.

As for the payment it was 8 months ago sadly on a debit card so I dont enjoy the same protections as I would under a credit card

 

things may seem hopeless, but keep on trying. stop talking to low level tech and ask for a supervisor. good luck.

 

This is what I've been trying to do since February x.x

Every agent (must be approaching 20 now..) I've spoken to has point blank refused to put me through to a supervisor/manager/line-manager or anyone in any point of authority, stating that it is "Dell Policy" not to allow them on the phone.

Normally followed by "There is nothing I can do"

I've gotten a bit of advice from folk here and friends I have to try, and according to Consumer Advise I may have to push towards a legal resolution (like small claims court) But I'm hoping it doesn't come to that.

I'll keep you posted on what happens in either case, here is hoping for a happy ending

 

It's horror-stories like these that firmly make me sure that I'll never purchase another Dell system again. Mainstream providers shouldn't provide performance systems if they can't maintain premium support for them.

Frankly, I'd make sure all the records are in place and actions are documented as best as possible, (especially service-tech names). I would also look into filing an official complaint with the better business bureau and letting them know about it (the next time you ask to talk with a supervisor).

"That's fine, but I will be pursuing an official complaint with the xxxxx over this fraudulent service, conduct and "support" and I'd appreciate it if you let your supervisor/manager know so that, if at all possible, we can rectify this breach of trust and dishonorable (etc)" -- something along these lines.

 

Well I recived a call from the head-office today (just now in fact), The agent was far more reasonable to speak to than the lower sales staff and after a few reasonable "arguments" Dell have agreed to replace the laptop with a new machine, Thank god

Just got an email of the ordersheet and it looks like identical specs-wise to my current machine expect in one key area, My current laptop has a Radeon 5850 512MB GDDR3 GPU, but it looks like Dell want to replace it with a Geforce 240M which, if Im not mistaken is a weaker card?

This will require some research! I have no objections to swapping out the Radeon for a Geforce card but I want something of equal or better power

 

240M is a lot weaker. If the have no 5850m's you need to get a 460m thats the only card I'd except as replacement.

 

Lol just re read your post. you had a 5850 512MB GDDR3 GPU? I didnt even know Alienware ever used these :S Are u sure its not the GDDR5 version?

 

Woops, my bad. Yes its the GDDR5 model

So there is an agrement that the 240M is quite a step down? I wonder why they dont just replace it with the same card..

I should ask for a 5870 or 480M? The Geforce cards do intrest me with their onboard PhysX and (perhaps arguably) better drivers?

 

Asking for a 480m will get you a blank answer. The power consumption of the 480m is off the charts at 100w. The M15x doesn't support that. Best you can go for is a 5850. If you don't tell them what laptop you have, you may be able to get a 5870 but the differences are minimal. If you want to try nvidia the 460m GTX is nice. I have one myself and it performs well for me.

 

Blood hell its actually worse than I realised!

Swapping out a radeon 5850 1Gb GDDR5 for a 512mb Geforce 240M?

feck off o.o

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Well I've sent back the email explaining why the 240M is not acceptable and that a new 5850 or failing that a 460M would be better, and if they dont want to push that far I guess the 5870 would do the job. A little upgrade isnt asking a lot after all this hassle though

I guess the offices close at 6pm however so odds are I wont hear back on this today. But as always I'll keep everyone informed with what happens, this might turn out OK in the end

LxGST : A major problem with my current machine is with the GPU so I doubt I would want them just swapping it out

 

Yeah the 240M is the weakest card in the M15x. Ask them if you can just swap the cards from your previous machine (since it has a 5850) or ask for a GTX 460M. I'd want the 5850, though, since they underclock the 460M.

 

I like my 5850m too especial as it cost only £50 extra when spec'ing my system xD
The 460m and 5850m have comparable performance. imo the 5850m' strong point is they are usually good over clockers the 460 is newer tech (maybe has better dx11 performance) it has physx and all that other Nvidia stuff.
I think you would be happy with either of these

 

Oh man... I had a similar situation than yours slyboots, one day my m15x suddenly shutdown and didn't power on again. They changed the motherboard 3 times, 2 times the cpu, 2 power buttons, 1 ram, 1 audio card, all that in one month. The tech support were a bunch of inept, I knew how to open and change those parts better than those "qualified" techs (some of them hadn't even open a m15x before), they lost 6 screws of my system and made it several small scratches. After one month of hell the agents finally accept to make a whole unit replacement, I asked them for any upgrade as compensation of all the inconveniences they caused me and the answer was: "sorry, we can't do that, dells policy states that we can only replace your unit with the same hardware it had at the moment of your purchase, the only way you could get an upgrade is if any of the needed hardware is not available at the moment, in that case we must replace the part with another one that performs equally or better". So they are obliged to give you a better GPU. I'll never buy another dell system IN MY LIFE, this experience has proved that dells support may be the fastest one on the market, but their customer service SUCKS HARD. btw, they sent you the WUR ordersheet very fast, mine has an ETA of 2 weeks plus another 2-3 weeks for the system to arrive...

 

Sorry to here Aliened!
I hope both your systems get fixed ASAP

 

Thanks man, hopefully in 1 month I'll have a brand new m15x on my hands, but the truth is that I'm going to sell it as soon as I finish building a new gaming desktop because I'm done with dell. They should treat ALL their customers on the best way possible but specially the ones that spent 2k on a laptop because that surely means that they are potential returning customers. For example in my case, I'm already running my own business, and in a few years I'm going to start running along with my brothers the family company (about 9 stores in 2 cites and growing...) so I'll always be in need of computer hardware, but believe me when I say that I'm not going to spend a single penny on dell merchandise. I know that in comparison with the worldwide companies that dell has as clients my business is a dust particle, but at least I'm going to make sure that the few thousand dollars that I'll spend in a future are not going to end on dell's pockets, and I'm going to tell as many people as possible my bad experience with dell, negative word of mouth publicity, if a client has a bad experience he will tell 10 people about it, basic marketing lesson, maybe those dell executives fell asleep in that class.

 

Wow Dell are keen on this issue now, Not very often I get woken up at near 9am (The joys of working nights..)

Looks like my options on a replacement were slim as they no longer provide the Radeon range of cards for that configuration any more, which is a shame but they are replacing it with the 460M GTX

But I'm just happy its all going to be sorted, just have to wait for my "new" machine to arrive

Hmm, doesnt the 460M have some sort of 3D support with that Optimus technology?.. or something like that? This requires further research!

 

congrats. I hate to see people get pushed around by low level CSRs. I am glad you are going to have a machine that actually works. That is the biggest thing. In my experience, when you deal with regular 1800# reps, you get a refurb, but the route you went seems to always grant a brand new build.

 

It supports Optimus, but the hardware vendors don't support it as the M15x doesn't have an integrated GPU.

 

I doubt I would have accepted a refurb at this stage, But I would like to thank everyone here for the great advice I received, I have little doubt I would still be getting jerked around by the low-level techs without it

Seems they are even pushing out to have the laptop delivered faster than usual as well, it took almost two months when I bough it orignally, they are estimating a leadtime of almost two weeks

Pretty good service when push comes to shove I guess

Shame about the lack of the Optimus support though, oh well would have been a nice perk .

 

Well Just a little update on what ended up happening;

Seems my little email caught a bit of attention, Dell have been calling several times to ensure that I'm happy with the new laptop (Arrived this morning after only a week or so)

So far not a lot to report, runs a *lot* cooler (it doesnt hit 115c anyway..) but so far so good ^_^

Just wanted to just thank everyone once again for all the tips and advice, for without which I have no doubt I would be bashing my head against the wall with Dell

 

Gratz man , nice to hear that you got a better laptop this time, that gives me hopes that I'm not gonna get a refurbished system. I'm still waiting for my WUR confirmation after almost 2 weeks...

 

Cool, congrats.

 

Just tell them your an unemployed lawyer

All kidding aside, Dell reps will offer to replace pretty much anything for you, so just ask them for the parts you need, then let their techs build you a new machine.

If it still doesn't work they should automatically escalate. I had pretty good service from them on 3 replacements on my XPS m1530 even though one of their techs stripped some screws (pain in the butt)...

Also always helps to buy from Dell on EPP. They don't want to possibly lose a company (Especially since I was a Windows SA when I bought my XPS ) They don't want someone who can help shift purchasing power over to HP to do so over a personal machine.