Alienware Customer Service is a world of PAIN

Hi guys,

Just wanted to update you on another Alienware Horror Story. As some of you may already know my HDD crashed recently so I contacted Alienware support for help. They were ok and had another HDD sent to me. But before that they gave me their 15 day policy on replacement parts - THAT IF I DONT RETURN THE DEFECTIVE ITEM TO THEM WITHIN 15DAYS OF RECEIVING THE HDD - that I would be charged for the component. So I did the necessary - made sure infact that the component reached them in time and took the pain of driving out to FEDEX and all that and made sure everything was perfect. Everything was! - The defective HDD reached them in time - May 1, 2008 and someone even signed for it there. So all was good I assumed!!!!

Two days ago - May 18 or somewhere roundabout, I find that my card has been charged $200 from ALIENWARE CORP. This was a fraudulent charge from ALIENWARE as I was informed that there would only be a hold placed on the card and no charge. A charge would be applied only in the event that I failed to return within the 15 days period. So GUYS - be warned - this place reeks of lack of quality in all regards. The charges would be reimbursed after 7 - 10 days I was told, but who authorized them to CHARGE my card in the first place. No phonecalls, no email nothing - JUST CHARGED! I am in a world of pain just because I wanted the m15x. No matter how good the computer is this is something that someone has to experience to understand.

I wanted to know if any of you have experienced anyting like this. Also can the bank reverse charges in this case. I have the FEDEX tracking number and everything to prove that the defective part reached ALIENWARE in time and also before the stipulated 15 days period.

THANKS.

 

When I was shipped a new GPU, the holding charge was actually a charge on my card, which was refunded after they got my old card back. I have no idea how long it took, all I know is that I eventually was refunded.

 

They can reverse the charges instantly. I don't agree with that 7-10 business days blah blah blah. If they can charge it instantly they can REFUND it the same way.

And yes you can have your bank reverse the charges. I have notified my Visa after the purchase of my M15x. If the system is again proven to be defective my CC provider will reverse the charges and AW will have to go after them for any restocking fee. Wash your hands clean of the deal and move on.

 

Hey Stone825 - Did AW inform you at any time before placing the charge on your card.

Thanks newfie - Have to call my bank right away. I have never had a such a string of headaches before. Cant believe my new laptop is stressing me out .

 

hey Sabapathy i'm just wondering when you purchased your M15X did you get financing from AW or did you put it on your CC?

 

Sabapathy,

Just hang in there. Hopefully you can get this fixed. Be sure to stress to your bank the charges and fraudulant. You did not Agree to those charges and you complied with all thier request.

I have had to do this before on a Hotel charge. I told them I would be staying there for 3 weeks and they billed the whoel three weeks on my first day. LMAO. They kept saying they woudl refund the rest the day I checked out. So I checked out and called my CC company. Few hours later the phone rang, it was the police. They explained what had happened and asked if I would like to press charges lol. In insight I should have said "yes I would". Instead I just laughed and said "no". Should have nailed the Bas$@#^.

 

Placed the complete charge - $3600 on my credit card. So AW now has my credit card number and are playing around with it. Oh man! Should have just stayed put with my M1530......

newfie - wow!. Well I am gonna give it a shot now. I did comply with all that they asked me to. The worst part is CS - the complete indifference in attitude that they have towards a customer is just PLAIN SHOCKING.

 

o Ok thats kinda of crazy why don't you call roswell they will get an answer from their billing department usually same day.

 

Yeah! - Might as well try that. It is 1-800-ROSWELL correct?

 

no its 1-866-Roswell

 

sorry to make a joke of it but are you sure this isnt the $200 restocking fee that weve heard so much about.

 

Okie - Thanx - Will let you all know how it works out.

 

Nope - Itsa full charge on the HDD. Verified that. And how is ur machine holding up?

 

its not. sent back a week ago for a fried motherboard and while it was there theve changed the case/chassis as well.

 

Sorry to hear that! I have been having a rough time too as you can see. Maybe that is the price you have to pay for an AW!

How is your CS experience so far?

 

yeah let me know how it goes. Most of the time with billing they will have to call you back but their pretty quick about it.

 

Hey Taco - Thx. Just contacted Roswell and they are willing to help. Infact the person who I spoke to was more professional than the regular customer care person and he was atleast able to acknowledge the problem. What a difference man!!!

 

told ya I gave up on regular CS a long time ago. I'm assuming they will have to call you back as soon as they get an e-mail back from billing?

 

Sabapathy,

We apologize for the inconvenience, please allow me to look into this and see what I can do on this matter.

 

Yep! - He agreed stating that it shouldnt take 7-10 days for reversal of charges! - I dont know whats the deal with regular CS. Inefficient, indifferent, rude and useless are some words that come to mind when I think of regular CS..

 

Thanks. I have sent you a PM with all the details. Thanks again.

 

Just an update - Alienware Armando PM'ed me and has been of assistance. The charges will still take abt 7 days to reverse to my card but I am happy that these forums made a speedy resolution possible with someone from Alienware to help out. Only question is, if they can help us out here, why is regular CS such a pain in the ***?

 

They stole my box.

 

ive heard quite a few people have got totally different boxes after returning their system. luckily i received the same box back and also the felt sleve as well. pitty they sent me someone elses case and nameplate.

 

I love how they tout their "200-point" inspection from "seasoned and trained to Alienware Standards" technicians, and they miss something as blatently obvious as a nameplate. Sounds like they stripped out someone's case because the customer said it was cracked/defective, but Alienware didn't think so, so they handed it to you and hoped it wasn't defective in YOUR eyes. There's absolutely no reason why you received a chassis with someone else's nameplate on it. If they were changing out your chassis, there should be new ones with no nameplates on them.

At least, that's how it sounds to me.

 

I think I can do a better job than them.

 

I`m probably just putting salt in the wound here, but would you care to explain to us what QC is all about, Alienware-Armando ?

 

forget it guys. AW won't repsond on threads like this. That we can rest assured. They are probably well warned on what tehy can say. They don't want to dig that hole any deeper.

 

There are hundreds of mobile systems that they have to go through and fix on a tight schedule. They are just told what's wrong with the computer and they fix it to make the process as speedy as possible. These technicians do not know whose computer it belongs to.

 

haha if they publish that and we collect all that has gone wrong with AW's laptops, I think we could write a good article...

 

I mean seriousely, for a company that CLAIMS it has the most rigurous quality control tests , there sure are a lot of problems with 3000$ machines!
I`d be furios if they would have mocked me and my money that way..

 

That very well may be, but if they are replacing a chassis, wouldn't it be common sense to take off the name plate BEFORE replacing it?

Secondly, to have someone else's nameplate on your chassis most likely means they stripped it off someone else's computer and rebuilt it onto yours. Either that, or they put the wrong nameplate on your new chassis.

Either way, it's sloppy Quality Assurance.

 

I personally don't read that crap on their "phase game", or crap like that on any other company website. Nowadays, it's so abused, you can't believe anyone.

"We have the most rigorous quality control tests in the industry" - really? What major publication did the study? Oh right, no one but you were included in your study.

 

wouldnt that be false advertising if they couldnt back it up. im sure they did some type of study.

 

If they said "better than Sony in quality control tests for laptops", then yes, it would be false advertising and Sony could most likely sue them if Alienware had nothing to back it up. But what they say on the phase game is very vague, not comparing themselves to any other company, but simply stating "Our Inspectors are seasoned technicians/engineers and are very experienced in the art of perfection."

To say they are experienced in the art of perfection and they're installing nameplates on wrong laptops.....it just makes me go

 

Anybody got an m15x WITH no issues whatsoever by any chance?

 

dhoang seems to be pretty happy with his.

 

Hey, my father is happy with his crappy nexia from `99 which has a broken AC kit,bad brakes and terrible seats
That doesn`t make the car issueless...

 

@eleron911 - Well lets put your dad in a "computer" position.

So basically, he owns a M15x, but he is not racing it or anything, only using it for general use so he's really not pushing it. However, just imagine people with a M15x who are pushing the system, and the breaks just don't cut it anymore and they lose performance where they really need it.

I don't know if that makes sense but whatever I tried lol. You also said "crappy" so I assume it wasn't that awesome of a car to start with? I have no idea though.

 

if you ever saw a nexia you would know its not exactly the best car in the world. it looks like a pretty bad car

 

Holy smokes... I held off on the m15x because AW offered no accidental damage plans, going to a Dell XPS M1730 instead (got a refurb at a steal from the Dell Outlet). However, the M1730 had lots of issues as a scratch/dent unit: 1) scratched exterior color plates 2) one LED gaming light was out 3) 7+ discolored pixels on the LCD screen. I went through 3 bad LCD screens before a good unit was issued. At $1200 per screen plus other parts, I would have been out over $5000, double the price of the original laptop, had this gone through AW CS. However, all I paid was $300 -- the original price of Dell's complete care warranty (purchased with the unit).

It will be interesting to see how Dell's XPS team handles AW warranties if the companies do go that direction -- it's the best I've seen for any laptop brand.

 

Hm of course the cars still drives, but imagine what your dad would think about it if he had payed a premium price for it, lets say like for a porsche?

 

Yeah we paid for an Audi R8 and we got a Skoda. Go figure LMAO.

I am sure AW are busting thier butts to get this fixed but the lack of communications with customers/owners is terrible. Heck all they need to do is give a little insight about what they are doing FOR US.

 

Contact your cc company and inform them that you are disputing the charge and wont be paying it. The company will now get involved in an attempt to settle any dispute you have with Alienware. Based on what you posted, you did not authorize this charge. Good Luck

 

Still no sign of my money - . I am really cursing AW at the moment. I dont have an extra $200 to spend on the weekend now .

 

That sux Sab.

$200 bucks could make for a great night out. Although a decent dinner and a movie will cost ya that now. LMAO.

 

Yup yup! Very true - $200 isnt really all that much now but I still want my $200 .

Maybe I should let AW take me out to dinner....Oh! wait!!! hold that thought --- They could end up taking me to some lousy restaurant that looks great on the outside with cool lights and stuff (maybe some cracks as well, but ignore those) with a cool chef called 8800mGTX and serve me EXTRA hot food that I burn myself eating, and blame this on the thermal profiles of the restaurant building not working as EXPECTED .

 

lol I can tell your little upset with AW

 

That is classic. lol..

 

Hey lord shar,

I have used a third party accidental damage insurance company for about a year now. It's www.safeware.com and they cover any kind of accidental damage. Spilled drink, got stolen, dog chewed it up, you dropped it etc. About the only thing they don't cover is damage in a war zone (that sucks for me). The policy covers full replacement cost but you pay for it too. Itcost me $200. bucks a year for $4000. worth of coverage. I haven't had a claim but colligue of mine did spilla drink on his and had no trouble getting them to pay for a replacement.

-Rob