Alienware Horror Story

I would first like to say that this is not a rant or bashing Alienware, this is just what happened to me. I think that anyone going to purchase an Alienware computer should really know what they are getting into. With that said, I know that Alienware probably doesnt treat ALL of their customers like what I have experienced, but from reading a lot on these forums I think people should know what kind of customer support they may encounter...because I know im not the only one.

(Read if you want, you may get a chuckle because of how incompetant some of these people are)

My story first started out on 2/25 where I purchased my very first laptop, an M15X. I was very excited and decided "hey what is one month, I can wait it out". on 2/26, I went up to phase 2 and was very excited about the progress already made. Little did I know I would never see past Phase 2...

Weeks went by and my order status hadnt changed, finally I called and the CS agent reasurred me that I was currently in phase 4 and that the only thing that was holding back my order was the smartbay battery, which would delay my order until april 7th. Doing the smart thing (or so I thought) I decided to change my order and just get the smartbay battery later. I was promised that my order would be changed within 24-48 hours and that my computer would be on schedule to ship on 3/25.

I called back a few days later and was told that my order change HAD BEEN PROCESSED, and that I was back in phase 4 of the phase game. THe CS agent told me to call back in a few days because he again reasured me that my computer would begin production sometime that week (march 17th).

As told to do so, I called back except this time I was told that my order change had not been processed and that the x9000 processor was on back order, and that my unit would not be produced for a least a couple of more weeks. I told the CS agent that she was WRONG and that another CS agent had told me the order change was processed. After being put on hold for 5 minutes, she told me I was RIGHT, but now the x9000 processor was delayed and that, that would delay my order. I told her she was wrong again because another CS Agent told me they had pulled all the parts from my computer and that it was ready to assemble (besides the smartbay battery). She was basically stumped and told me to call back at the begining of next week to see if the x9000 was in.

The date was 3/25, my "estimated" ship date. I called up and once again I was told that my order status was in phase 2. WTF!!!!! Now Im mad. I hang up the phone and decide to email them. I finally get a response back saying that my order had been canceled!!! I never canceled my order!!!! Doing the right thing I call these CS agents up and DEMAND ANSWERS. From the tone of their voice, I could tell they messed up big time, and I was promised that a supervisor would call me the next day because he "was not in".

So the next day I recieve a phone call, I will assume this guy is a frequent poster in here....Alienware - Frank. (Yes im calling you out, as others have too). He basically told me that once I made an order change with the smartbay battery, the computer didnt change the order, it canceled it. The only thing I had to say to that was "I hope you dont use Alienware Computers over there...wouldnt look too good for you guys." I told him how upset I was with the service I was recieving and that after dishing out close to 5k on a freakin laptop, you think I would be treated with respect...like telling me my order was canceled...how I had to find out myself that it was canceled. He completely agreed and said that they would put a rush priority tag on it, free shipping, and that he would "personally make sure this order is moved along quickly".

So I thought, great, problem solved, Ill have mine in about 2 weeks or so....

Here we go again. This time I was calling every single day to make sure they were on top of things. The first few days, no one had any idea I had talked to "supervisor" and that there was no free shipping or rush priority on my notes. After about day 3, someone had finally gotten into contact with "supervisor" and okayed the free deliver and rush tag. GOOOOD LOOORRRDDDD, can someone do their job over there?

After about a week I was pretty happy because I was already in phase 4, and the CS agent once again told me they were pulling parts and that it should be in production by end of the week and ready to ship the following week.

So today 4/3...I call up and guess what. CS agent tells me i am in phase 2 again. WOW SAME OLD STORY!!!! I said why the hell am I in phase 2? The CS agent (harvard graduate) told me that Alienware finally decided to tag on the free shipping and that it would delay my order for a couple of days. So now im thinking "wow thanks supervisor for the nice treat you gave me".

When I made my re-order the estimated ship date was 4/22. Guess what this "rush delivery" would have gotten me? 4/19. So as pissed as I was/am, I held my temper and politely said "I would like to cancel my order, because there is no way I could deal with you guys for the next 3 years". I did, and I am so glad I did.

I will never ever use Alienware or Dell again. I honestly feel embarssed that I let this go on for so long, and I dont see how people like this "supervisor" "alienware frank" can just lie to people. This is a company that clearly sees the $ before the customer (I know most do, but this is just terrible) and they clearly try to take advantage of their customers.

For the alienware people that post on this site, you really should be ashamed of yourselves and you should really take a class (or retake) called business ethics. Whenever I know someone that wants to get a new computer I will boldly say "stay away from alienware and dell". You guys are a complete joke and waseted my last month in a half promising me that I would get a computer. Now im here left with nothing.

PS...I live in Chicago, not europe...but I feel for you europeans.

Anyone else want to "rate" Alienware's customer service. I gave them a 0/10.

Alienware should be ashamed of themselves...you abducted my service.

 

wow. that sucks.

 

great post. i also had a similar experience with dell.... however i think that the alienware guys in the forum will respond to this

 

I give them 2/10 and that's just because my order finally shipped (after passing more or less the same ordeal as you except for the auto-canceling).
To Alienware-Steve and Alienware-Frank I give 0/10 as well as I asked them many time one simple question and never replied to me or anyone else asking the same simple question: Where can we send a long and pissed COMPLAIN email about AW that would not pass their CS and end up in trash (which i'm sure it does when u complain to feedback@, info@, bla_bla@).

PS I highly doubt they'd put a supervisor to check forums, most probably these guys are part of CS and/or cancelation prevention team.

 

may be alienware has to ship them from another planet........how about tatooine??

 

too bad for you dude.. i never had an issue with AW

 

need this one as sticky please. Is important for customers.

 

Um, it is a rant. And you are bashing Alienware. Not saying you don't have a right to, but it is what it is.

I went through a slightly less frustrating experience when I got mine. Prices dropped after I placed my order, so they canceled my order and placed a new one. I stuck it out, and have had a very nice laptop for a couple of years now.

I would give 6/10 for original order, 10/10 on later service.

 

This is so very sad. My order's been in phase 4 for a week so I email for a status update and am told the screen (1440 X 900) is on backorder so it's moved back to phase 3. I call to cancel (because of this post and many other reported issues with the m15x) and am told that it's in phase 5 and they have all the parts.

Order cancelled, I don't pay $3K for this kind of BS. They need to know their head from their posterior before I throw that kind of money at them.

 

Yeah sorry to hear that.

 

That royally sucks .

 

here another funny story with aw support.
I have a big problem with sli :fps drop to 15 after 20 min.
I called aw and we talked about changing video card.
I made tons of test and we concluded that the problem didnt come from video card but Nforce chipset...very sad.
I called them today and guess what? they sent me a new video card.......

AW you are ROFLMEOW
I

 

AWaboutTime/fraggable,

I'm very sorry about the way we have treated you and I understand its not easy having to deal with such frustrating lack of service. I only wish there was something I could have done about the part delays and the mis-communications that have caused you such grief. All I can do is try to help in some small way and offer compensation if you change your mind. I can also refer your case to the Critical Issues Team, who will monitor your progress and follow up more consistently. I would understand if you choose not to go with Alienware again, but if you reconsider I will do what I can to help.

 

Stevo,

No offense, but I dont trust you, because I was already sold this same scheme, except after I went through and re-ordered...nothing happen. You guys are all bark and no bite. You make all these false promises and when it comes to take action you guys just dont follow through. Me, on the other hand, will stay canceled (Like i said I would) and will continue to buy from other places other than dell and alienware.

Complete and udder let down. I was so excited to buy from such a highly regarded business, at least I know what alienware really is, a bad joke

 

We have to give it to him, he has guts to reply here but still a bit too late. Notice how he's still ignoring my question though .

 

Man, that's a big punch. Sorry Steve.

 

Steve,

What compensation do AW wanna offer? I would love to know. Dun bother to reply if its a free AW hat.

 

Hi guys im new here, im from Portugal i order my M15X in febuary to my cousins house in fall river he recived it 3 weeks later ... on time... so then he shiped it to me got it a week later thats 4 weeks and a am in europe.... as for problems i only had the downclocking issue and the touch boutns not working after coming from sleep mode, so i called them they helped me install the new bios, it took a while it was a long distance call with a lot of interference so it was nice that they have a program that the agente can log in to your computer and fix it for you. Did it fix my computer hell yeah no probs a rocks crysis on high settings. So my messege is do generalize this case because i was treated very well on coustmer support and my computer came a long way very fast, i am very satisfied... best laptop i have ever owned and probably the only one in portugal with one


Peace

happy with the M15X

 

Now where have we seen this before, wait! It's more standard that you think, some get it others don't....

Most org's try to improve the customer experience, however not many manages to boost customer satisfaction and loyalty because they fail to connect with customers and anticipate needs. ( in this case, high expectations due to high flying marketing and expectations, We have a Lexus, we are selling your a Ford.. don't tell anyone)

Most org's that have invested in CRM, training, reorganizations,etc during the past xx years have been able to reduce their sales, service and operation costs, as well as increase their sales and marketing productivity. Good news for Mike Dell and AlienW right? ( Dell slashing more jobs was just announced as they wanted more profits), not good news for their customers..... Let's move the customer call center to India as they manage to take more calls pr. hour.. ( I hope everyone here can see how wrong that is and that most managers in call centers think like this, one common reason? They are share the same brain? Beats me..

We can do things now that we could not do before: place orders 24/7 or track shipments.

But we also now expect increasingly more from the companies we deal with, and it's easier for us to compare companies in search of better deals or service, reading these post are one way....

However, the company directors often do care, so find a way to make them listen...send them a private letter, now that works.. ( can be possible, if you hate one org enough)

They should at least view a good customer experience as the best way to attract and keep customers, building up loyalty over time that will spread by word-of-mouth advocacy to generate even more loyal customers. Even these company leaders, however, may not realize how far customer loyalty goes. A lot of goodwill with a customer can be wiped out by one bad experience, and some seemingly loyal customers will just change to a competitor if it offers a slightly better deal.


Why companies need to move beyond surveys and get into enterprise feedback management to boost their understanding of customers and better respond to their needs:

Enterprise feedback management can help companies increase the business value they gain from customer feedback. It also helps them gather insights into how they're working, what areas or products need help, and how to leverage feedback knowledge and tools to improve processes.


Well Alienware if you need help, I'll send my CV, but don't expect me to listen to any managers in your org, how the call center should be run...

 

IMO all support sucks whatever company it is. You always have to put them under pressure for them to give you what you want.

 

Well, I don't think anyone really dissagrees with you, actually the first topic says that different cases have different treatments. But just as a remark, you payed 2k euros for a laptop, maybe 3k and you have to fix a graphic card problem, touchbuttons problems etc. I don't know how is it in your case but I kinda get annoyed if I spend one month of hard work salary and get something that is not in top condition. I'll get mine in a few days and report back here and let you know how it goes. However buyers (especially in Europe) should be warned that AW is not only happy cases and since their rigs cost double the normal good computers the bad cases turn to sad stories. I mean with what I spend on one AW I can get a good gaming desktop (built in house) and an average laptop. So if I want an AW i want it without the trouble of building my own (driver issues, bad cooling chioce solutions etc).

PS I did not cancel the order since it was the computer I wanted to buy and I was not especially in a hurry but I would never recommend Alienware without telling them what they might (lets say 20% of the cases) encounter.

 

So the customer service guy was a Harvard grad?? and he was working in customer service???

that explains everything LOL must be a total loser to work for almost minimum wage after graduating from one of the best unis in the world.

 

mine took 1 month to get here with no problems

 

I laughed so hard almost pissed my pants.That made my day

 

Part of the buying experience with botique/custom made products is the way people are treated during and after the sale has been completed.The service aspect is just as important as the overall quality of the device,ALIENWARE better do some serious re evaluation of their business practices soon,or it will just be another bankrupt company that held promise but failed to live up to the task.

 

i doubt you were talking to the Frank that has posted on this site, who is supposedly Frank Azor, a VP.

and i fully echo your sentiments, good riddance, I hope I never have to talk to anyone at alienware ever again.

 

Not true at all. I just ordered a new comp at cyberpowerpc.com. I made the order at 1pm, I was called at 5pm and a CS rep told me that i filled up too many PCI slots. So I got rid of three 8800gtx and got 2 9800gx2s instead.

That to me was shocking to see that someone actually called the same day. He said it would be 3-4 business days before it shipped.

This is night and day compared to what I experienced at Alienware.

 

only 1 botish reply....what a shame AW

 

Alienware-Steve,

If you are still monitoring this thread, can you tell me whether or not it is true that the 1440x900 monitors are on back order. My order (with this resolution screen) has been in phase 4 since Monday, but I have not been notified via email concerning any backordered parts. Please keep in mind that I have emailed [email protected] with the same question, and it would be very frustrating if I got two different answers. I've had only good experiences with Alienware in the past, and have no desire to cancel my order, but I would simply like to know if my order is going to be delayed due to a back-ordered part.

EDIT: if you need to know, please PM me for an order #

 

If Alienware_Frank is a VP we're screwed lol.

 

This is too bad. And yes, I agree. AW has to work on this problem. You cannot promise the world and give nothing.

AW says from itself it has an award-winning CS, they claim to build the best computers in the world, they claim to have a 200-point quality-checksystem.

Reality says, CS has some major issues, just like their laptops.

And still customers pay premium prices.

I really hope for all current AW-product owners and future owners that their story turns out with a happy ending. I ordered a Sager and had it within a week.( Sent from the US -->Japan) It works fine, fullfills my expectations. The CS was quick and painless. I have no regretts whatsoever spending my hard earned money. Thats how it should be in my book...

Paendrag

 

and i thought war and peace was long.

 

how's your m15x coming along.

 

I aprecciate your reply here and understand that it would be nearly impossible for AW to monitor forums like this for complaints, so to a small degree I am impressed that any AW employee would take time to reply to concerns here. Here is my reason for cancelling:

I placed an order for a $2900 laptop a week ago. I expected a ship date of April 21st. The order went through payment processing just fine, and proceeded to phase 4. It sat there for 5 days. I called Tuesday asking for reassurance that downclocking issuse would be fixed on my laptop before it shipped, which the CS rep told me of course would. I directed them to these forums (the rep pulled up the polling thread about 'do you still have issues after the BIOS fix' and said they would send it over to the tech support department and call me back around 5pm the next day (yesterday) with a response. They didnt call yesterday - Lie #1.

I emailed the [email protected] address for an update on my order after the 5th day in phase 4 assuming there was a delay with collecting my parts, and got a response 3 hours later telling me that the screen (1440 X 900) was on backorder and that I should check back next week for an update. You know, I didn't pay for a boutique computer manufacturer to give me a 'check back next week because we don't have an ETA' response. I paid for personal service. My order status fell back to phase 3 on the status page - Mistake #2

I called 10 minutes after getting the email and after reading a few more posts from people who received their systems in the last few days and had DC/cracked case issues and told them I wanted to cancel. They asked why, I told them because my order go delayed and I was concerned about DC. Transferred to cancellation department and they asked again. They told me it was in phase 5 as of a few minutes ago and was being built. I told them about my 15 minute old email and they asked for the emailer's name, which I provided - the rep seemed to have recognized the name and said 'yeah she works here'. I explained my concerns and said that I didn't aprecciate the lack of consistency and personal service, and that I didn't have much faith in your 200-point inspection considering the number of failures. Right now I think your 200-point process is a complete lie, there's no way anyone visually inspected some of the systems reported here, such as the one that came with a gash in the top cover - Lie and mistake #3.

So you see, whatever your processes may be internally, I was lied to 3 times. I was a paying customer. Why did this happen? You tell me. I don't feel that I complicated the process and caused this confusion in any way. I ordered a new Dell 1720 laptop 6 months ago an received it in 2 weeks with no hitches at all in the process. Why can't you, a smaller manufacturer with 'personal service' provide the same service as a mass manufacturer known for terrible CS?

 

Hmm, expecting shipping date April 21st, I think you were a bit rushed to start to worry. As much as I dislike AW customer service even big companies get delays when they launch a new product but yours was not yet delayed. Bit more patience and dont call them in the first days you might get confused (they don't know what they are talking about).

 

so thats 2/25 until 4/3? holy......thats a freakin long time being in one phase and all.cant imagine who wouldnt be pissed at that situation. sorry to hear that

 

This makes me sad because i was going to order an m17x but now I feel reluctant on buying from AW. Their CS is HORRIBLE they must have monkeys they hired as CS reps, I can ask 3 of them the same question and get 3 totally different answers, they need to make sure that their CS reps 1) know what they are talking about 2) don't promise to do something and not do it..

 

I really really hope the person who said the 1440x900 screens were backordered was on crack or something...

 

_LOL at that sh*t

 

Im having trouble even talking to a return agent about returning my laptop within the 30-day money back period.

what do I have to do to get my money back??

 

If you still want a laptop with the 8800m gtx, then theres always the sager np 5793, and if you go to the sager forums, you'll see people always compliment xoticpc for quick orders and good customer service along with a representative Justin frequently on these forums

 

Pay 15% restocking fee?

 

somehow this part lmao

 

AWaboutTime - I can only say I totally understand where you are coming from. AW is pathetic and perhaps the WORST computer company I have ever dealt with. THE WORST. Lenovo, Gateway, TOshiba all superior in my experiences. I wil never ever ever buy AW again. and I have swayed many people form ever buying AW. They take advantage of the gamer and build up the hype and then they never deliver. Pathetic!

 

@westcoastgeek, I agree with you about IBM/Lenovo, the hdd on my thinkpad was making weird noise last year, i called IBM up, and guess what, brand new hdd showed up after 2 days and i don't even have to send the old one back. 15 mins on phone was all the time i spent. lol

 

A sad and very sad story indeed, its a good thing i got mine without any probs. But hey, get the Sager Np5793 if you want the 8800GTX with Xtreme processor.. some of my friends dont have any complaint for it or wait for the 15" version the M860TU (getting it for my lil bro).. im only buying the m15x due to its portability since its 15" that are only one available during the time i got my wage...

 

talk about their 200 poitn check.............if they really do that....why that need to specify the dead pixel thingy....with 200 point check....it should have any dead pixel to start with...

 

im fairly sure alienware is the way it is beacuse of the people that are atracted to its products.. u said it your self OP that you where embaressed for how long you let it drag on..

I would bet my top dolla that 90% of happy alienware customers/reviewers are kids not paying with there own money or 50year old men.. give or take.. Alienware customers want the bling and dont give a second though to quality or service you can see it every day here on the forums actually customers making slapstick reviews that gloss over critical issues.. and just make u feel dumbed down reading them
the majority of m15x users are prob still using stock bios and downclocking for instance endlessly and are nun the wizer... it has alien head on it and thats all that matters to us..

all quite disappointing ... i feel cheated just for researching their products and ive yet to even own one "/ talk about bad impressions.


now if only they could produce more smart bay battery's . ^_^

 

lol Nice Sig AWaboutTime

 

You can't make generalizations like that - you have no knowledge about who makes up their customer base. Secondly, Alienware does pride themselves on customer service; it's naive to think that someone paying $4k for a computer is not going to expect good service. I'm not making an opinion about their CS one way or another, but I am telling you that is part of what they market themselves on. They wouldn't market themselves on it if no one cared.

Next time you or anyone else makes a post, back it up with facts. These senseless generalizations do no one any good and pollute the forum with misinformation.