Alienware Service Calls

My keyboard quit working on a new m17x r3 and when I called into tech support they say that their dbs has been down since 5/18 and they have no way to send out service technicians until their systems are back up. Anyone else experience this?

 

Yes all of us are experiencing it. Just gotta wait, I hear the ETA is this thursday.

 

There is no ETA officially. And it's been since Tuesday or so...

I have already filed a report with the BBB as this is unacceptable for what we are paying for (it's in the premium) for Next business day support.

I would recommend anyone else actually needing support do the same or it will look as if none of us care how we are being mistreated as customers.

There is no excuse for a server outage lasting almost a week

 

I was told on Friday that it will be up Tuesday (expected).

 

Rep told me today it said in the system that the repair ETA was Thursday, and to call back then. That was after 2 reps earlier in the day said it was closed and to call back in 3 hours. My system is DOA with nothing I can do about it as far as even making them aware of the problem because it's all tied to the service tag which doesn't currently exist.

 

It seems to be Dell-wide. On Monday morning, I called about an XPS 17 (L702X) that I purchased for my father that did not come with any discs, plus DataSafe Local was not installed for creating a backup. I tried to get the software from the "My Dell Downloads" site, but that has not worked since I received the laptop last Thursday. The tech said their system was down for updates & instead of being overnighted, the discs will be delayed until the end of the week.

I then called for a replacement AC adapter for my daughter's Mini 10v. They told me something similar. Instead of the AC adapter being overnighted to me, it would be some time between Wednesday & Friday before I received it, due to DellServ being down/updated.

After two different divisions stating that, I decided not to waste my time calling about an issue with our Aurora (that would probably require onsite service for a motherboard replacement) until I knew they had things back to normal.

 

Instead of contacting the BBB which is local, file a complaint with the FTC. Under the Magnuson-Moss Act which covers Warranties to protect consumers from misleading practices. They carry much more weight than the BBB.

 

I heard all of Alienware/Dell's systems are down.

 

Yea experiencing it too! Waiting on my processor to get in!

 

Link me to a form.

 

Asking politely for someone to do something usually gets you further than making a demand.

How to file a complaint with the FTC

 

Supposedly the dbs is back up. They have finally registered my service tag after not being able to do so. I'm seeing if I can get an eta for service now.

 

My service call went through and I should be receiving parts tomorrow!

 

Update:

I called in again, even though I said I wasn't going to. Still got the same run-around. The warranty transfer department is closed, bla bla...WHILE I was on the phone a rep from Dell called regarding my BBB complaint. I told them to call me tomorrow as I was attempting to resolved it once more.

When I clicked back over to the tech I was told there was nothing further they could do. At this point I almost snapped, told him I wanted to speak to his supervisor. Supervisor assured me HE will contact me back tomorrow, gave me his email address...We'll see.

He said he was going to handle the transfer of all the information himself. At this point in comes down to this, even if it does get resolved this is unacceptable and I believe I deserve something for receiving the run around and I will make sure I let the rep from Dell about the BBB complaint know everything.

Unfortunately this will be the first and last time I purchase anything from Alienware and probably Dell.

My next laptop will probably be the 17" 3D 485M Clevo and you'll probably see this up for sale in the marketplace unless something major happens tomorrrow.

 

I've called in multiple times daily since Sunday trying to get things done, finally a rep today told me there's a form to submit the ownership/warranty transfer online (in their intranet, not accessible to me), asked me for all the info and gave me his word that it would be in the system in 24hr. So I noted the time and plan to call back in exactly 24hr, note that I still haven't been able to get any kind of action out of them as far as initiating a replacement order or shipping parts/a guy out yet.

I'm certainly rather miffed myself about the whole thing, haven't heard back about my BBB complaint yet. 5 days with a DOA laptop so far and I don't even have the warranty under my name yet

 

I'm in OZ. I had an issue with my left side GPU fan making a grinding noise and contacted Dell last Thu (19/05). THey said they'd have it fixed by Mon, then they said Tue and so on. As it had now been a week I contacted them this afternoon and explained to them how annoyed I was, the agent rerouted the parts and had a tech at my door within 3 hrs!, at 8pm . I was pretty happy that Dell finally got their act together. However, I just realised that my left GPU fan is no longer working. I think the tech messed up the installation .

 

I Actually Thought They Were Lying Lol

 

Keep giving us updates guys... I can't believe how much trouble people have been having. I think consumers need to know this.

 

I got a call from Dell re: my BBB complaint yesterday. I let him know that I had already gotten the replacement order authorized by another rep earlier that day. I had tried to negotiate an order change with him (I wanted to lose the factory overclocking option, which is supposed to come with further testing etc. etc. and obviously didn't help since the system came DOA - and replace my 460m's with 6970m's, paying the difference in cost, but the rep wouldn't budge, saying he can't do that.)

When I mentioned this to the Corporate Escalations rep who contacted me re: BBB complaint, he said he would contact the order team and get back to me within 24 hours. He said he would expedite the replacement order, and ensure it ships with NBD shipping. At this point i'm happy that my replacement will be on the way soon, even if they can't remove the factory overclocking option.

To recap:
May 6 order placed
May 18 order shipped
May 20 order received (DOA, but I wasn't here to open it)
Opened it May 21, started calling Dell to arrange a replacement system to be shipped - no service tag in system so no action can be initiated.
May 25 - dell rep finally offers to submit service tag/ownership/warranty transfer "online" meaning on their intranet system, gives me a ref # and says it will be in the system within 24 hours.
May 26 - service tag in system as promised, however first 2 calls i'm told the warranty transfer dept is closed and it's not yet in the system (called after 24 hours) - 3rd call finally service tag is in the system and my replacement order is processed (exact order as original) - later this day I receive the call from Dell rep re: BBB complaint who tells me he will look into the order and attempt to remove factory overclocking/add 6970m, expedite the order, and ensure NBD shipping.
May 27 - awaiting call from dell corporate escalations dept. regarding the order! ...to be continued

@LVNeptune: From what I've heard so far, definitely go with the Corporate Escalations rep from here on out re: this case. I haven't yet had any direct action from him but it sure sounds like that department has much more pull/capability than the normal channels.

Update: I just checked order status link @ AAFES and now my replacement order shows up in order status as placed yesterday (exact replacement) - this order now shows up as cancelled and there is another replacement order placed (same day 5/26) without the factory overclocking option and with the 6970m CF video cards. Shipping method shows Next Business Day. Haven't been contacted by Dell yet regarding the order, but am certainly pleased to see this. I expect to be charged the difference between the video cards (minus the price of the factory overclocking option) - I was not happy with how things were handled re:warranty transfer etc. but if this goes through as it appears now and gets shipped to me in a reasonable amount of time and in working order, I am placated and will give Dell a pass on this one.

 

Finally got them to send the board out, replaced it, updated to A04 and it's still a B2 stepping.

Not sure why Dell is still sending out defective chipset boards but here we go again.

EDIT: Nevermind, wow, glad I found this thread http://forum.notebookreview.com/alienware-m17x/580844-guide-how-display-b3-sandy-bridge-m17x-r3.html

 

Issue is back, AGAIN.

I think their Optical Cable adapter thing is causing the issue. When you push it in it stops halfway in and then you push it slightly more harder to get it to go in all the way and when it's removed it still thinks it is plugged in. I believe this is a faulty design. Second motherboard this has happened to.

Going to request another replacement on Tuesday I suppose.