Alienware screwed me BADLY.

And right now I'm LIVID.

And this is a serious warning for any non-U.S. resident who purchases from Alienware, especially Canadians.

The amount the Alienware checkout says you should be paying in Canadian funds is your total, period. Alienware will attempt to screw you by masking an artificially raised price in U.S. funds. For me, that means I ended up paying nearly FIVE HUNDRED dollars more before taxes.

It's nearly 1AM right now, and I'll be lucky if I sleep a wink because I'm so frigging angry. How did I find out nearly a week after I received my laptop? It was purchased on someone else's credit card, whom I pad a set amount back only to have Alienware blow by my budgeted amount by a sickening five hundred dollars. When I asked that person to confirm the amount paid via his credit card bill, my jaw hit the floor.

As far as I'm concerned, Alienware has two options. Either they adjust the price and refund the difference, or this computer goes back to them. And for sure as hell I expect I'll be yelling when I pick up that telephone tomorrow.

Update to follow.

- F

 

yay restocking fees!

good luck. Honestly, I don't put too much stock in anyone's "estimates" when converting to CAD from any currency. I look at the numbers as they are approved.

Personally, I can check my credit card, online, for purchases I made as recently as yesterday or the day before.... so for me, I wait 2-3 days and I know.... at THAT point, it's not too late to back out and get ALL the money back.... I'm smart like that.

 

To hell with that, I called Roswell and confirmed the amount I'd be paying and they quoted me the exact amount in Canadian funds that the Alienware checkout gave me, after Canadian taxes to boot. Why the discrepancy when it comes to actually charging my credit card?

But the amount shown on Alienware's Canadian site is NOT an estimate, it's the amount to be paid. Advanced price to be paid according to the confirmation e-mail. There's absolutely zero wiggle room out of this for them, and if they dance around the issue and try to rationalize this bait 'n switch maneuver, I'll crush them. And if I have to take it to the CEO of that company, I will.

- F

 

Good luck.

 

Ouch, sorry to hear that.

That is a killer system though.

 

because A) the website's exchange rate likely isn't 100% up-to-date, and B) AW probably isn't doing the exchange rates, likely their financial establishment is (AKA BANK), which probably has more up-to-date, and specific, figures.

It might appear they have no wiggle room, but did you read the contract you were agreeing to when you ordered the system? not likely.

they may have more rights here than you think.

Just be prepared in case something goes awry.

 

I feel bad for you as thats a mistake that should not have happened. One question though, do you have proof as to the content of that phone call? Im not questioning you but that verification can make your case and screw them. If not you will need some other type of proof or evidence that they screwed up. If your confirmation email is the correct price and is in CAD, then that right there is what youll need along with your friends billing statement. After that let the crushing begin.

 

Oh, this will be easy, Ghost. For starters, the subtotal they charged in USD doesn't even come close to the Canadian subtotal after conversion. The very fact that I contact Roswell and they discourse with me in Canadian funds without my prompting them suggests I should not have been subjected to this B.S. currency sleight-of-hand to begin with.

- F

 

Have you contacted any lawyers? There might be something worthwhile in just getting a legal consultation to explore any avenues there.

 

This whole transaction went awry. Even factoring in exchange, they charged me an arbitrary amount that didn't even closely accord with my subtotal. They basically made up a subtotal.

And as far as I'm concerned, if a company like Alienware presents itself as a Canadian website with products in Canadian funds, I don't give a hoot -- they had best transact using a Canadian bank so I don't end up getting shafted like I did.

But anyway, I'll park it for now and fill everyone in tomorrow.

- F

 

I'm sure you have a pretty good case to work with. Like I said earlier, good luck with it and I hope things turn up for the better.

 

Sorry to hear about what happened Flashback Jack.

Do you still have the confirmation email Alienware sent you when your order was confirmed? This email should have the total amount equivalent to the one that should have appeared during checkout.

Another question. Did you use your credit card to pay for your purchase? If so, what is from a Canadian bank, wherein you have to pay in Canadian dollars? What was the exchange rate during the time of purchase and the time you were billed by the CC company? Some credit card companies and banks are notorious when it comes to exchange rates.

 

Yes.

I can appreciate that their sales, according to their terms of sale, are in U.S. funds, but having said that, there was a severe shift in their math. I went looking for historical exchange data on the date I made the purchase and there's still nearly a five hundred dollar discrepancy. They basically overcharged me, by A LOT.

I can appreciate that, but the U.S. fund subtotal before exchange and Canadian taxes does not in any manner translate to the Canadian subtotal I was quoted at the time I placed my order. Not even close!

- F

 

Oh, the difference is that substantial. Then it couldn't have been an unfortunate case with foreign exchange rates?

The opposite happened to me, I ordered my m15x when the Euro and Dollar were both high. Since my credit card billing address is in the Philippines, the credit card would have to charge me in peso.

When the billing came, it was less than what the credit card company estimated I would pay. In my case, the exchange rate worked in my favor, because of the lower Euro and Dollar during that time.

 

That didn't happened to me.
Here is my story:

When I called AW that night, the price on the website after tax was 23xx CAD, the rep on the phone tells me the price is 23xx CAD.
1 day later, I got the website to check, the price dropped. Then I called AW to ask for adjustment, they adjusted it no problem to the quote price on the website. Then my credit card is charged with the adjust price. (my credit card was not charged 1 day ago for verification wait time.) I think the price is $200 less than initial quote price.

2 days later, the price dropped again (due to exchange rate again), so I called AW for price adjustment. No problem, the rep confirmed the adjustment. But up until today (more than 1 month), the second adjustment is not in, I will be keep on calling in to get that adjust. It's only less than 80$ or something, and the wage they are paying the roswell guys are way more than $80 after I call them over 10 times for it.

I don't think AW are trying to screw their customers, but there is certainly some problem in their financial department system. In my case, they can adjust the price so easily before the credit card is charged, but can't credit back to the credit card afterward as easily.

PS. The credit card I used to make the purchased is lost 2 days ago now and I had to cancel it. I wonder how much more complicate does this add to the already-complicated issue.

PS2. This was for my m17. My second m17 was ordered through roswell with the previous lowest adjusted quote price, but then the price they charged to credit card is $2x.xx higher. So what this probably means is that the roswell rep did the calculation on that day when I placed the second order, and found the USD from the previous quote CAD, and typed it in the system. Then the system charged my credit card next day for CAD newly converted from the USD calculated the day before, which is higher than the CAD quote the day before. I have been keep on calling roswell about it, and it's always in the process of applying the credit and now my credit card is lost too. It's just getting too complicated. But it's only $2x.xx.

 

Update.

Alienware converted and debited my grand total to U.S. funds after Canadian taxes, when they should have converted the subtotal. That explains the massive discrepancy. So essentially their billing department operated as if I paid the 5% federal and 8% provincial Canadian taxes to THEM and they took the entire cost for themselves.

Hilarious, I wasn't aware Alienware collected taxes for foreign nations. Since when? LOL!

More info to follow.

- F

 

Glad that got worked out flashback jack.

Here's hoping it goes smooth sailing from here on.

 

Trust me. It will be fixed one way or another.

- F

 

cool, you get to keep your M17. As mad at AW as you are, I bet you still don't want to part with it.

 

No, I want to keep my Alienware machine. I'm still speaking with Alienware about it. The options as they stand now are either Alienware credits me the difference so that the amount I paid accords with the invoice they sent me, or I file a dispute with my credit card company and initiate a chargeback. A simple last resort, really.

There's absolutely no amount of explaining they could level that will justify this screwup, hence my saying it will be fixed one way or another.

- F