Australian Alienware customers no support??

Hey guys, my first post so be nice...

Am about to get a M15x next Wednesday and from what i have read here there is no access to the support forums or my hive for anyone but North American customers. Is this right and if so besides the wealth of information I get from this forum, how are we meant to get proper support and updated drivers?

On a side point, I was meant to get mine delivered Tues-Wed this week and sat at home for both days waiting when I got a call yesterday saying due to the unprecedented demand it was delayed a week.

Thanks,
Holzy

 

Well first off don't worry about everyone being nice. Everyone here always is in my experience.

Secondly, I don't know about repairs, but being an AW user myself, I know that all of the drivers you want and need are available through their website. You will have full access to all of the ones that they have once you are a customer. So no worries about drivers!

Also, I don't know about Phone support, but AW does have online chat (like IM chat) so you would AT LEAST have that available to you!

Hope this helps!

 

First off, welcome to the forums!

I don't know if you'll if can access the support forums or my hive, but like shoelace said, you'll be able to access what you need through the website, not to mention customer service both online and over the phone.

I hope you like it here!

 

Cool, thanks. Thats reassuring.

I have read in these forums that some people have been having some Quality Control issues with the M15x. Is there anything I should be on the lookout for when I open the box?

 

i have a feeling u will be fine just using this forum.. people here are pretty ummm... passionate.... yer

i hear the ALienware forum is heavily moderated as well pre and post posting... and due to time zone u will prob get info here just as fast..

 

Yea I'm here right now but I'm on the phone with some wild girl but yea hey and I'm always around if you want to send a PM or something.

 

Ello,

On http://www.alienware.com.au/ I saw this telephone number: 1300 794 003 call it and after selecting the option you want, you should be talking to customer service for support. If you want tech support, it should be the same number just a different option.

I wouldn't recommend e-mailing them and stuff like that because waiting for their reply is like waiting for the world to end.. you never know when or even if it will ever happen.

 

Hi Holzy and welcome to the forum.
when you say you was meant to get yours delivered tuesday or wednesday this week did you actually get a tracking number from AW by email and also your courier company DHL/fedex
if not your computer wont have even left the factory yet.
once you get the tracking number you can check online and follow its progress of where it is. this will then be down to the courier company and not AW
good luck and hope you dont have to wait too long.

 

Hey, thanks for all of the responses.

Mine has been ordered by a leasing company used by my employer. I am dealing with them but the Notebook is coming direct from Alienware.
It is a bit of a pain as I am not dealing direct.

I have been assured by the lease company it will be here on Wednesday, so fingers crossed.....

 

You will definately get more help here than from Aussie Alienware Support believe me.

Recently i wrote a letter to Aussie ALienware support regarding my cpu being slowed after update the bios to x32rc1 that Alienware Support sent me.

Their response was tough luck and they will not help me because i have updated the bios they sent me.

Here is the email response i got from their support:

The BIOS was supplied as is and we can not accept liability for a slow down in performance as a result of it being installed, as you did specifically request this and undertook this installation by yourself. In saying this, I will however supply you with the original revision BIOS that may bring the performance back up again. I am 100% positive you were provided the correct revision BIOS labelled X32_RC1.



The windows benchmark that is built into Vista is not an accurate gauge of system performance and is not recognised by Alienware as an effective test. My recommendation is to download the following two applications: Future Mark PC Mark 2005 and Future Mark 3d Mark 06 and run these tools. Please get back to me with the test results and I will look it up against your original order for compliance. The PC Mark Product will need to be run “As Administrator” to get a correct result. These tools are recognised within out testing criteria and will provide us with a more accurate drop in your original system performance if any. Do not use the more updated PC and 3d Mark Vantage tools as these are not in use currently and will yield different results to what we have on file for you.



This is the first time I have seen this issue arise and I will happily enquire with the USA to see if this has been experienced on there end as well. As far as I am aware, it has never caused that particular issue before. Reinstalling the OS is not going to solve this problem.



I will get you the original X30 Bios ASAP.

Kind Regards,

Adam Hicks

Systems Admin & Technical Support
Alienware Australia

Phone: 1300 794 003 (AU)
Phone: 0800 550 625 (NZ)

Nice to know this is the kind of support you will get from Aussie ALienware Support. This will be the last time I buy stuff from them.

Cheers good luck with your laptop Holzy and welcome to the forum.


This issue i had was resolved by one of the users here (milc) at this forum. Milc told me i was running in some kind of mode (i dont remember what this mode is called) that slowed down my pc and memory. Sure enough i turned off this mode by pressing the 4th button on the top of my keyboard and it soved my problem.

It's a shame that Alienware will not support us the way US customers get supports.

 

You blame them, this was a plain software issue...

The ability to ask the right question is more than half the battle of finding the answer. - Thomas J. Watson now if the service rep had followed this.. but this is more or less the best you get with any of the customer service out there

 

Hey, finally got my system today. Opened the box all excited and then I have a look at the Invoice:
Wrong processor, wrong RAM, Wrong Video card, wrong Blu-ray drive.

FFS, I have waited long enough to get my system and now i get the wrong one. To be fair, it was probably the lease company that screwed up but still....

Not happy....

 

Heh Holzy you are going through what many users are going through here. Wrong faceplate, refurbished parts, etc. Well you are still new here but stick around for a few months after you get your M15x to help future buyers if you feel like it.

 

Well, the lease company ordered the correct model, so it was Alienware Australia that screwed it up. I did have a bit of a look at the build quality and other issues which people are having and it seemed ok. No bleeding light from the lightpipe, non-creaky lid etc. It had the build quality i would expect
Very good in that respect. See how long it takes now to get the correct model to me...