Beware the small writing.

As you all know, I've returned my m9750 due to it not working. I figured there is a 30-day period in which to return, 20 days of which I owned it the disk drive was defunc and the SLI did not work. Opting not to be left holding a lemon, I returned the unit. Alienware did not refund my full purchase price.

Instead, I was charged 15% to return a laptop that did not work, for a restocking fee. I'll repeat that. 15% restocking fee of an inoperational item. That means some other poor soul out there is going to recieve this broken laptop, and go through the same thing I did.

That 15% makes out to $550 that will not be returned to me. So, I paid $550 for a nice looking, broken laptop for 20 days. In their return policy, it states they "may" charge the 15%. Legal majors out there. "May" is optional. "Shall" or "will" is a definite, correct?

Either way, before you push that "complete order now" button, beware. If it works, awesome. If it's broke, deal with it. You bought it. In closing, there are better laptops out there, who honor the time old tradition of returning a broken item for a refund. Buyer beware if you choose Alienware.

 

Can't you dispute the charge by contacting your CC company ?

 

Yeah that seriously sucks, I would do the same thing as Gilo, dispute the credit card charge.

 

Definately check with your credit card company. There are options about this with alot of credit cards. Most of it involves gold or platnium cards but check....Also, It doesnt make sense if your laptop didnt work, that they would charge this.....I would keep trying to contact other people there.
sorry to hear this.

I had a machine that didnt work but I was willing to send it back, then it still didnt work, now I am getting a new one.
Why couldnt you get it fixed?

 

Alienware support is getting worse and worse now. I'd suggest Chaz post up a sticky listing all the troubles that all of us have, so that people are aware of ****ing alienwares trickery. What do you guys think?

 

I really havent had a horrible experience. I mean, the situation is frustrating, but I cant say its been horrible due to the support staff. Its frustrating and can seem slow sometimes, but if you really try to deal with different people (go for email, and phone, and chat or whatever).

I dont see enough problems personally to warrant a sticky about it.

What is the "trickery" you speak of.
It was clear to me there was a 15% restocking fee if you return the laptop. Dell doesnt do this, but as everyone says, this is a small company and cant afford to have laptops returned for every little reason when these things are built to own.

If it doesnt work, there is a warranty. But if you ignore the warranty, and dont go through the process, then that 15% restocking fee may apply.

And its not just "easy for me to say" cause I ordered my laptop on Aug 1st, and it came DOA, returned, fixed, still broken, and I still dont have my replacement yet. But I have gone through the process the way it was intended.

Please tell me what all the problems are people have that warrants a sticky?

Im not trying to be argumentative but I just dont see it.
Im the first guy to talk about a corporation taking advantage of consumers but Im just not seeing it here. Im willing to listen though if you can filll me in.

 

Thats sad to hear. You would think that Alienware would improve dramatically after Dell bought them out.

Definitely fight it out, don't give up easily.

 

Well in my case. They "try" to fix the laptop, but just end up giving me the same thing back, unchanged, with maybe a new GPU. I tell them specifically what to replace, yet they still don't listen to me. I ask politely if I can have a replacement laptop, but they tell me that they have to fix the laptop. So basically, I've been stuck with a broken laptop for a year that I can't get fixed, thats why I've been so annoyed.

I've dealt with Dell and AW, and they are two very different companies from what I've seen.

Sorry if I seem very annoyed.

 

no, you have a right to be frustrated.

Dell and AW ARE very separate companies. People should not think they are the same just cause one owns the other. Dell may be very hands off in any kind of managerial way with AW. In fact that is probably the case.
Theres no reason to think one should get similar experiences with both companies in any way.

 

Also, just keep calling Alienware and talk to different reps... every one will give you a different answer, and one will probably help you out. I talked to atleast 10 reps while ordering mine, and they all said something different!

 

If you don't mind me asking, back when I was looking into alienware it said they had onsite tech repair. Is that just not true? If they do then why did you not get it fixed?

 

A) Get your CC company involved, AmEx is very good with insurance and refunds , dunno about VISA and MC though.

B) No offence but I honestly wouldve advised you to get it replaced, btw are you using Vista? because those sound like Vista related issues.

 

No. Wasn't Vista.

I've gotten the BBB involved and my bank as well. They covered the cost until AW made the initial refund. After that, they withdrew their amount and I'm stuck holding the bill. I managed to get the warranty back, but the 15% they are holding too. I plan on calling Visa and getting their input on options as well.

Just to clarify, the reason I returned instead of taking their option of repair and return was the fact that it was already broken the first time I turned it on. I would have done the same with anything I spend a considerable amount for and it not work on the first time. Sure, 3 months down the road, I would have opted to fix it. But on the first day, the disk drive, then the SLI, that's a lemon and I didn't want to be stuck with the problem, spending time after time while they try to fix it. If they opted to send me another unit, that would have been fine. But no, only thing they wanted, was to repair it, which would put me outside the window for the return. On their side, it is smart business, but, to me, if you return an inoperable unit, that should have been a full return, what the hell are they restocking, the broken laptop.

 

Just for the record, when mine showed up dead first day, I had to send it back and they repaired it and got it back to me in about a week or so and they said the "30" days would start when I got it back the second time. Then there were still problems (time and date would reset every time it was turned off) - and they offered to rebuild me a new system.

Now Ive had to wait a while and just got my system.
Strange thing is, this new system - and it is new as far as I can tell, has the same time and date problem. So Im not completely happy, but point is, it didnt take them months of repairs till they were ready to build me a new one.

I wish you the best Chris as I know how frustrating this all can be. In the long haul, years from now, this money wont matter so much (the money youre out), but I know it does now and I would keep fighting it till it causes you more agravation then the amount is worth.
I would try to reach people higher in the company. Not always easy though.