DELL - Credit where credit is due....a kind of finality/happy ending to my M18x R1 saga from way back

Hiya guys,

Well, I thought I would post this up for anyone to see - mainly because it's been over 12 months since I returned my M18xR1 to Dell following what can only be described as months of hell and head-banging. I won't go into the details, but suffice to say that many of you will know of what happened to me and the details of my issues etc etc etc. (for anyone that is remotely interested, just Google 'steviejones133 nightmare'.).......a summary of the event would be to say that I ended up with a full refund of my original purchase price for my original machine, which was actually not enough to actually buy a true 'like for like' machine from Dell at the time of replacement offer - something that niggled me for many months, as I'd always thought that warranty was there to give you back LIKE FOR LIKE, which I would have been happy with - Dell did not offer me a like for like machine, and they stuck by their guns and it took an act of god (with many Dell employees from the US chipping in to help little old me over here in the UK) for me to argue that this replacement offer was NOT comparable......they still did not budge on spec, but with the assistance of a few key US guys, I somehow managed a full refund........

Right, with that said, many of you know that I'm rocking a little 14 after my experiences.....a few months after my refund, I was still annoyed with Dell and just how they offered me such a 'low ball' replacement offer (original spec was an R1 with 2960xm and dual 6990m's, replacement offer was an R2 with 3630qm and a single 675m with the loss of a few other things as well, such as Killer, etc) when all I wanted was 'like for like'........I contacted the Executive Resolutions Team again and I FINALLY got someone to admit that the offer made to me (spec wise) was insufficient and should not have been so. As an apology, Dell agreed to offer me a £250 discount (ON TOP of any additional discounts I had negotiated myself) on ANY future order over the value of £3,000gbp (which was my refund) - which would have pretty much given me the ability to purchase a true like for like machine. GREAT!! - I was told that this offer was open ended and would not expire, so I was pretty pleased with that....

Well, I'd since bought my little 14 and did not have sufficient funds to get back into the 'big hitters' league with a new 18. I guess my 'wanting and needing' a beast had been dulled by my experience, hence sufficing with the 14 for the time being.

So, you might be thinking...why this thread and why now, over a year after my problems etc? - well the simple reason is this:

I contacted the Executive Team again - not having ANY plans to buy a machine over £3,000 at all. Bear in mind, the good will gesture made to me was specifically based on a NEW order over that value. What happened next was a testimony to how good Dell service can be. Here's what happened:

The warranty on my 14 was expiring on 15th August 2014, I emailed the Exec Team and after a few emails back and forth, Dell agreed to extend the warranty on my 14 by 12 months, which would normally have cost me £165gbp (hardware only), which I could ill afford at this point in time.

So, the 'good will' offer originally made - which included having to place a new order over £3k - was tweaked to serve me best at this point in my life. I had not spent a penny with Dell since my M18x as my 14 was bought off Ebay, so I think it was pretty grand of them to extend my warranty, basically for free.......

I know to some, this might not seem like a big deal, but to me it was. It was the finality and good will that I had longed for since my M18 went back.

I'm all for speaking up when things go wrong, but in the same breath, I'm also all for speaking up for the companies/businesses that actually do the RIGHT thing.....even if it took over 12 months, as was my case. To be honest, Dell probably need not have offered me anything over and above the refund I got back, but this act of good will has restored my faith in Dell and I felt I should let others know about it, no matter how small a gesture it might seem, or how late it was made.

Once again, I'm happy to strongly recommend Dell.

That's it folks....just wanted to get that off my chest!

Peace!

 

You get what you pay for, that's why we pay more for Alienwares as opposed to other crappy brands! Great story and excellent service

 

That's good to hear brother Steve. Good service keeps customers loyal. Even though AW's are becoming less extreme it's nice to know their CS isn't waning.

 

Glad they got you worked out Stevie

 

Awesome! Praise and credit for doing good things should always be given as freely and justly as criticism and cursing for poor service. Very nice, Brother Stevie. Thank you for sharing. +1 Rep

 

So glad it worked out!

I am with you... their service is really just incredible. AW takes care of their customers, even if it takes a while.

 

As someone who works in the warranty business, this... this 100 percent.

 

Great to hear that they took care of you bro. Genuinely enjoyed reading your post.

 

Glad it's all sorted now in a way, interested that you upgraded the 750m to 765m, was that a BGA chip swap?

 

Yeah...kinda, swapped the entire board though, as I bagged one off Fleabay with a 765m.

 

I am happy it worked out for you. A lot of the time we are only hearing about peoples problems and as Optimistic said I enjoyed reading the 'good news' post.

 

Glad to hear that you finally received some satisfaction from Dell! :thumbsup:

 

Thanks, fellas - yeah, it's all good at the end of the day. I don't have a beast any longer, but that was my choice at the end of the day. Might revisit the 'big hitters' league when Dell refresh/redesign the current 18.....we'll see.....