*Dell-Alienware & AW Legacy Replacement Systems-Warranty Repair Issues*

^ Jeee... sorry to hear that though ... I've been in that boat before with my original order of my R1, so yeah, I know how frustrating that might get.

Have you asked them to be re-directed to a supervisor or something ? I mean , tell'em that your studies and work fully rely on your computer ...and that something needs to be done ASAP.

 

Hey good idea, never thought of that.
Thanks!

 

Superkyol - those are canned/scripted responses. I heard the exact same thing when I ordered the original Area51 m17X. Ship date came and passed. I called multiple times and those are 'to the word' the exact same responses I got. I can only tell you that it took them 3 more weeks to get it to me and until I got to speak to a supervisor I didn't have a clue and neither did anyone I spoke to.
A- get them to make it a Next Business Day shipment for your delay. They will do it and act as though it costs them a ton of money, but they will.
B- Keep at them and politely ask if there is anyone else that may be able to give you more information, I did this every time I called and the last time I got lucky and they transfered me to the supervisor - Eddie (<-- I think all the supervisors are codenamed Eddie ) Just call them every day until you get answers. As long as you are polite they will understand and most likely try to help you get better answers.
Digital - Your welcome and post when it comes.
Flynnaz - I experienced a similar problem with Dell when the Area51 had no Dell service tag. I had AW's version of CC but Dell wouldn't honor it or extend it. The whole thing was a mess. Warranty work charged on my credit card, refusal to speak to me, all while I was under warranty. Sad but true Dell is the best but sometimes they falter. I wouldn't have come back to AW after my refund if I didn't believe in their service. And you are right about the scripting. At least the teir one support at Dell will escalate to someone that can talk tech if the cue cards don't work.

 

thats really a long time...i would try to speak to a manager about your case. ive seen others get their replacements a lot sooner.

 

@ infernia - will do

"I think all the supervisors are codenamed Eddie" Lmao !!!)))

 

that is by far the quickest turn around time ive heard by far.

i was told mine could take up to 2 weeks...but im going to call every other day to see if i can have them ship out sooner.

 

i actually spoke to a eddie ramon about my case and he wasnt helpful at all. so i asked to speak to another manager and was able to resolve me issues with a very polite sweet lady...

 

Either 'Eddie' is the only supervisor they have & he takes hundreds of calls per day without a day off or they do have a generic name. Maybe the ladies name was Edwina? JK.
We aren't the only ones to quote the supervisor's name as Eddie I have seen A LOT of posts claiming they spoke to Eddie the supervisor. He's super-supervisor. Faster than a speeding bullet to say 'I'll get that order expidited for you." Able to leap tall mounds of BS he gets from millions of calls on a daily. Up in the sky it's a bird, it's a plane... No it's Eddie!
Sorry about that. Couldn't help myself.
Good Luck you guys still waiting.

 

Called again, tried to get ahold of a supervisor or manager, the rep actually wouldn't even bother trying.

"No, you're within the normal time frame, three to four weeks."
"But last week I was told two to three weeks."
"I don't know sir, there's someone already expediting your order."
"kthx"

I even made a point of telling the guy I wasn't mad by any stretch of the imagination; just curious and feeling rushed myself, with my work, and clients from my small business.

 

They typically refuse to let you speak with one. Every once n awhile they will. Try again tomorrow.

or even late tonight. Costa Rica rules late at night EST. Just my 2cents but almost every call I had that routed to them was answered/helped in some way/or forwarded to someone who could do it.

 

Will do. If someone's already expediting the case or whatever, how long should it take for me to get a resolution, or at least a callback?

 

ive had some luck by asking for a manager as soon as i get someone on the phone.

 

^ Same situation here. Seems that they are on a night shift. The rep who had helped me through my case is located in Costa Rica too, remarkable dude though.

 

Awesome, I tried what issey suggested and after a little bit of firmness and pushing through the grumbles and carbon copy excuses, I got through to a supervisor who says he has someone personally checking out my case and will get back to me with a tracking number. Hurrah! Now I get to anxiously play the waiting game for another couple of days.

 

sweet deal!

 

Opps, I meant to say 10/4 or 4th of October.

superkyol, issey, and digital1337, were you guys able to create your personalized name plate?

 

yes, the tech support person asked me what i wanted on the name plate.

 

Very nice. I had to ask several times times since my rep was pretty much clueless. I emailed him what I want for my name plate(foreign characters) and hopefully he got that right.

 

yeah, you have to be on top of these ppl. i had them triple check everything before sending my requested specs to management for approval of my replacement.

 

" About the text engraving, we can remove the current one from the old system and add it to the new one or we can wait for you to have the system and I will be sending it. Just let me know."

.... ^^ So, yeah ... ))))) ... I guess its safe to say that I will get it , one way or another. LOL

 

Wait.. what if they never gave me the option when I ordered my first system? :c

They haven't brought it up once, ever. Maybe I can just take the nameplate alone to someone else to get engraved?

 

They never asked me either. I just said I wanted a new plate since my first one was unwanted(I was sleepy at the time I placed my order). I don't know if he understood me though. I asked for my rep's email and sent him an email just to be sure.

Edit:
I'm not sure if personalized engraving is available in other countries. Superkyol, yours will likely have "M17X" engraved.

 

Bollocks. I'll just get the jeweler down the street to do it, he owes me a favor or three anyhow.

 

May be you can ask them to send you a plain name plate for that.

 

At this point I don't want to ask too much of Dell, I've already been kind of a pest what with escalating the replacement dealio and getting someone to expedite the order full steam ahead.

Worse comes to worst I'll tape it down, buff it out, and etch something in with steel wool.

 

As I posted earlier, my rep told me on 9/2/2010 he placed my replacement order. Shipped on the 10th next business day-which was a Monday, the 13th. I missed the first delivery(work) and got it on the 14th.

 

I think digitall337's is the quickest. Didn't he say his order was placed 9/27 with expected ship date of 10/1? That's fast.

 

Alright, I think I need to pull the trigger and see if I can get an R2 replacement system. I've had my R1 (QX9300 with 280M cards on Vista 64) since last August, but I have a two year warranty that will run through August 2011. Quite simply, although the computer generally does websurfing and other mundane tasks ok, I can't run any games without lockups, crashes, or black screens of death. Very frustrating. I have tried just about every driver out there, and I can't get any stability, I've updated drivers, BIOS, disabled SLI, etc., and nothing seems to work.

What do people suggest for next steps? Thanks!

 

Have you contact Dell? See what they can do. I think they will start with repairing your laptop. When they determine your laptop couldn't be fixed, then you will get a replacement machine.

 

^ Yeah, basically they'll send you replacement parts for whatever they think might not be playing nice. Took me two video card replacements and a new motherboard before I was approved. :S

 

Thought that might be the case. What's the best way to make first contact with Dell on this? Phone, or somewhere else? Thanks again.

 

No chat for AW, unfortunately. You'd have to call or email.

 

Call. And can't say this enough-document everything. Just use a generic Wordpad document but write it all down. Log the times and basic discussion/actions performed on each call or contact. May never need it, but it's good to have. And if you can video the issues and take pictures, it will help 'convince' the techs of the problem.

When I mentioned screen shots and videos and that I had logged it all, "Sir, we are sending you an R2". May not work for you, but good to have all the 'ammo' you can. Good luck.

 

pmassey, how did you get 8gb ram from 6gb?

 

I got an upgrade from 4 to 6, so I wonder the same thing about my own replacement.

 

I think he posted 6gb with his replacement. So possibly he took his existing 4gb and made it 8gb.

 

My "Estimated Delivery Date: Information Temporarily Unavailable" has this indication. Is this is normal for them ??

 

thats also whats indicated on my shipment status. my order number was created on sunday, they(dell) say there should be an update on my order by the end of next week. just waiting patiently day by day....

 

^ OH, Ok .. .thanks !!

I think I also had it with my original R1.

Also, so as some of you may remember when I posted my replacement's specs, I mentioned the fact that I was downgraded on Blue-Ray Drive type (from recorder to reader) and Wi-Fi Card (from Intel to Dell) , but on everything else I was UBER upgraded (kudos to DELL for that, I am really thankful to them for that.) So, my tech specialist who was solving my case wrote up to me the other day stating that the system has already hit the production and advised with the list of all the specs again and asked if I was satisfied with that. My reply was : " even though a couple of items been downgraded I am still more than just satisfied!!" Guess what , the guy tells me : " Don't worry about it ... Once you will get your system , I will take care about those two other parts, as I want you to have the closest possible system config to your original one. " - now, that's the service I've come to expect.
10 out of 10 , so far ))

 

i dont think they have new BR burners parts anymore, i asked them already about that. i also had BR burner on my current system. i do know they have refurb BR burners, but i didnt push to try to get it. they switched my hard drives for SSD, so im ok with it.

 

Yeah ... that's what I thought , as the web configuration does not have that as an option anymore.

Oh well , my Craftsman Brite Drive is ready for some screwing/unscrewing ... and fingers are itching for some parts removal ...)))

 

yeah...im sure you could just take the original BR burner and place it into the new system.

 

Well, technician finally came by.
He was nice, polite and knowledgeable and he did the job fast.
I'm happy with my new battery

Admittedly, I did run into some issues.
I was first scheduled with a technician last week Friday, but he never came.
Not even a phone call. Called Dell up, they said the technician would call me within 2 hours. He never did.

I was about to shoot off an e-mail to unresolved issues on Monday, when I got a call from a different tech, and scheduled an appointment with me on Friday. He apologized about the other technician, and promised that he would come by. He said that if he couldn't, he would at least give me a call. Well he did come by, and I got a new battery for my M11x.

Overall though, a good experience.

 

Is your order shipping today?

Btw, you should ask them to send you a burner instead. It's not safe if whoever buys your current laptop finds out it doesn't have the burner.

 

@ anodize - that's affirmative.

Well , at least according to this :

"Order was placed on: 09/27/2010
Estimated Shipping Date: 10/01/2010
Shipped To: "

This, however, is not supported by the information listed on their Order Status page, which has an indication of my order being still in production. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think it might take up to 72hrs for them to up-date the page...

 

Huh. Now this is weird....

Got the order number today, is 'In Production' with EDD "Temporarily Unavailable"

Specs look good, no big upgrades on anything, but that's fine by me, I just want something that runs.

But I did notice something odd- my GPU's. Does anyone else have these listed on their R2, and do we even know if those cards are even supported? I'm confuzzled..... but also happy the new order is through. Yay!

Specs:

1 224-8107 Space Black - Anodized Aluminum
1 310-0173 Airborne Documentation, System Exchanges,Factory Install
1 313-8792 AlienFX Color, Quasar Blue
1 313-8944 5.1 Channel Audio
1 313-8977 8X DVD+/-RW Dual Layer Drive,QuickSilver
1 317-3663 4GB Dual Channel Memory (2x 2GB DDR3)
1 317-5662 Intel Core i7 840QM Quad Core Processor, 1.86GHz (3.20GHz Turbo Mode, 8M Cache)
1 320-8856 17-inch WideUXGA 1920 x 1200 RGB LED (1200p)
1 320-9009 SLI 1GB GDDR3 Nvidia GeForce GTX 285M
1 330-3924 Name Plate Engraving
1 330-5090 Thank You for Purchasing AlienWare
1 330-6106 Personalized Nameplate Trigger
1 330-6106 Personalized Nameplate Trigger
1 330-6348 Automatic Updates: On
1 330-7841 Alienware M17x 240W A/C Adapter
1 342-0666 250GB 7,200RPM SATA-II HDD
1 410-1883 Adobe Acrobat Reader 9.0 Multi-Language
1 420-6436 PC-Restore, Dim/Insp
1 420-9691 DataSafe Local BackUp
1 421-1305 Nero 9 Media Burning Software
1 421-1360 Steam and Portal Factory Installed
1 421-1400 Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium, 64bit, English
1 421-1586 Alienhead Chrome Red
1 421-1596 Alienhead Chrome Red
1 421-2261 Alienware Command Center, M17x
1 430-0628 Bluetooth 2.1 with EDR
1 430-3739 Intel Ultimate N WiFi Link 6300 a/g/n 3x3 MIMO Technology
1 464-7384 Exchange

PS- For those who mentioned I would be getting an 'uber' system to match the one in my sig, I forgot to mention that my QX9300 was purchased and installed aftermarket- my original machine came with the Q9000, hence the 840.

PPS- Okay, so I just checked the actual Alienware website, and they *ARE* offering the 285's on the R2. Now, this makes me a bit wary as it was partly the 280's in my R1 that caused all the problems. So, at this stage, should I ask if they can be changed to ATI's before it's shipped to me, or is it known if the issues have been fixed, or should I just wait until the machine arrives and then see if they can send out the cards later? Thanks!

 

Same for everyone on board. You'd have to call to find out your estimated ship date.

Great specs! q9000 to 840qm IS a major bump. Normally you'd expect 720qm or 740qm if lucky. The 285's are more expensive on their website. Someone in the m17x forum is getting the 285 SLI and many people are waiting to see some results.

 

I ended up at $618.00 with $150.00 worth of Dell Gift cards for Two years extended warrenty for both my M11X R1 and M17X R2.

 

I wonder if they'll give some sort of discount if I extend warranty on 3 m17x's.
I'm mainly looking to extend warranty on my home system only, but if they can give some sort of discount for multiple extensions, then I'm surely up for it.

 

Flynnaz, I just realized you're in Tucson...I live down here in Douglas temporarily (moved back in with parents after undergrad/pre-grad school)- just out of curiosity, around what time do you find calling gets you in touch with the nicest reps (sales or otherwise)? I'm looking to grab an M11x here soon to complement the new system I've got on the way...