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

lmao, you guys are never going to believe this, but unfortunately it's true.

Those of view who have been following for the past few pages (or have ever read my signature) know I've been waiting an ungodly amount of time for my replacement laptop, pretty sure I've been getting the run-around by prankster reps, and have ultimately had my case "escalated" AND "expedited", whatever that even means. Without further adieu, I give you the same reason I got for the delay.

Dell Canada has had the package ready to ship for about a week. They have been waiting for confirmation from Alienware to allow the shipment to be sent out. All the while, Alienware has been waiting for confirmation from Dell Canada that the laptop has even been produced in the first place.

In short: there's a bad game of telephone between two people who can't see or hear each other, and I'm caught in the middle. So the rep I talked to has intervened and will be enlightening both parties to the sad realization that they are both absolutely clueless.

This is the best day ever.

 

Hope it all works out for you...to add a signature, go to the top of the page and you will see "USER CP" (control panel) - if you click on that you will see your own options....one will be "edit signature"....then just type in what you want , you can preview it before you save and then we can all see!

Cheers

 

Gah, mispost. My bad.

 

Not there.... guess it needs to be enabled for me by an admin... or maybe there is a waiting period before I can do that since I just signed up?

 

Click - Private Messages..then look on left side screen top Edit..Sigs

 

top left corner click on "user CP", then click on "edit signature"

 

Thanks to Alienwolf (Nice Skoll shot btw) and Issey, it appears as if I am not fully operational as a member yet and am still subject to a couple of restrictions.... Signatures have not been enabled on my registration. As soon as they are, I'll post my system specs. In the meantime, you can see them in my profile

 

yeh chiefs you will need to make a certain number of posts before you unlock certain previleges. I think it was 5 or 10 quality posts.
Welcome by the way oles!

Cheers.

 

Sure hope they finally ship out your system chiefs.
Being lost in Limbo is sure not fun.

Cheers.

 

Welcome Superox - Congrats on reading through 100 pages of the thread. Hope your issues get resolved with the visit from the tech rep.
Congrats Digital - hope you're having fun with it.
Superkyol - well the South Park song comes to mind... Blame Canada.. just JK. Sounds like the whole thing is a mess and you should be getting some kissing up to by the reps with that mess. See I told you to call everyday no matter what... glad you got to the bottom of it and I hope they stop quaranteening your Alien and ship it to you soon.
Praetorian - seems you're finally getting taken care of and if you get an M11X you won't be disappointed, well as long as you don't expect the screen to be as stunning as the M17X. I love my M11X it is my daily workhorse for web/forums, email, document prep etc. The M17X does all the heavy work. Life is good with these two around.
Anodize- you asked about the warranty for 3 laptops... I got a hint from my sales rep, not much in the way of help but... If you get "your tech team" service for just one of your laptops it applies to every Dell system in your home. I did find out this only applies to North America But hopefully they will extend this to the UK. Nice service. And you can have CC w/ accidental on one laptop and Accidental on the other but both will come under that service and garner you NBD services and personal tech rep.
If I missed anyone or confused who I was speaking with SORRY. I am swamped with projects and deadlines. Will try to check in more often.
Even Stevie got himself a good deal while I was gone.
A week makes a big difference. Anyone ever see anything I can help them with please PM. I have it set to come to email and will get it immediately as opposed to checking the thread. Congrats all and Good luck

 

@ infernia - thanks man !! I sure do !! The system's RGB LED looks insane compare to my old-good R1.
Although I've been enjoying the system greatly, I ran into a couple of issues. Had a few lock-ups, one BSOD (yep!) and still have to go through the vBIOS up-date (Im on the old version and had some weird lighting artifacts in ARMA 2 ... damn thing tried to flash me). Not a big deal but I was hoping that my replacement would come with everything pre-installed up-to-date, same thing with main sys Bios. It came in with A08.

Besides that - I am stunned.

 

Tech is here now... boy, this is nerve wracking.... Everytime he moves it around results in a big thud on the desk.... he's definitely not as gentle with it as I always am.... guess he's the expert tho.... I'll keep you posted on how it goes

 

^^ Is his name Brian ?? ))

 

Good stuff! I'm excited to get mine, am currently wondering why there's such a delay on my system compared to others in the thread. D:

Called again this morning, got the ole "I've escalated the case and you should get a call today/tomorrow" again.. for the fourth time. Yeesh.

 

No, it's Joe. Older guy, a little short, shaved head

 

@ superox - well , next time he shakes your lappy that rough again , just slap him in his shaved up forehead )))
the dude who was switching my sys's mobo (on my old R1) last time , was kinda nervous and shaky a bit too...offered him a cup of coffee that seemed to slow him up a bit ! LMAO,

@ superkyol - man , this is nonsense ... I mean. My rig went into production on the 27th ... yesterday was the 5th, and I already have it.

Something is not right here ... I mean, you've been waiting for what , 3-4 weeks already ??
I would give'em hell for that

 

haya guys i posted a while ago about the fact that alienware had agreed to give me a relacement M15x for my old m15x (legacy). It has been a long prosess. At first they wanted to give me these specs.

1920x1080 screen
I3 processor
nvidia 260 gtx
2 gigs of ram

however i have manage to get my configuration up to

1920x1080 screen
i7 620 processor
ati 5050 graphics card
2 gigs of ram

This has not been totaly confirmed yet. However i have just been on the phone to the person dealing with my case and he says he need to send me an email first but he said that was just paper work.

so I am very happy. oh and i'm in the UK if anyone wants to know

 

Take 1: Tech got the laptop back together and with much fanfare declared "Thrusters are go!" as he pressed the power button and...... nothing happened

Take 2: Tech took some things apart, reconnected some things, put her back together and got her powered up to.... a complete black screen

He took some things apart again and is working on it now.... hopefully, the 3rd time is the charm

 

^ one option left here ... a smack !!! ))))

this is too funny

 

hmmm.... third time was NOT the charm.... He is now putting in the OLD graphics cards and the tech is on the phone with Tech support to figure out what is wrong.....

Anyone have any similar experiences to share? words of encouragement so I don't bang my head against the wall.

UPDATE: ok, he got her to power up but now says that the operating system is not loading up. ....to be continued

on a side note, I'm gonna be really po'd if I'm in worse shape after he leaves than I was before we started. OH! and I have a signature!!

 

Tell the tech to go into the BIOS and change it back to RAID. *SIGH*

 

Hey Batboy, thanks for replying. We just checked and it is indeed set to RAID.

now, it seems every other reboot is picking up the OS and loading properly....or else it's just a black screen w/ a blinking cursor

 

Is the black screen w/blinking cursor before the BIOS load screen or prior to the windows login screen?

Confirm BIOS is up to date (at least A03).

 

it is after the BIOS load screen and we just confirmed BIOS is A05.... he's back on the phone with Tech support and they are discussing BIOS now.

Update: He's going to do a wipe of the hard drives and completely reset the RAID along with a fresh install of Windows 7.... what a nightmare this is becoming and I'm just glad I'm not paying him by the hour, lol (He's been here since 10am EST and it's now after 2pm)

 

Ouch. Well, that should take care of it. Be aware, depending on what display driver you are using, you may encounter a black screen w/mouse pointer on resuming from sleep. Shouldn't have that issue with booting up though.

Most likely an OS glitch. As long as all the cables are connected securely and the HDD is fully inserted.

 

Just a quick thought on all thats going on for you Superox, but are these guys that do "home visits" , are they Alienware trained guys from Dell or what? - seems ridiculous that he should be there for over 4 hours trying to get you back up and running.....hope it works out for you! - fingers crossed.

 

@ Infernia- thanks for the advice....I bumped into my first ever M11x about 3 weeks ago in Heathrow airport when I was coming back from school, and was SHOCKED by how tiny that thing is. Granted, compared to a regular netbook, it's huge, but I've only ever owned/used 17 inch laptops, and after the M17x it looks pocket-sized.

@Superox- I had a similar issue when the tech came out to work with mine, they seem to be terrible at putting everything back in so it all connects properly, and I also had an issue with him not setting the RAID properly. Best of luck mate, and if it doesn't work out, there are plenty of people here who have been through all of this before to help out.

Edit- @ Stevie- at least in my neck of the woods, Dell contracts out to tech support companies, so these guys are third party. They're 'supposed' to be qualified with certain brands and types of machines, but I chatted my guy up about it once, and other than the fact that they should have quite a bit of practical experience, their 'training' seems to involve web courses.

 

Hey Stevie,

I've been chatting with the guy throughout this whole thing and I don't think he's Alienware Specific... he said he has worked on a few and is seeing more and more of them but overall, he's a Dell Technician.

What's really funny is that, last night, when I asked him how long he thought it would take to swap out the parts, he said "Eh, about an hour or so." lol

 

They are from local computer stores or independent certified techs so none of them are "Alienware trained." Some are experienced /w AW's while some aren't.

 

Gotcha....i did wonder because of the extra cost for NBD in home repairs, i kinda thought that it would have been aw tech's but seems not the case....dunno how happy i would be "enstrusting" my baby to someone whos just done a web course or something like...im hoping it never gets to that stage!
I feel for you guys who have countless tech visits, must be awful watching someone who really doesnt know what they are doing with you $4000 laptop....

Anyway, hope he gets you up n runnin sooner rather than later with minimal effort now!

 

So, he is gone and there are still some unresolved issues. Basically, the computer is still booting to black screen/flashing cursor every other reboot.... this is after completely re-installing the OS.

Dell is sending out a 2nd motherboard replacement and he said he would be back in a day or 2 to install it. In the meantime, I'm out a laptop.... should I also call into Dell to make sure this is on record? or would they already have the info? I want to keep a running tally in case I, too, wind up needing a replacement laptop.

 

superox - i had a similar problem and they replaced the mb once (tried to replace twice, but i said no), two hard drives, and the problems was still there. after two tech's coming to my home, i finally called dell and told them to send me a replacement. after several phone calls later (a weeks time) they finally agreed to the replacement.

at this point, im still waiting for my system replacement to arrive. currently, its still in production. i was told it should ship by the end of the week or sometime early next week.

but good luck to you. i hope they fix the problem soon. it totally sucks not having a laptop.

 

So Dell has apparently canceled my replacement order?

Has this happened to anyone else? What the eff..

 

what was the reason for the cancellation?

 

Ohh ... wow ...what the hell ?? After all you've been through ???
I had it before with my original R1 order , but not with the replacement.

How did they comment on this ??

 

No comments whatsoever. I can't get through to customer service but I left a message on their answering machine and on the unresolved issues page.

I consider myself a patient person, but my time is running out; I need a functioning laptop for the kind of work I'm in, and the current beast has been crashing or overheating upwards of 6-8 times a day.

The replacement was already approved, how can they just cancel it?

 

Was this your first ever replacement? Any previous replacement parts not returned?
I'm guessing

1) They ran out of parts and canceled your order.

2) You have an unfinished business(parts not returned, etc) and your account and is being held by DFS until further review.

 

1 is most likely the case I guess, I never owed DFS any parts. D:

 

Superkol happens often they run out of a part and to upgrade that one they have to cancel the order to put a new one in, yes I know Dummmm but thats what they do.
Superrox - see your sig being a R1..your in line for a R2 I dought they will fix your R1. Give them a couple tech tries then lower the hammer, and tell them you want and need a working system as you "bought and paid for in good faith"
Good luck.

 

What the frig.

Apparently the order was canceled on the exact same day it was set to be in production--September 13th. Nobody notified customer service so they only just now got the cancellation notice.. with no reason at all.

I'm on the phone now and they're reissuing the order, hopefully with the same parts I was offered in the previous order.

What is going on over there?

 

My tech that came out 3 times for mine was excellent. He said he was third party contractor but that they have to certify on each machine they serviced. He was very good and I would let him take mine to work on it anytime. Gentle, fast, and quiet.

 

And would you be willing to let him 'try' the mobo when he is struggling with the GPUs? They are so easy on these machines!!! I wouldn't let him go near it. He could sit back and watch me do it, but he ain'ta touchin' it ne'er time soon.

And, IMO, you are about due for a replacement.

 

Yeah? Just seems I would be being unreasonable pushing for a replacement after only one visit when so many others went through so much more than I at this point

 

Hey theres Chiefs,

Yeh guys over here down under they use NCR a third party contracted service team. Just a bunch of kids really lol. I was even offered a job with them a few times lol. I politely declined as I didn't feel like dealing with all that Plus their pay is so woeful. They get paid per job and not per hour. Well in this neck of the woods anyway.
Also they were super rough with my machines a few times. It really does depend who you get. I'm always chatting with them asking all sort of questions lol ehahahaha and picking up each part they take out and inspecting it for myself ehahaahah

Everytime tough I'm just thinking I could do that better lol or I already know the next step on what they are doing however they sit there stumped for a few mins looking around for what to unscrew next. Sometimes i jump in and point it out, other times I just sit there patiently watching and waiting. As long as the end result is a good repair and proper working machine with no damage then I'm happy.
I usually take it apart right after they leave lol and double check everything ehahahaha

Also down here there are only a few techs that have ever worked on the Alienware machines whereas most of them don't even know about them. This one guy came down as well once to replace my mobo gpus and a few other things. He ended up confessing to me that he had never opened on of these up so I just took the new PSU and he was off lol.
And yeh the techs too also told me that they just go through an online course to get the job. Then its basically learn as you go each time you go out to someones house and do a repair. I was expecting a little more training on dell specific machines then that. Also hence why I didn't really want this job. I would personally like extensive training in all of dells notebooks so I know the ins and outs of each of their products. That way it would be great and I could be a super tech lol. ehehehehe. Or at least be fully trained in one of their lines like inspiron or alienware so then I would be the guy to call when those notebooks need fixing.


Cheers.

 

You could try too lol chiefs. However usually they will want to take your machine away for a couple of weeks before doing anything else. Once it is confirmed that your machine can't be fixed then usually replacements start making their way into the conversation.

Also with that blank boot and not booting up every other time I have the exact same problem on my R1. It is a driver problem with the chipset. I tried using the new one on dell website but that seems to be buggy so I had to use the old one and it works fine now. I remember seeing it a lot as well last time with other machines.

Good Luck chiefs hopefully they can fix it for you.

Cheers.

 

I wasn't really saying ask for a replacement. I was more getting to the point that I might not be comfortable with that tech replacing a Mobo as he is having trouble with GPUs. I mean, what are they to replace? Like 15 screws and then back together. I could literally do it in 20 minutes-I have done it in 20 minutes!!!! Replaced the thermal paste on GPUs and CPUs in 57 minutes (yes, I timed myself).
Just saying, if he is having that much trouble with a GPU replacement, do you want him on the Mobo? Of course, you may not have a choice. Gotta go through the motions.

Still feel like a replacement will be inevitable. You let him do his thing and when it don't work(and it won't), just go through the steps with Dell/AW.

 

---------------------------------------------------
If they ask to send it into the depot, refuse. The depot is where laptops go to die, disappear, or be sent right back without ever being worked on. and it will probably be gone for weeks before they say they cant work on it.
Just let them try the 3 replacement parts, THEN request a replacement. Let them try to fix what you have, as a replacement isnt always better. I am on #4, and it has problems. I'm about to ask for my money back.

 

Ah true that chiefs. Sorry to hear about your troubles.

Actually about the depot, its a little bit different down under lol. The way they do the depot here is that one of the senior engineers come and pick up the machine and they take it home with them to try and fix. It is kinda time consuming though cause they have to still make their daily rounds and then when they go back home they will still have my machine to fix for example. I've had a couple of the so called depot experiences before.

They have normally taken from 1 business week to 2 weeks. Feels like a year though lol. All it really means down here is that they have access to all the parts they want or request to change and can work on my machine at home during whatever times they want. Seeing as we don't really have a central repair station depot here. Just my experience anyway.

Also I'm normally ringing up every couple of days just to see whats going on with the repair lol.

Cheers.

 

GetFound - Sorry to hear you're still having issues. You make the second person with replacement #4 having problems out of the box.
Out of curiosity, is it a brand new system with the cap, mousepad, pretty boxes etc. or is it a refurb.?
It just seems so odd that this many new laptops could have so many issues out of the box. It makes a lot of sense if they are reboxing returned systems after deeming them in working order.
And no I'm not bashing a refurb. just saying that quality control at Dell leaves a lot to be desired both on new and returned systems. If Dell would get some really stringent testing and better qualified personnel in QC they could save a whole lot of money on returns.
I believe the last person to have problems with replacement #4 is getting a refund. Good Luck and I hope you get some resolution soon.

Superox - Agreed with others, depot is a hit or miss and on top of that they will keep your system for awhile. Mine was MIA from Apr - June. But they couldn't fix the issues and did depot jumps from Texas to Miami so I would hazard a guess my experience is not a typical one. At least the last people to touch it were the skeleton crew from the original AW employees. They did a great job and I got an immaculate system back minus a dead pixel and tiny scratch on the screen. But like the one I sent in, it overheated horriblly and then proceeded to shut itself down, while playing Crysis.
I digress - as others have said, if you paid for the in home service please push for it until your system is as good as it was before the issues started or simply say enough and ask for the replacement if they can't get it right.

 

Yep I agree totally Infernia. Push for the in home service as hard as you can or until it is no longer working and a resolution doesn't occur. I personally hated it when they would ring me up and issue me a CAR service. I got so pissed off each time. I said okay why don't you send the tech out again tomorrow and the next day or send me the parts however they insisted I needed to do the CAR service so I reluctantly caved in. I pretty much knew what was going to happen anyway after the CAR service. If the repair was still not successful a replacement would more than likely be issued.

So hopefully the tech guy who comes out next will be able to fix all your issues and problems. Providing you with a working machine. In the end thats all what we really want.

Cheers.