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

So due to recent hardware issues with my M17x R1, Dell authorised a replacement unit today. The guy on the phone said it will take about 2 months though. They jsut called to let me know the replacement has been approved and they will keep me updated at what the new config will be. I clearly stated on the phone and will do it in a formal letter if the case may be, that I will not accept a refurbished unit, not will I take anything less-performant than what was considered top at the purchase moment.
Just wanted to boast about it, as I'm pretty happy how things turned out.

 

How many Dell tech visits did you have to go through before it got to this point?

 

4 tech visits and many telephone calls and endless mails (mailing with a dell representative since january when I bought to laptop - in regards to the DPC latency issue at first, then following with the power adaptor issues, the bios issues, touchpad issues).

 

Got the replacement laptop yesterday and she is damn speedy! A couple of issues, though:

- the RGB LED screen definitely takes some getting used to.. I can't look at it without my glasses or I get a weird 3d stereoscopic effect that looks like bright red is peeking out from under other solid colors (most noticeable in the mouse cursor and window borders). I'm partially colorblind--my left eye sees more greens and my right sees more reds--so that could be it. Yikes!

- major distance details seem to be missing in some games, such as Assassin's Creed 2 and GTA: SFLC.. meaning entire faces of buildings could be missing at any given time, and it's kind of scary.

Anyone else getting these kinds of issues?

 

^ Finally,

Congrats man ! Hope you enjoy it.
As for the issues ... yeah , I've got something to. Had a load of graphical glitches with active CF in ARMA2, performances were reduced in Darksiders and Stalker games by almost 20-25 FPS. Turned out to be a faulty secondary GPU.

 

Congratz! How is the stability? Good so far?

 

@Digital: Okay, I'll look into that and see what my options are for GPU replacement if necessary.

@RedViking: Freaking amazing! Much better than the original system, and I can finally run games like GTA4 at max settings!

 

The tech came out yesterday and installed the new HD. It was his 3rd trip in a week. After I loaded Windows7, I called Tech support and let them install the drivers. After they were done I loaded 3D Mark and BAM... crash.
Called them back and they had me install BIOS % which hadnt been installed on the 2nd motherboard the tech replaced earlier in the week. Got off the phone and tried 3D Mark again... Bam crash to shutdown again. Called them and asked them to send me a replacement system, he said I needed to send it to the shop. I asked him to talk to his supervisor... The supervisor submitted it for review. And said I will find out Saturday whether they will replace it.... In between all this I submitted a complaint to the BBB.
Glad to hear your getting yours replaced Superkyol , hope they can do the same for me..

 

Good News.... They agreed to replace instead of shop my system. They said it would be of equal or higher specs, and would be a refurbished system, and should take between 2 and 3 weeks to get. I'm psyched
The rep that called me totally agreed that it was the point to replace it.
He didn't offer much more information about what I would get. Are you guys finding they are replacing M17xR1's with R2's? I looked on the Outlet site and didnt see any with comparable specs like the Blu Ray and dual 260m's.
Just wondered what I should expect, besides something that works longer than 30 minutes without crashing..

 

The replacements to my knowledge aren't from the outlet. The reason it takes a while is because they just slap parts they have available together, that's how you get better systems. (or worse in some cases, not usually on purpose though.) My replacement r1 was replaced with an R2 after like 2 days, so you'll probably end up with an R2.

 

2 Days... Wow Sounds alot better than 2-3 weeks

 

I've been waiting 23 days on my replacement. . .

Approved for replacement on 10/11/10. It all depends on when you get it in and what they have available. I had to wait longer because I needed the 1920x1200 screen. Oh and they canceled my order - twice.

To update with my Dell Saga. The EDD of 25th of Oct has now been moved to "Sometime in the next 10 business days". Yaaay!

 

Is it normal to ask me to first send the defective system and afterwards send me the new one?

 

Yeh that is normal procedure. It really depends though as some cases or countries allow you to keep the old system a little longer others will want it back 1st before they will proceed. In their eyes it also makes sense that you have no need or use for the old system now that you have accepted the terms to a new replacement system. Especially if it is also now defected or doesn't work.

So yeh its normal chiefs. I would just ship it off as quick as possible with their return slip and get the new system ball rolling oles!!! eheheh

Cheers.

 

i will be getting another same spec r1 though. At least it will be functional.

 

Guys, if they decide to take the system to their office/depot for repairs, can I keep my hard drive? All my work stuff is in there.
But if I take my hard drive out, will they hold me against it?

 

Hey there chiefs.

It depends on the problem your experiencing. If it involves the hard drive. Which in most cases it doesn't then you can take it out. However saying that they do usually like to be able to boot up the notebook and into your OS to do some testing so it will still need the hdd.

You can try and work something out with the tech guy or ring dell up beforehand chiefs and tell them about your situation. I was in a similar situation last time.
I just rang them up and told them I needed the files on my notebook for my assignments.

Cheers.

 

You won't, mark my words. It appears that DELL has acknowledged their design fault with the R1, or just simply ran out of all R1 replacement parts and therefore the only other option is a refund or R2.

 

In the conversations with the dude assigned to my case, he said that I will be receiving a similar specced laptop as R1 are still in production. Is there any oficial paper showing that R1 is not beeing produced anymore so I can show to him?

 

Unfortunately no papers that we would know of Chiefs.

Cheers.

 

Oh well, as long as it works, I'm close to alright . I'll prolly email them back and forth with the no-charge-issue in A05 and some other stuff I'm unhappy about the R1 and see how they handle it over time.

At the moment, I'm just waiting for info on how to send the defective laptop back to them and when I will receive the new one.

 

They almost always tell pp with R1's that they will receive same back, (why they do this I haven't a clue) but I would lay odds you will receive a R2. This has been going on since June and I haven't seen any newly built replacements be an R1 ever. So let them play their word game and you will hear from your Rep or on your account, order is an R2 same or better spec's. Good luck!

 

The dell escalation officer i spoke to told me that there was no way he could get me an R2 model, I got an R2 model in the mail. haha, waiting on my 3rd replacement right now, really excited since this one is a new model and not a refurb...i heart shiny new replacements.

And also, to the person about the HDD, dell/alienware always tells me to make sure i TAKE OUT my hard drive, otherwise they wipe it clean at the depot. That's how it is here in the US, idk what country you live in so it might be different there.

 

Ok so tech came to my house this morning, tore the laptop down to barebones, and replaced the motherboard.
He plugged the charger to wall outlet and saw a blue light.

When he inserted the end of the charger to my laptop (with the new motherboard), lights went off.
He replaced the charger but got the same thing.

Now he wants TechSupport to issue a CAR service.
Is my laptop going to a repair depot or something?

And does anyone have an experience with these repair depots?
I mean, did you get your laptop back, fixed and all?

 

Also, I have the following warranty
"Extended 1 year ltd hardware warranty, in home service after remote diagnosis"

Do you think it's a good idea to agree that my laptop be sent to depot?

 

^^ hell no !!! Refuse at all costs !! The DEPOT is like a Doom Kingdom

 

Well, I'm happier today - not over-joyed, but good. I received my new R2 today! So much for 'ten more business days'. I really wish that someone at dell knew what the hell they were talking about.

Anyway, so my new system comes and it's missing the 740qm (came with 720qm) and the 640 raid 0 (came with 320 non-raid). So back to the lines I went. And they are sending them plus a onsite-tech to install. So far so good. I'm much happier now.

 

I got really excited today. I received a package from FedEx, I wasn't home when it was delivered, but my mom texted me and i was like :O :O :O :O, got home, and it was just a care package from RIM for being a beta tester for them.
I got a nice travel mug though, and a really nice pen. I can't wait for my laptop to get here. It's killin me

how long does "in production" last? haha

 

For a new system? 1 week to 1 month+ depending on availability of the parts. I heard they are running low on 5870's.

 

Tech support told me that with the current state of my laptop, on-site is no longer applicable.
They need to bring the laptop to a depot for 3-5 days.
So now I'm stuck with no laptop; the only computer I can use is this office computer and it's as slow as hell.

My computer is 13 months now, do you think I should demand for a temporary replacement laptop or something?

 

Just state your fact that it is impossible to send your laptop to their depot , as you rely on it fully and your school/college studies and daily work related activity depend on it greatly. If they want it back in the depot , let them send you a replacement. You , your work and your studies should not be penalized for the technical issues that their product is causing.

)

 

I agree with Digital, you need it for school. And they need to replace or loan you a unit while they have yours
I wouldn't mind sending mine in if i had a spare or they were firm on when I would get it back. I have not heard of very many coming back from Depot fixed. I think none cannt remember of one.

 

Pardon me for quoting myself. I am very happy today! Instead of a 740qm I received an 820qm! I am very satisfied now and Dell has made amends with all the hassle I've been through.

I never thought I'd see the day, but I would actually buy from them again (and probably will in the R3 comes out).

 

That's what we like to hear RedViking....

Glad it was worth it! Enjoy the new beast!

 

How do I check the status of a replacement?

They called said it was shipped but the entire procedure I received a grand total of 0 e-mails.

I was given a 5-digit number thru some automated message this morning. I was really tired so I don't remember what it was for.

 

Go to your account site and check your orders, there will be a link to the carrier for you to get the info.

 

i went there, there's nothing

 

I assume you bought your system second hand? If you purchased directly from Dell, then it should be there on your acct status.

 

no it's a replacement system

i didn't do any ordering of any kind

I got a call from AW that they were going to send me a new unit. He said I would get an e-mail later that day about it but never did.

Fastforward to today when I got a call that it shipped. I still haven't gotten an e-mail of any kind.

I got a 5-digit number from an automated message this morning but I was so tired that I don't know what it was for.

 

Replacements will still show up on your order page. They are treated by the system just like a new order and shiped from Tenn. if your in the U.S. They ship 2 day freight so watch for it, if it dosen't post. Have you emailed your rep for more info?

 

I was talking about your original system. Did you buy it directly from Dell? Because if you did, then it should show up on your account.

 

o no I bought it from someone who got it at the Dell Outlet. I updated all the information regarding the service tag to my information though

Everytime I called in the past few weeks, every rep has been clueless. Like they kept referring to an even older ticket about "sending the laptop to the depot" and saying "you don't have a machine in production until it arrives at the depot" which I knew was false.

I gave up and e-mailed a rep that has been helping me with my problems on my current M15x. He hasn't responded yet either

I guess I just have to wait and see. I just didn't want the system I'm getting to have problems with a wrong spec or something.

 

Thought so. The system is with another account. Make sure you contact Dell and transfer the service tag under your account. This happens if you don't buy directly from Dell. Can't blame them.

 

You are so right Anodize!

 

i did change all the warranty information etc, and when I call in they confirm the e-mail address on there as mine

is there another database?

 

Its the account number(Dell customer #). Make sure you tell them you want the service tag transferred to your account.

 

ah ok ty123

 

My second m17x arrived works great....

 

My replacement never showed up on my page either (I've already received it). The tech said it has something to do with using EPP or magic fairy dust in the coagulator or something else. I had to just look it up via the service tag to find the order number in a ticket and then look it up via that.

 

Glade you got it! How is it working?.. I don't know why they do that, you would think they could let you know when it ships right. But they don't always, why I said watch for it.