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

usually with in UK Dell uses UPS, which literally attempts 3 times before sendin back

 

So disappointed with dell once again! laptop has been down for a week so far and still no contact from dell corp. Once this machine is fixed or replaced i'm done with dell and selling both my m14x & m18x what a joke you spend more time of your warranty waiting for a "resolution"

 

OK got of will dell after I received a call from them it looks like did ship with unupgraded parts parts. I will have to ship it back once I get back to Florida. I asked due to the inconvience and all the call I have had to make rep is trying to put me through for a processor up grade He is trying for a 2860Qm.

So original specs
4gb
I-7 820
5870 fire
250 HD

New specs

8gb
2860qm
6990 xfire
750 HD

There is a slight chance would not be able to pick up system due to being out of town
He said if I system was returned They would have to build brand new system. Would at least be A 17x r 4 with a 7970 or 680 card. But chances are would be a new 18x with crossfire

Is it worth the chance of getting a new system to not pick up the new one. or would the system promised be to good to risk.

 

So almost 7 or so weeks ago I spilled water on my laptop. Had it sent in for repair and when it came back. It still didn't work. At all. I call up AW and I am livid refusing to send it in again and instead require them to send an on-site tech to fix it so I can inspect the work done before he leaves. So then, it takes another two weeks for them to get the guy out here...with the some of the wrong parts. At the very least my computer was back to partially functioning which was nice. So then I call back tech support again, and tell them that they sent the wrong parts. From here I tell them what they actually need to send me ( i know whats wrong with it, just cant fix it myself ) and after the on-site comes back to fix my laptop we find out that not only are some of the parts wrong again, but that some of the parts replaced did not fix any issues. After a total of almost 7 weeks I still do not have a fully functioning laptop. A rep earlier offered me a RAM upgrade which I declined, as I find 12GB sufficient, and then I was offered a GPU upgrade to the GTX 580m, which is hardly better than the 6970m I already have, as such I declined that as well. Ive been offered two refurbished replacements, but truth be told after all the headache and trouble Ive had with regard to this one being fixed, I am slightly inclined to believe that I deserve more. This has gone so far that it has even affected my work ( ive been in trouble on several occasions and had to borrow other peoples computers ) which is really unfair to me as their incompetence has come back to bite me in the behind. Any advice on which I should take? Mind you my current system is an M17X R3

 

The trouble that you may have is that Dell have offered you replacement systems and you have turned them down. The only thing that I would be thinking is that if you bought new, a refurb is not acceptable as a replacement - you should be gunning for a new machine. If you have had 3 attempts to fix the problem, I think you would have good grounds to insist that something be done other than offers of system upgrades or refurb'd replacement.

 

Well, after being assigned a new rep, I have accepted a brand new R4 to replace my current R3. Needless to say, I am pleased with this new representative who seems much more understanding of me.

 

Excellent news. It is unfortunate that sometimes we get a "bad" point of contact - this is something that needs to be addressed by Dell as I believe we need a degree of uniformity when it comes to warranty issues. This is obvioulsy not the case as of right now as your story indicates.

Nonetheless, I am glad you got there in the end!

 

Im not happy with Dell UK (Europe).

Jan new machine arrived - Duff mobo (no audio), Blu-ray not screwed in and media controls not fitted correctly (lifting up at rear). Contacted support unit picked up and fixed, 3 week from start to finish. New mobo, drive screwed and new media controls (badly fitted, held down all the F keys, just needed to be popped in)

Last week in April - Random 3 beeps (not always), Crap in the screen and the media control lifting again (may have helped if they had put the screws back in on the last repair), palmrest lifting from the base (probs no screws again).

So contacted Support again, so after taking photos of the issues Dell agreed to send out a engineer. Great while your replacing mobo screen etc you can fit me a second GFX card, so handed over my cash.

Then the fun started, 4 Service agent calls, "We have your parts, engineer will call you in the morning to confirm a time". Yes they did but on asking which parts they had to fit, I was always given a list which was never right, missing mobo, missing GFX or some other parts. The engineers did understand it was a bit pointless fitting a GFX card in a fecked mobo.

Anyway long story short after several weeks on waiting for parts which had suddenly gone out of stock (even after waiting 2 weeks for new stock).

15th June Dell did agree to replace the machine with a new build (due not having spares etc), Great I thought, supplied the details they wanted - was then told I would get a email of the specs of the new machine for my approval. That was 2 weeks ago and still no spec email - contacted support just got back "We are looking into it" email back.

Tried the facebook option and get back the same responce.

2 weeks for a email Dell come on - even if I get a responce sometime this week - its going to be 3 months min before I get a working machine (with build time added) and down 4 days pay waiting for engineers without parts.

Question is there anyone in Dell UK that can do anything about it ?

Cheers sorry for the rant.

 

C'mon... no you're not. You meant to rant.

 

Ok, I did mean to rant

 

Hi aziraphaleUK,

Thank you for bringing your concerns to our attention. I regret you are experiencing a delay in receiving your exchange system. We are happy to look into this matter on your behalf.

Please contact me privately and provide your order # and contact information so I may forward your concerns to Customer Service Representatives supporting the UK.

Thanks,
Dell-LornaM

 

OK almost done with replacement process.
My old system was
M17x r2
5870 crossfire
4 gb ram
820 processor
310 hard drive

Getting black 18x refurbished
16gb ram
6990 crossfire
2670 processor
750 hard drive

Dell sent system with one 560 they were going to change to red and maybe upgrade processor . They told me they would not change color and would not upgrade proccesor
But did upgrade from 8 to 16 gb ram. My original system was new but they said a new one might be a 17xr4 . Will a memory upgrade from 8 to 16 do any good. How much faster will this system be than last one. Would love a new system but they do not seem willing to budge. So should I be happy and stay with what I have or would anew maxed out 17 x be better. I know I can not complain to much as original system was xps 1730 with 8700 crossfire cards

 

That's a good increase in terms of performance in cpu and gpu. If its simply for gaming, 8gb would more than suffice so 16gb mike be overkill and could maybe an area where you could negotiate a downgrade in lieu of an upgrade on something else. Chances are that with 16gb vs 8gb, you wont notice much real world difference, unless you are planning to use software that requires lots of memory usage.

I'm not sure how far you can push things but I would have *thought* the replacement should be new as you bought new. I'd be tempted to ask the question. A new system should be like for like or better so a M17x could be considered a downgrade as its not a dual gpu system.....saying that, if you could get a NEW one with a single 680m, that would be pretty close regards to gpu performance. A single 680m is about as good as 580m/sli/6990 crossfire...you obviously lose the ability to add another gpu though.....

 

Well this is 4th replacement system. I had one tech that I really thought was going to get me new system but originall tech took over and these guys won't budge at all. I think I got hit a double so pretty OK but not jumping for joy

 

Don't get me wrong - the offer you have will be far superior compared to your old 17x R2, in terms of raw performance and power. From that aspect, its great. The only thing would be the refurbished machine....I guess that's a trade off for a much better spec.

 

Ugh will this ever end. Called dell because new video cards were suppose to be sent out yesterday.Dell was sending 6970 instead of the 6990 . After some questions turns out they just sent out what was in stock they canceled the 6970 and were going to send the 6990 .But these were not in stock till Monday asked for 2 580 instead the will have these in stock Friday and now getting the 580 in ski . How much better is the 580 over the 6990. Was upset that they were sending me worse card. It really sucks that you have to keep calling to make sure dell gives you what they promised . I was promised red on many occasions got black was told they would upgrade processor and no upgrade. Has been a frustrating experience.

 

That may not be bad news. 580m sli is more or less on par with 6990m - I had 6990m sli before this but I would say I am more than happy with my 580m sli vs 6990 sli. All in all, I would say better because you get PhysX and Cuda - PhysX will add lots more "eye candy" to your games and Cuda will allow you to use gpu acceleration for lots of applications - eg, if you convert media, it will do it much faster.

 

Hello,
I have read this thread and helped me with my problems M17r3 Alienware. After replacing 2 GPUs, 2 Motherboard, Fans (cpu-gpu), heatsink (cpu-gpu), 1 LED screen, my AW still having problems, did not detect the integrated graphics, not working Webcam. I also had problems at boot-up (black screen "beeps"). But support technicians did not give me any solution to my problem, after 4 calls the response was "We are studying the solutions (Replace my computer)".
I was very disappointed with DELL, so as a last measure decides to write to Michael Dell. The next day they called DELL and proposed substitution.
My original team: R3
CPU: i7 2720 QM
GPU: ATI 6970M
LED Display: 1080
RAM: 4 GB.
HDD: 320 GB
Blu Ray.

Equipment Replacement: R4
CPU: i7 3610 QM
GPU: ATI 7970M
Led Display: 1080
RAM: 6GB.
HDD: 500GB.
Blu Ray.

I have accepted the change. I hope that my unhappy days are over. Thank you very much for the help.

 

OK this will truly never end. Tech came to install 580s.Spends 2 hours installing card ans realizes that dell has not sent the fans.Dell tech told him to test out cards without fans but tech refuses. So tech comes again with fans installs card and Dawn of War 2 goes from 40 FPS to 8 GPS Tech installed wrong drivers. Call dell install new drivers non it hits 15 Fps . Tech said dell should have sent a 330 watt adaptor instead of a 240 .Try on battery power hit 8 Fps .Wanted me to reinstall windows I refused as it don't make sense to me as system worked fine with the 560 card. So now system goes back to the depo' This has now been going on since mid June. Now I go from system working slow and at least being able to serf internet to no PC at all. Would a email to Mr Dell help.

 

Possibly. Thing is, you really need a 330w psu for those cards. I'm suprised they arranged for it go to the depot without at least sending you the correct psu....has it actually gone? - if not, I would insist on a NBD delivery of the correct power source and try that.....

 

I purchased an alienware m14x r2 new in the end of june and when i recieved that one it had glue all over the rubber things on the screen staining many spots. I tried to clean it all off but it was taking many hours and I decided to call tech support. The plastic on the right side of the laptop was loose too and it moves back and forth. So they agreed to send me an exchange system which arrived today. When I first looked at it the right side in the corner of the laptop looked like this ImageShack® - Online Photo and Video Hosting. Also there is a some marks on the screen which don't come off. I havent even turned the computer on yet because I was so disappointed with this. Anyway, after talking to like 4 Dell reps on the phone they tell me that I must send my old one back and keep the new one and the only thing I can do is have the defective parts repalced with refurbished ones via onsite tech. They tell me that I can only get a 1 time exchange and I cannot exchange again. Now I am stuck with 2 defective alienwares and tech support is not being helpful. I want to ask, Is the exchange policy only a 1 time thing? I've had my first laptop for almost a month, but I set up an exchange before 21 days. I've read here that people have gotten more then 1 exchange so I am quite unsure..

 

I wouldnt be happy with that. Dell cannot say that because they replaced one faulty machine with another faulty machine, you HAVE to stick with it. It's their fault so INSIST on another machine.

 

OK almost done thank god.
Original system.
M17 x R2
4 GB ram
820 I7
Dual 5870
320 hard drive

First replacement system
Refurbished M18X R1
16 gb ram
2670 processor
Dual 580
750 hd

New replacement
Open Box M18 x R2
12 gb ram
3720 processor
750 hard drive
Ungrade to windows ultimate
Ungrade to killer wireless card.

Is open box in effect new

Would have loved to get a system with dual 7970 cards but dell would not budge. I figured since the 7970 was same price as 675 they might but no go
I assume that the new replacement will have about the same proformace as the first one because the video cards are in effect the same.

The rep mentioned upgrades on the R2 vs the R1 ,Aside from processors what are they.
So in the end how did I do think I hit a triple if I had gotten 7970 think it would have been home run.

 

System came today. System has a 3820 processor not the 3720 .Also rep said system was a open box unit but the sticker on the bottom say refurbished. Ran 2 bench marks 3d vantage 6 got 25,585. Ran dawn of war 2 bench got a average of 80 fps old m17x with dual5870 got 50 fps.

 

Good news on the CPU! - I'm not 100% sure but open box should just be a customer return or something like that and NOT labelled as a refurb. I guess you could call and question this if you wanted to but as long as the machine is fine with no damage and it's running like a champ, it's probably advisable to keep a working machine vs. returning it and throwing the dice again. You could maybe try and push for something on the fact that it's a refurb and you were told otherwise.....you might get a bit longer warranty or something but I wouldn't guarantee any additional "perks"........otherwise, looking good!!

 

Well think this is it . Have had the returns and dell told me if this one did not work would get refund. This one is also red last one was r black and love it. Question how much faster would a system with 7970 be .Dell said I. Would get them but would have to pay.
Does going from 2670 to 3820 make any difference in game performance?

 

Did you get dual 580m's in your replacement? - if so, 7970m crossfire could be seen as being almost twice as powerful on paper. In the real world, there are still lots of headaches with 7970m and driver support so you could say having a fast car is only good if it goes fast. My 580m Sli machine handles virtually all games at max settings with the exceptions of Metro 2033 and The Witcher 2 which really do stress it. If someone offered me a gpu replacement free of charge for the 7970m, I would personally elect not to have it and stik to my 580's as they work perfectly.

As for the cpu, you wont really notice much benefit in increased processing power as most games are reliant on gpu power, not cpu. Again, some titles are cpu intensive but either of those processors should be adequate for gaming, quite easily.

 

Those of you who used the repair service depot... is the "Estimated Return" the estimated date on which I will receive it back or is it the estimated shipping date? Thanks in advance for any help.

 

I sent my M17xR4 into depot for repair for my BIOS brick, I get it back with a m17xR3 motherboard, the wrong cpu (2760qm vs 3720qm), and the Alienhead light doesn't work......

How do I even go about this? My service tag clearly states it is a M17xR4, I don't see how they could even mess this up. I have the original spec sheet sent to me from Dell via email when they replaced my R3, but thats it. Any advice?

 

Call them right away, ask for a manager. I sent my m17x r3 in also and got it back and it did not even turn on and had a scratch on the screen. Then they sent a replacement that was a lower spec system that was an r2, so they finally are sending me a brand new one. And it all only took 3 months...hahahaha

 

Just my experience

After 3 repairs and a fourth one being needed on my M14x R2 (2 motherboards + LCD + another new motherboard) I asked for a replacement. No questions were asked and one was set up that day (Aug 23rd). They upgraded me to a BD-ROM drive which was delightful, and it arrived today (although the replacement was black, can't complain!). 6 business day turn around time is awesome. Highly recommend using their Twitter over phone reps, I've found them to be 10X more helpful and prompt.

 

HTML:

Thanks for posting your experience. It's great that you were taken care of EXACTLY how you should have been. It goes to show that Dell can get it right when it comes down to looking after it's customers. Sometimes we hear far too many bad storries so it makes a nice change to hear yours and how things went smoothly for you even though you had problems to begin with.

Congratulations on your issues getting resolved! :thumbsup:

 

my warranty is limited parts warranty, so far i got 3times gpu replacement, now they are sending 4th time to change my gpu heat sink, gpu, cpu. If this still fails me, i mean in overheating issue, sometime blue screen, can I ask for a system replacement for it?(ps: my warranty is not complete cover). I tried to ask dell's on call technician, he told me that my warranty does only cover on parts. They only can replace me the parts not the whole system even though it keeps failing me... anyone experienced system replacement from limited parts warranty? I'm really disappointed with alienware... By the way my alienware model is m15x with i7 720qm, nvidia gtx260m, 8gb ram, 500gb 7200rpm hdd.

 

Update your warranty to a full one, then you can ask for a system replacement, trust me it is a lot cheaper to buy a warranty than to buy a whole new system. I can 3 gpu replacements on my r3, now they are replacing my system for an r4. Good luck.....

 

man, my country's dell don't let me to do so, once I purchase the laptop from outlet(non dell) like three years ago, it comes with limited parts warranty, and after that it expired. I only just extended it by this year because of the serious problem on the laptop itself. I spoke to a lot sales person from dell and they told me I only can extend with the original warranty that I have and I couldn't upgrade it or so to make it complete cover. Complete cover only offer to those first purchase the laptop but not offer to those who wanted to upgrade or so.

 

I see by the last post here that no one seemed to have any further issues with warranties, repairs, exchanges, replacements. I guess I am the first in a while, and do I have a doozy...

Three weeks ago or so, I experienced an issue upgrading the BIOS in my Alienware M14X R2. I called up the tech support folks and someone got on the line to help. After repeated attempts to fix the issue, which seemed pretty minor as the keyboard would not function in Windows. The rep (tech #1) stated that he would put in an order to have the In-Home tech replace parts, which at the time were the motherboard and keyboard. The tech came two days later, and this is where everything went downhill. The tech clearly did not know what he was doing as he dismantled my laptop. I stood by and watched (mainly out of curiosity) and found that I had to "assist" him by guiding him around the machine. He replaced the mobo and did a real bang up job too as there was thermal paste all over the laptop after he was done. He replaced the keyboard as well, but as far as speed vs. care, this guy needed to take home the top prize for most incompetent tech. After the laptop was reassembled, more trouble ensued. Beep codes were thrown and a couple of times, I had to stop him from meddling until i found the codes online to let him know what was wrong...again, clearly this guy needed training. After all of that was resolved, he got a bluescreen. He went into the BIOS, added a couple of entries, including the service tag, rebooted and got another bluescreen. he then told me that Windows needed to be reinstalled and reluctantly I agreed. He called Dell and spoke to tech #2, who concurred that a reinstall would be needed. At that point, you never saw a repair tech pack up and leave fast enough. Needless to say, there was a language barrier and all I could make out was "so sorry" and "goodbye". So, I was left with a broken and messy laptop. I called Dell and spoke to tech #3, who guided me through the reinstall. After that was over with and I went to use the keyboard, yep it still didn't work. Tech #3 then stated that I would need to send the laptop back to Dell for repair.

Two days later, a box arrives, I pack it up and send it out the same day. Dell receives it the next day and I get an automated email stating as such. About four days later (taking the weekend into account), I get an update that the laptop shipped. Keep in mind that through all of this, I get no communications from dell about what was wrong and what was done. Anywho, after the shipping email, I get the laptop back to me about a day later. I open her up and immediately see that work was done on it, work that no one told me about. I see a sheet of paper inside with details of the laptop as well as a bunch of check boxes below that indicate parts that may have been replaced. All I see is that the OS was reinstalled. My immediate thought was "great, that's all it was, but what else did they do to get the keyboard to work?" I shrugged that off and started up the laptop. When I mentioned that I knew something else was done besides an OS refresh, I sent off my laptop before with the badges on the palmrest (Win7 and Intel i7)...those were now missing. After careful observation of the palmrest, I realized just how new it looked. yep, someone replaced it. After starting up the laptop, I noticed how the dvd drive sounded different. You ever own a car and always know how it sounds and acts? That's how I know my laptop. being an IT guy for my company, I know computers pretty well. In hindsight, if I had the means to work on my own laptop and get the parts from Dell, it would have saved me a lot of aggravation, but I digress.

Well, now I know that the palmrest was replaced and now so was the dvd drive. After getting into Windows, hey the keyboard works! After about 10 minutes of attempting to get my laptop back to normal, the SSD drive freezes and causes the keyboard and mouse to lock up. This lasts for about 20-30 seconds and then everything is fine. So this raises yet another question so I perform the Alienware Autopsy which brings up a web-based diagnostic. Now, this is where I go from perturbed to full-on upset. After running diagnostics on the motherboard, input devices and memory, I see that I no longer have 16gb of memory. The diagnostic shows 12gb...face is becoming red at this point.

So, to recap so far: new palmrest, new dvd drive and now 12gb of memory instead of 16gb. I sat and wondered "what else was done to this machine?". Remember how I mentioned that the white form that came with my laptop stated that the OS was the only thing done?

I now had to question who's laptop this is, because as far as I could tell, the laptop I sent to Dell versus what I got back was showing differences that did not settle well with me. I bought this laptop last August, so just over a year old. She was a great laptop and I do a great many things with it, mainly simulations, 3D modelling and gaming. I knew of Alienware's reputation not only for gaming, but the ability to customize so much more in the system versus the other Dell laptops. I needed a strong CPU, all the memory I could get and a decent GPU.

To make this story shorter than it was, and for the sake of really getting to the point, I have gone through 3 Dell techs so far, and two more weeks later, I dealt with 4 more, three of which were escalated support people. I now have a great many emails from everyone saying "we're sorry" and "we'll get a resolution", but as of today, I am still in the dark about what is really going on. I have two people tell me they will send a replacement, but I don't know when, all I hear is "it's processing".

I have to question the integrity and care that Dell advertises. Award winning support is not what I am getting. I know with the holiday that they are busy, but are they too busy to actually help existing customers and resolving issues? I hate to say this, but this is by far the worst experience I have ever had with customer support. Along with being an IT guy, I also work in our company's helpdesk and essentially that is customer support. We are told to do whatever it takes to keep the users happy and productivity going. I believe the same should hold true for Dell or anyone else in customer support. We spend a great deal of money on these laptops and the extra warranty and support, so why can't we get that? If it isn't the people I have to call that I cannot understand what they are saying, it's the lack of communication not only between their departments, but the communication that should happen between support and the customer. We shouldn't have to call every single day to inquire. We shouldn't have to wait by our email or phone everyday for a call that doesn't happen.

I experienced a similar issue a few years ago with another laptop from Dell. An exchange was authorized and within two days, everything was set. I got calls and emails that detailed the replacement as well as the email that you can track the order and shipping...two days. So what makes my case, which is worse than the previous one, so bad that no one wants to help?

I am at the point of filing a complaint with the BBB and the Consumer Protection Agency. I lost all of my patience and I am beyond frustrated. I don't know what else to do right now because all i hear is the same rhetorical nonsense from Dell, not to mention the countless apologies. I think we're beyond apologies at this point and we need to get this resolved so I can move on. I have a great deal of things I need to do on my computer that I cannot do because of hardware issues and now frequent software issues too. I had hoped to have this done and over with before the holiday as I will be out of town and need to do some presentations that may or may not happen. While I am also a gamer, I'm not some pimple-faced teenager whining about not being able to game. I am a professional adult who took solace in knowing that my Alienware system would handle the computing power I need and that need is rather great right now. Having a laptop that I cannot even verify is really the original one I sent leaves me feeling cheated. Too this day, I cannot believe Dell did this to me, and I had communicated these issues to support who immediately stated "it is not Dell's policy to replace anything in a customer's machine without their knowing about it", so that in itself, tells me someone either royally screwed up at the Depot, or Dell dropped the ball in terms of good communication. Did I inadvertently receive a refurb? Who knows. I do know this isn't the same machine and I am sure I don't want it.

Again, I cannot understand why it is taking so long for someone to authorize the exchange and get someone to grab a laptop, configure it and send it out. It just doesn't make sense. With Dell being such a large company with so many departments and employees, one would think that their support would be top-notch, fast, efficient and satisfactory to every customer. Someone really needs to take a good hard look at these issues that come up and work on fixing it. Established customers should have the same opportunity for superior support as a new customer. For the work I handle at my company, we do use Dell, and with that we have premium support. If I have a defective part, it takes all but two days to have it taken care of, from start to finish, it is fast and efficient. I get emails along the way from the support tech informing me of shipping, asking how everything went with the replacement...basically great follow-ups. For home consumer support, that is definitely NOT the case.

 

Hey Guys,


I have an Alienware M17xR2 with 2 X 5870M in CrossFireX and a 920XM CPU, they told me they will be replacing my computer soon, any idea on what I should be expecting? I have never had any experience with a system exchange, so I dont know what to expect from Alienware TBH. Any ideas?

 

Well, I guess there could be a few options that Dell might look at. They could take the view of a replacement 17 would be in order, as you are coming from a M17x R2. If they did that, it would be my guess that you could end up with a new 17. This is where it gets tricky depending on how Dell 'compare' your machine to what's available now, if you like.

I'd say that a single 770m would be the closest current gpu configuration to what you have now in terms of performance - a 765m would be a backwards step. As for cpu, if Dell look at base clock speeds etc and ignore the fact you have an Extreme Edition cpu, they could toss you a 4700mq as that would be faster than your current chip at base clocks (2.0Ghz for the 920xm vs. 2.4Ghz for the 4700mq) but the 4700mq is no EE chip.

Now, it could get interesting if they look to replace a dual GPU machine with another dual GPU machine (like for like) as it would mean you could be looking at a new 18. If that was the case, the bare minimum GPU configuration would be dual 765m's which would be quite a leap from Crossfire 5870m's.

You may also be able to debate which CPU you might be offered on the basis of Extreme Edition for Extreme Edition and NOT clock speed....in which case, it 'might' be possible to bag a 4930mx - if you get offered an Alienware 18.

All of that is based on a new machine. It may also be an alternative for Dell to find something within their older stock for replacements - possibly an M18x R2 with similar specifications - generally speaking, they can replace with this kind of alternative, however, they only have a 'reasonable timeframe' to find something suitable to replace with from their stocks. I'd say if they do go down that route, 3 days to check for such an alternative is long enough - one check each day to find something suitable....if they haven't by then, I'd say it would be time to push for a brand new replacement. Of course, they (Dell) may just elect to offer a brand new machine right away.....

So, it's pretty open really - one thing to remember is that Dell are pretty good on the whole. They will work with you - if you remain positive and polite etc.....if you don't, they won't be so keen to assist.

Just my tuppence, keep us informed on what happens!!

 

Well they finally got back to me today, and I'm sort of disappointed with the outcome. The agent said that they finally found a system that is similar to mine, and that would be a 4700MQ and 765M GPU... I kept myself calm and cool, and asked him to consider the fact that I have the 920XM and Dual Cards, I told him that giving me a system like this will be a double downgrade on both the gpu and cpu. I told him at least give me an Extreme CPU with the low end card, or a high end card with the 4800MQ or 4900MQ, but don't downgrade me in both cases. I kept at it, and at the end he said he they will review it one more time and get back at me. I dont know why, but I am not feeling really optimistic about the new system, I feel as if they are giving me a down grade. What do you guys think?

 

It sounds to me like you have suggested a reasonable compromise. The main thing is to at least attempt get the lowest available spec'd Alienware 18 with SLI as a replacement for your dual-GPU M17xR2. The lowest available spec in the Alienware 18 with SLI should provide a level of performance as good or better than your original configuration and leave you with the option of upgrading to the top shelf CPU and GPU components later on at your own expense. I would not be happy being offered a new 17 because you are left on a performance dead-end street with one GPU. After all, your old M17xR2 is capable of handling 7970M CF and that would outdo the GPU performance of a single 780M in an Alienware 17 by a small margin. They may not give any weight to this based on the performance of your original configuration and that would be understandable from a business perspective. However, in terms of potential, the M17xR2 is still a strong performance contender due to its dual graphics capabilities that are notably absent in the 17.

I am somewhat surprised that there is no M18xR2 in the Dell Outlet that they could offer as a replacement. That would be an excellent option.

 

I honestly was hoping for the lowest spec Alienware 18, but after hearing the guys offer, I was sort of surprised by what he told me. Seemed to me like they wanted to give me a low end 17. Sure, who doesnt want the Alienware 18, but it didnt seem like it was on the offer list. I was also hoping they might have offered me the m18x R2, id take that too. I hope to hear from them today with an update and not the agent telling me they cannot change the specs of the system.

 

They finally got back to me today. They offered me an Alienware 18 with a 4700MQ and Dual GTX 780Ms, I was actaully really happy with the offer so I accepted. What do you guys think? Also how does the warranty work out now? I only have a few days left on the original and it was a Complete Care warranty, the one offered said it was 1 year basic warranty.

 

That is an generous offer. They certainly treated you right on that. Check with tech support, but I believe your original warranty applies to the replacement and you will not gain a year. I am reasonably certain the 1 year basic warranty does not extend to system exchanges. You will need to purchase an extension if you have not reached the 5-year mark. Once you hit 5 years, you're done. No more extensions are possible. It goes back to the original machine purchase date. My 5 year threshold is in August and I cannot extend. I have tried three times to add another year and every time I was told the same thing. They could not take my money as much as I wanted to give it.

If your original warranty expires in a few days, your new machine will have no warranty at all before it arrives, or something like a "30 day courtesy warranty" at the very most. So, I would extend your original warranty today if you can. Then it will transfer to the new machine. Maybe Brother Porras can clarify how this works. I have received several system exchanges and the warranty expiration date never once changed when an old machine was replaced with another. The expiration date always remained static.

 

Over all I got to say Dell/Alienware do know how to treat there customers, and they gave me a great system, I can't complain, I am probably going to swap out the CPU later down the road, either a 4930MX or a 4900MQ. Sort of depends on the performance on the original CPU tbh...

But come to think of it, I forgot to ask him about the Alienware name plate, and how to get a customized one. I do remember him telling me to talk to sales about the warranty, and to notify them that this had gone through a system exchange, and they can handle it from there, So i will definitely see how that goes.

On a side note, I was checking on HWBOT for benchmarks of a 4700MQ and dual 780Ms, sadly I couldnt find anything for 3dmark Vantage.

 

Hello Guys,

I just want to know if anyone has any ideas or tips on how I can speed up the process of getting my laptop fixed.

To summarize what's happened to my laptop: Bought it 2 years ago with 3 year Complete Care warranty and last April I thought the speakers were having issues. It turned out that it was the bass that needed replacing. Also there's this issue where when playing games while using Skype, it would randomly make a nasty static sound and then silence - I would have to restart the laptop several times to get my sound to work again. I really didn't want to have to call Dell again because it took them about 2 weeks to fix the bass issue (parts ordered wrong) so I pretty much sucked it up and just told my friends I cant use Skype when playing games. (now i realize that it wasn't just Skype - I tried Steam Chat and Curse Voice and the same thing would happen).

I ended up calling Dell again for repairs a few weeks ago because about two months prior I started noticing a static-like sound coming out of my left speakers. Almost like the sound some speakers make when a cell phone is near it. Anyway, made the call, told them I think it's the speakers right below the screen, and they sent someone out to replace it a few days later. Well, it turns out that they ordered the bass part and not the speakers...I called again several days later (I work 8-on-6-off night shift) and told the person that the issue has not been resolved, that I need the part for the speakers and not the bass. Several times I reiterated that if he took at look at my order history, the part ordered is the incorrect part, that I need the part that is right below the screen, not the bass which is located by the mousepad. He says okay and ordered the that and a motherboard, which he suspects may have been a culprit. A few days later the guy they sent out to fix my laptop came by and yep - wrong part was ordered again. So now he makes a call because I was getting pretty agitated and had them place a new order. Okay, so now a week comes and another guy comes to fix my laptop. He replaces the motherboard and the speakers. Turned the laptop on and we heard sound and he left. A few hours later, I decide to play a game...and after a few minutes I realize im not hearing any sound! Reinstalling drivers didn't work, also have caps lock light permanently on (used to be a different color besides white)...it's just been a pain. Forgot to mention that the keyboard was also replaced during one of those repair appointments.

Okay sorry for the long post but this is my current situation: They said that I may be eligible for a system replacement since I have had at least 3 major parts replaced. I was told that someone would call me within 24-48 hours to notify me whether or not it gets approved, then maybe 2-3 weeks to find a replacement. I called on Tuesday and still haven't heard from anyone. I have been emailing the person who got the request started, and he says that it is not under his control and he doesn't know when they will get back to me. I asked him if there is any way he can give them (exchanges department) a call to maybe speed things up, or if there is a number or a person I can speak to - since I have been dealing with this problem for a long time now. His reply is that he is sorry, there is no way to hurry the process, and that I am welcome to speak to his supervisor but that he will tell me the same thing.

So...yeah. I don't want to end up waiting a month to get approved and a month to get a replacement...I literally do not know anything besides the fact that he said I'm waiting to be approved. They attached a tracking number in an email but it's not like an order number where I can track its progress on the Dell website.

Does anyone have any suggestions on what other steps I can take?

 

What system? If it has Sound Blaster Recon3Di the problem cannot be fixed. The audio chipset has issues on all systems that use it (not just Alienware, but other brands also).

The person you spoke with is correct. And, you won't know anything until the time comes that a decision is made and conveyed to you. The process cannot be expedited. It has to go through an approval workflow, so someone should be in touch with you in probably 2 business days or less. I would call them every other day to see how it is progressing. This is due mainly to sheer volume of tasks that need to be done. If everyone expected theirs to be moved to the front of the line it would obviously create some logistics problems. I know it sucks having to wait, and a few days seems like a lot more time during this kind of thing. I have been down this road several times. It has always ended with me being satisfied, but patience is not a virtue that I can claim. Hang in there, bro. I bet it turns out nice.

 

It's an m14x r2. Yeah the thing that I guess was bothering me was that during that call when they said it needs to be approved, he said someone would call me back within 24-48 hours to tell me whether I qualify or not. That was last Tuesday and I still haven't received a call. Oh well, guess all I can do is wait.

 

I would call every other day until you get an answer. They have let too much time go by without giving you the attention that you deserve.

 

I just called and they said that the system replacement was declined. They said that my only available option is to send my laptop to them, which I told them that it really is not an option for me, or have another technician replace the motherboard/keyboard. And if that doesn't work, my next option is to send the laptop to them or have another technician come and replace parts again before I can qualify.

This is so frustrating. I told the lady I just want my stupid laptop to work.

 

Call up and again and keep haggling.. They will eventually break.. If you give up, you won't get .