Faulty monitor casing "not covered" by warranty. I am NOT amused.

Fex,

Congrats! I hope it is in perfect shape for you!


No updates so far today...

I'm trying to be patient, but it doesn't seem to be working...

If monday comes along with no updates, I'm making some calls...

 

My machine arrived on the 24th.

The repairs were... satisfactory. According to the repair slip, AW replaced my front panel, motherboard, sound card, and keyboard.

The speakers are now operating as well as they were, originally.
w
The monitor casing has been replaced, but there are still several visible signs of the damage. There is still a gap between the front and back panels of the monitor casing, in the bottom right corner, and the entire corner is bent forward, as if something is still wedged in there.

The monitor hinges feel a little more snug and strong than before, and there is a little less wobbling. There's still plenty of creaking.

The USB ports and audio jacks feel a little tighter, now, and seem to have been slightly misaligned. At first, I really had to wedge my headphones into the jack, but after a few uses, the problem seems to have corrected itself.

The new keyboard flexes much less than the old one- the flexing is almost unnoticeable, now.

The plastic screen covering the webcam is significantly misaligned. I know I'm just being picky, but for $3600, it seems like things like this shouldn't just be slapped on.

I've posted a few reviews about my experience on a handful of tech review sites. For now, I'll continue using the machine, but I get the distinct feeling that my warranty still has plenty of work left to do.

Oh, and I'll try to grab some pictures.

 

mmmmmmmmmm... yeah...

Man, we just really want to hear that a company which markets itself as the cream-of-the-crop of high-end computers puts as much effort into the details as the specs.

I remember watching a documentary on the Ferrari production plant in Italy. Not only were their motors built to unbelievably high tolerances, but every last detail of the car was meticulously seen to. Hand-stitched lether seats (literally - professional seamsters stitching each and every piece of upholstry with needle and thread).

That's what AW needs to aim at. Super careful attention to each detail, not just high-end components.

 

Sort of similar, Samsung did the same thing with my old mp4 player. "Physical Damage" but I was SOOO careful with it, can't see it being anything but defect.

 

OH NOEZ... What happened to this thread?

 

I would not accept any "satisfactory" repair. You should have received a new case and not have to do with a "bent forward corner". I would really not accept this... but that's just me. It's AW responsability that the screen cracked... it's their responsability to provide you with a completely fix laptop.

If they didn't replace the GPU, I would monitor the temps to check whether that can be one of the causes of the problem you had.


Good luck fex.

 

Fex, whenever you can, some pics of the condition on the returned machine would be great.

 

Holy cow Fex! I think you and I are the same person, with multiple personalities...each of us complaining about this whenever we get control of the body.

My laptop was send back to me, and the outer lid was replaced. No more light bleeding through the paint, only the nice clean light from the seam of the case. But apparently they couldn't get the case to seat perfectly in the BOTTOM RIGHT CORNER and now there is a slight bulge there... Like a little reminder of what went wrong. You can't really tell until you look and see that all three other corners are PERFECT. You push on the good corners and nothing happens...push on the lower right corner and it gives.

Fex and I - same exact problem, same exact mediocre fix...

I decided to write this to them...

Upon looking a little closer at the condition of the laptop, I see that it isn't perfect, but it's satisfactory. The bottom right corner where the screen had snapped open, is closed, but the inside corner where the screen is shown is bulging out. It's like a little reminder of what had originally happened, but I'm not willing to send it in for such a minor problem. I just don't understand how the most popular top end computer gaming boutique can accept this as a job well done. Considering how much money your customers spend, I can't understand how anything short of a perfect condition, perfect performing laptop could be sent out to your customers. Please, please, enlighten me as to how a company as famous as Alienware can treat their customers, such as me, with such mediocre and insufficient service. Thank you for your time.

Some of you may think this is pretty pointless to complain about something this small, and I'm sure you'll want to tell me about it, but I don't care, so please don't waste your breath. This was my money. My money, my standards...

 

Man, this is totally absurd, how can they get away with such lack of professionalism?

 

Jay, I can only tell you... I wish people would all be like you. You paid for something and you are entitled to what you paid... and that was "perfection".
Couldn't agree more with you... You are a star!

Please, do us all a favour... check the temps of your GPU while you are playing. Just to rule out the possibility that the cracking had to do with that.
(and I re-extend this request to fex...).

Well done both. And do not be happy with satisfactory... that's definately not what you bought!

 

Milcs,

Thanks for the kind words!

As for the GPU temps....All I have is RivaTuner... and for games I have FEAR & Bioshock. Would that suffice?

 

Sure. Run Rivatuner, put the graphs up and play away. Always monitor the temps and take screens of the temperatures your GPU goes up to.
If those were the games you mainly played... then you should have an answer soon.

As always... we will be here to provide any help we can Jay.
Good luck and keep fighting for the greater good.

 

Will do.. I'll post as soon as I have em...

lol...(in a low voice).."The Greater Good"... reminds me of Hot Fuzz...

 

I used Rivatuner on Bioshock for 1 1/2 hours...never went above 87...

 

Well, there's a bit of good news

 

Yep! Those are good news.
Test other games and keep monitoring.

 

Let's bump this to the top since we now have a third member to the Broken-Hinge Party.

This is absolutely ridiculous.

Buzzin,

Please keep us updated on how your repairs turn out. Fex and I have had our m15x's sent back to us repaired, but with "reminders" of what happened. Let us know if the bottom right corner is still pushed out compared to the other corners when you get it back. It just SCREAMS repeatable damage.

 

Hey guys, I'll start posting to this thread RE this issue going forward. Thanks for pointing me to it Fex. This is my latest:

They have had my m15x in for repair for over a week. I called and asked the status and they said "in diagnostics". When it comes back the first thing I'm doing is popping off the front LCD panel and checking out the repair job. If I see the nuts secured in the same crappy brittle plastic anchors, I am requesting a full ($2300) refund. This was my first AW computer and if this is not resolved responsibly, my last. I use the laptop everyday for multiple hours a day, but it sits on my desk at work and gets plenty of ventilation and airflow. I have never ever ever (and I work in the IT dept) seen a laptop hinge that was secured by plastic anchors. The screen and hinge has always been crap because whenever I type or someone walks by briskly the entire screen wobbles and shakes. I wish I had known prior to buying it. Fex, you can email me at [email protected] and we can coordinate lemon replacement and reports to engadget or whomever.

My pictures match yours EXACTLY with the little plastic bits and nuts/screws falling out or jamming and I was 100% SUPER EXTRA careful with my "baby". I never dropped it, dinged it, used it anywhere ventilation was poor or heat was a problem, etc. It sat on my desk 8 hours a day while I worked. If you look at the way the hinge is attached it is clearly defective by design and thus covered by IMPLIED WARRANTY of MERCHANTABILITY even if they say its not under warranty. They haven't pulled the warranty crap with me yet. My biggest worry at this point is it comes back with the same design flaw. I'd be happy to help pay a lawyer to bring a case if necessary. Better than sitting here with a $2300 paperweight.

And I guarantee that as other owners get more use out of theirs the same problem will develop. I used it 8 to 10 hours per day 5 days a week for 5 months (much more than most I suspect). When their usage hours start matching that in a few months we will see dozens more of these cases.

WARNING TO THOSE INTERESTED in M15X!! I should have gone with Dells XP line of laptops. I had the M1710 prior to this for a couple years and never had any such issues. In fact as I said I have NEVER seen this poor design issue with any laptop EVER and I work on PC repair and laptop repair 5 days a week for over 10 years.

 

I have not seen one, but based on some of the feedback here- I agree with you and have been telling ppl not to get it for that reason, some of the faults are so basic....

 

So the three of us so far... Bet more will start popping up...

 

About 3 weeks after receiving my laptop, the old signs of damaging are recurring, and some new [similar] problems are surfacing. I've taken pictures, I'll be uploading over the weekend.

Buzzin, I'll wait for you and Jayon to coordinate refund requests. Let me know whenever you're ready. I'm on sort of a weird schedule, but you're very welcome to contact me here, or at my e-mail: [email protected], and we can get it all worked out.

 

hey man I was just wondering how you pop off the LCD panel, are you talking about the black part?

 

I'm down... I'll be PMing both of you my email address...

 

thank you jayonhavoc for giving me this link.

You are exactly right, you shouldn't be satisfied with this "satisfactory" work done by AW, considering the show they put on the Order status page(7 or 9 steps, showing how they are testing your laptop etc). And we are not paying for the satisfactory product, if we had wanted just satisfactory computers we would have gone for a usual laptop, y bother buy an AW, which is supposed to be a premium brand.

after coming across such experiences, i have sorta made up my mind not to buy products on their launch day or soon after their launch. Any newly launched product, which is given a lot of hype has had defects.

i hope your problems get resolved sooner and AW pulls up its socks and really start implementing all those 200point tests which they have on their website.

 

@Njs - I wouldn't even call it a satisfactory repair as it is still bulging and whatnot. I would give it a D (poor) on the repairs. Basically enough so that it won't fail immediately, but the future for it doesn't look too bright.

 

yeah Stone, i said what fex and jayon felt abt the service they got. watever it might be, AW should have taken the cases seriously(as any other case should be) and done the service to perfection. no mediocre or less than mediocre(as u might say D) service is acceptable for such high prices they put on their products. it advertises itself to be a premium brand, not only their prices, their products and services should also be premium and topnotch.

with all this, AW is simply building a lot of bad reputation for itself.

 

I'm glad I chose Dell m1730 over Alienware m15x back in March. I am extremely happy with my purchase and I never had such problems, no overheat, crack, plastic hinge, and warranty/service has been really good. Hearing all these complains really makes me feel sorry for Alienware's future.

 

17"ers are never comparable to 15.4s in terms of cooling and heat.
I wish people would stop trying to compare them.

Not trying to attack you, but really, it's a moot point unless you're informing them of the difference between the two.

 

I know, the 15 vs 17 debate, but yes the dell's are better build, so hopefully when dell takes over AW fully ( integrated) we'll see more testing and so on.

 

I know it wasn't comparable. But back in March, it's either m1730 or m15x, and both cost almost the same. I could have chose m15x but would probably end up in this forum complaining. So I should be happy to have made a good choice back in March. Now, I am waiting to hear reviews of m17x.

 

Ah, that's understandable then.
the m17x is probably a real beast, but undoubtedly overpriced for the name brand.

 

And not to mention that, even before it is released in the UK its already completely outdated compared to competition (namely, Clevo) and it's old technology.

Fex, Jay and buzzin... I really hope you guys are able to orchestrate a solid "Strike" against one of the worst companies I have ever dealt with in my lifetime (and I've had quite a number of years and experiences to talk about).
I hope you will find the strenght and motivation to let all those issues be exposed and brought to the "world".
Good luck and keep strong.

 

Yeah, I'm getting pretty disgusted with AW's CS all over again... I ordered the SB battery and SB HDD case over a week ago through email with absolutely no response. No processing, no confirmation, no NOTHING... Disgusted, but not surprised in the least...

 

all complaints aside, you are aware that some CC companies have refund polices in place so they will help get refunds for defective merchandise?
i would venture if you called your cc company they would tell you everything you need to supply in order to get the funds reimbursed back to you.
if you have verified emails, phone converstations dates, times, and names etc....this should be an easy fix in this regard.
i have this type of protection (insurance if you will) thru my CC company and have utilized it a cpl times when a retailer is as "uncooperative" as they have been with you folks,, both in terms of correspondence and product stability.

.02 worth.

 

that is a good idea to pursue resolution through the CC vendor if AW doesn't handle things. my laptop is due to arrive by midweek, supposedly repaired. the first thing i plan on doing is looking at the hinge and seeing if its the same original design. if it is, i will not be happy.

oh and by taking off the lcd panel, i do mean the black plastic panel that runs around the side of your screen. just pop off the rubber bumps with a flathead screwdriver and then use a philips to loosen the rest. once all the screws are out, the thing pops right off. if you then look at the bottom right hinge you will see it is anchored in plastic holes (LOL).

 

I will definitely look into that.

On a separate note, Fex & Buzzin- Could you guys try out your Fn+F7? Since I've received mine back, I have not been able to enter Integrated Graphics mode.

 

I can confirm that my FN+F7 is functional.

 

It has been 23 days since my machine returned from Alienware's repair department.

As the images below indicate, the original damage is resurfacing very quickly, and the problems have spread. In addition to the original problems in the bottom right corner of the lid, there is now visible damage to the central hinge. More tiny bits of translucent white material have started crawling their way out from the middle of the hinge.

I have hi-res versions of these images online at:
http://www.fex-online.com/m15x/highres/







The repairs done to my machine were not satisfactory.

I will send customer service my request a full refund tomorrow.

 

^DUDE!!!! It looks like your entire case is about to collapse! Damn I'm sorry to see that Fex

 

I am looking at this picture. One thing I notice is someone is putting the screen all the way back Which could damage a Notebook.

 

The hinge has a 180-degree range. I did not force the laptop to do anything that it was not designed to allow.

Additionally, I do not fully open the lid on a regular basis.

 

Hi,
180 degree motion on an LCD screen is fine. Technicians to have open it to 180 degrees for LCD screen removal. I can verfiy this as I have repaired over 2000 computers.

Gabe

 

Not unless you push it past the 180 degrees, as in pushing the hinges back past where they comfortably allow.

 

One thing I notice is people coming here making pointless comments about how a screen at 180º can damage a notebook and fail to comment on the most obvious and shocking of the facts here.
Fex's lid is broken, all due to AW poor construction and design... that's what should be commented here. I think people, sometimes, do fail on the objectivity department (I am no exception). I think that, if people have nothing to say, maybe they should keep themselves quiet.

Appart from that... I'm really sorry to hear that Fex. I guess it's really time for you to try and get rid of it. It's obvious that one of the worst laptops ever made will never give you what we all paid for. It's really sad the experience you lot have to be subjected to. I deeply share your pain.

You guys were talking about a "joint" action against AW. Anything new? I might have some new things to add to it (of course, if it's not only based on the lid problem).

 

key word there... "JOINT"...

single complaints are not as effective... sure log in the bbb complains and such... but try to get a group and try to get more "publicity"...

bad press can really motivate a company...

power in the masses...

 

That funny I seen this Post and it about the same problem.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=273502&page=2

 

Joint as in "union"... There are at least three of us, with the exact same problem. All three of us had poor poor repair jobs. Fex is the first of us to have the problem repeat...

 

Add me to the list of screen frame cracking issues. See pics below. One of the pics shows the plasticy thing that has cracked and fell out. As with everyone else, I've been babying my m15x since I got it in Jan. I have been one of the cheerleaders for the thing, saying i've had no problems (except for downclocking, which was fixed w/ bios), so obviously I'm not happy about this.

One other small 'deficiency' is the paint on my 'WASD' keys is coming off. Too much TF2 =P. Hopefully they can replace them... maybe with unpainted keys? That might be cool.

I'll be PMing Armando and James and calling CS. I'm really worried (and think) that this is a design flaw, NOT a manufacturing deficiency, in which case we're all screwed.

 

Very interesting!

You're the fourth case of this problem, but the first to have the problems start on the left side of the machine.

Best of luck to you. :]

 

yep, i imagine more will start trickling in. if you take a look at the hinge, its clearly a design defect, not a manufacturing defect. my repair is supposed to come back in the next few days. i'll post about what i find.