Horrible Alienware Experience

I posted the details here: https://www.reddit.com/r/Alienware/comments/586enx/worst_alienware_dell_experience_ive_ever_had/

Are there any active Alienware staff left on this forum? They've been helpful in the past.

 

From reading it , the only main thing that i picked up was that you want a laptop replacement within a certain amount of time frame. Having dealt with Dell support for many years, there many resolutions. Going with the flow of support speeds up replacement unit. Be it either one of the 3 option below.

1) return the dead laptop
2) send to depot
3) next business day support

If you are going back and forth on what you want to do with the dead laptop issue, it does not make the situation any better. There are process for every situation and having to skip a few process to expedite your need will not happen.

You can't give Dell , or any laptop vendor a deadline for a replacement laptop.

I have from own experienced , knows that there service is the best out there.

 

Why should I have to return the dead laptop, wait for shipping, wait 15+ days for my account to be credited, just to wait another ~18 days for a new one to arrive? It's their fault my laptop arrived dead. Not mine.

I wanted them to replace it immediately, either while I'm shipping back the old one, or before, and they won't.

 

I agree with you 100%. Sometime it's just personal scheduling that is making the matter worst. Trust me , I have had similar situation.

 

Are you from the US?
If so file a BBB complaint. They get on that like White on rice.
Trust me it works.

 

A total of 7 laptop replacements and I never once had to send mine back before receiving the brand new replacement. Not once.

 

That is good advice. Everyone should do that at the first sign of a cooperation issue to avoid prolonging the agony.

I think the value of providing support in social media (here and even Dell Community Forum/Alienware Club) is deader than a door nail. Perhaps because it has been abused. It used to be effective. Maybe they are just numb to it because of that. If I were on the opposite end of the situation, I would not want to help people that are airing their dirty laundry in public and throwing temper tantrums in an effort to gain leverage. I know not everyone does that, but some have and I am always turned off by it. In some cases it was effective and the customer got far more than they deserved and then they bragged about getting a huge upgrade and that creates a bad precedent. In the long I suspect the use of social media backfired for all of the above reasons.

Sharing the details of a miserable experience after the fact to give generate bad publicity for lousy service is fine... they deserve that when they treat their customers poorly. Potential new customers deserve to know what kind of ride they might be in for if they draw a short straw and get a lousy support rep handling their case. Dell employees are no different that any other company. Some of them are amazing people that bend over backwards for customers and some are as worthless as tits on a boar and deserve to be fired.

I never had to do that before either. Although, I have noticed that their policies sometimes seem to be inconsistent from one customer to the next. And, they do vary by country to some extent.

 

Seems like filing the BBB complain, at least so far, hasn't helped this poor fellow with the Inspiron 15 display hinge problem that Dell Support is calling accidental damage.

Dell Community | dell refusing to honor their warranty

 

LMAO@your new signature Brother Fox! That literally made me LOL in class.

 

If you want a replacement to be shipped before Alienware has received your return, you'll need to purchase the replacement as well. You can do this yourself: just order a new Alienware laptop and send back the old one. Of course they're not going to ship a $1600+ device for free on the assumption that you're a good person and won't just keep both laptops.

 

Well, actually they have in the past. Most (not all) people are honest and won't keep both laptops. Sometimes Dell are trusting to a fault, and they've been screwed by dishonest customers hundreds (maybe even thousands) of times. But, sometimes Dell are dishonest as well. They sometimes make promises and then don't make good on them. The most recent example I recall was @Daniel1983 was promised an eGPU with 980 because they were downgrading him from a AW18 Viking beast to a 17 BGA turdbook. That was used as an incentive to coerce the agreement to a downgrade. They shipped the turdbook, and then stood him up on the eGPU. He never got it.

 

I've done lots of returns and in the circumstance that I'm able to order a replacement before I've even shipped the original unit, I've always had to pay for it. I just wouldn't get too upset with Dell about that. HP, MSI, and Acer wouldn't do what you want either. Also, a lot of this depends on which customer service rep you talk to. Some are a lot more lenient, knowledgeable, trusting, etc than others.

 

Actually, I am speaking of warranty exchange where Alienware ordered a replacement for a machine they could not fix. I've had several that functioned and they allowed me to use it until the replacement arrived, then I received a pre-paid return label to send back the old one. They've done that for lots of customers. But, you're right... totally dependent on the rep. Some are totally worthless and others are amazing. The customer can have something to do with it as well. A customer that acts like a jerk and is miserable to have to assist generally won't get the same treatment as customers that are a pleasure to deal with.

Horrible, inexcusably bad customer service experiences are what originally drove me away from HP to Dell/Alienware. Some of the worst customer service experiences of my life were courtesy of Hewlitt-Packard. I refuse to own anything with their name on it.

 

This is correct, however after about 4-5 weeks of arguing with various managers, and sending them proof of what they promised in the exchange offer, I finally got someone to make good on what was promised to me--they shipped out the AGA with the GTX 980.. I ended up selling the GTX 980 & getting a Titan X. ... All that after 2 managers insisted 'it couldn't be done'. Persistence pays off.

Worth noting that the 7 brand new system exchanges that I received through warranty--I never once had to pay for another laptop & still got to use mine until the new replacement arrived every single time. It's all about remaining professional with them and using your communication skills properly. They are very human, and treat their customers the way they would want to be treated for the most part. The hassle free warranty is the only thing that has kept me with them all these years. Sure, I payed an arm & leg for extended warranty but still strongly believe that I got my money's worth and then some.

This is NOT true.

 

I'm going through something extremely similar with an alienware 15R2. 4 dead mobos, losing my mind and wasting so much time dealing with reps/managers. I've gone as far as calling Round Rock, Texas Dell Corporate with zero ****ing luck. Just going to charge my card back and mail this piece of **** to their texas depot, then charge back the ****ing shipping costs. Nearly 19 hours wasted talking to these people, and I don't mean that rudely, the costa rica call center is only as helpful as they can be and are always trying to do the job to the best of their limits, but its not enough. For circumstances that are extreme like yours and mine there has to be some sort of rapid escalation where someone with power can be put on the phone within the first ****ing 45 minutes.

https://www.reddit.com/r/Alienware/comments/5bpza7/aw15r2_fourth_dead_mobo/