How long does a repair take at AW.

Ok my system has been returned for about 30 days now. So I called them again yesterday, and no one could answer my questions about the repairs on my system.

This is just getting ridiculous now. Unless I call I get no update. And teh only thing they can tell me is that they are waitig on parts. It been a month now. And still new systems are being shipped out the door. So how the heck can they be out of parts.

I was nice enoug to give them one last try and repair my system but it seems as if I am being strung Along. Alienware Steve or Frank please PM if you read this POST. I could really use your help in getting my system corrected. I am currently being helped by your critical issues team, and I am not seeing any results.

How long have you other NBR members waited for your systems to be returned? Am I just getting grumpy or this getting a bit crazy?

 

For me, on three separate occasions of repairs on my previous m5550, it took about two weeks total each time. The last fourth time took about a month because the video card replacement was on back order. What part are you getting replaced, newfie?

 

1-2 weeks + shipping.

 

That's just it nobody at AW could tell me what they are doing or have done to my system. I don't even know what part is on back order. Nor do they.

 

yeah sounds crazy new mine took 2 weeks totally including shipping and i missed the delivery twice. Have you tried calling the Roswell crew yet?

 

ive seen it take as fast as one week shipped lol..2 days repair and sent out, depends on how busy they are..keep bothering them that the only way they do anything

 

where did you buy this system from? ie eu/us

just ask to have the system refunded. that will get them sped up. No matter what they say, your entitled to it.

 

I bought the system from the US/Canada website.

Well I make a call on monday morning and if nothing is being done. It will be time to move on. Enough is enough.

 

My repair took exactly a week:
System was picked up thursday afternoon by courier and arrived friday morning at alienware (I live in germany -> alienware is in ireland). A week later I received the tracking number and the notice it is on the way back to me, will arrive monday morning I guess...

 

Well I guess I knwo why I never gamble I ahve the worst luck in the world. And there is no use in crying over spilt milk. See what they say tomorrow when I call I guess.

 

Try the Roswell Crew yet newfie??

 

Yes and nothing different. The critical issues team have been on my Case for a long time. So yes I have tried both The Roswell Crew and the critical Issues Team.

I think I have been asked that question about 10 time now lol..
Thanks for the suggestion dhoang.

 

lol Well, yea..we really care about you and your m15x. They have worked wonders for many. I don't understand how it could be so different for you...

Anyways, if even they can't help you, then I think you are better off returning it.

 

30 days is extremely rediculous. You should complain and maybe get free stuff/upgrades. It doesnt even take a month to build the laptop, why to repair it? I would def demand something out of this, and not some alienware t-shirt either lol...ask for the x9000 or you will return it, trust me they may work something out, and talk to a manager about how you want to return it now

 

@OP - Yes 30 days is a bit ridiculous. Personally I have sent my M5550 a ton of times and it took about 1 - 2 weeks to receive it back. Push them for an answer man.

@Halo - You may want to shorten your sig before you get yelled at by an admin. Apparently they are only able to be 8 lines long. I was yelled at for it

 

ok cleaned it up a bit, sorry

 

i dont think you should "demand" freebies, as halogod suggested. they would find this ffensive and make it even harder for you. instead just hint it to them, like say to them you want a refund. They will then start to beg you to reconsider. you then explain to them that you needed the system during the "repair" process and now no longer see the need for an overexpensive, unreliable laptop. You comment that you expected to get more "bang from you buck" as i like to say.

see where that leads you.

If it makes you feel better, i knew a guy who recieved a 300dollar rebate off of his system for having a 6week delivery time.

 

Newfiejudd,

E-mail me your account information. I'll take a look at your case and see what's up. [email protected]

 

Mr. Lopez,

The info was shipped. I appreciate any help you can provide with my system.

Cheers

 

Cheers indeed!! Thanks Steve. Good luck newfie, hope that AW does it right for you this time.

 

Thanks Dhoang.

 

Hi everyone,
I thought this would be a rather funny post. When Alienware had me send my laptop in for repair, they had me use my original box that it came shipped in (minus all the accessories of course). However, it came back in a completely different box.....an ordinary box. I was planning on storing away the rather unique box, but it looks like I'll no longer have the opportunity. It's not a big deal, being that the most important thing was my laptop operating to new specs. But be forewarned........they're box stealers!!! lol

Gabe

 

You are the 3rd or 4th person to post the same thing. I for sure won't be sending my original alienware box back to them unless I get a written guarantee that I will get it back.

 

Fact 1: They need you to put it in the original box before sending in for repair.
Fact 2: They send you a normal box after repair.

Fact 1 + 2: You can send it in for repair once.

 

That's lame. I'd complain.

 

hehe, what a funny thread.

Same thing happened to me. The only that sucks is that if you happen to sell to your AW lappy in the future, you won't have that nice box to send. haha.

 

lol. My box will not be stolen from those bandits!

 

lMAO this thread gave me a good laugh but yeah i'm with Marcham they didn't steal my box either.

 

@Taco - March said it "will" not be stolen from them I've had my box stolen lol

 

@taco- Yeah they stole my other m5550 box. m15x hasn't been in repair yet. (Knock on wood). Wow this thread is really umm interesting...

 

O ok sorry didn't read it right but no mine was sent to mothership in march and It made it back same box.

 

Well in your case Taco (since I know your case ) I think they may have shipped out a new laptop or something like that since a few things were changed.

 

well according to them they swapped the mobo, dvd drive, and cpu. Pretty sure its still the same case. The box I'm sure it was the same cause I had stored some stuff in it and put a label on the outside so when I shipped it I shipped it back in that same box.

 

Mine returned from repairs in a completely different box from someone else too! I think they throw all the boxes they receive on a big pile and just pick a random one when they send it back :3

 

Well my System finally made it home with the original box as well.

Too bad I am away on business and can't really look over my system myself.
Working through the testing with my Wife VIA webcam so hopefully together we can see if this thing is finally fixed.

Wish me luck guys.

Cheers

 

I hope your problems do get fixed new I know you've been fighting with it for a long time now.

 

Thanks Taco,

So far things don't look good at all. X9000 and pime95 test is overheating and downclocking at Core0 82C and Core1 102C.

 

what?!!!! those are insane temps..i would freak if i even saw my desktop core2 hit anywhere past 80c..make sure those temps are right, test with many apps cause thats going to melt ur laptop

 

And this system just got back from repair depot. Testing my 8800m GTX with fur mark and riva tuner now. Let's hope these test go better then the CPU test.

So here is a break down of my CPU temps.
Using Prime95, and monitoring Core Speeds with CPU-z and temps with Core Temp.

5 minutes stress testing(System set to High Performance) of prime95 yielded core0 82C and Core1 102C, ThermoFan shows 95C and the downclocking starts. Systems speeds go from 2792 Mhz to 1595 Mhz. And Multiplier dropping from 14 to 6.

I am well aware of intel Speed step and that isn't what is causing this. Simulated the same test on my M90 and my wifes XPS1530 and both hold full speeds and full multipliers.

Is there anyone else with an X9000 cpu that can simulate these test on a Working M15x, and please give me your results. I woud really really appreciate the help before I call AW in the morning and ask for a full refund.

**EDIT**

OK 15 minute test with Fur Mark and NO Downclcoking of the GPU. So that is encouraging. I just wish I was home to really do these test myself. Although you gotta love remote desktop lol..

 

so if i send my laptop in for repairs. it'll have to be with the hardware it comes with right?

if i'm using another harddrive, i take the harddrive out and replace it with original harddrive. when the laptop come's back, i can just put the hardrive back in without having to reinstal everything?

if that makes sense at all.

 

Yes it makes alot of sense and it work 100%.

 

You won't probably need to do that. AW will still cover any damage on your laptop just as it has nothing to do with the harddrive.
I had a written email from AW stating that installing new memory and HD DOES NOT violate the warranty.

 

if you do send the m15x with the hard drive in it, i read in the manuel that it will come back to you reformatted.

 

Yeah, here's the thing: depending on the nature of the problem, you will be allowed to send the laptop in with no hard drive at all. So, in my case, my computer wasn't starting up and I could smell electric smoke, so I knew that the hard drive was not involved with the problem (because if the HDD were broken, the BIOS would at least load). I told my AW agent that since I believed the hard drive was not the cause of the problem, I was gonna take it out of my system. He said that was fine, however AW would obviously not be able to tell me what damage or problems the hard drive itself would be experiencing. So the repair guy fixed my computer so that the BIOS screen would load (and give me a 'no hard drive' error) and then I proceeded to reinstall the hard drive, which thankfully in my case turned out to be undamaged.

So, if you're sure the hard drive isn't involved with the problem, then you don't need to send it. Just notify them beforehand that you will be taking the hard drive out and it will be shipped without it.

 

Well, if you are worried, put the old one back. But don't worry much about it...
It doesn't void the warranty, so you are safe.

 

do you mean your main HD with your c drive on it?
they said to me to delete all my added programs off it and to back up any important data but they didnt say anything about removing the hard drive. only thing they said to remove was the battery.

 

Well you wouldn't remove it if you're having problems with things like games, etc (which is you, MrDJ) cause then the AW tech needs the computer to *start* to diagnose/fix those problems. It depends on the nature of the problem; in my case, I was able to bypass the entire backup process since my hard drive wasn't needed to fix my problem (not that I really had a chance either, my computer wasn't turning on...)

 

They will only reformat your hard drive if they find it necessary to troubleshoot your problem. Mine m5550 came back from repairs three times and they never reformatted the hard drive.

 

My M15x came back without a reformat. Was surprised about that.

 

If it is a hardware problem that Alienware has to deal with then they most likely won't reformat the hard drive. Unless the hard drive is corrupt.