Is Alienware really that bad?

Hi all

Just ordered M17, my first Alienware ever. The thing is that I see more and more threads where people are complaining about Aw services, workmanship, quality control and I seriously think about canceling my order.

I used Clevo, Asus and a few Dells and never had any problems with quality or technical support. Especially Dells service was always very pleasant and willing to help... ('Oh You think yellow on your screen is too yellow? No problem sir, new screen is on its way' )

I understand that people are very often coming to this forum and are venting their frustration, but I'm a kinda terrified that there are so many...

Is Alienware really that bad?

Cheers

 

Not had anything bad with mine. Infact it was delivered a week earlier before it was estimated to ship.

Internet is a place filled with bad negative crap. There is always more about how bad a company is than there is good.

 

You have to remember mak5 that only the bad people moan and complain. Very few people who are satisfied will take the time to write a good compliment or review. This is how the world is and operates and the internet is a great example.

I am a first time AW customer, just recieved my bad boy Thursday, and I love everything about it. The company CS is okay, but if you are just patient then there is nothing to worry about.

 

Cheers guys, I feel better already

 

I ordered a M5550 Sept 07' ...then i came across forums with threads bashing the m5550 and how terrible the quality was and overheating issues, shutdowns, blue screens. Reading all these horror stories freaked me out to the point of almost cancelling my order. I decided to take a chance and Im glad I did, i was so pleased with that machine, had zero issues with it. I recently sold it because i wanted a M15x since it came out. Then i was going thru the same process again... reading forums seeing all the negative things about the m15x. This time i felt more confident with the gamble of purchacing it. Well.... ive owned the m15x for a month now and i couldnt be more satisfied. Not saying you wont have issues but... like others have said... more people come to forums to complain then to praise....

 

Nah alienware is not bad at all. Ive had the same problem when i ordered my laptop a month ago.

Was browsing the forum to check for reviews about m17 and most things i could find was bad reviews. Took me a while to notice that those bad reviews/posts was coming from 2-3 people...

So after ignoring those 2-3 people and start focusing on the rest I realized that it wasnt that bad.

So the next day i placed my order and 2 weeks later received my laptop (almost 2 week before the estimated ship date).

Wiped the hdd when i got it, installed windows/drivers again (i like to know whats installed on my system ) and ive been using it for at least 2 weeks now with no issues at all. Expect that it took me a while to get used to the resolution and the brightness, but with some tweaking i managed to get used to it faster

So the bottom line is, its really hard to find a decent review around. If you google the m17 you will find people complaining about the weight and the battery life... Its like buying a super car and complaining that it uses too much petrol, thats just silly. I believe that the m17 is a great laptop and worths the money (pretty cheap too ). It all comes down to you at the end

 

no Alienwar ehas been great to me.

-got a free tshirt
-pc came in early
-no real issues
-reasonable price
-awesome matte finish
-runs great

 

All companies have some bad stories and Alienware is no exception. I heard a lot of bad things about them too before making my purchase. I can tell ya, they are not as great as Dell, but as long as you're patient and "know how to talk" everything will be perfect!

 

Alienware charges for looks. But to me its worth it.

 

mak5 Don't let anyone pour cold water on you lappy!
Like the others said it's worth it and you'll love it.
Don't worry be happy!

 

Don't let other people get to you, people whose alienwares arrive perfectly and everything is awesome...well they are to busy to post on forums usually.

 

i love my M17, faultless... aw are fine in my opionion they will sort problems, like people said already be patient

 

So far my M17 has performed as advertised and no problems. Plays games even even better after updating drivers to e-wrecks 8.12. Wish the keyboard illumination was a little brighter but not a deal breaker.

 

Thanks for all that guys, really appreciate it.

When I red the 'Don't buy AW m15x, here is why' thread, and followed this blokes links, it seems that he created dedicated page 'bestlaptops' or something, where on the home page he puts all this **** on AW...

I doubt there are people out there, who would put so much effort battling some company just coz of pure disappointment...

Is it possible that there are some other competing companies behind all this?

And is it possible that people like Jelly B. are i. e. on the HPs paylist? (just a joke Jelly , sorry)

 

Check it out. Alienware invoices me in Canadian funds, but charges everything I paid, including my Canadian taxes -- in U.S. dollars.

Now tell me that isn't a reason for complaint?

- F

 

I'm sure we can all agree that you're an exception to the "...only bad people moan and complain" thing.

 

You know, that IS possible. I saw some guy on youtube who ABSOLUTELY bashed Alienware after he said he was SOOOO excited. He got 1 or 2 problems and freaked out, just like Jelly (possibly they are one and the same).

He said "Alienware sucks I know that HP has so many better machines."

How STUPID of a comparison is that?

I soon noticed that his profile was that of a troll (completely barren except for 2 favorites). I don't believe it is impossible, maybe unlikely, that HP would pay a couple of people on the side to troll Alienware and Dell since they are such a threat to HP. Just make sure they misspell words sometimes, forget a period here or there, and voila'. Instant troll.

Regardless of what these naysayers have to say, Alienware did an excellent job with my computer and I have had excellent run-ins with customer service. My computer was assembled very quickly and was on my doorstep a full week before estimated ship. The only thing that was missing from my package was the Alienware mousepad, which I found to be massive and gaudy to begin with.

I hope you enjoy your M17 and all the run-ins you have with Alienware. Always remember that the guys on NBR are here to help you out when you need it.

 

I don't see the need for mouse pads nowadays with laser mouse.

 

Most laser mouses can have problems with the surface that it is on, so the do not respond to well with it, thus the reason of a mousepad or a piece of paper to go under it.

 

What I really struggle with is everyone who has had a positive experience is very quick to criticize those who have negative things to say and vice versa.

The reality is that any electronic devise can and will eventually have issues. Some will have them sooner than later. It is really how those issues are handled and resolved that make a company stand out. AW provides very poor customer service at times. Others think they are great but I would bet that the majority of those who praise AW customer service have not had issues that needed to be resolved.

My experience with AW was one of those negative ones and I guess that makes me one of those "bad people"! I am not sure if it is just me but I do not think that I am expecting too much for my $2500 computer to ship on time, have updated drivers that actually work, have sound that works, not overheat at idle and to function as designed. If expecting it to do so makes me a bad person then so be it. What is worse is the hours that I spent on the phone with AW trying to resolve these issues only to be told to send it in for repairs, it was less than 3 weeks old.

My experience with laptops includes owning a Macbook, 2 M1530's and a M15X. I can tell you that my experience with the Apple and the Dell's were and are awesome with Apple being the best and Dell being a bit of a mixed bag. My experience with the AW, the most expensive machine, was horrendous. Now I am sure that not everyone has shared my experience but it is a reality that many have. If you really want an AW and are willing to be patient and understand that if you have issues it will likely not be a pleasant experience then by all means get one. I am sure that the majority of people do not have problems. Good luck!

 

You just have to be patient with them. They respond rather well if you don't condescend and yell at them when your framerates are 2 less than your friend with the same rig. A little courtesy goes a long way with them.

Dell is such a monster, they don't care. They'd rather just send you new stuff than spend time working through your problem.

 

Before buying any products, I do recommend that users do use www.ripoffreport.com for it shows any problems that they have encountered while purchasing from the company. (This is my opinion of course, but research goes a long way to reach truth.)

 

Yeah that's true, but let's not forget the majority of the negative experienced people who speak irrationally and bash without thinking.

Also, I love apple's customer support. It's the best I've come across.

 

I had issues with my M-ALX (memory died, wrong carrying case sent twice, missing chassis screws), but I will say Alienware did address and handle each and every incident and that thing was a tank and handled WoW and EQ2 decently.

I wasn't exactly encouraged by the shifting dates on my M17 order (along with the locked BIOS and the rigid warranty policy which is idiotic) so I canceled it, but in the end it is a rebranded 840i which has a solid build and good performance (especially as the drivers keep maturing).

Would I order from them again? Probably not, but never say never.

Dell, on the other hand, has the best service and support I've ever experienced, but it could be because 99% of the time it is in a work/enterprise capacity. But when I had a personal Inspiron 8100 and 8200 go south, they were quite capable. I had an Inspiron XPS which was built like a tank and ran great. But you can find many who despise Dell's service and support and products. I've had the most exposure to Dell hardware and it has ran great for the most part.

My G5 Power Mac overheated and was insanely loud. My Apple 30" Screen had the poor DVI cable and the red artifacts. I remember when they had to recall my 5300CE. My iPhone and iPod still go south when a "corrupt" MP3 is played and everything starts to skip even "good" songs. Both pairs of my iPhone headphone/mic sets died. Apple tried to tell me my 30" screen was fine even though it wasn't and I had the screen caps to prove it.

Will I buy more Apple products in the future? Yeah

The moral of this tale? YMMV as always.

Alienware MUST be doing something right. They've been in business for years and Dell obviously saw value in snapping them up. Do I wish they were more cutting edge like back in the day? Yes, but ah well.

 

I would also like to state the fact that most people are reporting their problems with alienware and not providing any pictures of proof of what is happening. I myself, a person with common knowledge, knowing that if something was going wrong, and If I was being mistreated by some company, would broadcast myself with proof of the situation at hand as well as problems that were addressed. We have sites like Youtube to give us our opinion to tell others how we feel so they can learn and reflect on it, I would assume since there is not many claims or problems posted on youtube, that most of them have been false acquisitions but I can totally be wrong on my part, but the fact remains that you cannot judge something you haven't seen with your own eyes.

Like I previously said in my post, research what you are buying, and find out the truth.
An example. (Go to Youtube.com search alienware scam, alienware problem, alienware lies.)
You wont find nothing on Scams or lies. But you will always find problems within products from the company, there are some faulty.
Consider this into your math on how many people in marketplace have bought a alienware computer, how many people have posted videos on problems with their computers. I'm sure you have already figured by now what is the answer.

 

The problem is when it's more of an issue than a 2 fps different. When you pay significantly more for a system, you would hope you would get significantly better customer support. You don't.

Quite frankly, Alienware's support looks to be on the scale of the whitebook providers. That's not saying that's necessarily bad - but I would qualify it as being "worse" than the support from the large companies because of the hassle it puts you through. With those, even though you might get good support, you're still looking at losing your system for upwards of 1 week (assuming they pay for next day shipping - significantly longer if otherwise), whereas the large companies, you can have somebody at your doorstep fixing your system the very next day.

And as for Dell just sending new stuff? I'd rather have that. If Dell decides they can't figure out what my problem is, and would rather send me a refurbished system that's at least as good as the one I bought from them, that's fine with me, because it means that I've just gotten a system upgrade at no cost to me, and the problem's fixed.

 

People who complain tend to be louder than people who are satisfied, keep that in mind

There will always be a chance for something to go bad. It's technology, it happens. All the companies get their parts from the same place(s) anyways(ex: GPUs from Nvidia or ATI) so it's not really totally their fault as far as hardware problems go.

That being said, Alienware is still in business after quite a few years so their products are selling and making money with happy customers coming back. That means they're not totally horrible. Are some companies better? Well there probably are, there is always someone better. Are there worse companies? Also probably true.

Just because you see multiple negative threads doesn't mean it's inherently bad. I see multiple bad threads on the HP, Sony, Toshiba and Clevo forums and all those companies are quite successful in the market. I actually probably see the most hate towards HP, ye they're one of the top selling laptop companies as it stands.

The only real issue I've heard with Alienware laptops is mostly due to their build, which usually isn't that big of a problem anyways so if you want an Alienware product I'd say go for it

 

That isn't to say Alienware doesn't lie or scam people, and I'm proof positive of that, along with no less than two other users in this forum that experienced the exact same thing concerning their deceptive billing practices. With a bit of focused research, I have come to learn that they are fully conscious of their deception too.

Alienware, by virtue of them having a Canadian website offering their computers in Canadian funds, including Canadian provincial and federal taxes -- represents a full declaration that they are a registered Canadian merchant with CCRA accounts for taxation purposes. Shoot, even when I call Roswell, I'm given the choice of French or English menus -- Canada's two official languages, yet all their representatives sound like they're in and from Guatemala! I doubt any of them even speak a lick of French. I've lost complete count of how many times I've spoken to "Jose."

Alienware KNOWINGLY converts invoices -- after Canadian taxes no less -- to U.S. funds, causing the Canadian consumer to pay upwards of hundreds of dollars more resulting from currency conversion and miscellaneous credit company tarrifs tacked on. The gravest error in this is that not only does Alienware appear to charge an arbitrary U.S. amount before taxes (little to no sensible correspondence as it applies to exchange rates), but they also convert Canadian PST (provincial tax) and GST (goods tax) to U.S. currency, which basically means they pocket the difference after exchange when they forward those taxes to the CCRA on my behalf. That's IF they do -- it will be a whole other story if I get mail from the feds telling me I owe them taxes.

Example: if you're billed C$5,236.23 on Alienware's Canadian website after taxes, Alienware converts THAT amount to U.S. dollars and forwards it to their U.S.-based credit institution for verification. The end result is the invoice you received from the website after you configured your computer's components is null and void, and you're stuck paying more in Canadian funds because of the conversion and likely credit institution tarrifs.

It's so freakishly pwnable, it's not funny! I'm gonna have a ball with this one! There is NOT ONE feasible explanation on their website about why they engage in this practice, particularly about why as a registered Canadian merchant they convert my taxes to U.S. funds. They either realize it or don't; at the very minimum they are fraudulently collecting more taxes from me than I should be paying. PWNABLE!

I have concluded that their "Canadian operation" is nothing more than a front for crafty bait-and-switch maneuvers; ergo, more revenue sources and the probable belief that the average consumer would not fight for justice in a case like this. The perception of convenience that Alienware arouses in Canadian consumers is a complete and utter illusion!

I mentioned in a posting early in my membership here that I take a zero tolerance attitude to corporate shenanigans as it applies to consumer affairs, and barring direct action on Alienware's part that culminates in a adjustment (refund) in the amount I paid extra, I am about to embark on a campaign to crush them and make public their nonsense -- complete disclosure! Armando and other Alienware representatives in this forum, take note!

Well, at this point they know who I am and exactly how long they have to respond before the silos start opening and missles start flying.

--
ALIENWARE EXPANDS PRESENCE NORTH OF THE BORDER TO BETTER SERVE CANADIAN CUSTOMERS (November 19, 2007)
Award-Winning PC Manufacturer Enhances Canadian Buying Experience by Launching New Dedicated Website, Simplifying Purchasing Process and Delivering Faster Service

..
Visitors to Alienware's new Canada website can now make purchases in Canadian dollars, including GST and PST, and can select from the same high-performance systems offered on the Alienware U.S. website. The buying process has also been simplified to help ensure that customers' systems are delivered directly to their doors. In addition to improved customer experience in the buying process, Alienware has also developed a Canada-based service operation that will allow customers the award winning service that comes with owning an Alienware system.
..

source: http://www.alienware.com/press_rele...emplate.aspx?FileName=press_canada_111907.asp

--

- F

 

I was mostly pleased by the speed of the service. I got my laptop in about 2 weeks and the repair for my small crack took less than 2 weeks.

People have bad experiences with everything... I would never buy a Dell or Toshiba again and I think apples are far overpriced for what they are.

Flashback, have you reported it at all? I mean, if it's a fraudulent and illegal practice, I would really do so.

 

I plan to alert several parties to the practice, yes, because I don't see them putting an end to it anytime soon.

- F

 

My m17x took a month for delivery but it was worth the wait, i love my little bad boy