Looking for Alienware Australia tech rep :(

I am facing a massive issue with one of my laptops and looking for a Alienware aus rep to help me out. I have already spent quite some time trying to solve this issue with dell tech suuport.

 

Have you tried sending a PM to one of our Alienware reps here at NBR or contacting Dell through Twitter or Facebook yet?

 

VS can I tell you something, the NBR Dell reps will not help you, it'll seem at first they are trying then you give them the tag and they say talk to Dell AU, so its a waste of time

Why don't you tell me what's the issue, mebe I can or ppl like mr Fox can help better than any rep from dell across the globe... I have had experience with quite a few M17's since 2011, heck only this arvo I had a useless chat on software/hardware support with Dell, after which I searched the web for a solution

 

So far the issue is quite simple but it has literally pushed my blood pressure to breaking point. Never been in my life, i have been this angry. I understang crap happens and it can quite often hit the fan very quickly, but every time i try to resolve this issue with dell customer care they make me so angry, it makes me want to punch someone.

I got my missus a m15x about 3yrs ago. She babies her stuff and the said m15x is still in super mint condition, only 1 issue, gpu failed. I went through 6 onsite services with techs with different level of competency, i believe this is not dells fault as techs were from fujitsu. 2 techs were so awesome, they took over 90mins just to disassemble the laptop and that is after i opened up the m15x repair manual and showed them how to disassemble it. Long story short, a simple gpu replacement turned into 2months long process because only 1 dell tech used antistatic mat and wrist band, rest didnt even had it with them. 1 tech used a screw driver bit with a small drill to undo and redo screws.

After 6 onsite services and 3 missed services due to parts unavailability and 2 missed services to due tech not bejng able to make it, dell decided to replace it with m17x which took its sweet time to arrive. I literally had to chase down toll courier driver down the road as dell gave his wrong address (u5/1 to #51 which didnt exist).

Upon getting the parcel i got home and realised it was resealed, normal alienware tape had been cut and new tape was applied over it. I called dell immidietely and was told not to bother and just open the box use the laptop, i opened the box and put the laptop in charge. After about 2hrs i tried switching it on to find 2 beeps in continuous loop which basically means no ram installed. I removed the back panel, hoping ram just needed reseating due to courier being wreckless, but i was shocked to find no ram and hdd0 missing. I immidietaly called dell to explain and after 45mins of repeating myself, I was told by customer care why i was calling for this issue after 1 months wait, I told them i just got the laptpp delivered, after being accused of lying it turned out customer care was looking at old laptop which was ready for collection.

Now after giving me a run around and 3 promises for a call back, I am still sitting here without a complete laptop and empty promises from dell reps.

I was hoping there might be an alienware rep here who might be able to help me out.

 

Sheesh that's a bit tough, I mean the issues I have faced was with glaring hardware faults and that too took 2 months before any action was advised

Me thinks the only option you might have is calling tech support again, and don't bother with waiting for a call, they will never call, you need to take the initiative and call them, and I might advise that you may begin by increasing the tone of your voice, because there are some downright rude tech guys manning these centres. I have just taken 3 months of constant badgering and discussion and almost screaming to get my brand new AW M17r4 lemon to get replaced by Dell

 

So after much frustration and an hour long argument with dell tech support followed by customer care and tech support again, finally dell is sending tech with parts tomorrow.

And since i was reading different stories on techs being.... well stupid and experiencing this first hand. I decided to diagnose m15x that dell techs were not able to turn on.

What i found amazed me, if that was even possible. Cpu was not locked at all, cpu was in the socket but never locked, as such no cpu present and system kept giving cpu error, during this time motherboard was replaced twice. Fans were not plugged in and keyboard main flex cable was plugged in at an angle making half of the contacts useless.

What i found on gpu hsf made me angry as to the thermal paste application. I will be posting pictures later tonight.

 

So let me get this straight, Dell has been unable to fix the M15x and as such has replaced it with a non working M17x? Stories like this worry me greatly as my M17x is currently being repaired by dell AU.

 

Dell quality is in the toilet right now. You should have seen how my new m18x r2 came inside. It was assembled all wrong, but thermal pads all over the place.. Wires not routed correctly.. Things are changing

Sent from my SPH-L900 using Tapatalk 2

 

Well, one way of looking at it is, they're being built by people in a country whose government is committing widespread cyber-warfare against the United States and its allies. Not sure they can be trusted to put any PC together right the first time. Maybe the guy that messed yours up jumped off the roof at lunch to protest his bad work environment. Wait, that was the Apple factory. Anyhow, the same place build computers for more companies than just Dell... so probably won't find any green pastures elsewhere.

 

Mr. Fox has a good point there, for me... Electronics fail, they might fail anytime and at least DELL is trying to make it right for you. After a huge hassle though but at least everything is moving on the right direction. I wish I could do something else for you but we are only able to service US and CA and as far as I'm concerned there are no Australian Reps here.
I honestly hope that your issue gets solved soon.

 

Sorry guys for the delay, first my 15x died and now my main 17x gave up on me too (currently trying to find another motherboard for it )

I called Dell on monday 9am and was promised someone will be at my place on tuesday installing new SSD and Ram. Well long story short, first parts were not in stock, then tech was late, then tech's car broke down and now tech is coming on thursday evening.

I should have a working R4 by tomorrow eve, HOPEFULLY.

Well to be honest and 100% accurate. After many services Dell (or rather Fujitsu outsourced techs) were not able to get M15x to POST. Dell techs replaced motherboard, GPU, CPU, RAM, Power button and Control board including cables, Keyboard, PSU and IO board to get it to POST but failed, Some parts were replaced more than twice. After all this Dell authorized replacement for M17xR4 and it took almost 4 weeks to get delivered to me, since Dell gave wrong address to Courier, they just kept trying to deliver it to wrong address again and again till I called and tried to verify address. And finally M17xR4 came with missing parts.

It took me about 45 minutes to disassemble the M15x and clean it, re-paste it and get it working again 100% WITHOUT replacing any parts. As original issue was just a faulty GPU and dell techs replaced it twice, it should have solved the issue but I got no idea what they did to it to stop posting, other than cables being not plugged in properly or not plugged at all, screws not tightened properly, thermal paste going everywhere, CPU not being locked.

I am just happy this fiasco is coming to an end. And it has re-taught me a valuable lesson, don't let Dell/Fujitsu monkeys loose on your Alienware

 

Brother fox, apple's quality is still beyond reproach, and I haven't seen any US company pull its manufacturing division from china because of "it's cyber attacks" I guess the loyalty of the US CEOs of all such PC manufacturers is dominated by profits (and right fully so) however we in Australia are charged a gargantuan amount against the AW, and as such expect a little humility and respect when we have issues with laptops. I for one have had 5 run in's with AW tech support (for 5 laptops replacement and purchases inclusive) and the last 03 were particularly abusive... their onsite repair is incompetent and dangerous for one's laptop

 

Well, I gotta admit... if I took a ferrari into the ferrari dealer, I'd expect a pretty high level of respect and catering to vs. taking my chevy to the local tire place. Ya know, get me a coke or something, while I'm waiting - something extra.

Most of us feel this way about our laptops, too - we've paid to join an exclusive club as owners of these beasts, and want to FEEL like a member of an exclusive club. I'd think Alienware would WANT us to feel like our laptops are something special - so it'd behoove them to treat their customers as special as well.

 

So finally tech called and made an appointment for 4pm, I confirmed time and told him to be 100% sure as I will be leaving work to be home. He was dead certain he will be here at 4pm. I called him at 3:45pm to confirm if he was on the way as I just reached home, he advised he was on the way. At 4:15pm he didn't answer his phone, at 4:29pm still didn't answer his phone, at 4:35pm he tells me he's still at another job 45 minutes away and he will not be coming as he finishes at 5pm and I would need to call dell to get another tech.

Right now on the phone to dell, listening to this crappy music for last 30 minutes

Apple's had a fair share of issues with macbook pros but usually they are great in terms of build quality. Not sure about rest of the world but in Australia, I hate visiting apple center, even after taking appointments usually its 30 minutes+ wait to see a tech. And more often than not, techs have no idea hardware wise. Mac geniuses might know software but I find them to be pretty bad in terms of hardware knowledge.

Good luck with that, In Aus techs expect us to give them chilled drink while they maul//murder our much loved babies, them getting us a drink will be a freaking miracle, especially considering techs refuse to clean old thermal paste before installing new components, in M15x I found 3 layers of crusted thermal paste on GPU HSF from Dell/Fujitsu tech.

To be frank and 100% honest, I do not expect a chilled beer with my service, just a decent service would do where tech has knowledge of the system and follow industry standards.

Ok so after spending almost 90 minutes being transferred from one person to another, Dell now says no tech available before Monday

I finally advised the guys that either I get someone with parts at my home tonight or I am sending the laptop back to dell, I have had enough of this crap now.

Edit: Dell guys cannot send anyone out till wednesday now, so customer support sent for laptop to be replaced

It would have been quicker and easier to just send the parts to me via 4hour courier while i know dell can do. This is just getting crazy and crazy now.

 

Apple's techs don't even know software very well, I had a few friends who worked at apple stores, apparently they just have manual pages of what to do when something goes wrong, so there is no need to actually know what they are doing.

Damn man, that is some pretty terrible service practices. Actually when I picked up my machine today from the dell service centre I was informed that my issues were caused by the tech who was sent out when I first had motherboard issues last year, apparently he had put in the wrong service tag and everything. I seriously think dell need to work on the techs they send out (When I had my motherboard replaced the guy had no idea how to do anything, and he cancelled on a previous occasion).

 

When I had m11xr1, tech came out to replace lcd due to bad hinges and ended up damaging the motherboard and tried to blame it on me, saying it must have been faulty. Next tech who tried to replace motherboard used wrong length screw and kept tightening it till base cracked and again it was not his fault. Luckily dell replaced that laptop as well.

Problem in Australia is, Dell use fujitsu techs and unisys techs, unisys techs are alright and most of the time they know what they are doing. Fujitsu techs on the other hand have no idea what they are doing. I have never seen fujitsu tech use a anti static mat and anti static wrist band.

Right now i am still amazed at how hard can it be to send out a courier with a simple ssd and ram. I even told the tech, that he doesn't need to do the install, just give me the parts and i will do it myself. But i guess replacing the system is easier for dell.

EDIT: Just and update. Last night when customer support/tech support person told me he was requesting system replacement, he told me he will send me an email. Since I did not received any email till now, I thought I better call back and check on this. Well the same person is on holidays now and other person says he cannot do anything about as the case owner is the only one who can deal with this issue. I politely asked him to send this to me in email so I can have this in writing. From this moment he was very rude and shouted at me. I shouted back telling him, "Sorry mate, the way you are going to talk to me is the way I will be talking to you.... I paid for a premium system not to be treated like some idiot, so try to be polite and I will give you same courtesy." and he suddenly went normal but no apology. After 2 emails, I was able to get him to write it down that request has been sent for a system replacement.

I am going to document this as per every call from now on, since at this point I believe this case is getting way too messy now and I might need to seek Consumer Affairs advice

 

I've been through all this before. In total I've had 11 aw laptops in the past 2 years.

Sent from my SPH-L900 using Tapatalk 2

 

Welcome to Dell AU, I swear if apple had a 3500$ MBP retina, I would've never requested for a replacement AW and switched, 5 laptops in 02 years, the stress is enough.

I was under the impression for the last few years that I was perhaps the only one getting the royal shafting from Dell, seems like its AU wide

 

So far my service stuff has been pretty good (aside from the tech who put stuff in wrong) and I'm rather impressed by the people I've dealt with. Maybe you guys are just getting really bad reps or something? I mean my HDD's were failing so they replaced them for free as well as the GPU and I'm out of warranty.

 

So while waiting for Dell to response, I gave it a thought and I find it really hard to believe that Dell will replace the laptop again, since its just 2 parts. And having my R2 bit the dust, I removed the SSD and ram from R2 and added them to R4. Now everything seems fine except one thing.

SSD in R2 used to be around 50C at max but in R4, its constantly at 80C+ even went to 90C at one stage. Grandted it a hot day here in today (38C) but ambient temp in the room was around (30C).

 

UPDATE: So after a lengthy argument with dell, here are the 2 outcomes, one of which will happen.

1. Dell replaces the laptop with a brand new laptop and I can hope there will not be any issue with new laptop.
2. Dell will send out parts and organise a tech to come out but Dell refuses to send new parts and will only send out refurbished parts.

After the lengthy argument, I demanded new parts (brand new and not refurbished as replacement agreed upon was brand new and not refurbished) and an extension to original warranty as the original issue started on 2nd january 2013 and it will take another 4 weeks to get a replacement if it gets approved.

 

I would suggest to go for a replacement and nothing else, forget new parts and what nots

 

Another Update: Spend almost an hour on the phone and there is so no approval/denied. Tech support is trying to push replacement parts, the guy on the phone is trying his best for me to accept the replacement parts. I asked him a simple question, can he guarantee that these are NEW parts and not REFURBISHED parts. He keeps telling me he cannot guarantee and as far as he knows, there is no way to repair/refurbish SSD and RAM, but he cannot verify this. I told him, I can understand RAM not being able to be repaired but I do know that SSD's are definitely re-certified and repaired.

Right now I am arguing that I will not accept replacement parts unless he can verify that these are new parts.

EDIT: So far I have been very very civil and polite but my patience is wearing thin here, cannot guarantee how long I will be able to keep myself from exploding right in dell tech`s face

EDIT2: So while i was speaking to the tech, he simply hung up on me, because call went to the survey thing rather than being dropped. I just called back and spoke to a senior person and he just promised that he will call me back in 10-15 minutes. I have no hope of receiving a call back but lets hope against hope, otherwise i am gonna call back and demand full refund from dell. I have had enough and if i get full refund, well I have had 2.5yrs of service from a laptop and will still get money back, and i will just put that money towards fixing my 17xr2 and be happy.

EDIT3: Surprise Surprise Surprise, the so called senior tech/person who promised to call me back in 10-15 minutes did not call me back. I just called Dell back and he's gone home for the day. I told the guy I have had enough of constant lies and will be proceeding further with a call to consumer affairs (VCAT tribunal here in Australia). So I am about to fill an on-line complaint form and also write a detailed email to person who handled the replacement.

 

What did you do to kill an M17x R2 and the M15x. I bought my 15x already used for 2 years over a year ago now. Put my own parts into it and it is still going strong. Why bother with DELL. I never would lol

Having warranty just gives headaches like this. Buy second hand and cheap and simply enjoy, while taking care of it till it dies a natural death from old age

 

I had 2 m15x's this one was for my partner and it was a simple gpu replacemnt when the issue arised. My m15x threw up a bsod and then refused to power on

M17x was a victim of power fluctuation and right now is being checked by power company if they can do something about it but since the adapter didn't burn out it looks bleak at best whether they will pay to get it fixed or throw up their hands in air

UPDATE: I got a voicemail from dell at 3:30pm and I called dell back. I was informed that tech will at my work to install parts in 40 minutes. I told the person, I was not informed that there was a service scheduled today and she put me in a conference call with technician base (she called it eglobal???) and the tech who was on his way. I listened to there talk for 10 minutes and then asked a single question, can they confirm whether the part is new or refurbished. To this technician said, there is no way for him to know. I remember when M15x's motherboard was replaced in jan, box had refurbished written on it, so I asked him to check the box and he said he cannot confirm. I told the person on the phone to not waste my time if she cannot guarantee that parts are NEW. She told me she will call me back and till then service is on hold.

Fast forward to 6pm and I am locking my workplace and to my surprise tech drives in. He informs me he's here to repair the laptop. I informed him, I was told service is on hold and I do not have the laptop with me. He takes out the parts and tells me he can either leave the parts with me or I will have to call dell back. I am over this issue and told him to just leave the parts with me and I will install them when I get home. I did opened the boxes to check if the parts were correct and to my surprise, even after informing dell tech support over 10 times in last 2 weeks, they still missed the parts. Tech gave me SSD + RAM while laptop is missing SSD+RAM+CADDY+Sata Interposer. I asked him about it and his answer was to call dell and sort it out with them.

Atleast I have the Caddy and Sata Interposer from second HDD bay and I am going to install HDD and RAM later tonight and see how it goes.

The more I think about it, more I find myself considering selling all of my alienware crap and going Clevo/Horize/Someone-Other-than-DHell

 

I can't understand why are you helping Dell fix your laptop, you've paid for the warranty it's now their job, whether they tap dance in it or throw it in fire you should have a trouble free laptop (replacement) in your hands. I'd say go for a return and refund and get out of this relationship with alienware

I would have (and done so) for the last (4) laptops that caused me grief, repaired em then replacements (parts/laptops) had issues....I got my laptop refunded only this time (knock wood) the replacement is still working

 

Ok after installing the sad and ram, system works but few issues.

-Wifi keeps dropping out, every few minutes network connection drops. I tried using external USB wifi card and it works fine without any drops.
-Mac fee refuses to activate, when I try to activate it, it starts updating and then it says, I should have been activated by15th march.
-Alienfx randomly shuts off. Software says alienfx is enabled but light just go out completely, till I restart and then they come up white, loosing all of the settings I just did before the restart.
-Any game I try to play, it keeps crashing after 10-15 minutes. Hwinfo says gou is at 65degrees while CPU goes to 97degrees.

Since dell have refused to replace the system, I am gonna give them 3 chances to fix and then ask for full refund, they have already had 1 try to fix when sending out parts.

 

Tell them they have had their chance in repairing the laptop and it is still not fixed...as per their policy (AU atleast) that is all they get, or at the most give them one more chance at repair, that is what led me to get my replacement, essentially they repaired it once (I didn't even ask for new parts, despite the fact I was within my first year of 3 yrs warranty) but ended up with a worst display ( half the image had accurate colors the rest of the display had "smokey" colours), the mobo would keep rebooting for no apparent reason,random alienfx lights had stopped working

Necessitated another call out GPU now replaced issues still not resolved, dell finally relented to replace my AW. Only reason why I went for the laptop and not a replacement, I couldn't purchase a similar spec'd laptop from horize/clevo in the time I was been relocated to provide support to a remote hospital in QLD

 

Actually I just spoke to VCAT today and since the laptop came with missing parts and new parts were not delivered/installed within 14 working days, I qualify for a full refund/replacement. As a good will gesture and just wanting this fiasco over, I accepted parts, but laptop is still not 100% functional, as such I can demand for full refund/replacement or take it further to VCAT in which scenario its looks bleak at best for dell to win.

Will be calling dell tomorrow morning to come and collect Alienware corpse and replace/refund it. Looks like P370EM might be on the table