My first brush with AW support

I really do love my M11x. It's been a beast and has been holding up very nicely for 7 months. Just two issues to speak of.

One of the teensy rubber feet fell off. No big deal, right? Others have reported it a time or two here and in each case they were sent replacement feet or another access panel.

Secondly, the keys contacting the plastic protective screen led to permanent scratches on the screen back in September. I'd been waiting to hear what Dell's plans were for faulty hinges before calling support. I didn't want to learn after I'd had my LCD assembly replaced that they'd finally come out with a new design that fixed that issue. Well, I finally got tired of waiting for that and frankly don't think that's forthcoming in any case.

So Monday I called support. I fist told them about the rubber foot that fell off. The support rep said they'd send me new feet. Perfect!

I then started to explain the permanent scratches that the keys had caused. I explained that the hinge design, having almost zero clearance, coupled with there being no rubber bumpers to protect against such contact was the reason for said scratches. I provided him photos. He placed me on hold for about 5 minutes and came back with, "I'm sorry sir that sort of damage isn't covered under warranty". We discussed the fact that the damage was due to poor design. Back and forth. Spoke with his supervisor. No dice.

I told him not to bother with the replacement rubber feet and that I'd call back again. I was pretty steamed. erawneila (some of you probably remember him here) had clearly stated that while keys contacting the screen, and the finger oil transferred as a result of that contact, wasn't uncommon but that scratches resulting from said contact would be grounds for warranty replacement of the LCD assembly. So I posted about support's refusal cover the damaged screen under a Complete Care warranty on Dell's AW forums. Chris, the moderator/liaison over there (and helpful NBR presence here), promptly asked for my service tag and contact information. Soon thereafter he notifies me that a service call had been initiated. Awesome, yes. Very much so.

The support case was opened on Monday the17th and I received an email providing me a service call number and letting me know that I would be receiving a call within 2 to 3 business hours in order to arrange for an on-site service appointment by a tech. It was early afternoon when the case was opened and I was immediately able to check the status of the case on Dell's site.

No call came that day or by late Tuesday morning the following day. I decided to call the 800 number that was provided in the email I'd received for the service vendor. However it rang once, silence for 15 seconds and then a message stating, "We are unable to answer your call at this time. Please try your call again later." Click...

OK...

I called another 4 times throughout the day. Same one ring, pause and message. I called every other hour on Tuesday. Same thing. Still no call from Dell's local service contractor to arrange for an appointment. You know, it's easy to verify that thing nowadays on a cell phone, right? Right.

Called a few times again today. Extremely busy at work today. Still no call and no one answering the 800 number I was given to check the status and/or arrange for service. Finally I decided to call AW support - the same support that said that scratches to the screen from the keys shouldn't be covered under a Complete Care warranty - in order to see if they could fill me in on what was holding things up. I got the guys in Costa Rica again - does US phone support always get routed there? The 3 times I've called it has - and they weren't able to see that I even had a service call in. I'd given them both my service code and the service call number. The guy I was speaking with seemed confused and flustered when I insisted that I did indeed have a case open. On hold for 15 minutes and he comes back stating that he checked the notes (guess he finally found it!) that stated a tech had said that I wasn't present for the service call. [deep breath... let it out slowly...]

I explained again that I hadn't been contacted by anyone in order to setup the on-site service call and asked what number I could use to make said arrangements. On hold again for 5 minutes. He gives me a non-toll-free number that I'll be able to call tomorrow - "if they don't call me first". I'm not sure why I'd expect them to call me after they've failed to do so over the past 52 hours. He also gave me an order number that I would need to give to the people at this new phone number. I asked him what the order number was for specifically, but I couldn't really understand his explanation beyond that I needed it when I call tomorrow. Perhaps its the order number for the LCD assembly. There's no reference to this number on my support case page on Dell's site. Whatever.

I asked for him to provide his email address, which he agreed he'd send to me via email, in case I needed to follow up on or escalate. Still haven't gotten that.

So the rest of this week I'm booked solid with zero play in my schedule to take off and meet someone at home. I'd already made arrangements for that sort of availability on Tuesday and then today. In the meantime someone is probably carting around my replacement LCD assembly (please laptop Gods, don't let it be a refurbished part! PLEASE!!) in their white paneled van, upset with me "because I skipped out on the 'previously arranged' on-site visit". Splendid...

So much for next business day. Frankly I'll be relieved if the replacement part is in good condition, the tech knows what he's doing and the repair goes smoothly without horking anything else in the process. If that can be managed then I'll forgive the 2 guys in Costa Rica that really had no business working a phone support gig, the local support vendor not bothering to call or the tech who thought it was OK to show up at my house without any sort of confirmation that I would be there and then not even bother to leave a note.

Oh, and those replacement feet that the first support rep was all ready to send me before I told him not to bother? I had to argue with the second guy about whether or not those were covered. He wanted to tell me that their falling off was "normal wear and tear". We "discussed" that for another 30 seconds. They're sending out a replacement access panel. Grrr...

EDIT: just so we're clear, a grande muchos gracias again to Chris for getting this past AW support in the first place.

 

I hope everything works out for you. It's always good to share review story's with he community. I had a similar problem with Asus so I can relate.

 

don't know about the 11x but with the 17x, when the little rubber feet fall off, there's no clearance for the fan intakes and they can't suck cool air to cool the lappy so it'll stutter /melt. that's a problem that should be covered.

e.g., "you can replace the 10 cent little rubber feet now or a $1000 cpu later". kind of makes the fram guy seem cheap (really dating myself with that one)....

 

Here is my story with Dell support in Australia.
It was a good one, I believe.
I got my laptop on April last year, anyway I noticed the DVD drive is not the one build for this model:the M17x R2, according to my setup, it should be T633c instead of a sony optical drive that i can't find drivers on the Dell support site.
I could find drivers on the net so no problem there........3 months later, it died on me!
I rang Dell support, I told the technician that the optical drive is not the 1 build for this blah...blah.......He got inside my M17 over the internet and tried to find out what was wrong....then told me that the DVD has to be changed for a new one.

How long would it take to replaced it?

One to five days, he said.

Ok do that, I said.

I hung up the phone........15 minutes later ring ring the phone went, an English speaking guy with Indian accent asked if he could come tomorrow and replace the dvd.....sweet.

I have to work the next day so I told my son that I was worried about him scratching it or butchering the job. I'm very paranoid about butcher work on my beloved M17x . When I got home my son made a report on how professional he was and he tried to download the quickset driver to fix the touchbar (it cut out while he was fixing the DVD driver OMG!) anyway it was fixed. He left the touchbar not working and might order another one, but my son turned on the lappy and the lights magically turn on (maybe he has never worked on an m17 b4). Lucky there aren't any scratches.

I reckon that Dell has pretty good support because it took only less than a day to get a DVD player exchanged (5pm the day b4 I rang to 1pm the next day). Job done.

 

Yep.....this is exactly what I'm afraid of.
My hinge is broken.....but I don't want:

1) To get the runaround like you did.
or
2) Have a tech come in and screw up my notebook even more.

Besides that, I'm on my 2nd anti-glare screen protector(I got it mostly to protect the screen from the keyboard marks) & I don't want to have to buy another one when they replace the screen. (I don't have anywhere to store it....and it WILL get dust on it as soon as you take it off)

I'm so torn....I don't know what to do. I want to fix the screen myself with some epoxy so it will never break again.....and I would....except my right speaker is dead as well.....*sigh*

Not only that....I use my M11x for work often & I can't afford the downtime it would take to send it in.

This isn't the first time Alienware has let me down. I got a M7700 several years ago & ended up with a $4,500 paper weight when the GPU died.(1 month outside of warranty) Thanks to ebay I was able to find a pull-off piece ($500) & fix it myself.....albeit after having it broken for 2 years so the point was moot.

I knew I shouldn't have bought another Alienware....but I kept telling myself that what I experienced was a fluke....or maybe Dell would be better....but no dice. This will be my last Alienware product. Their service, even now, is terrible. Their designs are flawed & they stick their customers with the bill.

 

Take advantage of the warranty service sooner rather than later. The way I look at it the sooner you get that process started the better so that you're maximizing the term of your warranty. Are you in the US? If so it's on-site service rather than sending it off for repair. While that can be a bit of a pain to schedule it's better than having to send it in if it's a system to rely on daily.

While there have been people doing DIY fixes on their hinges - either proactively or after their hinges went belly up - I'm not so sure that's a reliably permanent solution. Especially if it's an after-the-fact repair. A few people have reported that their epoxy jobs haven't held up. I'd only ever consider doing that once your warranty has run out.

If Dell screws something up when servicing your notebook have them keep working on it until they get it right. You've paid for that and you're entitled to them fixing it to your satisfaction. The run around I've had to this point - their phone support being rather clueless and their contracted service provider dropping the ball about scheduling a visit - is rather minor.

I deal with Apple, Dell, HP and Lenovo support at my job constantly. The level of competency of a given on-site tech varies for all of them. Don't assume that they're all going to be bad. In my experience most are sufficiently capable. Give support the chance to succeed. If they do then you're better off. If they fail then keep after them until they meet their warranty/repair obligations.

 

Alienware is one brand you have to be up to date on or you will get burned. Not just alienware, its the entire electronics business. The only thing I can think of in situations like these is to have a mind set and people to back up when things go hay wire like it has obviously has. Instead os setting your self up for disaster, you need to be talking to the people before purchase that you know things are going to be right, Do you understand what Im telling you? hehe, not so much in those words but more or less in that fashion.

After going threw rough times with the m7700 and I remember that laptop, its a giant behemith of a laptop that many people had problems with it getting to hot and the GPU dieing...You still had mind and will to buy another alienware yet still the same thing happens. Yet if you new one of the guys working for alienware things wouldnt be so dang tough for you because he could give you the inside scope on what to get or not to, like stock. We really know nothing about stock untill an adviser advises the general public.

I commend you either way, alienware keeps the laptop business afloat in the multimedia/gaming class. I too had a nightmare buy with alienware, if you can think of alienware without warranty used off of ebay with there first gaming laptop and belive me the kinks were not out of it yet heh...but I still have it and it still turns on albeit with some help of puppy linux.

 

Yeah get those rubber feet. I had all 4 falling of and the laptop was scratching the night stand I used it on. I will have to do some explaining to my landlord obviously to how that happened and if / how much will I have to pay for that. Great, ha?

Btw, if they try to send rubber feet only, ask for the entire panel. I found near impossible to attach them back properly (the rubber extended?). Also note that 1 rubber feet is NOT on the bottom panel, unlike the other 3.

You can also ask to send the laptop to their Dell Depot. That works relatively fast - they will send you a return ticket with a box within a day (FedEx next day delivery), then you will mail them back and they'll return when they're done. From the time I sent it to the time I got it back I think it was 10 days total or so. Apart from the small scratch on the screen lid (not that noticable, but I notice everything) and the fact that my battery started dying - or was given another battery, the repair was ok.

 

Yeah, they're sending the whole panel. Luckily the one foot that's on the body shell is still intact.

UPDATE: I finally managed to get in touch with WorldWide Tech Services (formeraly Qualxserv) who is the company that Dell uses for on-site tech support. The 3rd number that AW support gave me was the one I needed. grrr...

So I spoke with the WWT rep. She stated that the tech - Tim - said he'd attempted to call me 2 times on the 18th and 19th. I don't know what Tim is really doing, but I'm 100% sure that he never called my cell number. AW and WWT have both verified that they've had the correct contact number for me throughout this process. She attempted to get Tim on a 3-way call in order to sort this out. He said he'd have to call me back in an hour. He did. We've set an appointment for Monday morning. I didn't broach the subject of why he never called. We'll have that conversation once he's completed the LCD swap.

Tim.

You're on my list.

 

UPDATE: I was surprised to find a package from Dell when I got home. Opened it up, saw that not only had they shipped me the bottom access panel, but also the lower shell too.

...in the wrong color.

43 minutes on the phone with support in order to sort that out. They really wanted me to rip the feet off of the panel and shell in order to use those and I had to keep reiterating that, no I wanted the panel. Just the access panel and not the other shell part.

 

It's definitely hit or miss. I notice unisys have been horrible where as my luck with world wide has been much better.

 

Yeah I had unisys. Eh...

And btw, yeah I got the black bottom panel for the gray computer. Since it looked brand new otherwise I left it as it is.

EDIT: In principle you can leave the feedback for the support you received. I wasn't sure whether it was a good or bad idea to leave negative feedback. If they went with another contractor, what's the chance it would actually be better instead of worse?

 

Your tech can be your best friend or your worst enemy. If you get someone new, inexperienced, then they could possibly damage your computer worse than it was initially. If you get a good technician, then it can work out well.

For my first m11x, the tech I had - I'm leaving his anonymity intact for his protection - looked at the screen before he went out. There were gouges in the corner, and he asked what I wanted to do - if I wanted him to come out and replace it or if he wanted me to send it back.

I called up Alienware, mentioned that. They sent that part back. I stressed I wanted a new screen. They agreed to it. The tech called back when he received it - stated that the screen was refurbished yet without flaws. When he arrived, he opened my computer - they have to disassemble half the thing to access the hinges - and found they bent a connector wrong when they created my computer. Translation? I needed a motherboard replacement to replace the hinge. He had to put my m11x back together, damaged hinge and all, and ordered the motherboard, another screen - he had to send that one back - and a palmrest, as apparently mine was damaged.

Replacement parts came in. Screen? Refurb, and looked like someone rubbed steel wool on it. I told him I'd call him back. Called up Alienware in a fury, and demanded help - after all, this is the third replacement screen that was faulty.

They authorized a replacement m11x. Within two months the hinge broke. I called. I e-mailed. And...well, that's why I have something other than the m11x now.

And the screen? It WILL be a refurbished screen, I can almost guarantee it. Be careful.

 

Oh wow.

I was lucky I guess (lol...) as my screen came in brand new. At least I couldn't find not even a tiny piece of anything that looked that was used. It fit better than the old one too.

 

Wow that must suck. I have an M15x and have called them 9-10 times and 90% of the time, they were helpful or got my problem sorted out in one call or less.

 

Dell support has no control over whether or not a replacement part is going to be new or pulled from refurbished stock.

 

UPDATE: Well I finally got my LCD Assembly replaced. The [2nd] on-site tech (Worldwide TechServices) was great. He didn't mind me offering tips on how to tear down the notebook and was very efficient. He also mentioned that when doing his research for how to tear down an M11x (he's never worked on an Alienware) that he'd run across what he was sure were some of my posts both here and on the AW Club forums. Heh...

The fist tech arrived earlier this week with the wrong part (Dell's fault). Once we saw that the LCD display panel was what they'd sent he called Dell in order to arrange for the LCD assembly to be shipped out. It was obvious he was having a difficult time making the support agent on the other end understand that what part and what color needed to be ordered even thought they had my service tag. So he finished up with them and left.

An hour or so after he left I logged into Dell's support site to check on my support case. Sure enough, they'd ordered a Lunar Shadow LCD assembly rather than a Stealth Black Soft Touch. Morons. I had to call AW support in order to have them cancel the order and correct it.

All in all I spent roughly 3 hours on the phone with support in order to get them to a) replace the part under warranty - they initially said it wasn't covered and b) to have them correct errors regarding parts and arranging for on-site service. In the course of my job I deal with this level of support a lot and frankly this incident was sub-par even thought the end result was good.

I'd give it a 6 out of 10. The on-site tech was easily a 10. AW support a 5 due to the amount of time it took for me to deal with their screw-ups.

 

I wonder if your grades will change next time you'll need an LCD replacement.

Anyway, I'm glad it worked out. Now I wondering what are you doing. Work at Dell?

 

These new hinges are markedly different that the original. Opening/closing the lid is much smoother than before. It's much more like my MacBook Pro. However this isn't the newly re-designed LCD assembly, so the potential for it to snap at any given moment is still there.