My nightmare experience with @DellCare / Dell Complete Care Warranty / EMEA Dell support FULL DETAILS INCLUDED

Try tellin' that to Dell, Bro....they obviously have different idea's about what is acceptable. I really don't think they could have offered me much less, in terms of a replacement, than what they did. In my eye's, it's one of two things:

1. They knew what they were offering, they knew it was far less comparable than my previous machine. This itself is a gross act of unfairness beyond comprehension. Maybe they thought that I am stupid or something....I don't know .... but I DO know that it is a huge insult on top of injury.

2. They, as I have maintained all along, are completely inept. How can ANYONE that knows ANYTHING about these high end machines think that the proposed offering was in any way going to be remotely close to being acceptable. My case is supposedly being handled by some of the big people at Dell EMEA, yet I get this abortion of a proposition sent to me and they (Dell EMEA) think that this is them doing the right thing. Hardly speaks volumes about having the highest level of escalation do the right thing, does it?

Either way, I'm disgusted.

Disgusted that either (a) the people at the highest level of EMEA escalation actually deemed that this was an adequate or appropriate resolution OR (b) the people dealing with this 'replacement machine' - that has taken THREE WEEKS to get approval on - have not even shown the courtesy or respect to ensure that said proposed machine was, at least, on par with my current machine.

Either way, it shows a complete disregard for me - the customer. They couldn't have insulted me more if they tried. Maybe they thought 'Hey, we'll start at the very bottom with this guy and push him as far as we can to see what we can save some cash on'.....that approach would not surprise me one little bit.

As many of you know, I have quite a few Dell contacts. One of which was able to get me some 'inside information' concerning my replacement. This was a few days ago. My contact was able to access the notes on my case and he read them to me. Part of which stated:

Now that might be down to several factors. I do bring Dell a LOT of business from my thread on NBR about saving money in the UK. It could mean that I'm seen as influential as I was able to get some outside intervention in the form of Brother Bill B and AW Mark O from the States.....either way, those notes seem to have meant absolutely nothing to whomever was reading them when deciding on what specification was appropriate for my replacement machine.

I find it a complete joke/farce that it has taken three weeks, since they offered me a new machine, for someone to 'sign off' on a system that is gonna rob me blind.....an insult to my intelligence, and an insult to my value as a customer.

I find it quite ironical that the message contained within the email with the proposed replacement said:

Thank you choosing Dell???? HA! - I'm bloody well not choosing Dell ever gain....thanks Dell - for electing to try and give me the shaft in major fashion. Proceed? - with a machine that is substantially of a lesser monetary value and substantially less powerful than my current machine - even with your crappy SSD's? - I think not.

Truly, Dell have excelled themselves BIG time. If anyone wanted a reason to NOT buy Dell products - here it is right here. Go Team Social Media and how NOT to show a shining example of excellent service.....you rock Dell.

 

Aaaand to make it worse, they are selling these old models with 30 percent discount right now literally throwing it at people to remove the old stock.

That is beyond acceptable. They actually steal one of your GPUs, offer a CPU with half the value. Basically you got a offer thats worth 50% of yours, maybe less since the notebook have lost its value now that the new models are here and they offer such big discounts.

With this mockery, you should get Alienware 18 as a sorry from them. I dont think they value you at all as a customer at Dell UK.

 

If it had been ASUS or MSI, you might expect your notebook to stay at a depot for months and return broken. I'm not sure whether that's better or worse than your situation. Dell has a decent warranty, and that could be a great selling point for Alienwares--the best warranty and support available for consumer-grade laptops, almost as good as business coverage. Instead, I read many complaints about Dell/Alienware's "nonexistent customer service." What a waste of potential.

I have had good experiences so far in the US though.

 

Sounds terrible. This is the reason I've never bought Dell as I've heard some bad stories before.

Have you contacted the Citizen's advice bureau? They have helped me in the past (TV dispute with Comet) and even though Comet were acting within the law, one letter through the help of the citizens advice bureau had them squealing in despair and a resolution in a day.

Just a thought.

 

That's obviously one of the reasons for the thread though - service outside of the US. Sure, YOU get good service....I see a lot of US guys getting good service....I see a lot of US guys getting the latest machines with great spec in exchange for their older faulty machine....I see US guys getting great support from the reps on NBR......I see US guys getting good backup.

My thread here clearly indicates that the same level of support is not on offer outside the US. You DESERVE good service, as does everyone in the US - but so do I. In reality, EMEA customers pay a LOT more for their machines, yet Dell EMEA are that appalling, their support just makes owning an Alienware machine a real pain in the rear when things go wrong.

I'm fed up of it - not the first time for me - not the first time I've heard of such shocking treatment either.

 

Wow your troubles make my xps issues pale into insignificance.

I managed to get a full refund after 3 months of ownership.

My tact was slightly different. I placed a support call every week to which they had to send an engineer out under warranty obligations.

At the end i simply said that I'll continue to do so until they either fix the overheating issue or refund me in full.

Maybe you should change tact?

I got a refund after one motherboard, three fans and a complete replacement unit.

Sent from my HTC One X using Tapatalk 2

 

That's what I was getting at: I would have sworn off Dell almost immediately in your situation, but just offering a replacement is more than what most companies would do. I don't know whether Dell is incompetent enough to ruin such a resolution or just flippant. Or both.

 

I appreciate your logic, BlkKnight.

It should not have to come to that. It doesn't have to come to that for US customers, so I fail to see why I, as a UK customer, should have to resort to such devious lengths to try and get service that I paid for. I appreciate your good intentions, but I DO feel that I deserve the same kind of treatment as the next guy. I could link to several recent threads that show excellent support, but yet I continue to get the royal 'bend over, Mr. Jones' treatment.

I could have gone about this whole thing differently. I could have had an 'accidental' accident with my machine, I could have screamed the house down with threats of legal action....did I? - NOPE. Why didn't I? - because I thought that Dell would step up to the plate and be an honest, genuine, supportive company when it came down to me having a problem with my machine - a machine that has 4 years worth of expensive warranty for this exact reason.

All they have done thus far is to deny that it was their problem in the first place, and now insult me with an offer of this proportion.

Talk about how NOT to treat a 'valued' customer.....obviously, I am not that valued - nor are many in EMEA territory.

Y'know, I've constantly directed @DellCares to this thread with various links to various posts - hoping that they would actually read it. They obviously could not have bothered to......or didn't deem any of what was being discussed here worthy of considering.

 

Well this is a moment, I don't understand why they did this to you. A little bit over a month ago I got a new machine after a short conflict with Dell but I got a great deal

I had this
Alienware M17 R3 | Intel Core i7-2760QM | 4x4096 1600MHz DDR3 | 256GB SSD + 750GB | ATI Raedon 6990M 2GB | 1920x1200
Got this
Alienware M17 R4 | Intel Core i7-3740QM | 4x4096 1600MHz DDR3 | 256GB SSD + 1TB | ATI Raedon 7970M 2GB | 1920x1200

And what more I do know that if I fought for more I would get more, I just don't get it why they didn't offer you the same deal like me.

Stevie did you write to CEO of Dell ?? Cuz I did almost all the things you did plus writing to CEO and board members. It really might be what helps you.

 

No. I did not contact ECRT aka Executive Resolutions, as I thought that this avenue would pretty much meet with the same end result. I had gotten people pretty high up in Dell US to liaise with Dell EMEA and they assured me that I would be taken care of. It go to the point where they 'handed me back' to Dell EMEA to finalise the 'resolution'. That was at the start of June. I felt that the offer of replacement on 11th June from @DellCares would be the start of the end of my troubles. Little did I know that Dell EMEA plans all along have been to try and screw me over, which is clear by this pathetic offer of resolution.

I know I keep saying it, but THREE WEEKS for some bright sparks at EMEA to come up with this as 'adequate' is 'extracting the urine' aka 'taking the pss'

I emailed Brother Bill and Brother Mark earlier and have had no reply - looks like they have washed their hands of me, too. I'm fed up of the fact that no one at Dell has taken ownership of my dilemma and seen it through to the very end. Instead, I am left in this crappy situation....no one to turn to, no one that is actually working for me to resolve this adequately. I have simply lost all faith in Dell and their products.

I'm happy for you that you got a great resolution, truly. From where I am sitting right now, all these stories of great resolutions are just salt in my open wounds....not your fault, I know...but I am sick to death of reading and hearing great things about Dell when they are treating me like something they stepped in in the street.

Just listen to this guy going on about how he got a much better spec - bragging about getting something for nothing, more or less, and getting a new model with better specifications - of course, there you have it...he's from the US.

 

its unacceptable the way they differ from USA, it looks like only the USA guys are the elite support team, the rest is like third world countries that are being looked at trough the fingers of darkness, like the rest of the world can take all the beating, but US DELL will be always the royal quality of service and support.

Im sick to by stomach knowing how they treated you Stevie... dont give up, and you will get there, dont let them push you to the level of monkey where you're taking anything that's being given or told to do.

Keep strong man

BR

 

I will keep strong - thanks. Your support means a lot mate. Thank you.

 

Oh, slightly off topic. Hope you guys in the US have a great holiday - happy Independence Day to you all.....

I wonder......what will greet me in my Twitter box in the morning, if anything, following my response to their 'offer'.....obviously, I will not hear back from those in the US because of the holiday.

 

well this sounds like the very same thing I went thru with my system..


but anyways whats the final verdict so far.. what did they exactly offer you?

and the executive resolutions is the way to go.. it was the only way i was able to receive any help at all.. go that route if its viable to you..

 

This whole situation is just unbelievable. The replacement specs are mind blowingly bad. You can get better than that right now for like $1500 from Dell themselves. The GPUs you deserve alone are worth more than that system...

 

Posted replacement offer spec's a few pages back, Bro.

The thing is guys, @DellCares has supposedly been liaising with various departments - I imagine one of those to be executive resolutions. I'm not sure, but I would imagine so. I know that Brother Bill and Brother Mark were liaising with EMEA over this, so I presumed that this was at a pretty high level for Dell US to get involved with an EMEA case.

After firing off several emails to Bill, Mark, @DellCares, along with PM's to Bill and Mark here on NBR, I got up this morning to an empty email inbox and no DM's from @Dell cares either - I guess this could be 4th July holidays.....

 

It's even less now, you can get a refurb with similar specs for $1100 from the outlet...

Stick with it, Stevie. Hopefully they'll make it right.

That said, I'm going to stick to Sager laptops over AW because of issues like this. Coming from Canada, I can never be sure if my warranty will be honored or laughed at like yours...

 

This will make you guys laugh out loud. That replacement 'offer' they made me had the price listed on it, too. Here it is:

Description : Qty : Unit Price : Price :
Alienware M18x Base 1 GBP 3,008.32 GBP 3,008.32
Subtotal GBP 3,008.32
Shipping GBP 17.39
20% VAT (GBP 2,940.71) GBP 588.14
0% VAT (GBP 85.00) (OS) GBP 0.00
Total GBP 3,613.85

 

wow, stevie, thats a bargain!!! ... NOOOOTTT!! there really are that terrible ...

 

Stevie i saw those specs and WOW that is beyond insulting. I would rather them tell me to go jump in a lake IE you aint getting a replacement then been offered that POS for all you're time wasted on this.

The replacements i was offered in the past were sometimes just as appalling so it is not just a UK thing and no matter how i expressed my feelings of this is a downgrade or that GPU is not even close to what i had they act like robots with 0 emotion so i feel like i am talking to myself at that point and going no where fast.

I would say since you have all this time invested and certainly 0 to lose at this point just keep fighting the good fight till you can get a better resolution on this matter and if all else fails just dump the machine and move on which i have also done in the past.

I would never say to not buy Alienware again but you might need some time away from them and come back later when you cool down from this bad experience. We know things can go both ways with replacements no matter where you are in the world and sometimes people get very lucky and other times they get the proverbial shaft with no explanation.

Again good luck.

 

Thanks, Quad. I plan to continue fighting on - there is no way on earth I am gonna stop with this now, like you said, I've too much time invested in it now to simply give up.

The funny (well, quite odd) thing is that I was speaking with one of my Dell contacts on Monday just gone. I had noticed that the M18xR2 had completely disappeared from the UK website. I asked him about it and he confirmed, pretty much categorically, that the R2 had now been marked as 'End of Life' and that no one could place an order for it, no even replacement-wise.

The other thing I noticed, whilst the R2 has been running down in availability, options have become limited too. For example, Nebula Red was no longer available to order in the UK, yet the replacement quote sent to me recently clearly stated 'Nebula Red'.

My rep also confirmed that he can no longer configure or order an R2 and that only the 18 was an option for dual gpu machines.

I'm thinking that even if I had of taken that quote (would have had to be seriously deranged at the time) then I imagine that I would have been led yet another merry runaround with Dell telling me that the replacement cannot be processed....please allow us more of your valuable time whilst we continue to around with your case...

 

I was thinking the same thing that you would never end up with an R2 at all and it might not be a bad idea to say OK send me the machine . 2 reasons and 1. is because if they send you a replacement you do not have to keep it if you are not satisfied and 2. is that lets say they send you an M18 with 2x765m and the base specs ? Well you can take that then start asking them to add the better GPUs and CPUs but at least you have a new starting point to work from and you can still ask for all those replacement parts and deserved upgrades before you ship back your original machine.

Ill be honest when dealing with Dell it sometimes feels like i am playing a game of cat and mouse and who is trying to outsmart who.

You can certainly play along and the more i think about it i would have said OK send me what you got then started over with a whole new list of requests.

All you're time is being wasted as it is so why not get something else going IE the replacement in the meantime ?. Might actually work out better from that perspective or atleast give you an option B.

 

When you talked to Dell, did you speak like you know specifications and hardware, or no offence, did you sound like you don`t know anything about newest technology? Maybe you went too soft on them, and they think they can just play with you and trick you?

 

Generally when it comes to replacements it is just what ever they put on the table and there is little to absolutely no discussion or negotiation on the specs. It is a take it or leave it scenario.

 

When they follow their own rules and provide adequate replacements you shouldn't need to negotiate anything generally. If you have an entry level CPU then they're not going to hand out a top range model and wouldn't entertain the idea if you asked because it would be an unreasonable request. If you have an extreme processor and SLI configuration then you shouldn't need to tell them to offer something on a par with it.

If you can give them a good reason why the specs are not satisfactory like "this is a large downgrade and violates your replacement policy" then they'll typically listen to any discussion you provide. If the offer is already acceptable, then anything else is going to be limited to either small requests, or the goodwill of your rep. You can ask, but you shouldn't expect anything.

 

I do not think anyone mentioned asking for more then they deserved ? Also they are offering him a massive downgrade in all respects and that is all we are talking about here. Nothing more, nothing less.

Sometimes or most of the time you are not even afforded the opportunity to comment about the offer they put out . It is either yes or no do you want it .

 

Well, the funny thing is, the only time I have actually 'spoken' to someone on the phone was at my initial contact with Alienware Tech support in the UK - when they fobbed me off by telling me that it wasn't a Dell issue. Since then, I have been dealing with this via the crappy Twitter media platform with the occasional email with Brother's Bill and Mark. No phone calls. Nothing but emails and DM's from @DellCares. Remember, I was not 'permitted' to talk to anyone above the 'grunt' that initially dealt with my first contact - I was flatly refused this option. Geat support right there....

Anyway's, I had PM'd Brother Bill and he was only too happy to try and help (god, bring back Brother Bill, the man is a legend). He got Brother Mark involved and he liaised with EMEA staff and 'greased the skids' if you like. From that point on, Mark said that I was to deal with EMEA/DC to sort out the actual resolution. With that being said, I really did not think that I needed to reiterate on my current configuration as I thought that they would have all those details to hand - what with Dell US kind of 'stepping in' a little bit.

So, on 11th June, Brother Bill had told me that I had nothing to worry about any longer and whatever I received would be an upgrade (or equivalent) to what I currently had. Mark, who had been dealing with EMEA, basically handed me over to them again, having done as much as he said he could do and that he had no control over the replacement offered. Still, with that kind of intervention at that level, I felt confident that EMEA would at least be aware of my original configuration, given the level of escalation, and that any proposed resolution that they offer to me should be at least equal to, or better than, said original configuration.

How on earth the people at EMEA and @DellCares came up with the specification they did is beyond me. Really beyond my comprehension. It's like they have not even bothered to compare what they were offering at all. I can't believe that since 11th June, it has taken @DellCares 3 whole weeks to get approval on such a substandard replacement specification.

I never asked for anything in particular regarding replacement specification....oh, wait....I did 'mention' to @DellCares that if at all possible, I would be very grateful if they were able to consider a new 18, because of the screen, and the fact that a similar spec'd replacement R2 would cost pretty much the same as the new 18. I worked that out using the on line configuration tools. They obviously took absolutely no notice of that minor request at all and deemed it fit to go on and offer me an R2 with an extremely low specification in comparison to my R1.

Actually, looking at that spec Dell offered me, which cost £3,613.85 going off their quote, if one was to drop an 3940xm cpu in (to keep like for like) and change nothing else (forget about video cards at the moment) it actually works out MORE expensive than a fully loaded 18!!. I'm just hanging that out there to give some perspective to this....

I'm not one of those to say 'Gimme this - I want THIS, or ELSE!' - I merely placed a 'request' that if the replacement configuration was to cost Dell 'X' amount, and a new 18 were to cost no more than 'X', then my preference would be apparent - the 18 for it's screen advantages for me, personally.

So there you have it...pretty much as it happened. Actually, after getting over the initial shock and disgust at the offered specification, I have to laugh - because if I didn't, I'd end up crying....

 

You sure you have the correct LiteON drive? Is the UK still carrying 2012 stock? I received an Aurora R4 with a 256GB SSD made by LiteON. The manufacture date says April 2013. The drive itself is not from the family of drives you listed on the first page.

It's of these drives: 2.5" SATA SSD 7 mm housing

7MM drives -- very sleek looking and it's nicer physically than the Samsung, but I assume the PM841 is much better.

 

I highly believe you have just replied to a totally wrong thread here.

 

I didn't. I read 14 pages of it.

 

oh yea, I see that then you really should have before commenting anything like this, otherwise your post is totally out of this realm

 

Well, I don't see much difference between those two - both M3S - slightly faster seq. reads and 4k write IOPS on the one you listed. However, when you compare it to the Samsung PM830 512gb (which was what was originally promised) its quite a way off 80k read / 36k write IOPS for 4k figures. Sequential figures don't mean squat, really - and even if they did, the slightly better sequential writes on the LiteOn do not make up for their poorer 4k 'everyday' usage figures.

In other words, it looks good on the tin, but it's no where near as good as the Samsung for actual performance. Going from my raid performance, I failed to see why I should take yet another nosedive, just because Dell were out of stock.

Anyway's, I guess we are a bit past that point now, eh?

Oh, and the PM841 would be Samsung's mSata drive - would not have been relevant for me with an R1 with no mSata port.

Anyway, that's pretty much by-the-by now.

 

In Canada it's not much better but it still is better. I don't think we have the right to be too picky. Replacements are based on performance and not cost, but it can be argued that we paid for certain features. The main example being your fully unlocked 2920XM. The SSDs are a bit of a tricky situation since Dell offers both LiteON and Samsung. Similar with the RAM. They offer Samsung and Hyundai. The differing RAM won't have real world effects though.

My M18x replacement was originally met with a 3610QM from a 2760QM. I had to fight to get a 3720QM. I must have gone through 5-6 techs and only one of those was able to make the upgrade possible after days of "I'll get back to you". It is definitely frustrating.

I can't and don't want to comment on the replacement that's being offered to you. A 3610QM from a 2920XM makes no sense. Sigh. I would have stuck with the mistake 512GB Liteon drive. It'll degrade again anyway and by then you'll have access to a Samsung drive. Sometimes we can't have it all.

 

No offense, Zero, but you have completely missed the point that I was already losing my raid performance by agreeing to a single drive. Why should I take 3rd best 'just because' it's convenient for Dell??

Your comment about 'not having it all' is rather a brash statement to make, given that I was already willing to accept a downgrade....I'm not about to accept even lesser so that it suits Dell.

Again, someone who hasn't read everything properly. Just to correct you, the proposed replacment had a 3630qm and I had a 2960xm. It also had a single gpu vs dual gpu's - don't want to comment on that huh? - fair enough. If you can't get the little bits right, I fail to see how you can pass comment on anything esle.

Also, a single drive would not degrade because TRIM is fully supported on single drive configurations for the HM67, it's only raided drives that do not have TRIM - so - no, it wouldn't degrade again, which is one of the reasons I wanted (then) the best performing drive possible.

 

Not commenting on the replacement because I see it's a huge downgrade. 3610 or 3630. 2920 or 2960. Little difference. Same comparison.

All SSDs degrade over time. Secure erase can recover performance but also benchmarking with programs is not recommended. It quickens the wear.

You would have received a downgrade but if its their only offer I dont think there are alternatives. This is after getting passed the promise of a Samsung 830. The new 18 should be offered now. I dont see why that shouldnt be offered. All it takes is the right tech to help. Luck of the draw.

 

^^ @ guy

you should really give ~20minutes of your time before reply any further, save all of ours time replying and spoon-feeding the facts of already said. no offence, but reading doesnt harm

 

I did read. He misread my comment so I corrected.

 

Please - let's not have another whole host of stuff moderated. I fail to see the relevance of your posts, Zero. The issue is being addressed by Dell in the fashion they chose to do. Replacement machine. Going over and over SSD performance and dissecting wear levelling is not really contributing in a positive fashion. All that is left to do is for me to get a 'like for like or better' specification from Dell.....if that ever happens.

 

Stevie it's really the time to open up to legal authorities. See if you can get media involved as well.

Dell has bullied you enough, you paid for a very expensive machine with max specs and dell needs to give you a fully loaded aw18, nothing less. Or full refund and offer to keep old laptop as good will.

 

Well, I am going to give Dell an opportunity to correct their overwhelming blunder in relation to what they offered. I'm a reasonable chap, and I'll give them one last 'benefit of the doubt' just incase there was some kind of unforeseen error. If they stand by their guns, then I will have to resort to those kind of options that you mentioned.

 

There is no doubt they thought you were a regular joe that thought he get a much better card because its the 600 series.

You need to talk with someone and lay down the law about what you know about hardware. Let them know what you don't tolerate. Twitter messages is not very directly and they wont feel threatenied by it. Talking to them guy to guy however puts them on the spot.

 

I'm just stating the experience I've witnessed with replacements and what SSDs exist etc... I've seen people get either 512GB SSDs from regular 7200RPM mechanical drives to 256GB, to another 7200 RPM drive. I'm on your side, it's just that replacements are extremely chaotic. This will likely go on for a bit more, but I'm sure it'll work out in the end. Chances are more and more people will help out publicly and Dell EU will be forced to replace with equal or better plus a small bonus (unlikely but reasonable) for the troubles.

 

I remember during my last trip through this I had to argue with the lady because their internal documents said that the AMD cards were more powerful than the Nvida (this was during the dpc fiasco...) God what a nightmare. I don't envy you sir.

 

Guys, I've just been looking over a few things. Though I would share them with you.

Okay...so, we all know that the replacement machine/quote/spec that Dell sent me was very substandard in comparison, right? - that much I think we can all agree on. The spec was nowhere near comparable to my current machine's specification. Well, I looked at that quote Dell sent me a bit harder this morning. Whilst the list price that they quoted me was £3,615.85, right? - I looked a bit further down the quote and saw that they had applied some discount to it to bring the total replacement cost down to £3,008.32 (The last time I had a quote from Dell, it was a different format and I missed the 'bottom line figure' on the new style quotes, hence why I didn't spot this earlier).

Now, get this....guess what the total amount I paid for my current configuration was??? - it was £3,000 give or take a few pennies.

So, with that in mind anyway's, it becomes a little bit clearer to me as to why Dell offered that replacement specification - it was the only specification that they could build closest to the cost of my old machine, and hardware comparability obviously did not even come into it. They just spec'd up a machine as close to my purchase price as they could to save themselves money. At least, that's exactly what it looks like to me - what do you guy's think??

Funny how my current machine and the replacement machine have virtually the exact same 'bottom line figure' eh? anyway's - check out the spoiler below (Top figure is the 'full price' quoted, bottom figure is after Dell applied 'discount' to get it as close to the cost of my initial purchase):

Spoiler

Quite strange, huh? - going on this basis, Dell have not even bothered to look at specifications, they have merely looked at costings, and pretty much stuffed me on the basis of the cost for them to replace my machine. They have limited what hardware I can get in a 'cost cutting' exercise, from what I can see.

As many of you may know, before it got removed from the UK web site, I spec'd up what I thought would be a comparable R2 which was as per the spoiler below. The cost of this was £4,119.40 - no additional discount applied - just Dell UK web site price at that time.

Spoiler

From that, it seems that Dell did not want to build a comparable machine, because of the cost vs. my original outlay - they just decided to roll with a low end machine because it was closest to the cost of my original purchase - even though that specification in the second spoiler would match my existing hardware more accurately when compared to the specification of the proposed replacement which you can see in the first spoiler.

Even stranger still, my request for an Alienware 18, as long as the replacement cost was not more than a comparable M18xR2 would have been had it have been built on a 'like for like or better' basis, was completely ignored because of the whole 'cost to Dell' issue. They seem to have been more concerned with matching my price than hardware. Anyway, as many of you know, I did put in a request for a new 18 - simply because the cost is virtually identical to the cost of an R2. Here is an Alienware 18 quote that I just ran through for cost comparative purposes, to show that an 18 is actually cheaper than an R2. The 18 comes out at £3,998.98, as you can see in the spoiler below:

Spoiler

There you have it. If Dell had have been going off hardware to offer me a replacement, instead of my original purchase price, they could have done so and they would have also saved money by simply offering an 18. As you can see, the R2 is actually over £100 cheaper than a comparable M18xR2.

Just something I wanted to share with you guys......I had always thought that replacement machines are based specifically on comparable hardware for comparable hardware - not purchase price....I guess Dell decided to change that system for me, they decided that I can only have a replacement specification up to the original cost of my current machine.....which I find quite appalling.

 

I can't see this discount you're pointing to. The 3008.32 is the base price, plus 17.39 shipping, and 20% VAT.

Truely, it should be (((3008.32 + 17.39) - 85) * 1.2) + 85 = 3613.852

That odd 85 is because the OS isn't VATable.

 

If you look at the first spoiler, the top part shows the price (including VAT and Delivery) to be £3,613.85, right? - well, the figures just below the TOTAL amount payable as £3008.32. (opposite 'Alienware M18x Base').

This TOTAL figure is the amount you would pay for that machine including any discounts. It just so happens that I had a 20% discount and free delivery at the time of my original purchase - Dell seem to have applied the same kind of discounts to this replacement quote, too. It's more or less exactly equivalent to just getting rid of the 20% VAT and Delivery charge.

Do you see how the two TOTAL prices differ? the first one includes the VAT & Delivery that there is NO way around paying in the UK, unless the machine is discounted by Dell accordingly. Just so happens that 20% off that I received initially is the same as the UK Vat rate...

Maybe I've read it wrong....I guess if I have, and £3,613.85 is the cost to replace with that spec, and it excludes my XM and dual gpu's, that figure should probably read more like £5,000 inclusive of those two....

 

one thing I cant get my head around how did they ever PUMPED UP the price of base model M18X R2 to 3.5k Pound at all? PMSL!!! w t f ... they have never been more than 2300gbp and lately they were about 1700gbp without discounts... damn they're good at trickery!

 

It's the SSD, mate. the cost of either a single 512gb or x2 256gb's in Raid0 was a cost option over base of £850!!

 

oh that makes sense sorry jumped the button too quick, to little coffee today ... too distracted, but still, that is insanity from what they think is fair. Best call is to either ask for equivalent or better specification or ask for money back or if they will rather do - a dell gift card of total value of your machine. I dont get you man, after all this rotten apple pie you still stay calm getting them to take you for a joke little (or God knows for how much) longer

youre totally aint Italian blooded

 

What I see is a totaling of the entire order, then a per unit price. I know it's an odd layout, and looks backwards, but that's how it rings to me.

Besides, a 20% discount would be ((((3008.32 * 0.8) + 17.39) - 85) *1.2) + 85 = 2891.86, since they calculate the discount before tax. If they didn't, they'd be collecting extra tax. It would be more like a 16.9% discount, which doesn't make much sense.

Maybe I'm just talkin' out my ears, but that's my sight on it.