On-site tech ranting

I sure hope so. 6th laptop is the charm. haha

Edit: Well Anodize, i think you're a god or something because you predicted this perfectly...

1 224-8107 Space Black - Anodized Aluminum $0.00
1 310-0173 Airborne Documentation, System Exchanges,Factory Install $0.00
1 313-8792 AlienFX Color, Quasar Blue $0.00
1 313-8944 5.1 Channel Audio $0.00
1 313-8977 8X DVD+/-RW Dual Layer Drive,QuickSilver $0.00
1 317-3664 6GB Memory (1x 2GB, 1x 4GB DDR3) $200.00
1 317-5662 Intel Core i7 840QM Quad Core Processor, 1.86GHz (3.20GHz Turbo Mode, 8M Cache) $2185.00
1 320-8856 17-inch WideUXGA 1920 x 1200 RGB LED (1200p) $200.00
1 320-8988 CrossfireX 1GB GDDR5 ATI Radeon Mobility HD 5870 $375.00
1 330-0171 S and P Drop-in-Box Marcom forDHS Notebooks $0.00
1 330-6175 Standard Nameplate $0.00
1 330-6348 Automatic Updates: On $0.00
1 330-7841 Alienware M17x 240W A/C Adapter $0.00
1 342-0668 500GB 7,200RPM SATA-II HDD $75.00
1 410-1883 Adobe Acrobat Reader 9.0 Multi-Language $0.00
1 420-6436 PC-Restore, Dim/Insp $0.00
1 420-9691 DataSafe Local BackUp $0.00
1 421-1305 Nero 9 Media Burning Software $0.00
1 421-1360 Steam and Portal Factory Installed $0.00
1 421-1400 Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium, 64bit, English $0.00
1 421-1573 Alienhead 3D $0.00
1 421-1591 Alienhead 3D $0.00
1 421-1721 Soft Contracts,Banktec Care,Alienware $0.00
1 421-2261 Alienware Command Center, M17x $0.00
1 430-0628 Bluetooth 2.1 with EDR $0.00
1 430-3688 Dell Wireless 1520 802.11n Half Mini Card $0.00
1 464-7384 Exchange $0.00

 

Jsucool, same situation here for the most part. My studio 1647 is dead in the water. Dell is sending me basically the same specs as yours! Mine has been in production since the 20th, my dell rep told me it could take anywhere from 1 week to 2 weeks for build time. Shipping is next day for me. So now it's just the waiting game, checking my order status every hour, waiting to see the ship date, sigh

As far as Dell Techs though... ugh, I had 1 kid who had never taken apart a Studio XPS before, when he claimed he has everything put back together, there were 4 screws left on the table, the area around the hinges was scratched, and when it poweredd on, the fan vibrated loudly, turns out, 2 of those screws where for the fan assembly, and the other 2 for the keyboard... since then, they send me the parts, no dell tech will ever touch my laptops ever again!

 

when my tech put the LCD assembly back together, there was a giant bulge because the aluminum back cover wasn't put back on correctly, he just put it on top and screwed it in, i was surprised he didn't snap the LCD in half. haha. all the guy really had to do to learn how to take it apart was watch the like, 10 minutes in youtube teardown videos. really not that difficult.

 

I needed my gpu(s) and cpu fans replaced so today the dell on site service tech came to replace them only to find my laptop already taken apart.( BTW i followed dells maintenance manuals to the T and i was like a tier 1 surgen takening it apart.)

He was so mad, he was like

tech: were you gonna tell dell you were going to open it up
tech: you not really sopposed to ( went on to tell me a bunch of other bull and implying that i dont know anything )
me:
me: does it matter?
tech: yes,
me: i told dell that i took it apart already and they didnt say anything.
tech: oh, okay
me: ever work on an alienware like this? ever take one apart?
tech: not one thats already been opened up.
tech: umm umm umm, ok (tech has a what the hell do i do now look on his face, obviously never worked on one)
me: you put the fans here, then put the graphics cards here at this angle etc., i have the manuals if you want to see them.

The tech was mad the whole time, but i dont give a because the last tech that worked on my alienware damaged it. And im in the middle of mid terms and i cant afford my laptop getting damaged. I was reading another thread here where this dudes laptop got messed up by a dell tech and i was not going to let it happen to me.

just thought i would share.

 

This is why I push to do the work myself.

Good on you sticking it to that Tech.

 

LOL. Nice story.

 

Ha, i get the same guy every time, and i always just have it opened up and waiting for the part when he gets there. I'm surprised he wasn't just willing to let you do the work if you knew what you were doing =D

 

Welcome to my life. Haha, I did get a good tech after my original one messed up my PC, and i asked her for a card with her name, and she gave it to me. So now every time i call up i'm gonna either ask for her, or just do it myself. haha. never again will a unknown tech touch my laptop after what happened. 2 replacements in ~2 months is too much for me.

 

Thank goodness the tech here is excellent because I have a nasty attitude, lol. I just ticked off the rep for EA store.

 

Lmao ^ )))

 

ehahahahaah NICE one chiefs ehahahaah HIGH 5!!!

Great story LOL!

Cheers.

 

I had a Tech come to my house to replace my screen, He was trying to pry out the power button board from the handwrest before lifting out the handwrest..

Me : Have you done these before
Him: yes.
Me: lets stop a second and push play.. I reach down next to him and move my desktop's mouse and hit play on the teardown Youtube video on the M11x.
It plays and it is at the part where the handwrest comes out not the board for the power button.
Me: here you see that the board doesnt get removed it is part of the handwrest.
Him: interesting.

Then he started to undo it correctly.

Scary.. You have to be on top of things or your product will get damaged. Have that Youtube video playing by Alienwareservices . Teardown of M??x.

 

We really can't bust these tech's balls as much as we do I think. After all they are as clueless as we are the first time before we either research or figure out how to work on our new system, what ever it is. As they all come apart differently.

That said, shame on these morons that don't just do a quick Google search or any research of any kind before going into someones home and trying to "wing it" on they're expensive purchase.

I was always under the impression years ago in-home service was Dell employed trained professionals coming out to work on my system, not some moron whom owns a shop or works for one locally just being contracted out.

 

All these techs are contracted and it's why the quality varies so drastically.

 

The techs have to be Dell certified. What does that mean? It means they have an online course they have to follow and an open book type test at the tend. Once you have finished this (and paid the money - nudge nudge) that you become Dell certified. At least that's how it was about 7-8 years ago. I'm sure it has changed a bit. I was certified in all the major Dell servers for the time period. These days we don't have to be due to our service contract.

So the tech may just have a "general" certification in Dell notebooks or it may be a specialized certification.

Best Wishes, StevenX

 

My dell tech, the one that broke my computer, (lol) told me his company only pays him for the first hour, and that after that they're working for free. When the tech came to fix what he'd broken she was like "that's not true, what kind of tech is that, he doesn't do his training, no wonder he's only getting paid for the first hour."

You can tell the good techs from the bad techs pretty simply (so i've figured out)
Good techs always carry around little tool pouches with a couple of screwdrivers and stuff, bad techs carry around the 50-80 piece tool sets they got from home depot on sale. I've had 2 techs with the like 80 piece tool sets and they both had no idea what they were doing, and the last one had the nice pouch and got it all done well. haha

still in production

 

I would call and demand a system replacement. I did, and I got one. I also got the new one fully upgraded. Took about a month and a ton of phone calls, but at the end I got a fully upgraded R2 for the price of a 9 month old R1. They even gave me the second SSD! I also called tech support every day to complain about the delay in my replacement. I was awarded $150 in Amazon gift certs for my patience.

 

Well i got a system replacement, i have a replacement that's in production D:

This is replacement number 5 for the price of 1 dell inspiron e1505 with 4 year warranty and a warranty extension. I just wish it didn't take so long to make new ones. my refurb replacements usually came next day or 2 days. My initial complaint to dell about this was the 11th, order placed on the 22nd, it's now the 27th.

 

Its like having a Honda mechanic work on a Ferrari for the first time. I agree that they should be trained on the product line before touching a 3k laptop.

 

They're supposed to be trainer for the product line. The thing is it seems that (from what dell told me) the on site companies are given the training materials for all the techs, but the tech (the good one) that came told me a lot of people just dont do the training.

 

lol, what training? All you have to do is open it up once and it's so easy after that. When I first took apart my M17x it took me about 30min to open up everything. My latest cpu swap took me about 10-12min. No scratch(I don't understand how someone can scratch these laptops as easily as ppl say here), no warped kb or palm rest, no nothing. Do it yourself next time buddy.

 

In all fairness, the screen is easy to scratch since the E2E is plastic and not glass (I have scratched mine a little by accident - fortunately up in the corner)

 

True. I always cover my screen with a protective sheet when I work on my machine.

 

I insisted that i do the repair myself but Dell wouldnt allow it period.

So are you saying they should come over to my house and attempt to take it apart without learning how to do it before hand? You are right about how it is easy after the first time and i think the dell techs should take apart one thats not mine before hand so they know what there doing. the tech that came to fix mine was incompetent and has never done it before.

 

I'm saying you should NEVER let someone who doesn't know how to take it apart touch your machine. Ask if your tech is experienced. If not, then let them watch you fix your own machine.

 

They're sent a free machine to viciously screw with, hence the refurb models!

Kidding.

 

I've been having epic problems since the Dell tech "fixed" mine. I purchased it from the dell outlet (saved just under $500) but only got 60 day warranty. They replaced the keyboard almost straight after I bought it because the enter key was sticky (while cleaning my baby last night my micro fibre caught and has damaged it again ) and since my M17x doesnt leave my desk didnt notice he wasn't able to screw the palmrest back because things didn't line up. The way I found out - I was at a LAN in Singapore and my palmrest poped out, snapping off the touchpad plug and shorting the ribbon cable (has a nice big burn in it) Because I was overseas I couldnt get it fixed and by the time I got back it was just out of warranty. Dell have been nothing but rude and unhelpful in the hundreds of calls and emails. I'm now going to have to spend $200 for a new palmrest and ribbon cable on top of the few hundred to get my system re-certified.

 

I recommend going to ebay and saving yourself some money.....same parts, much cheaper

 

That is pretty bad. This is why I taught myself how to tear down a computer in fifteen minutes...if only I could do the same with cars!

 

Yep, that's a smart thing to do. Heh... I even cover the screen even (or especially?) when my TECH is working on it.

 

Hi,
I got a question. I got a tech coming to replace my LCD and GPU cards, I am just wondering whether after the replacement, they will take the old parts with them and return those to DELL or they will leave those old parts so you can do whatever you want with it ??

 

They take them with them.