Questions about HIDEvolution

Hi, I want to buy an alienware m14x and i'm actually in europe (france) but in june i'll be in canada to study for 3 years, I don't want to buy it on Canada because there is no coupons, no nameplate and it's more expensive because of taxes (about 180$ for a 1300$ laptop) so I looked a hidevolution and it seems to be a good deal, but I don't know what will it cost to me, if there is a % in the price or something like that. My other question is that they talk about termal paste for the CPU and GPU for 55$ (IC Diamond on CPU + GPU - INSTALLED BY HIDevolution) do you think it worth it? I know that m14x have some temps issues and I'm too lazy to change it by myself, it seems to be a good deal, the other services seems a little overpriced (SSD, RAM) so I'll buy it latter. The last question is there is customs fee if I ship from USA to Canada?
I hope someone that already used hidevolution can answer my questions, anyway thanks in advance.

 

There won't be any extra charges that HID would randomly put on your laptop, but you'd have to pay customs charges*. As for the thermal compound, it would make a difference I think, but really, if it's just laziness, order a tube of IC Diamond and get of your . You'll thank yourself when you've finished.

* Give them a call and tell them your situation. Mention the customs charges, see what they say.

 

There won't be extra charge? But the m14x is at the same price in the dell store, so HIDevolution take 0$ if I juste take the base model without termal paste ect? It's weird.

 

I'm not sure what you're asking...

 

Maybe they have some kind of deal with the manufacturers.

Anyway, I orderer the same notebook a few days ago, they're still processing the payment. Hopping to get it by july (will take long to get to Chile).

 

hi! so I can't wait to get back to US and order mine! so I'm ordering from outside! any idea where to get discount coupons? HIDevolution twitter seems not active and last twit was about the release of the M15x! so I guess I need your help here!

 

Last I heared was that the coupon system was not up yet.

Do you live in the US?

 

yes! but right now I'm in dubai! not coming back until next march!

no-no, I can't wait not when my old HP started to die on me!

 

Do NOT purchase from HIDevolution, sorry.

They sold me a 2920XM processor in a laptop; turned out to be an non-retail ES chip (engineering sample), isn't keyed properly to open up expanded BIOS, along with a couple of other problems, and wont even answer my emails or calls...$4K later. A "Ted"
Sorry for the bad news.

 

UMMM 4000$ is your own fault, sorry, especially if you didn't think about how you'd get it back if they didn't ship you anything.
Also your fault, not checking the step code of the CPU, any of the obvious things to see if its ES.

If all they told you was its a 2920xm then they have done you no wrong whatsoever.

Laptops BIOS is the MANUFACTURERS fault. Which BTW this company isn't one, so they actually tend to take CPUs for what they're worth rather than intangible aspects, not to mention do research into CPUs with unlocked multipliers are overclocked these days. Hint: NOT in the BIOS.

Its really ignorant and disrespectful of you to try and discourage others from buying from this company simply based on your experience. You should not be posting such arrogant nonsense. You aren't a review site, and they aren't scammers.

 

Arrogant...
Yep, all my fault...you got me...

Commision, per click, or salary?
Ignorance is bliss.


G'nite!

 

I have to recommend that you do not purchase from HIDevolution after my experience with them and "Ted".

I was assured that they currently had the type of m18x I wanted in stock, and that my order would be processed in 2-3 days and that "Fedex Express" would deliver it to Australia 3-5 days after that.

I was prepared to allow them some leeway in meeting these claims. But after two weeks when my order was still showing as "processing" on their site, and after two emails had been ignored by "Ted" at the Sales email address I sent an email to their Support email address asking what was going on. Who replied? "Ted"!

He assured me that my m18x would be shipped out tomorrow and thanked me for my patience. Ok, I thought. No big deal. Two weeks is still nothing compared to how long i've read some people waited for theirs. I'd still be happy if it arrived in the next week or two.

To their credit their "Fedex Express" estimate turned out to be accurate.

After powering up a few games and not getting the type of results I was expecting from Dual 6990m's I started to become concerned. I opened up Catalyst Control Center and went to the "Gaming" tab and clicked on "AMD CrossFireX Diagnostics." The following error displayed:

"The CrossfireX internal bridge interconnects linking your CrossFireX graphics cards are not properly connected. Both bridge interconnects must be attached. For more information see the user's guide for your graphics card."

That's right. Whatever genius installed the Dual 6990m's did not connect the CrossFire cable! I had one 6990m that was, in effect, a paperweight.

After emailing HIDevolutions Support and being ignored for a week I followed the Service Manual and connected it myself, which was a nightmare having no experience with Laptops (i'm a PC guy). I didn't want to void my warranty by having an unauthorized tech do it and I didn't want to ship it back to USA to have these incompetents do it.

I still haven't heard from HIDevolution a week on from this. Absolutely pathetic customer service. They're in more than a hurry to answer your emails when you're considering a purchase, but that all flies out the window as soon as they receive your money.

HIDevolution have only hurt themself in the end. After seeing mine several friends are ordering m18x's and wont be doing it through HIDevolution, which they probably would have if I had received good customer service.

 

I've not received mine yet - still waiting almost 4 weeks now since payment. The ignoring of e-mails part sounds oh so familiar.

I'm giving these guys a chance, but the more negative things I read about HIDevolution the more I'm getting p!ssed off. Just a simple Google search and I find negative feedback.
What get's me more is their eBay feedback where I seem to find their customers receiving their laptops pretty damn fast! I bought mine direct from their site - not so fast.

Excellent communication from HIDevolution/Ted until the part I paid them a big wod of cash. Almost 4 weeks on I'm not getting replies or any updates apart from 'processing' for the past number of weeks.

Again I am giving these guys a last chance to show the customer service they should be. I'll update you with my own experience with them and see what happens.

@ mposkitt - You service is amazing compared to what I'm getting right now. Let's hope the installation goes right for me though, you've got me quite worried with your GPU statement!

 

Just wanted to give a shout out to recommend HID. I ordered a custom build HP laptop from them and it was delivered to the UK bang on time, no problems with anything. Great service and a great price, didn't even lose out on the import duty to the UK. This is the second laptop I've bought from HID, the previous time was also great sevice.

 

^^Well thanks Ted (or Jocelyn) for your contribution to the topic, but we need some real and honest opinions from customers.

Unfortunetely, I have to agree with some posters here about the terrible communication you get with them.
They only answer to mails and contact forms before the sale, and afterwards you mostly get to speak on the chat with their seemingly-kind-and-helpful-yet-full-of-sh*t-deep-down assistant, who "simply relays information" and gives you the bad (most of time) news.


I personally ordered a dv7 custom built Pavilion from them (I live in Greece and I needed the FHD matte screen which was not available here), and after 2 months or so, their final words are "Your package has been lost/stolen during transit, you will be refunded with the declared value, which is around $600 less than what you paid".
Needless to say that they never told me about this scenario, even though I repeatedly asked about the safety of my order, and if it could be risky to declare such low price. Their only answer was "we have shipped many times to Greece and never had a problem [...] we usually declare for such laptops a value of $550".
Now my only option is to take that refund, having lost around $600 and wasted 2 months of my life waiting for my new laptop, and look for ways to even out the loss (maybe work somewhere or sell something, I don't know, things are not too easy when you are a university student).


Really dishonest and sneaky guys, I sincerely hope their business closes before too many customers get screwed over.


Bottom line - word of warning.
Don't order from hidevolution if you're from abroad. Don't order from hidevolution if you're from the states and can purchase the same laptop from somewhere else (even if it's cheaper). They're really bad at dealing with customers, they might seem nice and helpful on the surface and make you feel sure about your order, but the truth is THEY DON'T ACTUALLY CARE about your order, they only care about your money.


PS: If anyone could help me with my situation, I would really, really appreciate it.
I have considered calling USPS to make sure they don't give me sh*t about the package, but it's kinda difficult to do that when you're from a foreign country. Have also sent an e-mail, to no avail. :|

PS2: My order has been stuck on "Processed through Sort Facility" since October 1. (yep)
It states "Processed Through Sort Facility
Your item was processed through our ISC LOS ANGELES CA (USPS) facility on October 01, 2011 at 9:17 pm. The item is currently in transit to the destination."
I should probably give up my last hints of hope, right?

 

Before you decided to vomit all this, did you actually stop and think what you're saying?

HID don't assemble the machines, Dell do. The guy you should be yelling at is sitting at an assembly line in of of Dell's assembly facilities. He's not the guy who placed the order.

To everyone else worrying about processing times:

What you have to remember is the HID is essentially just buying the laptop for you, and depending on what you selected, maybe tweaking it a bit afterwards. They only get the laptops as fast as Dell will send them out, so a lot of the time they're not to blame for any of this.

 

But that does not excuse the lack of updates / communication after the money has been handed over...

Simply not good enough, there are alot of laptop retailers out there and they are all looking for new business....

Saying the dell production line is to blame that could be very well be true, unless hid opened it to add upgrades and needed to disconnect the graphics cards to add upgrades and forgot to reconnect.

If I was buying a machine from overseas I would expect them to make sure the laptop is as requested. Or it will cost alot of money to return to get it sorted, this is the business they are in and should except this responsibility

I to have used hid and have recieved different levels of service, perfect until the money hands over then everything slows down if there is a problem....

 

orderred 3 latops from here and all went fine , they dont add tax fee or anything like that , just theextra cost of shiping that changes daily and the costume fee u wil have to pay for your country.

 

Just ordered the base configuration of the Alienware M14x on the 23rd of February and they have yet to send it away.

When i made the payment everything seem to go through well. I asked when they would receive the laptop and they told me they would get it by 14th of March and i thought that seems reasonable. So i waited those 21 agonizing days called them up again and apparently they received my laptop (not sure when) but Dell sent them the wrong color, instead of the red one that i configured it as. They got the black one and they demanded Dell to send a red one. So they told me they can send me the black laptop one now or just wait 6 days and they will get the red one. So i thought another 6 days can't hurt and i really like the color so i said i would wait, they responded with "Well just call any time for updates or if you want to cancel and go with the black one"

So i waited. Called them yesterday and they responded with "Sorry Dell's ETA is this week, there is no specific day. They just know it will arrive this week so that could mean tomorrow or on Friday, just any time this week" so i responded with "O.K" and well i can't do anything about that.

But has anyone experienced this long delay. It's probably not HIDevolution's fault but how does Dell screw up the color? I would of just ordered from Dell myself if it was possible. I'm ordering from New Zealand. If i ordered from New Zealand Dell the base configuration already starts at $2499 so i saved a lot by ordering from HIDevolution. But not only do i have to wait till they received my laptop. I also have to wait for the shipment of my laptop and with such a big shipment i know that will take its time.

Another thing that bugs me is that they have never contacted me. I would of thought if there was a delay such as color mix up they would email me about the delay.

 

Dell reps tends to provide guesstimate ETA's and sometimes it turns out right, sometimes there's a delay (I've experienced this myself with the Studio laptop line).

HIDevolution is a good company based on the positive reviews I read from international buyers and I'm sure the e-mail update was just a mishap

I can't believe NZ starts at 2499$! That's insane ...pretty much an M18X with 6990 crossfire right there.

It'll be worth the wait, though. The m14x is an exceptional machine

 

Hahaha yeah here's a link to the website. I usually go on it to shock my friends the huge significance from purchasing from New Zealand and the U.S Alienware M14x Laptop Details | Dell New Zealand

Seems like it. Though I'm not the most patient of people. I just want my Alienware M14x so i don't have to lug around my Asus G73 around school anymore. Gosh i can only image how more easier it will be.

 

That's New Zealand for you, the land of the everything expansive , but dont forget, $2499 is NZD and I guess maybe because of NZ is so isolate, maybe this is reason but like I said everything in NZ is damn expansive, most electronic stuff in here sell around twice or thrice the price that sell in the US or even in AU.

Anyway, for me I didnt order via HIDevolution though, I order directly from Dell NZ, and the ETA first was like 5 weeks, but after a few day it drop to 2 weeks, and it even arrive before the ETA date. I guess the problem is because of the communication between HIDevolution and Dell. Since they are known for the poor customer service (Dell).

 

I ordered my M14x last year through Hidevolution and also live in NZ.

From memory it was 6+ weeks before it arrived at Hidevolution, then another couple of days for them to put arctic silver etc on.

It does take time I know, but it will come.
The packaging is good; shipping wise it took about 5-7 days from the US to Auckland

 

You'd think they'd send you an email when they received the wrong color though.

 

I got a question of my own. How does HIDEvolution get alienware computers any way? Do they buy them from dell first and sell them to you? Also how does it reflect the ship time?

note: This is the assumption that you can only get alienware from dell. Since they own alienware.

 

HIDevo is only the third party, they liaise with dell on the laptops and in the other hand they inform you, dell will send them the laptop, then they will send you the laptop. they are dealers like xoticpc, powernotebooks etc. the usual thing that they do is bridge the communication between you and dell, why me and the other guys ordered from Hidevo (or other AW dealers) well one major thing, we can't order because we are not from US and Canada, the dell outlets near our countries are almost doubled up price compared to the US stock market value (dell outlet near our place was malaysia, singapore ugh with no customized AW nameplate and color back then)

i assure you that ordering from them is just as good, but they really, really suck at communicating on their customers especially after they receive the payment. other than that they are legit (my 2nd orders from them are periphs.)

 

I am also from New Zealand and am looking at purchasing the M14x from Dell for Uni.

I'll be studying in the US so I was convinced I'd have to wait until august to get mine.

However this HID evolution site is interesting. I worked out a m14x would cost $1680 NZD including shipping on my i7, 1.5 555m, 1600/900scrn.(preferred specs)

Did yours cost around that much or are there hidden import taxes/duty etc that make it more expensive.

I'm using a p4 ati 9600 right now so not waiting another 4 1/2 months is tempting...

 

It has already been 5 days since they received my payment and the status of my order is still processing. -_- How long does this usually take? Already sent them 3 e-mails about it and still no reply.

 

It has already been 5 days since they received my payment and the status of my order is still processing. -_- How long does this usually take? Already sent them 3 e-mails about it and still no reply.

 

Lol 5 days! I think you're a little bit too hasty on that one...What did you buy?

 

Give a week or two~

3 emails in 5 days~

 

Yeah, when they got your money - it is very hard to contact with them... Just called yesterday and Vivian said that Ted is very busy at this moment... My status is also "pending"

 

I have ordered a M18x R2 from them for $3600. Paid at 20 May - status is still pending and they do not answer on emails after receiving a payment lol hope i will get a working laptop...

IanJamila, have you got your laptop yet?

 

Stumbled onto this thread after having some HIDevolution woes myself. I ordered an ASUS gaming laptop from them on May 3rd. They charged my credit card right then... it's now been 3 weeks and I haven't received any update: the status of my order is also still "processing."

So yeah, I'll be waiting it out but I'm definitely not a fan of the company. Not in time for Diablo III (May 15)... might not arrive in time for an upcoming 3-day weekend (here in the US anyway). *sigh*

 

Have you tried to call them? When i call them i always speak with a Vivian not a Ted... So u're emailing them and didn't received any answer within 3 weeks omg?!

 

Except that he paid ZERO dollars to Dell. He only paid to HID, so it's natural for him to demand things from HID, not from Dell.

I'd like to thank everyone who gave feedback here. I was on the fence about buying an AW from HID and will not make that mistake.

 

Hi guys, I just purchased my AW M17x R4 from Hidevolution (HE) from South East Asia on the 15 May 2012 and just received mine. I would like to emphasize that buying from them requires patience as they are just a middleman. Dell requires 3-4 weeks to build our machines and deliver them to HE. HE then does the customization like applying Article Silver for me and re ships to to my country. If you do the maths, it'll take around a total of MAXIMUM 6 weeks from the day you pay. And in my country, AW costs more than 180% the price I paid HE INCLUDING Shipping.

Considering the fact that the new AWs were just released, it's not surprising that HE has their hands full of orders. So guys, please be patient. I am really happy that I chose HE.After 3 weeks of "Pending" status, i mailed them as i was fetting worried. They replied me promptly within 24 hrs telling me that my machine is still under production with Dell.

 

Hello Guys,

I want to ask something very important. I bought my m14x from hidevlution and ordered it last week. Is the warranty on my name or on the name of HID evolution? Will they transfer it to me once they ship?

 

Not going to list any names, but I've had my own fair share of shipping times with resellers. It is a nag considering you've already been charged whatever amount of dollars for the laptop that you could have been using on something else.

I've been shopping for a new laptop lately and came across ComputerUpgradeKing on eBay since they had plenty of great reviews. I actually called them and asked what their shipping policies are and a rep told me they are adamant on making sure they don't list their laptops as in stock when they actually are not . Apparently resellers do this to get more orders in and hope to receive their order from the manufacturers in time to meet the customers' orders.

Has anyone else had any experiences with Computer Upgrade King? They carry all the major gaming laptops and their prices seem to be on par if not lower than many other resellers. They also seem to offer upgrades that the manufactures do not

 

can anyone who bought from hidevolution.com tell me his/her experience with them? was it pleasant or agonizing?

 

Why not see for yourself ? Doesn't really seem to stand up to XoticPC or PowerNotebooks..

 

the thing is i already made a purchase with them , i just wanna know how deep in trouble im.

 

It's not like you're in trouble or anything. Just make sure you keep an eye on your order, maintain constant communication with the reseller and ensure your order comes through safe and sound, with all the right components ofcourse.

 

My experience with hidevolution.com ? AMAZING..
Let me explain how my order was handled.
On June 27th I created an account with HE and created a Support Ticket via their website because I had some questions I wanted to ask them. Their responses was almost instant. After having a nice long Q&A I was convinced that HE was good enough so I placed my order the same day for a "Alienware M17x R4 2GB AMD 7970M Starter" (This is an item they have in stock). This is an international shipment , so I decided to go with DHL. I asked them to do an quality check before shipping the notebook because I did not want to end up with a defective item.
They agreed to do this for free. The quality check included

1) Physical check of the laptop for defects, scuffs, marks

2) Temperature check of video card and CPU to ensure it is within normal range

3) RAM memory test

4) Benchmark to ensure product is performing as it should

I was in for a nice surprise when I got an notification from HE that my order is ready and will be shipped on the 29th June. That's barley 2 days since I made the order. DHL picked it up from them the same day and was delivered to my country on July 2nd. Took a couple of days to get it through customs due to a public Holiday.. finally I took it home on 5th July , opened it, and it's perfect.. ran the benchmark tests, installed a couple of games and I'm telling you the M17x is just perfect.. :-D

The whole process from ordering to holding it took just 7 days.. c'mon people.. it's hard to top that..

I think the best way to communicate with HE is through support tickets and online chat.. from my experience I found out that HE customer representatives are very user friendly, they will go to great depths to fulfill your requests, make life easy with customs ;-) , and they are super fast.

 

My experience has been awful and it's still ongoing. I orderd an Alienware M17x R4 over 3 weeks ago. To this date the order status is still "Pending". They haven't answered to any of my questions online. True, I haven't called them yet but it doesn't change the fact that their communication skills are awful.
On their webpage it says:

I call BS...

 

Had my Alienware off HID last year around October time 2011.

After the following...
- over 1 month of waiting
- painfully slow responses to e-mails.

Their poor communication is no understatement, and looks like they still haven't changed their ways in that department which is a real shame.
First timer they will communicate well in making you purchase, but as soon as your money goes, expect to talk to a brick wall for the majority of the time.

Personal tips...
- Keep e-mailing them chasing up on your order. Doesn't matter if you don't get a response, just get on their case and make sure they are doing their job.
- Pay by PayPal. If they take a silly amount of time / well over the time they quoted your system to be ready by... then file a complaint to PayPal and escalate it immediately.
This is what I did after 4 weeks of waiting, they were off their seats and had my system delivered within 5 days to the UK. I didn't cancel my claim until that system was in my hands and %100 working.
- Don't buy into HID warranty; just make sure the manufacturer warranty is transferred to Dell located to your country. And if you have house insurance etc., put your laptop under that as well.
- Reformat the hard drive because chances are there will be bloated crap on it that will just do your nice piece of kit no good. My Blu-ray player wouldn't work at all in windows, but somehow reformatting the hard drive and putting my own OS on did the trick (1 example).
- NEVER buy their CPU overclocking options, you can easily do this in the BIOS and go beyond the quota with a bit of reading on overclocking threads...really easy!
I'm looking now at this on HID:

$250 just to overclock, absolute robbery! If you're loaded and don't care then that's a different matter altogether ;p
But wow! Just on that alone I could easily make a nice living dealing with 1 customer system to overclock a day!

That's all I can think of, off the top of my head

But it's not all bad news with HID. My system has been running perfect after wiping everything out, upgrading the crap memory and hard drive that came standard with it

Some people have had a fantastic experience with HID and some ain't. It's just one of those places.
I just hope no one gets the bad side of the coin.

Hopefully the above will somewhat help new buyers. Have fun!

 

Atleast I haven't found a thread where a costumer didn't get their order at all.. Seems everyone gets their stuff sooner or later.. That makes me feel a bit better..

 

Seriously is this just one guy called Ted doing the work (or most of it) at this place?
Can any of the coupons be applied from the likes of HP, if not where are HID's coupons found?

After I added on exchange rate, duty, taxs, and expensive shipping on their products, it was really any cheaper than buying from a retail store having a special, or cheapest locally based online retailer.

Can someone explain how this can be such or so much a better deal?

 

I guess the better deal is relative to where you are ordering from. As i have posted above I had a pretty good experience with HID. You see.. there isn't any retail store or dealers for Alienware in my country. And Dell U.S doesn't provide international shipping, in fact only resellers like HID, Xoticpc provide international shipping for Alienware. So for me ordering from HID was a really good deal cause its the only way I could get an Alienware.

 

I emailed HID about transferring my warranty (sold my m14x already) but they haven't answered yet (no surprise here).. Do I transfer it myself? Do I fill up the original owner as myself, or as HID?
Any one tried this already?