Stay far away from Dell/Alienware

Hi,

I'm starting this thread on Dell/Alienware because of their customer service, technical support, and even executive support. All of their support is horrendous. Please look into their competitors if you are even considering a dell product. If anything were to happen to your device I assure you that you will be wasting hours upon hours on their phone lines with no resolve. You may think i'm over exaggerating but here is the extent of my story. I sent this to 11 dell executives. I will make them pay, not only for what they did to me, but what they did and are currently doing to everyone.

This email is in regard to the failure of your technical teams, customer care teams, and corporate teams to resolve ongoing issues since late 2009.

I bought a Alienware m17xr1 in august of 2009. Since after, my computer had technical issues. I have called all of your support lines in search of help. Your team boucnes me around with actually no help in resolving the issue. Later in 2010 with the issues and cases still unclosed, my warranty ran out. Your team failed to resolve my issues and refuses any type of help to my issues. They would not let me purchase another warranty because they already knew I had system trouble.

The original issue was that the computer wasn't charging and would allow me to power on the graphics cards(Nvidia 260m SLI GTX's). Every time I contacted Dell about my issues with case numbers your team said I never complained about the video cards not powering on. They said my issues stated that I had driver issues with my computer(which is completely false the drivers were fine) and I had a broken charger(which I never said was the issue). I knew it was a hardware problem and I asked for a technician every time I called support. They refused. 50+ hours on the phone with tech support with no reslove, tech support sending wrong pieces of equipment, such as multiple AC adapters. They sent me two of the same pieces twice, when I clearly asked for the proper pieces of hardware.
After realizing I would get no support, I took my machine to a local computer repair company (Chicago Computers) while still under warranty. They realized it was a motherbaord issue. They recieve a new motherboard that I payed for out of pocket while under warranty. The motherboard came to them faulty, they returned it, got a new one back, that one came faulty. I decided to take my computer back seeing that Alienware/Dell was sending out faulty motherboards deemed functioning/reliable.

After being extremely angry, I contacted one of your Vice Presidents(Dells), [name removed]. [name removed] actually helped me out with a system replacement after all the trouble I have been through. Before [name removed] replaced my computer he sent a Dell apointed technician to my house 2-3 times. Every time they came to replace the motherboards, every time the technician was given a faulty motherboard. In fact, the first time the technician came to my house he installed a motherboard with broken ram sockets into my machine rendering it inoperable, when before it would atleast function. He then left my house without putting the other motherboard back in. At this time [name removed] offered a replacement machine.
The replacement machine arived at my house with my instruction to return the old PC in the box it came it. I open up the replacement box and the PC was horribly thrown in there, with no resource CD's to come with it, also it came with the wrong AC adapter(charger). Not to mention it came with a broken motherboard where the lights on the machine didnt work. If your technical depot can't even see that the lights on the machine are not working, than they deserve to be fired. The replacement machine also came with large unsighly scratches on the inside of the machine(between the monitor and the keyboard(some deep scratches over an inch long)). [name removed] sent another technician to my house to replace the keyboard, at this time the technician realized it was a motherboard issue. [name removed] said it had to be sent back to the depot(where it came from) and I refused because your depot techs couldn't even see that the machine was not lighting up. I said I wanted another replacement delivered to my house, but he said I had to send it back. I should not be punished for your teams mistake. This is when I decided to take my case to the Better Business Bureau.

After filing my complaint to the BBB, [name removed] called me saying there was nothing they could do. He said I would have to pay for any repairs to my machine. Not to mention everyone I talked to was extremely rude. This is where I'm currently at, this is why I am reaching out to you. I don't want to bring this to arbitraion but it is something I'm willing to do.

Like I said to everyone I've spoke with I will return the machine once I get a fully functiong computer sent to my house. Doesn't seem to much to ask for considering all the hours I've spent trying to fix my machine. It's actually costing you(Dell) more money not trying to resolve the way I am pushing for. All I want is a simple computer replacement that is not refurbished(due to all the faulty motherboards I have recieve(6)). Also your team locked my dell account.

If my issues don't get resolved in the proper manner, this is what I'll do and currently am doing. I will post all over your facebook and twitter feeds making sure people do not want to purchase any Dell/Alienware computer or hardware. Not only posting my own experiences, but I will post on other's feeds and respond to their issues more frequently than your teams ensuring people hate Dell. I will share my experience with customers and businesses alike. I will exploit the pyrmamid scheme going on with your call centers(redirecting, dropping calls, purposly connecting you to the wrong person, slander, hardly understandable people in India). This is because they want you to hang up the phone, which I might add works. I'm currently in the process of designing a web page with forums to post all Dell related issues. I am currently a member of ihatedell.net and will recruit members for their boycot. I will also send emails to everyone I can that works for Dell. I will post on the public forums on your webpage, again, making sure no one wants to buy your equipment. I will put all the effort into fixing my machine into the worst sales gross Dell has ever had by the end of the fiscal year in 2013. I will go on stock market related websites in attempt to make sure no one wants to buy stocks or invest in your dying company.
Again, it's a simple fix make it happen. In most cases the customer isn't always right, but clearly from my experiences Dell does not care about any of there customers.

If you can please post comments of what you think. If Dell has done you wrong, please explain your story.
I started a Anti-Dell/Alienware facebook page called [REMOVED BY MOD]

 

I have had great experiences with alienware support so far. I lost count of how many motherboards you had replaced but maybe you shouldn't buy any computers anymore with that luck. Sorry man.

 

I've also had good experiences with Dell. The OP sounds angry in his post and letter. And no company is perfect.

 

the only complaint I have with Alienware is not no longer 24/7 tech support. Dell high end support is great. They make mistakes, but they get it together very often. Looks like you were 1 in a million situation.

 

I've had some bad experiences with Dell and Alienware in recent years, but they both have always come thru for me in the end. OP, I know the bottom level tech support is usually pretty bad, but screaming at them and telling them their idiots isn't the right way to go about getting your machine's issues fixed. I agree that you have to be aggressive and keep pushing them to get some technical support. And I DEFINITELY agree that the on-site service technicians are...lacking (for lack of a better word) and depot service is a hit or miss.

But there are two things I've realized.

One, both Depot service and the on-site technicians are not employed directly by Dell (or at least the ones for their non-business or public sector customers). In sending to Depot service, it went to some technical repair company in Seattle, and the on-site repair service for my area is contracted thru a company called Worldwide Tech Services. Other users have also stated while both on-site and depot service really do suck, both are separate firms which are contracted to work on many different brand of computers, not just Dell or Alienware.

Two, as Dellienware said, you are probably that one in a million case with a system that just doesn't get fixed right. But screaming about it on these forums, claiming conspiracy, and threatening to take down Dell by "exposing and exploiting it as the pyramid scheme that it is" makes me dismiss this as the paranoid B View attachment 89686 ings of another paranoid B View attachment 89686 and file it under 'P' for paranoid. Plus you are ranting about it in a public Alienware notebook support forum. That's like an atheist going into a church/temple/mosque and screaming bloody murder that religion is just aliens controlling human thoughts. No one will listen or take you seriously unless you use a little TACT.

 

Um... ok. That's kind of scary. *puts on Kevlar vest*

The main reason I am a dedicated Dell/Alienware customer is because their support is the best in the industry. I have already tried their competitors and their support is pathetic in comparison to Dell/Alienware support. I have not found them to be perfect, but in comparison to HP, Acer, Asus, MSI they are truly awesome.

It's interesting that the post count for the OP venter is "1" at the time this tread was started. It's always sad when the main reason a person shows up in a place like this is to try to settle some kind of score and use it as a platform to vent their frustrations. This kind of thing is not what our Community is all about, and I know many of us find that behavior to be both irritating and inappropriate. It's kind of like a stranger entering your home without an invitation and pooping on the living room carpet.

For everyone one person with a vendetta there are dozens more that have great things to say. I have had some bumps in the road with them, but Dell/Alienware have always made things right. In the end they demonstrated that they valued me as a customer and gave me more than I had paid for because "Dell Cares" is for real. It is real even when some employees don't show it. I tend to doubt I would be able to make such a positive claim if I had ever allowed such a strong sense of anger or frustration to surface when seeking their assistance. To hear that this has been going on since 2009 without resolution leads me to believe their is a lot more to this story that we will never know about. That is certainly an exception to the norm.

 

Sorry, I didnt read your full 'rant' but I can attest to the fact that Alienware/dell has a LOT of room for improvement in their customer service, and quality of their products. Admitedly Alienwares are my favorite, but all of the other 'stuff' that goes along with them (poor tech support/customer service) and poor follow through. I've got to find a new favorite manufacturer.

 

I'm a new dell customer and having had a fair amount of experience dealing with their customer service I agree with a lot of what you say.
Interestingly the only decent service I've got from them is via dell employees contacting me through this board. I have also found their twitter, ironically named 'dellcares' have also been of help.
I wont buy their product again nor will I recommend them to clients based on my experiences.
Good luck to you sir!

 

I am on their executive customer support level, the highest level of support they offer. they gave me a replacement that came broken. they assured me a 30 day warranty when it shipped. they didn't honor the promised warranty. they said I would have to pay for any repairs to my new replacement. this is why im so angry.

 

Sounds to me like there is a bit of confusion as to what was offered, warranty-wise, on Dell's behalf. I imagine even a refurbished replacement comes with some length of warranty - otherwise, they could simply send out any old piece of crap and walk away from it as soon as it has shipped. In my experience, Dell warranty is among the very best in the business and as such, I don't imagine that the replacement would have been void of ANY warranty period - 30 days would sound reasonable to me. What I would try and do is to try and establish what the warranty rule for a replacement is, as a general rule of thumb. If you can do this, then it's game over for Dell.

Sometimes, when dealing with such a huge global entity such as Dell, unfortunately some staff are rather inept and mis-informed about their own products and services - I imagine that is the case here and Dell aren't trying to give you the shaft, they simply have crossed wires somewhere that you need to get uncrossed. Once you have established warranty period for your machine, I imagine they will look after you as you deserve to be looked after. Your story is quite the tale of epic fail on Dell's behalf.

If you aren't getting anywhere with the people with whom you are dealing with currently, I would strongly recommend reaching out to one of the Alienware team on the forum here - alternatively, send a Tweet to @DellCares and Dell's Social Outreach Team should be able to assist you. To send Private Messages, you will have to have made a few more posts here on the forums to grant you full member privileges.

 

YOU MISSED ALL THE CAPS LOCK....

Seriously , how many of these posts are we going to allow? You bought a computer and it broke, that's all we know. We don't know why , how, when, or what was done so were going on your word that you had upwards of what? 6 mainboards replaced? 50+ hours of tech support? that seems a little exaggerated to say the least, not to mention the fact that you apparently talked to one of Dell's VP's? For all we know you dropped it down the stairs and that is why it didn't work and why they didn't replace it. As someone who has worked in customer service in the past you sound like an angry customer who didn't get his way so you are going to make it your personal mission in life to see to it that everyone knows that you are upset.

I hate to break it to you but if you think the competitors products are so much better then maybe you should go buy one and deal with their customer service when it breaks, quit filling up these forums with garbage.

Dell is the #1 computer manufacturer in the world in terms of units sold....you don't get there selling garbage. Due to the sheer number of units being made and sold yes there are bound to be some lemons but you deal with it like a civilized person not like the crazy nut on a rampage you appear to be.

 

MogRules... maybe take a chill pill yourself their chief. Way to support a forum member, even if his first post was a not so happy one. What about me, am I a crazy nut because I'ave had THREE m18x R2 failures ?

Yeah relax a bit.

 

Thats because they were around before a lot of other companies and used to have excellent CS (all American based phone support, more knowledgeable employee's, etc...) and more of their machines were made in the USA. AW especially, it used to only be made in the US. China now...

Now Lenovo is #1 as far as market share goes. Dell is down to only 8% of the market because of their worsening products and CS, and the fact they missed the boat on tablets and smart phones. Dell basically invented smart, well priced computer hardware, but the problem is that they kept trying to make stuff less expensive as the market began to crowd, eventually leading to product quality suffering. It looks like that mindset is now starting to infect other product lines to, not just the sub 800$ ones.
This Change started around 2003-2006.

 

I couldn't have said it better. My largest complaint is that 90% of the time spent (waisted) is just trying to get the 'representative' to understand my needs, and NOT send me off to yet another non-native-english-speaking-representative. I believe single handedly this is ruining the customer service aspect. A lot of companies have figured out that off-shoring isnt the best solution, sadly some companies still dont get it, due to the 'cheaper' operating costs, the problem is thats short term gains, eventually people stop buying products from business they cant effectively communicate with. Tech support and customer service shouldnt be off-shored. Oh well, GL Dell.

 

Believe it or not, I've seen a few large conglomerates transition away from the India call centers. Recently, it was AT&T. Last couple times we've had to call their support line in the last year I always talked to someone with a Midwest cowboy accent. I wholeheartedly agree that speaking to someone in our country definitely helps the process. They just get what the issue is faster and don't seem like them all's are reading from a script.

 

They do have special places for this kind of thing. Here is a link to one of them: http://www.pissedconsumer.com/

There is even a special thread here at NBR for it... http://forum.notebookreview.com/off-topic/567605-what-bothering-you-right-now.html

 

Or Dell could provide better customer service, and native english speaking representatives...

I'll go with hopes of the later.

 

My experience with Dell / Alienware has been really good. Yes I have had problems but everytime I have had a problem Dell have quickly responded to my concerns. I am so happy in fact that I have bought 3 M17x's and I will continue to buy them.

That said I understand that you believe you have had a bad rub with them but I don't think the answer is to shout from the roof tops that everyone is being treated badly, because that is simply not the case. I hope you get your problem sorted or just get over the problem.

 

I've always stayed away from dell tech support and went straight through alienware. My laptop is almost 2 years old now and still running strong.

 

That is a good thing to always do. Call 1-800-ALIENWARE and avoid calling Dell Support for anything. Alienware support, at least for me, has always done a great job. I cannot say the same for Dell Support. They are run as two separate departments and the difference in quality and service between the two is a stark contrast based on my experience. Even the premium XPS Support that I started out with was based out of India and it was lousy in many ways. Outside of the US/Canada YMMV.