Thinking ALIENWARE? Do Your Research ...

ALIENWARE CUSTOMER SERVICE WARNING: I ordered an
Alienware Area 51m 7700 with 2, 1GB mem sticks and
received 4, 512MB mem sticks. Alienware did not even
advise me of the switch, nor did they refund my money.
I am in a state of limbo with them as they will not
answer my emails. Last thing they told me was that I
was on a waiting list for the memory. I have not heard
anything else from them. I ask for updates, but I get
no reply. Buyer beware ... their customer service
might be award winning, but it sucks for the average
customer. I dropped $4,000+ on this system, and they
treat me like a stranger. So, do what you want with
this info ... I'm putting it out there. BTW, the
machine kicks-ass, but you can get a kick-ass machine
anywhere. CUSTOMER SERVICE IS EVERYTHING!

 

I would be pissed.. So why dont you just send the whole thing back and get a refund.[?]
I know you shouldnt have to do this, but i wouldnt want to deal with them if thats the way they do business.

 

I considered returning the machine, but they have a 15% "restocking fee." Also, I am currently in Kuwait with the US Army, and it is not so easy to communicated from here as it would be in the USA. I decided to take my chances on them fixing the situation. It was a $600 vs. $200 gamble. I don't think I should have to pay a 15% restocking fee for receiving a product I didn't order, but I couldn't get a guarantee from Alienware that they would waive that fee for this circumstance. In fact, I could barely get any response from them. I barely got an apology. In fact, one rep started telling my how having two chips vs. four doesn't speed my system up. As if that was the reason I ordered that configuration. Anyway, I don't know who issues the award to make Alienware's customer service "Award-Winning," but I can tell you that my experience is far from award-winning ... unless the award is for suckiest service. I will update this forum as to what they do.

Also, I posted the following to Alienware's moderated forum ... I don't know if they will post it, so I will post it here too (everything between the quotes):

"I ordered 2, 1GB RAM (total of 2MB RAM), and received 4, 512MB RAM.
I was not advised of the change, but I was charged for the initial configuration.
That error would have gone unnoticed had I not checked the configuration to see about ordering 2 more chips for a total of 4GB (the reason for my original configuration - to facilitate the upgrade).
[email protected], [email protected], [email protected] were on the case at one point or another, but I barely get any feed back from them. Supposedly I am on a waiting list for the 2, 1GB chips.
I AM VERY UPSET ABOUT NOT BEING ADVISED BY ALIENWARE OF THE SWITCH ... AND OF BEING SLIGHTED BY ITS CUSTOMER SERVICE.
I hope someone with some foresight and authority will do something about this. At this point, I will not buy anything else ever from Alienware, nor will I advise anyone to do so. Since I work in the IT industry, people I am in contact with listen to my opinion.
Also, I am posting my experience under the user name alien7700client on every laptop and gaming blog I can find.
I will either get what I ordered, or I will do my best to notify everyone interested about this situation. This includes the Better Business Bureau of Miami, and my Visa credit card issuer (they are interested in fraud cases).

 

That stinks, such fine machines with such poor customer service [ ] Breaks my heart [ !]

HP ZD8000 | 3.4GHz P4 650 w/HT Tech | 100 GB 5400 RPM Hard Drive | 1GB DDR2 SDRAM, 533 MHz | 256MB ATI Mobility Radeon X600 | 17" WSXGA+ Wide View | DVD+/-RW/R CD-RW Combo w/Double Layer

 

<blockquote id='quote'> quote:<hr height='1' noshade id='quote'>Originally posted by Alien7700Client

 

I too ordered an Alienware laptop based on their supposedly excellent quality assurance and customer service. What a mistake! My Sentia arrived with a burnt pixel that was slightly to the right of center. Because it was not in the center quadrant, they refuse to replace it. I have to either pay a 15 percent restocking fee (about $300!) or I'm stuck with a glaring reminder of how crummy Alienware is every time I turn on my screen. This bright blue mark will show up brilliantly in the midst of every game I play, every PowerPoint presentation I make, everything I do on my laptop.

When I spoke with the technical support manager, Juan Carlos, he was condescending and asked me: 1) Don't you know anything about how LCD screens are made? and 2) Do you even know what ISO 9000 standards are?

Well, the answer to both is no, but I do know unsatisfactory customer service. I had no idea I needed to know LCD manufacturing procedures and ISO 9000 to buy a quality laptop. I mean, I don't need to know how my car is made before I purchase one...

Meanwhile, my husband sent a mail to their 'customer support' line that they claim to reply to within 24 hours. We're going on 48 hours now without a word...

Alienware thinks a burnt pixel is a defect if it is in one quadrant of a screen, but if it is slightly to the right, it is merely an acceptable flaw. What?!?

I'll never buy another Alienware and I'm doing my best to get the word out.

 

Seriously what the hell are they doing wrong over there? They are using the most top-rated hardware when it comes to everything they build those things with whether it's the processors, the chipsets, RAM, and video cards. Are they messing with settings or something and trying to push these things because bolting in one piece of hardware at one company is pretty much that same at another. I realize the manufactuers have to build some of the hardware themselves, is Alienware doing that piss-poor job at it? I just don't understand how their desktops are near flawless and have helped them achieve their name recognition and main source of profits but their laptops can be expensive paper-weights.

 

The problems I've read about on the posts here seem like normal issues, every manufacturer, no matter their dedication to quality, has a certain number of dud units. The primary issue I've seen is AW's customer service and tech support quality seems more suited to $500 desktops than $3600 laptops, I could almost understand the stories I've been hearing if they were about Compaq desktops back in the bad old days (apologies to any compaq fans, but I've had numerous awful experiences with their tech folks) than a top of the line company that charges top dollar for its products.

 

Alienware support was the worst experience of my computer life. I bought one of their machines two months ago and it has never worked. I’ve spent countless hours with their incompetent staff on the phone. They sent a field tech out and he made the machine worse. I did every thing they ask me to and when I asked for my money back we had passed the magic thirty day limit. They are very clever. So i was stuck having done all they ask, with a very expensive broken machine.

Their solution? Send it to us and we’ll fix it and mail it back to you. This is not what I paid for. But I had no choice, so once again following their instructions… I just got a phone call, a week after they received it, that the case was broken in transport, and of course this will not be covered by their warranty so now I’m two months in with a broken machine and a case that is broken and they won’t fix.

Their solution? “You can buy a new case from us” Again no choice. I hate Alienware. They took my money and my time and unrepentantly screw me at every turn.

I will never do business with them again!

My advice, as soon as you see a single problem get your money back; do not do anything to help them or accommodate them. Immediately get a refund. Immediately - they will do nothing to help you. They seem completely unconcerned with how horrible your experience is. If you work with them a single day over the thirty day window you will loose the chance to get a refund - regardless of how messed up your machine is or how much you've been working them since day one!

I can not stress how strongly you should avoid doing business with this company!

 

agreed... Im amazed tho that they even got a "field tech"

 

Well, I once wanted to buy an AW, but then such valuable feedbacks on the Internet set my vision right . I don't, can't and probably will never understand why & how so many people fall victims to their cheating.

Downright, it is a pathetic company who's only motto is to cramp as many in-compatible hardware into a clevo case, re-badge and sell it. Even so, I would assume that since the components are made by respectable companies like NVIDIA, ATI, Intel etc... it should/may withstand such tortures put on it by STUPID & WORTHLESS companies like AlienWare. What I think is they are getting the rejected lot of these components.

 

Alienware is the largest 'boutique' PC seller. They didn't make record revenues last year by selling junk . . . since I tested the Aurora M7700, I have respected Alienware, and I think they're a good company. My test unit was solid, well-packed, and ran flawlessly.

Every company is going to have their problems, it just seems like AW gets more attention than most when it comes to that.

Chaz

 

Well, when you sell more than all the other boutique computer shops otu there you're going to get more attention in what you do wrong. Personally I'd never buy an Alienware, VooDoo, Rock, Widow, or any boutique brand... Except possibly through a reputable reseller, and even then I can't really afford them. The reason mostly is the cost.

 

chaz there is no competition with AW since they got 1 thing right... advertisement... they have full page adds, game leaflets, mtv, pixar?, bus ads... theres more AW advertisements outside of mainstream TV for AW than there is for DELL!!! you cannot goto a computerstore and nat find 5 ads for them somewhere...

 

Alienware does have the power of advertisement and influence on its side, people generally think a bit higher of you than others if your picture is stamped all over their precious magazines.

 

I hate the media.

 

AW powers lie bostly in bargaining... they give free PCs to ubi n such n in return they stamp AW on their "plays best on" specs

 

Did they send you the system for testing? or did you just borrow a random unit from someone that is manufactured by AW for the people?

If they send you a unit for testing purposes and know that a review will be made, then that don't quite qualify as a basis to refute their pathetic reliability and particularly their worst support.

 

lol I sent a post to brian that id like to send my personal 766 to chaz along with the creme the la creme custom fitted tester... and yes AW DOES sent ONE in as a TESTER... in fact they took quite a long time making n braking it in if u member chazs first announcement to when they sent it

 

Yeah, Alienware sent that to me. My thoughts on it lie in the review.

 

down with Alienware !

 

They certainly seem to get alot of negative publicity.

 

I don't mean to sound harsh, but that's not helping anyone, and it's a useless post . . let's keep this on-topic.

 

Falcon northwest also has a no dead pixel policy they stand behind. Voodoo I believe allows up to six (better than industry standard though) and will help you with them just not replace the monitor.

 

Some people do have that policy. Most dont know so its up to the user to read that stuff before you buy a laptop is thats something that might bother you. hopefully in the future it will become more common through the industry to replace a panel with even one defect.

 

Or hopefully someone will come up with a better quality control and shipment method.

 

I think if you spend $5000+ on a computer they should bring the laptop to your house themselves and kiss your feet when you oen the door then do everything you want them to with it before you use it. Reformat, reinstall, install specific apps, games, etc.

 

I dont think thats helping the original poster of this thread. Alienware have recieved a bad rap, mostly from their p4 notebooks, which caused many problems, but are not entirely their own fault. But the problem is simply their support. If you buy a laptop u should get a new one not a new one thats broken and then get it fixed. Also, things that i have heard about their support is terrable. They should be ashamed.

 

farqueue, please don't make unnecessary posts like that. If it's not going to help the original poster, then please don't post it. Thanks.

 

yeh that ^

 

Of course you're right Chaz, Alienware even with its massive ad campaigns and appeals to high end gamers didnt make a name for itself by selling subpar products and by your review of the Aurora which you received they haven't started. The system you reviewed for Alienware cost around the mark of $4300 and to almost everyone who comes onto this forum or any another thats alot of money, to buy anything at that kind of price means to expect a product which is free of defect (within reason) in order to get your money's worth, and if there is one to repair it prompty and with little or no hassle. The problem lies in the fact that Alienware, particularly in the laptop department, deals with the absolute fringe of current commercially available parts for laptops and as shown by almost every company problems do arise when dealing with cutting edge products. Of course there are going to be a fair amount of notebooks which will have problems and customer service makes all the difference between a strong and weak product.


AW gets this extra attention because of the aggressive advertising they carry out and proclaim that they have advertised "award winning" customer service. I'm the type of person who always buys the extended warranty on my expensive items, and after finding about Alienware in a mainstream PC magazine (as opposed to researching and finding them on the internet as is the case with the majority of boutique gaming platform companies), Alienware on paper looked like a company which would have a strong product and the support to back it up. After doing my research and upon coming to this forum to hear never-ending horror stories about their customer service I've taken Alienware out of consideration for my soon to happen laptop purchase.

 

I personally don't have anything to say about Alienware customer service; I don't own one. But, I would be very upset if I paid $4k for a machine and had problems with it, and even moreso if I couldn't get them fixed. I recently tested the Dell XPS M1710, and had extreme difficulty with the virtually non-operational wireless. I expected to be able to get online on a $4,400 machine, I guess not. I would have returned it had that been my machine.

 

Your review actually lead me to purchase a Dell XPS M1710, even with your reported problems with wireless. Since you stated your review model wasn't a "final" product I decided to take a chance. Been out of the box for a little over 2 weeks now and everything has worked flawlessly, including the wireless card. I would highly recommend the M1710 to anyone over an Alienware just based on my personal experience with the M1710. Now granted, I can't comment on Dell's customer service for the M1710...because I haven't had to use it!!

 

I purchased my first and ONLY AW aurora back in 04 when an amd 3400+ was considered between mid to high end proc. Granted, it wasn't a $4000 machine but it was 2700 with an extra yr of warranty and thats still considered expensive even by today's means. Some minor problems right off the bat was the little alien head didn't light up, ok, no biggie, I could care less, but when you order 2 hdds setup in a raid 0 array, you would expect at least that much right? nope, had to get on the phone with cs to set up the raid 0 and basically reinstall windows. I can't say that their cs is bad because everytime I got on the phone with them which was often enough that I remembered my account # by heart they did what they could to help me. but after constantly having the raid fail thus reinstalling the os every couple of months, I just had it. I don't know how's the company now that dell took over, but I just lost faith in their quality control. and now that I know how to build one myself, I will never EVER buy a prebuilt system (unless its a notebook) again. but I understand after plunking down thousands of dollars, you would expect EVERYTHING to be perfect, I would too.

 

Outrigger, that is the problem with knowing how to build a computer, you know its a waste of money to buy a computer part by part than by from a reseller. Now, Alienware knows this and that is why you are no longer a target audiance, Alienware wants the teens who think that an Alienware is a next generation console system that can do anything, and people unfortunatly buy into this. And I may regret doing this, but because Alienware is a semi big company that has an inflated ego, they have to deal with customers who are not sure what is wrong with their boutique machines and give outrageous complaints. Dealing with such complaints over a few years will lead to lower customer service. I mean would you want to deal with some of the problems mentioned?

And true if you spend $xxxx.xx amount of money on a computer you expect it to run flawlessly, but how many people do you think would pass up a simple problem like a dead pixel, or the wrong sets of RAM. I would say at least a few, so it could be thought that they try and take advantage of the customer to gain money, and when they have customers realizing that they just got screwed they have a legal barrier to protect themselves. It is downright immoral but an excellent way to gain profit.

This may be advertisement but if you want quality service goto PortableOne, it seems they are the opposite of Alienware in the service department.

 

there are people like me where they want each and every single component suited to their tastes, including what type of mobo, chipset, heatsink, fans, psus, hard drive, casing, to people like me, this is a hobby where I get a kick out of building my own system, but there are MANY others where they just want a machine to work out of the box thats dummy proof. its inevitable that when a company grows, it becomes more corporate and the "little people" don't have a voice, becaues if you don't want their system, they won't lose sleep over it. its just how it is, just look at dell. I dont like their cs anymore than some people here, but obviously there's a reason why they're so huge.