Warranty Running out on m15x and AW not offering extension

So my one year warranty is rapidly approaching it's expiration date, and I finally called AW to review the problems ( mainboard/ touchpad) I've had with my notebook before I ship it to their service center.

In spite of frequently being placed on hold for long stretches, not to mention the initial wait for a representative, the whole process ran smoothly and was finished in a little over a half hour.

As things were wrapping up, I asked what the cost on extending my warranty would be. Again, I was placed on hold for a moment, and when the gentleman I had been dealing with returned, he informed me all that was available on my notebook was a service plan that included nothing more than continued free tech support calls.

I politely declined the offer, and again asked if there was anything that covered my notebook's parts to which he replied, "No, not at this time."

So has anyone else been experiencing this with pre-dell absorption AW notebooks?

p.s. I'll try to keep the community apprised of my notebooks run through the service center.

 

well, Dell has taken Alienware completely over, and dell doesnt support the old m15x. It only makes sense to stop selling these warranties. Im sorry to say.

You can keep trying, but I doubt youll be successful in extending the warranty

 

I was lucky, got a 2 year additional warranty last May. Came handy too, replaced the 8800 GTX.

 

When Dell finally merged they cut ties with Alienware machines.

Any pre allpowerful series notvooks cannot be offered warranty services due to Dell not having parts or people to fix it

 

Where do you suppose they will source the mobo replacement I'm in need of?

 

They probably prefer to reserve their parts for people with current warranties.

 

IMO time to sell

Getting parts could be an issue down the road

 

They have stock but that's all that's left

 

or you might get a allpowerfull replacement.

 

So I'm sure you've all been holding your breath waiting for me to share my repair experiences.

I shipped my notebook on 2/13. I went to the trouble of loading an image I made of the OS immediately after it's initial unboxing, and replaced the desktop background with explicit pictures and descriptions of my notebook's problems.

I first received it back on 3/2 with a different fresh installation (likely from their recovery partition).

Anyway, while the mainboard had been replaced, and the notebook was no longer randomly changing volume and so on, the touchpad had merely been reseated. And though the travel on the left mouse button had the intermediate click removed, the touchpad still registered false inputs causing erratic cursor movement, and the right side region still did not register anything.

HOW ANYONE COULD MISS THIS IS BEYOND ME.

One angry call to AW later...

Shipped 3/4. Also worth mentioning, when I attempted to repackage the notebook it became obvious that they hadn't merely torn off my box's handle but replaced my original packaging entirely. Normally this really wouldn't matter to me, but the foam surrounds were so mal-fitting that the repair department had stuffed a bunch of extra foam in the box in an attempt to keep it from rattling about.

Received today, 3/24! Different box (with a handle!). Still plenty of extra foam. And Oh, what's this rattling? Ah, the battery has been left disconnected from the notebook and completely without padding. Free to dance about the box and smash it's rigid corners into my notebook. Thanks AW.

Anyway, they replaced the entire top deck of my notebook that surrounds the keyboard. Where once there were scratches, now a beautifully polished surface, and looky looky, a touchpad that works without incident. But wait, why don't any of the resistive touch buttons above the keyboard work?

Not thinking, I had booted using the onboard graphics shortcut (hold right mouse button -- thanks Whizzo ), and did not realize until I had booted into windows that something was awry. Not only were the top row of buttons not working at all, but the keyboard and logo lighting would shut off shortly after windows had finished booting.

Curious.

An attempt to load the Command Center (using the taskbar icon to launch it as the shortcut button was not responding) revealed that the notebook was not receiving instructions from the software.

I decided to put the disassembly on hold, and installed the current version of Command Center from AW's website (BTW AW, thanks for hiding the Command Center install utility in the My Hive section, and not making it easily available for download in the "downloads" section). This quickly revealed the problem with the lighting. The top deck replacement still had the original firmware (1.00.18) and not the necessary upgrade (1.00.33).

SHAME AW, SHAME.

With this resolved, I powered down the notebook, and removed the keyboard. I then reseated all four connections just to be thorough, reassembled, and booted using the power button! HaZaa!!!

Long Exasperating story short, NEVER AGAIN WILL I BUY OR RECOMMEND AN ALIENWARE PRODUCT.

Thanks all for your time, and while I have refocused much of my hatred toward AW, please appreciate how much I still enjoy this community.