Dell XPS M1730 Owner's Lounge, Take 2

deeznizzels,

I 100% agree with what everyone hear has shared with you. You've got to be tough and demanding with Dell's supposed Corporate Office Resolution Dept. The guy that called me from that dept was actually from India. He tried at first to tell me what I was going to have to accept which was the XPS 1640 but I promptly informed him not only no but heck no and told him that only an Alienware M17x with similar specs to my current XPS M1730 would work as a true Gaming laptop for a Gaming laptop exchange! I just checked the status of my order. The system in my signature is set to be delivered on 10/1/09. Demand what you want and tell them what you won't settle for!

 

deeznizzels,

I'm not sure whether or not you live in the USA like myself, but Dell just settled out of court with 34 State Attorney Generals for doing exactly what they did to you by not honoring your warranty. Believe me when I say that Dell doesn't want any more complaints to any State AG's Office anytime soon. My state was one of the 34 who sued Dell. Don't be overly concerned about getting what's fair. As I told my Dell Rep from India, the XPS 1640 is not a gaming laptop with all the whistle and bells as such like the one I currently have. Plus I told him that it wasn't my fault that Dell decided to no longer make my XPS M1730. He had no choice but to offer me a comparable AW M17x in exchange. He capitulated!

 

Dellinator - When did they process your order? Mine is "in production" as of 9/22 with no updates. I know they take a while but yours seems to have happened fairly quickly.

 

cueball12,

They just updated my order on 9/25/09, yesterday, otherwise it would have been delivered on 9/30/09. They had to make some internal account adjustments. Perhaps mine is quicker because the system that I accepted is pretty close in specs to the one I currently have which I think is fair. I bought my current system off Dells outlet refirb site a year ago and now I'm getting a brand new AW M17x as a replacement due to video problems like everyone else here. My current XPS M1730 is good but it doesn't have the high end processor and graphics card in SLI. My replacement as you can see is pretty straight forward. Kudos to those of you that invested a lot in your XPS M1730's. You should get the higher end AW as a replacement. Plus, I can be a bit of a pain in the as_ as a customer. I know how to politely and firmly get what I think is fair as long as I know my facts first!

 

In case some of you don't know where to go to check your replacement system order status do the following.

Go to the following link:
https://support.dell.com/support/order/status.aspx?c=us&cs=19&l=en&s=dhs&~ck=anavml

On the first line put in your order number and on the second select customer number, enter it and wallah. You have your current status as well as expected ship date.

 

That suit you are referring to is what made me contact their support once more and see if they would play that same "well even if you have previous chats showing you as the owner and information from dell tag team that the ownership has been xferred, F YOU BUDDY" game that they ran on me before. I did write a letter informing the supervisor of the technical differences in parts and he cancelled my 1640 request and said he would put through an alienware request and see what happens. I am very well versed with hardware parts being that I am a tech and build computers regularly so I broke the differences down to him in the letter. Also finding this site and sites like this also show that they are abusing people that are not in the "know" and trying to skip out on their obligations to exchange systems out with a comparable one if not better then the current one. XPS 1640 is a 16" multimedia machine the xps 1730 is a 17" gaming machine thats the (non technical explination) It ridiculous when you think about the fact that as a customer you have to point this out to them and to their attention how much of a downgrade this is. PS, I am in FL, U.S.A.

 

I have never spoken to any one other then their Indian reps.

 

Don't mean to come off strong, but even GDDR3 4870s are plenty strong. Look at the numbers and calculate the FLOPs. Theoretically, these should own even the 280m.

However, benchmarks seem to be an often bad representation of what cards can and cannot do on paper. This is why I state time and again that ATi cards, while better, lack support and good drivers. Not to mention, companies tend to favour nvidia by removing features that ATi cards can excel at - Assassin's Creed.

As for speaking with Indain reps. Well, to be honest, even here in U.K. you'll get actual U.K.-based Indian reps with educated Indian accents. My case manager is based in U.K.

 

deeznizzels,

I couldn't agree with you more. You're right, they prey on those who aren't in the know to push off their inferior replacements systems. Most of those are refurbished crap from what I hear. I too live in Florida. If I'm not mistaking, since we live in Florida, we don't have to abide by Dell's insistence on going thru arbitration if we don't choose. I believe I read that in the Dell warranty information during my research stage of this ordeal. Please correct me if I'm wrong, but this means we could hire attorney, etc, and take them to jury trial if necessary. Well, hopefully Dell is smarter than that though. Just like Insurance companies, no big company want to go before a jury trial. No telling how many in the jury have been pissed at them due to poor Customer Service on their own Dell systems. Hmmmmmmm

 

Kade Storm,

That must have been the case with my Indian Rep from Corporate Dell. He defiantly had an Indian accent and was perhaps UK based because he too came across as very educated, etc. Even though he started off telling me what I was going to have to accept, he did tell me after hearing my story that he too as a consumer would not expect to receive a replacement inferior to what he already currently had for a laptop. He asked if he could call me back within 24hrs I guess so he could look my case over and find out what was going on. He called back on time and advised that he would send me out the Alienware replacement system in my signature file. No more arguments with him. Dell must be forcing these people to push off the inferior first before giving up the ship and sending out the Alienware replacements for the XPS M1730. Dell would do much better to just ahead and allow them to do this in the first place instead of putting everyone through such a horse and pony show!

 

deeznizzels,

When I first began calling the XPS support line, I was fortunate enough to get guys from the Philippines on the line. They really understood not only English but were much more empathetic and understanding to my concerns. The only problems was that they couldn't provide me specifics on when, how, where, etc. my system would be replaced. That's why I had to send out the EECB to all the top Execs at Dell in order to get their attention. I also filled out Dell's online dissatisfaction form too. Either way, I was contacted by my Corporate Rep approx 2 1/2 hrs later. The rest is history!

 

I really dont care about them being from India, although I always deal with indian reps from India, I was just responding to the previous post. In the U.S. we can have U.S. based support and probably speak to U.S. based Indian reps but are charged an extra fee for that. I also would never question their intelligence because of an accent or their race, unless they were mexican, Just kidding, that was a joke, No offense to anyone.

 

. . .my partial-ancestor's vengeance will rain down upon you, Deeznizzels.

But seriously, my only issue with India-based reps is the communication problems, which I've had in the past. This is why I make distinctions by referring to certain accents as 'educated'. To me, it's perfectly cool so long as they know what the customer is saying, and they're able to reply back in a sincere and articulate manner that doesn't reek of 'script'.

Some of the best, most eloquent English-speakers I know are Indians, and some of the worst English-speakers I know are your very 'English-bred' chavs. So yeah, this whole 'race-issue' is a bloody joke in my books.

 

I contacted support again today and was informed that a request for an mx17 was placed and I am just awaiting approval from the exchange dept, I hope that is just a formality. I will be contacted soon with an exchange offer, I guess this is where you guys started running into the issues with what system they are willing to give?

 

Mention to them that the issue with the 8800M nvidia cards have long plauged the m1730 which is why they stopped shipping them with those cards a long time ago. they have always sold 8700's then added the 8800's but quickly removed them. 8800's have been known to have extremely high failure rates just google 8800m gtx failure and you will see tons and tons of pages. Good luck with that, I was also given the magical date of October 5th and quickly contacted support.

 

Your handling of the case seems similar to mine, they told me they placed a request for the mx17 but it was not 100%, did the supervisor or rep you were working with make you the offers or were you dealing with a seperate dept/rep?

 

Kade, when I originally mentioned I was pissed I talked to someone with an Indian accent, I did not mean to turn it into a racist one. I'm merely mad that even the HIGHER ups like Corporate are also outsourced to another country. I don't hate Indians (in fact I dated one once), I hate the situation I'm being put in: talking with people from an entirely different country, whose English skills are lackluster and won't understand all my colloquialisms, and are used to but not happy to be dealing with frustrated American consumers who don't know their harddrive from a hole in the ground.

It is nerve-wracking because when one goes through to Corporate, one assumes they'll be talking to people genuinely interested in helping resolve the case. This was NOT the case for me, and was traumatically reminiscent of talking to the typical Tech Support, as I too got the Studio 16 recommendation (except he made up a new product I never heard of, the Studio XPS 17), so I felt the whole process of getting what I wanted through persistence was all to failure. I am discouraged and angry.

 

For US Based customers, if you are hitting a brick wall with XPS Support, be sure to use the Unresolved Issues link (Tech Support) on the main dell.com page - @ the bottom of the page. This is the route I used. You will receive an initial email response - if you want to speak with someone you have to request a call back.

 

Don´t see that the 8800m GTX has a high failure rate. However the 8600m GT has high failure rates.

 

The g84/g86 chip fiasco is a different failure entirely. That was "allegedly" addressed some 13 months after the issue was originally leaked on nVidia's part. The 8800's have their own failure rate incidences, and it varies across the board from manufacturer to manufacturer. There are different generations of it too that we're not clued into that could provide variety of experiences.

I attribute most of the 8800's original failures to the ridiculous BIOS timings for the fans in the old BIOS'es and the lack of powermizer. It took a while for that to reach us. And then, after a while, we're getting refurb cards. And well, let's just say since I refurb my own cards, the shelf life isn't very good.

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By the way, I know you can't talk much, but give me your honest opinion: should I get the new Operation Flashpoint? It looks like something I could get addicted to online if I like online war gaming. Are the controls crisp?

 

according to the dell manager i spoke to there are approximately 120 people waiting for 8800m`s replacement at this time .
Also i was contacted by someone in head office yesterday saying my m1730 would be fixed by Wednesday according to my case notes which will be fine (i like my m1730 ) this has yet to be seen ofc if not they will replace my system.
As for a m17x i can wait for that in a future failure. one question should i ask for my warranty to be extended by the month+ i`m still without my pc?

 

I dont mean to sound rude here.As a lot of people are fighting the power so to speak, But at the end of day, dell are giving people brand new higher spec'd laptops in replacement of old ones even up to 3-4 years old. Sure its a battle but the fact is dell are (after much arm twisting) willing to replace these systems with brand new m17x's. Keep the faith, if you call them, they will come (with m17x's) lol

 

You are right, honestly there are times when I would game and have lower temps then when the laptop was idling????what ?????yeah you heard that right. Here is some reading on the issues, I found this in a thread posted on here actually tittled 8800 could fail, lol .

http://www.tomshardware.com/news/Nvidia-GPU-failure,6248.html

http://www.consumeraffairs.com/news04/2008/08/nvidia.html

I got the second link

 

Is this your first replacement part on your 1730? If your getting something back by this Wed you must have been the next in line of those 120 people because from what I read on this thread there have been people that have been promised their stuff only to have it pushed back several times. My date was the 5th of October. I would ask for a month back but who knows? I too also like my 1730 but after having the same gpu (8800m gtx) fail me a total of 4 times going through 2 processors (x9000, 2.8 extreme) a mother board and heatsink. Honestly, I was going to sell my 1730, take my loss after the repair and just have a private boycott of Dell but if I do get a fair exchange I will most likely use Dell as my laptop provider for years to come only because when I have not had to jump through hoops and supervisors (verifying my ownership) for something to happen the support has been good and by that I mean replacing parts not their actual tech support who try to blame issues on software before admiting a hardware issue

Good luck

 

I was offered an Alienware replacement after refusing the workstation latpop. I said as long as he's referring to the M17x then I'd agree with him. He then took about 30 minutes to create the request and configure the system. He told me that as long as they do not have any 1730's available, then I should be getting the Alienware. I checked back 2 days later to get the order information - and that's when I discovered the error w/the processor selection.

There was no supervisor involved, and no separate department/transfers.

 

I asked that very question and was told no. I even went so far as to say that if I bought a car and it was sitting at the dealership for a month, they would have to extend my warranty by that period. No dice.

 

Something weird just happened.
I was playing Crysis and after a hour of intensive gaming, the display just become black for 4 or 5 times (just like I was switching SLI on or off) and then remained in that way (only the backlight was on, the screen surface was black).
Right then, I pressed ctrl + shift + esc and stopped the crysis.exe service. Then everything was good.
I had Hardware Monitor on so I monitored the temps. There is a printscreen with it: http://img43.imageshack.us/img43/9823/hwmon.jpg
My room temperature is quite high.
Some details: I have the 186.81 driver and run Windows7 RTM. I haven't pached Crysis or changed anything. I run Crysis at 1920/1200, AA off and everything set on high and DX10. It runs well.
Did anyone experienced this? Should I be worried?
When I seen that, my heart just stopped beating...

 

I've been approved for a M17x replacement, but the supervisor is telling me it takes 5 days for them to get the spec's of the replacement system. Once he has the spec's he will then call me so we can review them and agree on them. Has anyone else had to wait 5 days after approval?

 

I was told to wait 10 days. After 12 days, I contacted Dell tech and found out that they were making a totally different system. So 12 days of time wasted.

I would suggest you contact Dell 2 days after your last contact and request an update - by then they should have an order number you can use to track the system.

 

Dude, don't worry about that, because I wasn't even addressing you. My post was more general, and some of my statements were made as an attempt to cover my own @$$ because sometimes, I come off as being a bit intolerant of other cultures and associated accents. Yes, it's very true that I don't like certain accents and certain cultural norms, but I try not to hold it against their right to exist. Just that aesthetically speaking, some things don't work too well for me, so I indirectly mock 'em and then compensate for that mockery by making broad statements. Sorry.

I read up on your situation, and man, does it suck! Hell, mine's terrible as well, because I am getting no response from anyone. Even to me, it's annoying when people don't understand or respond well. I was just stating that perhaps, your corporate guy might be U.S.-based. Not saying it's good, but just that it might be possible. Even I thought mine was based in India, but turned out to be U.K.-based.

 

My system exchange request for a replacement to the M1730 was submitted on 09/21 via the online support chat. It was approved by a manager on 09/25 and I got a call today (09/28) from the exchange department saying that an order number would be generated soon, and I should have the replacement system in less than 2 weeks. She also told me that she would call me again once another update comes along.

 

You beat me by a Day. My System replacement request was sent up 09/22 at about 9 PM.

I went though 6 power bricks. I made it very clear that if this happened again, I want a new system. Which the woman (Indian) honored.

When you initially were put in for a system exchange, did they ask you what you wanted?

Because she only said, I dont know what they will give you, but it will be the same or better. I made the expectation that I require a 17 Inch Screen, SLI for gaming, and a backlit keyboard. So I'm hoping to hear good news soon...

I have went though this whole system exchange thing before, and boy oh boy, I don't know whats worse... the agrovation factor, or the fact that left hand does not know what right hand is doing.

I hope my chain of events is like yours, does anyone have any pointers? I need to call them tonight becuase I never got the email after the initial call..

 

I asked if she knows what system I will be getting and she said the same thing. It would be the same or better. Hopefully they don't try to give me a SXPS 16, or I will be giving them a call.

 

No worries man. I too was covering my butt. I'm not getting any responses either. "Joseph" the guy from Corporate offered me a replacement 1730 last week and after rehashing with him why that wasn't appropriate about ten times, I hung up on him. It's now in my court, and since I didn't have time today, I'll have to do some more of my own calling around tomorrow. It seems a Corporate carpet bomb email does not work after you get a response. I guess it appears on their system NOT to respond to the user's email if someone already has it chalked up on the system. This is garbage. What if I hate my Corporate guy LOL?! That's my current situation.

And I don't understand why they would have US based Indian reps? Maybe I'm just being real ignorant, but I thought they outsource the jobs because it's cheaper? Why would I once again be talking to more reps with Indian accents who live in US, or more specifically, Texas?

 

Save yourself some time and don't wait for a bs offer and put in the request for an mx17 because besides giving you another 1730 that is the only machine that they currently sell that is comparable. That is what my rep told me and when I probed thats when he hit me with that well most people are given the 1640.

 

From what I can tell from these tech support reps, they don't seem to have any impact on what is going to be offered.

I explained I need a SLI capable device, backlit keyboard, and a 17 inch screen capable of 1900x1200. The first rep I spoke to stated she will note my demands. These stats alone point directly to either a new 1730 or an m17x

I said I need one of those 2 devices.

But who do you reccomend I put this request in with, these damn people are like talking to walls.

7-21 business days.... same or better system.... sounds like a damn parrot.

 

Is the 1730 discontinued ?? as Dell are still selling it on their website? My 1730 has just died today and I have dual 9800GTX's so I want those replaced

 

Ask for a supervisor, with issues such as these ask for a supervisor. Keep all your transcripts for proof

 

Depends where you are, In the US it is no longer available. Alienware has taken over their gaming platform.

 

Well I did a chat with them before to get the missing email.

The person on the other end made it clear that the XPS Studio 16 is more powerful then the XPS 1730. But when I mentioned the other perks of the 1730.... like the lights... bl keyboard....he mysteriously had nothing to say!


I am going to give them until thursday, then i'm going to call them, and im going to esclate past the tier 1. That is 7 Business Days. more then enough time.

He assured me that someone from the exchange group will call me... even though this is the 3rd time I have exchanged these machine 1710-1710-1730 and every time they have f'd up. I even got to Corporate Escalations the first time.

 

Yeah Alienware in the states took over the XPS line. Theres a few.... XPS machines left... but the only XPS laptop is the studio xps 16 which is like a standard studio with a few gimmics.... nothing like the XPS laptops...

 

Just got off the phone with a representative, said proper replacement video cards are coming in on the 5th of October and that if not then that he will see on finding a replacement laptop for me.

He then mentioned that the replacement would be a xps 16 because the alienware is considered a different company.

I don't have the high end 1730 like some of you do, only have 8700sli... well did before the card started to up, T8300 core 2 duo 2.4 GHz, 1920x1200 WUXGA, 4gb ram, 200gb HD, bluetooth

Do you think the xps 16 is a fair swap?

 

I would have LOL'd over the chat repeatedly and then asked him to back up that statement, its like saying a 2009 3 series is better then a 2008 7 series. It may have newer parts but the better processor they come with is a 1.66 quad core which virtually nothing uses that unless you are a graphic artist and from what I see you dont have an option of really updating the graphics card, also the highest resolution you can get on it is a 1080 while the 1730 sports a nice 1900x1200 native resolution.

 

XPS 1640 for even the most modest 1730 is a downgrade plain and simple. From what I have gathered October 5th is just the current stall date. Numerous people here have been given dates only to be told that it has been back ordered once that date comes.

 

went in to have my 8800 gtx's replaced. came back with 8700's and nothing about that on the work order at all, no one asked if i would settle for the 8700's or anything, they just did it... replaced the screen even though mine was perfect with a terrible lite leakage pos with several dead pixels... numerous scratches and broken bits... and it was at depot for almost 2 months....

so furious......

 

Wodstock,

I know that really pisses you off to the extreme. It would me too. They offered to take my M1730 in to repair or replace and I chose replace since I'd heard horror stories of what pos they send back to people on other boards. Dang it appears as if it just keeps getting worse and worse. Dell's support/repair people aren't very good and they're working with crap for parts. I told my Rep that Dell should've thought further ahead before completely shutting down their XPS M1730 production since they might have to replace many while still under warranty. Send it back and demand an M17x!

 

it is so scary, i have had the worst luck with depot, not once did they ever fix what was actually broken...

and even scarier is my 8800's are probably going in some poor 1730 owners machine and they will call it done... they basically stole my gpu...

i am demanding an m17x it better be tricked out too

 

Exactly, no more mr nice woodstock, get a supervisor on the case. That would have me soooooo mad. I am so glad I have the in home repair, the guy has come by so much were on a very friendly first name basis. When the tech come by we just sit there and tell stories about how horrible the tech support and refurbished parts are. They tried to get me to send it in once and I was like uhhhhhh, im good on that, I have heard too many horror stories and those pics just confirmed my fears. They are really testing people. Good luck with that man as for me im still waiting on an exchange offer, Anyone know how long the approval process takes?

 

i tried to just get the tech out but they refused... very frustrating

 

You paid for an 'SLI System' which means you should receive an 'SLI System' as a replacement. All that you have to keep repeating.

@woodstock:
That is really something... Man, I would be beyond furious. Did you speak with a manager or just the Tier 1 tech?