bnosam

I spoke with the Head of Consumer business on the phone. We came to an agreement,so this issue is resolved as long as things go based on what he said. I'm pleased with the resolution.

My experience with this company: I am an electrical engineering student and I enjoy the kinda geek culture look a bit so I wanted an Alienware, kinda makes sense right? They look cool to me and they're good computers (so I thought). All in all I spent about $2500 on the laptop. I went through hell trying to buy the laptop, sales people refused to call me to help me order it, denied they had phones. I had to go into chat every day for a week, spending hours a day talking to agents. Some even told me they don't have phone numbers (this was a lie). Eventually I connected to a guy and we haggled and I bought it. He told me the matte screen was as good as a glossy screen since I told him glossy screens hurt my eyes because I strain focusing them (they aren't as clear and defined compared to glossy). He guaranteed this wouldn't happen to me. Also told me I would have the laptop before the 10th of Feb (I ordered it Jan 23rd). So I bought it and then I got e-mails from him giving me forms related to the purchase. I e-mailed him multiple times asking him what they were for and he told me he'd call me. He never called me. So I went into chat the next few days to talk to him, he would avoid me. So I got agents to connect me to him and he said he would arrange a call soon. So he got someone else to call me. I asked the agent to get me the other guy and he told me he wasn't available. So eventually trying, I got a hold of him and we got this straightened out (he never replied to any more of my e-mails). So my order was in "Order processing" for almost a week. I called asking why it took so long after 3 days and they told me they were verifying payment. I told them I paid and it went through, she told me it was a glitch in their system and they'd call me back to escalate the issue. So over the next 3 days I talked to 5-6 agents who each told me it wasn't escalated and they'd escalate it for me. Eventually I got sick of it and told them to fix it or I'm canceling. So they said they'd fix it for me and call me back. 1 hour later it was in pre-processing and I had a call back saying it was a glitch in the system and it got pushed through. So it came to about Feb 1st and I chatted with them seeing what was taking so long to go anywhere. I made this call at least 10 times, all guaranteeing to expedite it (even had a few managers say this) and I asked on each call if it was expedited and they told me no, but they would submit it. Each time I was told they'd give me a call back to let me know what was going on and said I would get a text message when the laptop shipped (I never received a message when it shipped.) So I had two parts to the order, the laptop and a mouse. The mouse shipped first and it was scheduled to be delivered. It got marked by the service as "Wrong address". Somehow, they got the address I wrote to them wrong. Turns out the agent left off the apartment number. I made 10+ calls to fix this, nothing was changed in the system, it still has this error. So when I have a parcel from them I have to call the shipping company, who then notifies Dell, then I have to call Dell and tell them to call the shipping company. Sounds not so bad, but I have to literally call Dell 4 times to get an agent who will actually call them NOW. The laptop was still in production on the 5th, so I called alienware again and talked to a bunch of agents. I was told everything from "it's in the final stages and it’s going to ship tomorrow" to "it'll ship next week." etc. I eventually got it on the 11th. I played around with it and used it, it was good but it rattled like there was something loose inside. But it messed up, it was shutting down on me for no reason randomly. Found out that there was a break in the mother board, and pieces were rattling around in it. So I called tech support who helped diagnose and told me it is overheating. I told him it was a break in the motherboard, he told me it sounds more like overheating. I told him the temperatures didn't go over 50 Celsius. He told me oh that's strange. I told him "I don't mean to be rude, but I'm not an idiot when it comes to computers and electricity, I'm an electrical engineering student, I know how to take apart computers and look at circuits, THE BOARD is BROKEN". He said ok then told me he would get a replacement built and sent to me but I have to send the machine I have no back to them before they do anything. I told him to wait and I wasn't going to confirm anything until I talked to someone else (another agent who helped me prior). He said ok and that he wouldn't send anything and he would call me back the next night. He never called me back, instead he sent the ticket. I got multiple e-mails saying the laptop has to be sent back and they're going to build me a new one. The agent I had help me before told me he would tell them I can keep the half functional laptop I have now and send it back when I get a new one. So the lady with the "Dispute Expert Team" told me she would have me a new machine built and it would take 2-3 weeks. I told them I was mad because i should have a working machine and now I have to wait for a new one to be built. She asked me if i wanted a new one built and I said I'm not sure yet, why should I give you a second chance? She gave me an answer and told me they would make it right. I told her to make it right at this point, I would need more than what ws given to me. She offered an upgrade. She offered me the glossy screen and RAM upgrade since my eyes strained from the Matte screen. So I said I didn't need the RAM because I have my own in my other laptop. I suggested the CPU upgrade and she said she would send the request. A few hours later she replied saying my request was approved so I asked her about the screen since I was more concerned about that because of my eyes. She told me she would look into it. She emailed me back a few hours later saying the CPU was denied but she made a mistake so I wasn't getting it. She told me she would try another request for the screen + RAM but I'd have to wait 3 days because of the weekend. So I said ok since she said she'd e-mail me at the beginning of her day. (Before this I talked to her on the phone a bit too about other things). She didn't reply, so I sent her an e-mail during the last 30 mins of her shift and she told me "oh I was just going to write you now!" I said "cool what news do you have? She told me the upgrade was not approved and that the laptop was already built with the same specs and was going to be shipped. I was furious, I told her I did NOT confirm I wanted the build, I told you multiple times NOT to rebuild because I wasn't going to be available if it shipped soon. I was going to confirm a build ONLY if I could have it delivered AFTER my vacation. She got very rude with me telling me I should be happy with the resolution or I can get a refund. I was told a refund would take 3-4 weeks because of having to send laptops back, plus the new one to come in the mail etc. I told her she dropped the ball because I was dissatisfied. She told me they had no obligation to give me anything more than a spec-for-spec replacement and that she was pleased that I got the replacement and that I should be happy. She offered me the RAM again saying she would have it sent to me. I asked to speak to her manager. She ignored me and replied telling me that "Well if you are so unhappy with the product, you should just get a refund." I told her in another e-mail "Send me your manager's details I want to speak to them or have them contact me." She never replied and no manager contacted me. Round 2: I contacted the facebook support. They basically told me the same thing, they have a policy not to do upgrades for replacements (you know this is a lie because you have a lot of stories on the forum to the contrary). I asked to speak with a manager. A manager called me and was VERY rude to me. He said "You have two options, take the replacement or get a refund. You will not get anything more from anyone, we have no obligation to you now, you will not get anything more, it doesn't matter." I got firm back at him and he told me basically if I wasn't happy then he can't do anything and then he said good bye and hung up. Honestly, these aren't the only people I've talked to, I've talked to A LOT more and had the same crap happen. I just left it out to be brief (I know this is a long message, still). So after all of this crap, I talked to more people got nowhere. (BTW the shipment for the spec for spec replacement is on its way, the address is wrong and I won't even be here to receive it, so that's kinda funny). I got a random PM on the forum from a member here who said he knows I was having issues with Alienware. He gave me the e-mail of the president of Dell Canada. I sent the president an e-mail saying (just re-iterating the above, feel free to skip reading the e-mail): He actually replied back to me within 3 hours and said: So I ended up in contact with Bill, the Consumer Business for Canada! He was really cool, gave me his phone number and said: So I was contacted by a lady who worked for Dell's Resolution Team. This seemed promising, she asked me a bunch of questions and took down what I was promised and said she would get info on this for me to see what they can do. I told her the best times to contact me. She confirmed that they should not have sent a laptop without my confirmation first, also. She told me to refuse the package from the company over the phone since I would not be available to receive it. She called me back the next day and said she needed to do more research, so she would call back the next day. She never called so I called and she wasn't available so a manager told me he would get her to call me. So she called me that night when I told her I was not available, she left a message saying she woudl call me back the next morning. I didn't get a call back so I called 4 hours after her shift began and was told she was busy so she would call me back by the end of the day. I told the guy that was not acceptable and she should call back sooner since I'm unavailable. He said she'd call in two hours or sooner. 3 hours later I called and got connected to her... She told me they can't upgrade because it is a dell policy not to do upgrades for models in stock (another lie, they've done this before, credible people have said so on the forum they got upgrades). So I told her this wasn't true and the executives I talked to told me I would get what I asked for. She told me executives can't break policy so they can't do anything for me. She asked who I spoke to, so I gave her the names and she didn’t know who they were. So I had to tell her they were the president of Dell Canada and Consumer Business Head. I asked for her manager and she refused. She told me I was her only point of contact at this point and I will have to talk to her from now on regardless. She told me there is nothing I can do because I have what I'm getting. I told her ok bye, I'll go talk to the executives again. I sent Bill another e-mail telling him what happened, told him how I'm completely unsatisfied I am and how disappointing this has been. Bill hasn’t replied to this e-mail. It has been about 5 days since I sent it. I have issues with my anxiety disorder and depression and Alienware have made this a hell. I told him that too. TIMELINE : ORDER Jan 23rd RECEIVED Feb 11th CALLED TECH SUPPORT Feb 11th EMAILED PRESIDENT FEB 20th DEALT WITH RESOLUTION PEOPLE Feb 20th This was a brief breakdown, the actually complete story Is longer than this with more horrific interactions, but this is the basis of my complaint. I wasn't going to go public with my story, I was going to give them some time to find a good resolution, however they don't appear at this point to be willing to even try. This experience has helped spawn the website in my signature. So at this point I'm not sure where else to go, but I may speak with a lawyer to determine if I have a course of action.

Didn't some of nvidias drivers also affect the overclocking of the 8xxm series in addition to the 9xxm?

I wish I could say the same. I've only experience pure horror from both Dell and Alienware.

It's quite a shame that AMD hasn't evolved to get with the program enough yet.

At this point, I honestly hope so. For a rep to come out and say they listened to us, then have this happen would be VERY serious sneaking and lying.

I own one of the new models. After a lot of stress getting the sales team to talk to me and get things right, I spent hours on the phone. Then a lot of issues arose during each stage after. Then I got my laptop in the mail, it was broken. Long story short, the customer service was rude and I can't say anything nice about this company. It seems their service in the past used to be good but not now, so I guess I have to give them and their new line up of laptops a poor review here.

Can you narrow down at all where the smell is coming from exactly on the laptop the strongest?