Alienware's Warranty

[TheGame]

First I would like to say ive been roaming this forum for a short time now and it is a wonderful place a great deal better then other forums that shall not be named *cough* NBR *cough*. Never the less I thought I would post this to tell people about Alienware's Warranty.

My story begins with a m17x R1 I received it for a gift and like any self respecting gamer I was excited to say the least. The specs on the laptop were a core 2 duo t9600 @ 2.8. 5400 RPM hard drive a Nvidia 260m and a 1920X1200 LCD Screen 4gigs of RAM. Well to save me from typing a whole five pages of info it was giving me problems from the day I received it. Locking up during game play just not a good experience for my first alienware. Luckily I bought a Warranty the day I received it and called Alienware and they sent out a tech to replace the mobo and Video Card and problems still arose. So after reading and rereading my Warranty I found a clause that states that if a tech has been sent to your house more then twice and your PC has been sent to a depot to be fixed and still has issues you are to be issues a replacement (This is not how it was written just in non lawyer speak lol ). As I told alienware this they soon agreed and sent me a replacement

A M17x R2 with the specs of a Core I7 920XM @ 2.0 - 3.2 Turbo a 7200 HDD a AMD 5870 HD and a 1920X1200 RGB screen Nebula Red. I thought wow alienware isent so bad they gave me a huge upgrade well three months past with no issues at all and then a BIOS update came along and as I started to flash mid flash my computer powers off. Anyone in tech knows it is not a good thing I tried to turn it back on and not to my surprise the BIOS chip wasn't working properly. Called Dell they sent a Tech with a replacement for everything Mobo, video card, HDD, RAM you name it. After it would not boot up (bad mobo)

The tech told me a little secret since Dell and alienware a now one and the same alienware call centers are no more unless you can get the one in Costa Rica. This is the only call center thet "Alienware" has that is purely for Alienware laptops not XPS or any other computer. The tech told me how they will go to the ends of the earth to please you. I did not want to go through another month of not having a laptop like I did with my R1 so I called the number and spoke to the gentlemen the tech told me to, after I told him all the trouble I have gone though there was a pause and then the person said "I am So very Sorry Sir" and then he said you have been though more trouble then most people I know. and said here is what I am going to do for you. After about thirty minutes of talking and most of it was about video gaming a order was placed for a M17x R3 Core I7 2630QM @ 2.0 - 2.8 Turbo a Nvidia 580M a Samsung SSD and 8 gigs of dual Channel Ram along with the WLED 1920X1080 screen. The Manager told me he would upgrade me to a higher CPU but by regulations if they give you a max setting on one thing such as the 580m they can not upgrade anything else. (which I was fine with).

After all the talking he told me never to call the 1866 number ever again just to email him and it would get taken care of. Some people might view it has more of a downgrade R2 Vs R3 result but hey the way i see it i have one of the best mobile video cards and a SSD for free thats a good 500 - 800 dollar savings Im good with that. This is my story of how even though some dell reps can be stubborn or just hard headed know your rights as a costumer and always read the warranty.

[mw86]

I feel for you see this is a post of mine in the M18x review thread. Dell has done me bad so far... here's my example. Im sorry its been such a hassle for you too.

I honestly can't believe you don't have it yet. How long has it been on order?BTW, great review guys. I'm using this to compare my M17x with the one in the review. My M17x sits around 25fps at 1920x1200 w/ all high settings except 1xMSAA and 4x ANISOTROPHIC FILTER, no vsync, and no HBAO. Also in GTA 4, at 1600x1200 w/ settings maxed out, it sits around 20fps. WTH is wrong with this thing?

I originally ordered a week or two after the M18x release. It kept getting delayed since then and was supposed to be edd 6/29 after a bunch of delays. Then the order got canceled automatically when the windows home premium item number changed and was no longer in the system. so they orderded with new home premium item number. Plus the SoundBlaster software would be no longer available. Then they reorder with all new edd. So reorder happened on 7/7 and edd was 7/19. Now even just today I check the status and now its 7/22. Its a few days but I've been waiting months through this and the entire exchange process of Dell.

Edit: This was on an exchange for a M17x R2 that was starting to die and same thing 3-4 repairs and I demanded exchange.

[TheGame]

Yea we all pay a great deal for these laptops one repair is to many! and on another note one thing that i always try to do when dell screws up always try to get something because of it

Edited July 17, 2011 by TheGame

[mw86]

I'm trying to get the dual 6990m in it because of all these delays for the price difference of what I payed for dual 6970m. $400 for 2x6970m and $500for 2x6990m. I want to pay the $100.

[TheGame]

one thing i have learned is talking to managers to get things done alot faster and i think if you keep calling different managers different results!

[mw86]

Well I am with a specific rep that a manager assigned to me to follow the entire case through with me.

[TheGame]

Yea I would recommend anyone to have a specific manager to follow your case (well if you like the manager that is)

[Avocent]

Yea I would recommend anyone to have a specific manager to follow your case (well if you like the manager that is)

Good to know they care about there customers, my M17x R3 should be here Tuesday, Fingers crossed.

[mw86]

Good to know they care about there customers, my M17x R3 should be here Tuesday, Fingers crossed.

I hope you receive it in perfect condition. Good luck.

[Avocent]

I hope you receive it in perfect condition. Good luck.

Thanks mw86 it came in yesterday and so far I am extremely happy with the purchase, I have tried almost all the ports and as many features that I could think of so far and everything seems to be good. I still need to hook it up to my 360 and make sure the HDMI connection is working but so far so good.

[mw86]

Thanks mw86 it came in yesterday and so far I am extremely happy with the purchase, I have tried almost all the ports and as many features that I could think of so far and everything seems to be good. I still need to hook it up to my 360 and make sure the HDMI connection is working but so far so good.

That's great to hear. Hope it proves to be very dependable. Definitely try some games if you play them and a bunch of apps. Make sure it functions on battery etc.