On the first of April my computer HDD died. I called Alienware as I had a three year extended warranty and asked if there was anything they could do. For several hundred dollars they could attempt to recover the data is all they said. I said no thanks, and proceeded to weigh my options. On the 15th of April I called Alienware and asked for a replacement HDD. The customer support representative insisted that I remove the HDD from the caddy and run a diagnostic test to determine that the HDD was the problem.in the process of this he told me incorrectly that everything was alright and the caddy could be removed and as a result the caddy cracked.
I then asked them to send me a new HDD and a new caddy as they are both covered under my extended warranty. I was told that this would be no problem and the parts would arrive in 5-7 business days and all would be well. Seven days later I called back again and was told "oh jeez, that's a problem, lets wait 2-3 more days. Three days later I called back and asked where my parts were, and why they hadn't arrived yet. I was told that they were in the process of moving my parts from Florida to Texas and that it would take up to 1 month for me to receive them. I found this to be unacceptable, as I had already been waiting for over a week for the parts. I asked to speak to a manager and was told multiple times "we don't have a manager."
I called back the next day to see about the parts and spoke to a very nice woman who got on the phone with the people in Texas. She then told me that if the part was not delivered they would upgrade me to a larger HDD and send that (I was currently waiting for a 160gig drive.) The part shipped the next day, and arrived the day after that, but did not contain a caddy. I called and reported that there was no caddy, and explained that my old caddy was cracked and therefore unusable without voiding the warranty. I spoke with a man who spent an hour looking for the caddy part and finally told me he had found the part # and would order for me and it would be there in "3-5 days". I never received an order # or confirmation so I called the next day and was informed that NO ORDER for a CADDY had been placed at all. This man said that he would order the caddy and send it to me.
I waited for a week and then called back to inquire about the caddy. I was again told that they were moving stuff from Florida to Texas and that it would take a while. I asked to speak with a manager and was told that none was available.
I filed a complaint with the BBB against Alienware for failure to maintain the terms put forth in its warranty. The next day I called Alienware to inform them of the complaint, and the man said I should send him my computer and they would fix it. I explained that I was not going to send them the new HDD that they had sent me and my computer to them because then I would be stuck with nothing but a powersupply and a dead HDD. I said I would be happy to send them the new drive back once they fixed the problem but that I was not going to be left with less than I started with. I was told twice, once by the customer support representative, and once by his manager that this was perfectly acceptable. The apologized and I mailed my computer to Alienware. They estimated it would take 5 days to get the computer to Texas, fixed, and mailed back to me.
In two days I got an email from a woman named Susan Thomas ([email protected]) and was asked repeatedly for a service tag number. I explained three times that there was no service tag, it never had a service tag, and that the Alienware M17 was not made with a service tag. I gave her my Acct. Number several times before finally being told that I would get a call from someone that dealt with Alienware problems.
Two days later I received an EMAIL from a Javier Davalos ([email protected]) stating that he dealt with Alienware support problems and would help me. I asked him for an ETA for the return of my computer and he said that he did not know, and was unable to give me a date. When I explained that this was unacceptable, he claimed that it would generally take between 7-10 days to fix (completely different from what I was told by the customer support representative).
It has now been 49 days since I first ordered the new HDD and Caddy for my computer. Alienware is in possession of my computer, and I have been told that there are delays and back orders and they do not know when my computer will be returned to me.
Computer specs:
Alienware m17
2.4ghz DC processor
2 512 mb ATI cards
160 gig HDD
3 gig of RAM
running Windows 7 Home premium.
Do not purchase from Dell or Alienware, as they're goal is to promise you things until you pay, and then never speak to you again. I have been lied, transferred, and hung up on more times than I can count. When I asked for numbers for corporate or for an Agent of Service contact info I was told there was no such thing. This company is a scam. Purchasing an Alienware is like purchasing a Ferrari from a Chevy dealer.
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