ecomdan

Alienware? Evil? Am I talking out my arse?

No.

Ensure that you are seated comfortably, for if you choose to read much further you will surely be engrossed it what will be a lengthy and tragic tale.

About a year ago, I had an awful lot more money than I do right now. So I decided what better way to prepare for a future of very little money than to spend all the money I have on the most powerful portable gaming pc that my currently above average affluence would afford.

Naturally, any friends I had at the time with even the remotest interest in computers fell to the ground instantly and died of jealousy. I suddenly found myself alone, but it was okay 'cause I had a brand new cyborg green friend.

A few weeks after we became aquainted, I decided to watch a DVD on my laptop. During a particularly dark scene, I noticed a little bright patch at the side of the screen. "Oh dear, a light leak." I exclaimed.

Actually I wasn't too bothered, but the next day I ran a color test program and noticed a few shadows aswell. This wouldn't do at all. Then the battery refused to charge itself when the mains was plugged in. And then the CD Drive decided that spinning discs was too much like hard work. No, no, no.... this would not do at all.

I returned my laptop for the first time in autumn last year, and asked the nice men at alienware if they wouldn't mind changing my screen, my cd drive, and battery. They said they would be absolutely thrilled to. I said thanks.

Its so long ago I forget how long it took, but I think it a month or so passed before I saw my precious pc again.

Abscence making the heart grow fonder and all, I was understandably eager to get right back onto the streets of Vice City and hurt people.

No sooner than the mostly black loading screen for Windows XP, I spy a familiar little bright patch... windows loads up, I change the background to an in-betweeny greish blue kind of colour, and lo and behold all them little shadows are still there!

Following an enquiry to Customer Services, I was assured that the CS Representative I dealt with had seen the screen being changed himself.

Right.

I'm just seeing things then. Just making it up for my own amusement. Or I'm on acid.

I'm not.

I decided not to just call the guy a liar, because thats not a very nice thing to do. I accepted my crappy screen and took solace in the fact that my CD-Drive was working, and that my battery would charge.

A few months of contented gaming passed, until Far Cry came out.

Shortly before the games release I had noticed that a fair few DVD movies wouldn't play in my laptop. I'd hear a whirring, then a click as the disc stopped spinning. This would continue to happen and the drive would read as empty. I just put it down to dodgy rental discs.

But when Far Cry went through the same whirr-click tomfoolery I was having none of it.

"That CD-Drive is bolloxed" I said.

You do know that by CD drive I do mean CDRW/DVD drive dont you? I just cant be arsed writing that the whole time. Just so you aren't thinking "Ha that stupid fool thinks he can play dvd's in a cd drive" fuckit I'm rambling now... back to the point!

At this point in time (shortly after the release of Far Cry) I was once again wealthy. For whatever reason, I had more money than I could count on a hundred peoples fingers and toes.

I decided that seeing as Far Cry was designed with all you nVidia whores out there in mind, leaving us poor ATi inclined gamers with a fairly diminished experience, I'd need to get an upgrade. And what better time than when I'm sending my laptop back to get fixed? That way I don't have to pay for shipping!

What i really wanted for my laptop my a GeForce FX but nay, it won't fit, or its integrated to the motherboard, or I've been a naughty boy... I just can't have one.

So I ask Alienware if I can have double memory, a proper-bo' cyborg green keyboard, a new hard drive, and some bangin' wireless headphones so that I might fully enjoy the sound of bodies hitting floors and such.

I also tell them that they'll be replacing my screen, and CD-Drive. They ask why, I send them pictures and big long detailed emails telling them why. They agree to carry out the repairs.

Shortly afterward a nice man from DHL calls to my place of work and takes my laptop away to be better-ified.

What seems like years pass in the short space of two months or so (I'm terrible with the memory thing, you'll have to excuse the vague time references... I'm pretty sure of the ballpark however... the ballpark is two months or so) and I get an email to say that my laptop is all better and on its way home.

Much to my dismay it went to my uncles home. The original shipping address when purchased. Although I had specified that I wanted it shipped to my place of work. We'll let that one go.

Abscence making the heart grow fonder and all that, I was understandably eager to return to the streets of Vice City and cause its denizens a little physical anguish and nick some motorcars.

I opened up the box and was immediately and all at once, amazed, disgusted and pissed right off.

Instead of sending me any of the peripherals that I actually ordered the hilarious bastards at Alienware sent me a box that fair enough, did contain my laptop, but also contained someone else's old, used power adaptor, external 3.5" floppy drive and battery. Odd.

Lack of peripherals aside, i still had my laptop back so I was gonna play me a game.

Oh dear, as soon as Windoze boots up I am greeted by a screen so blemished 'twould make the countenance of a mcdonalds employee seem smooth as porcelain. Two white spots the size of tennis balls right in the centre of the screen.

I was so angry I couldn't even play Vice City.

So I sent it back again.

A few aeons pass, and my laptop returns....

I open the lid with trepidation.... check the screen against the light... looks nice and clean.... turn it on... beep.... whirrr..... beep...... whirrr...... hmmm... the screens still black.... why's the screen still black? WHY IS THE GODDAMN SCREEN STILL BLACK?

I shouted this for about ten minutes until I finally realised that shouting would not make the screen turn a different colour. So I rang Alienware.

I asked them to give me a replacement, they said my warranty had now expired, but since their bungling efforts deprived me of my computer for quite a portion of that year long warranty they would repair the fault for free. How nice.

They tell me my system needs a new motherboard.

They tell me they have no idea when they will have this part in stock.

Months later they receive the part.

They replace the part.

Now they say there is “something else wrong”.

That’s all.

All I want is my money back.

Between the initial purchase and my recent upgrade I’ve spent close to four thousand euro on this malfunctioning disaster of notebook pc. I bought it a little over a year ago and in that year Alienware have had my laptop sitting in their facility for four months or more! Its like I have this annoying little shit of a brother to whom my parents force me to lend my pc so he can play his stupid Barney and friends games and get ice-cream all over the keyboard. Each time he gives it back he’s gone and F|_|CK3D something else up.

Amateurs, absolute bloody amateurs.

So get the message, don’t buy Alienware.

Cynthetiq

while I can't speak for ANYONE's laptops... .as they all have their issues and aren't as "durable" as one would like, I can say that the desktops are very good.

After doing like you (not with alienware) but with another brand... I will never get a laptop that is a sole desktop replacement. Too expensive to keep up and repair then a desktop....

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I don't care if you are black, white, purple, green, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, hippie, cop, bum, admin, user, English, Irish, French, Catholic, Protestant, Jewish, Buddhist, Muslim, indian, cowboy, tall, short, fat, skinny, emo, punk, mod, rocker, straight, gay, lesbian, jock, nerd, geek, Democrat, Republican, Libertarian, Independent, driver, pedestrian, or bicyclist, either you're an asshole or you're not.

Dragonlich

Every brand has their horror stories.

We (part of a rather large chain of computer shops in the Netherlands) had a customer return his computer four times in a month, because the bloody thing wouldn't remain stable. In the end, we simply gave him a new one, build from scratch. Turned out his motherboard was damaged. We also sold a lot of systems with a Radeon chipset on the motherboard - when the customers return with stability problems, we're now replacing them with proper Intel boards, which solves the problems...

Most of the time, everything's fine, but sometimes, everything goes wrong.

bermuDa

my only advice would be to not purchase a laptop for gaming purposes. you're just going to overspend to be underwhelmed.

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sadistikdreams

Sorry man...
I'd been considering alienware, but I realized that I won't be playing much games, so I got an iBook...
Good thing I didn't get one...

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"Besides the noble art of getting things done, there is the noble art of leaving things undone.
The wisdom of life consists in the elimination of non-essentials."
-Lin Yutang

hearts, by d.a.

cartmen34

Agreed. I'll never, never, never again make the mistake of buying a laptop to game with. Laptops are just to expensive to keep up with the ever-changing hardware market. I use mine only for work and school related tasks that need to be done in multiple places. Other than that, my desktop will, and shall remain, my main source of computing horsepower.

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"The problem with quick and dirty, as some people have said, is that the dirty remains long after the quick has been forgotten" - Steve McConnell

Eric640

The problem is that you bought a laptop... for gaming.

I mean... I don't care how much money you have. You can't buy sometihng that doesn't exist.

Laptop hardware is not designed for playing games. It's catching up, but it's not there yet. Plus laptops suck for upgrading.

You already experienced that with the video card issue. You just can't do it. The video card in a laptop is soldiered onto the motherboard. To change the videocard you have to change the motherboard.


PLUS, Alienware is clearly not in the laptop buisness. I mean, I didn't even know that they sold them. Their reputation is based SOLELY on their top end desktop systems, not their laptop department (which obviously blows).


FURTHERMORE:
Like everything from Alienware, Falcon Northwest, Dell or any of those evil "good computer companies"...

They all charge 140% of what the peripherals are worth and then slap their brand name on it and call it a "quality product" when its ABSOLUTLEY NO DIFFERENT than the no name no brand white box something you bought off emachines.com for 500 bucks.

Except that it has the alienware logo and some alienware lights on the case. OOOOoooohhhh.

It's like buying Nike shoes. You are paying for the brand.

bendsley

What I would tell you to do is call the Better Business Bureau in Miami where Alienware is based out of. You need to do this in writing, by certified mail (to make sure they get the letter). Also, you need to call them and tell them the letter is on its way. Make copies of your invoices, work orders, etc. and mail them with your letter. Make sure in your letter you provide specific information. Provide references to the people you have talked to if you remember, dates, times, etc. You need to make sure the BBB will know EXACTLY what you are trying to convey to them. If they find something of interest, they will launch an investigation and find out what happened. Most business, but not all, subscribe to the BBB, as it can help with marketing, public relations, etc.
Information is provided below for Alienware and the Miami BBB. Good luck!

Alienware® Corporate Headquarters
12400 Southwest 134th Court, Bay 8
Miami, Florida 33186

Corporate Office:
Phone: 305-251-9797
Fax: 305-259-9874
Mon - Fri: 9:00 am - 6:00 pm EST

----------------------------------------------------
BBB Serving Miami, Ft. Lauderdale, and West Palm Beach Areas
WWW: http://www.bbbsoutheastflorida.org
Email: info@seflorida.bbb.org
Phone: (561)842-1918
Fax: (561)845-7234
2924 N Australian Ave.
West Palm Beach, FL 33407

__________________
"You hear the one about the fella who died, went to the pearly gates? St. Peter let him in. Sees a guy in a suit making a closing argument. Says, "Who's that?" St. Peter says, "Oh, that's God. Thinks he's Denny Crane."

G5_Todd

wow that sucks...but that was a great read.......


you should be a writer

Stompy

Keyword: if

I find that the BBB and Attorney General are utterly useless.

Last Christmas, I shipped an item to a company for repair/replacement and they kept the f'n thing. Never once called me back, contacted me (aside from multiple emails of "It'll be sent out next week"), or sent my item, nothing. They totally stole my shit.

I reported them to the BBB (to which they were registered) AND the Attorney General... multiple times. About once a month I write and report this. They haven't done crap. I've even called the police and they didn't even do anything!

Yet if I were to fly down to this shop, break in, get my item, I'd be arrested. What BS.

While you will probably have better luck in your case, the sad fact in this country is customers (or as they refer to us, "consumers") have very little protection when it comes to fraud or big companies ripping you off, which is why they do it.

Also, your warranty should technically be reset when you get an item serviced. If it's 6 months old and breaks and you ship it in (and it has a 1 year warranty), if it breaks again 8 months later, it'll still be covered, especially if it's the SAME problem.

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I love lamp.

MSD

Sucks about the computer, but not much that can be done about it now. If it makes you feel any better, you can have the knowledge that you are responsible for adding the term "arsed out" to my vocabluary.

Cynthetiq

BBB and attorney general may not do something immediately it's the culmination of calls and complaints that get them investigated.

also the BBB complaint when filed will be able to be discovered by other people who ask the BBB about a company's record.

__________________
I don't care if you are black, white, purple, green, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, hippie, cop, bum, admin, user, English, Irish, French, Catholic, Protestant, Jewish, Buddhist, Muslim, indian, cowboy, tall, short, fat, skinny, emo, punk, mod, rocker, straight, gay, lesbian, jock, nerd, geek, Democrat, Republican, Libertarian, Independent, driver, pedestrian, or bicyclist, either you're an asshole or you're not.

Stompy

Exactly!

The main problem, IMO, is that most everyone is uneducated when it comes to fraud and what to do about it. I use the term "fraud" loosely, because in ecomdan's case, it's not so much fraud as it is a company not following through with their responsibility to provide a warranty.

Most people don't know what the BBB is, let alone Attorney General, and you'll find that pretty much anytime someone is scammed, they just shrug it off and cut their losses. Little do they realize they're screwing it up for everyone else.

The company that I was talking about did this to other people, you could tell because there was an uproar on their message boards. I dug up info on the company AND the owner, posted it in every forum (on their site) w/ instructions on how to report to the BBB and Attorney General (you could tell that thought NEVER ONCE entered the minds of these people). Lo and behold, an hour later, the site was taken completely offline.

Anyway, yeah, the BBB and A.G. work if there's a flood of complaints, but the fact is most people who buy through Alienware are (for some reason) happy with the product, so your complaint will more than likely go unheard UNLESS they're REALLY f'n up.

Still, by all means, file a complaint. Your complaint just might be the last straw that gets them investigated

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I love lamp.

Dragonlich

Actually... a Dutch computer mag just checked if that's true. They tested an HP and a Dell computer, checked what was inside, and bought identical parts elsewhere (best prices they could find). The result: HP was clearly more expensive, some 100 Euros on top of the price (you'd pay that for the extra pick-up-and-return service, and extra software). Dell, on the other hand, was priced pretty much the same as the alternative do-it-yourself-computer!

Now, I wouldn't recommend a Dell to anyone, but (apparently) you can't accuse them of being overpriced...

Mac1

yet another alienware horror story.

i will eb sure to avoid them at all costs.

Holo

The screen thing is exactly why I'll never buy a laptop unless I'm rich and can afford to throw away $1000 at any time. I've heard other horror stories, even about Apple's 17" books having dead pixels. I want my parts to be easily replacable by myself and generally under $100.

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I happen to like the words "fuck", "cock", "pussy", "tits", "cunt", "twat", "shit" and even "bitch". As long as I am not using them to describe you, don't go telling me whether or not I can/should use them...that is, if you want me to continue refraining from using them to describe you. ~Prince

ecomdan

Thanks for all the replies and shit! I didn't think there'd be this many interested heads on the board. That was actually my first post on any tilted board. Usually just check out the titty board and be on my merry way

Since I last posted, Alienware have supposedly repaired my system which, according to the DHL waybill they gave me, is now in a sorting hub somwhere on its way to me.

As a means of compensation for this ordeal, Alienware have given me a free mouse (the one I got originally was getting a bit tired from all my frantic left clicking) and they upgraded my headphones to the next more expensive set for free.

I'm not entirely happy with that, but hey, its something.

Give it a week, I'll be back in here bitching about something else to do with my laptop.

Thanks again for reading that essay of a post of mine.

Take it easy

flamingpeach

You are a great writer. I feel terrible for what you've gone through with Alienware, as I've heard it happen to to many people.

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I've eaten my veggies all my life so bring it on, I am educated and strong for the revolution.

ecomdan

thanks! didn't think my writing skills were all that, but hey, more than one person said it now!

Guess what... alienware shipped my laptop to the wrong address again... now i have to go and pick it up myself otherwise i'd have to wait until tomorrow.

Bastards.

Slavakion

While I agree with that, I've heard nothing but bad things about emachines. Which kinda sucks because they're so cheap.

ecomdan

Got my laptop. All is well. One dead pixel on the LCD, can't complain about that.... strangely, the up arrow is gone from the keyboard but I aint gonna risk them taking another four to eight weeks to try and put a new keyboard in.

Oh its good to play games again!

bannet

Read a story like this at pcworld.com. He had his laptop for a year but it spent most of the time in the shop.I was a while ago and I cant find the artical. He wrote to pcworld and complained. They called dell and the guy got a brand new laptop.They dont want bad publicity.

G5_Todd

if you want to get something really good out of this.....


post this story on www.resellerratings.com

i got fucked by new egg once and they were very generous once they saw what i posted about them......so they basically paid me to change my review

http://www.resellerratings.com/seller1650.html