Alienware

I got an Alienware m14x (currently dismissing). After several failure at installing updates, the fan is starting to run ever rapidly bringing the laptop to die. The problem is well documented and it's clear is a good trick to make you buy a laptop very half of year. No way to get support! The site in Italy is blocking mail requests, while ringing in Milan turns a "We'll call you back. Bye bye."

It's just five months from the buy and I've been stuck with $1500 out of budget. The only winner is Dell profit. All other people are losers. Just unfortunate sons to look at from the terrace of some place that's good at staying away from taxes. If we just count the damage to personal budgets and quiet living of these (poor) people, it turns that Dell company is a human tragedy for all of us.

Around December of 2011, I bought a new m17 Alien. Less than 40 days, a new motherboard, new graphics card, new heat sink scratched bent and parts not put back in properly let alone used parts put in computer. Dragged around on phone from Dell Alien until it wasn't even funny any more. Why in the heck do I need to call Costa Rica? Why was it shipped from Chicago yet serviced in Houston? Still then, it was sold as a gaming PC. When I play a game, they say on phone, "For $129, we can set it up for you to play games." Then while at the service center in Houston, someone calls and says it is the hard drive that is bad and it caused all the problems. Hard drive was nothing to do with 3 cores running 160 degree f and the 4th not even changing. So I paid $2k for a refurbished computer. I'm done being usurped by companies that get away with theft of your pocket, manipulate warranty times, talk to you like you're stupid and don't care about customer service. This is not the last of hearing about this matter.

I bought an M14x, the one with the $1,299.99 promo on the Alienware website. It says on the website, that aside form the M14x, I would also receive a 15-month McAfee antivirus protection, and a TACx Mouse. So, I ordered through an agent, and the order was completed. When my unit arrived, the mouse was not included, and it was not also included in the packing list. I called up costumer support asking why, and they told me the mouse is not included because simply it was not in my packing list. They say that they cannot help me with the mouse. Logic dictates that if you advertise something in your website, it should be delivered as promised, right? Because you paid for the whole amount, they should at least deliver as advertised.

I have had so many issues with Dell/Alienware. I purchased an xps 14 that had issues from day 1.Then dell discontinued the model within 3 months of it's release. No surprise as it's junk. I was on the phone 10 times and wasted countless days waiting for some support. I've had parts replaced. Techs wrecked my system worse than before and 3 replacement laptops of different makes. I was told a different story every time I talked to someone. I was told a refund was not possible but they would upgrade me to a new xps 15. I said I paid more for a 14 for portability. Again, I basically was told take it or leave it.

I had more issues with the 15 than the 14. After 10 more major complaints and lies, and broken promises.I was offered an Alienware m14x which is a new pc that has just come out a few months ago.I agreed. I guess there's a pattern here of bad quality and horrible customer service. Although I received an upgrade, I literally wasted so much documented time with support and issues, including not having a working pc for 11 out of 12 months of ownership.

I am paying high interest rates on a laptop I haven't used for a consistent month in a year. Dell makes you go through so many hoops just for a callback at this point. Dell could give me 3 new laptops. It wouldn't come close to covering half of what I've wasted in time and missing work and losing files every time a hard drive went down. 8 times in all, hard drive alone.

I will never recommend Dell to any of my customers and that they will feel as my store alone sells hundreds of laptops per week. Yes hundreds. I have everything documented including over 200 plus hours on the phone. How are they still in business?

In July of 2010, I purchased an Alienware M11x R1 from Amazon.com which I was incredibly pleased with for two months, then the issues began. In September last year, the LCD screen began cracking at the hinge, which Dell has since agreed to cover for the life of the PC, finally admitting there was indeed a design flaw in the original hinge.

Since the computer was under its original warranty, I agreed to let Dell send a certified technician to my home to replace the hinge and LCD. Long story short, by the time the technician left my house, the laptop screen was completely blank and there were at least 7 missing screws from the internals of my PC. The technician was from the area and was extremely nice, so I decided to give her another chance to fix the original problem; along with the damage she had done to the motherboard, while trying to remove the first LCD.

When the technician returned nearly two weeks later (yes, I had no laptop for 14 days during my warranty period), she brought a new motherboard and upper casing for the laptop with her, as well as a second replacement LCD. You can guess where this was headed. She replaced the motherboard, upper casing, and LCD, but the computer wouldn't even boot up. During the replacement of the motherboard and LCD, she managed to run a screw straight up through the keyboard and tear three of the ribbons connecting the motherboard to the LCD. She also managed to get a screw from someone else's computer stuck in the casing that still will not come out to this day.

I decided to send the computer directly to Dells Repair Depot so that I could finally have a working computer again. After another week, I received my computer back in one piece with all features working and decided it would be a good idea to purchase an extension on the warranty that included accidental damage coverage, seeing as how not even the certified tech knew how to repair the computer. The agent on the other end of the line was ecstatic to sell me extended coverage because very few people ask to be sold something while calling customer service. After a few transfers through various departments, I ended up purchasing what I was distinctly told by a Dell Salesperson was Complete Care Coverage, and should anything at all happen to any component on the PC, it would be repaired or replaced. I gave the agent my CC# and immediately saw something called Complete Care applied to my account for the Alienware M11x, SVC TAG: 77HGQM1. I was happy.

Six months after I got the computer back from Dells Repair Depot, the screens hinge started to break again, this time worse than before. I contacted Alienware's Technical Support again and was told that they could send a tech out or have the computer shipped to the depot there for LCD hinge replacement. Obviously, I chose the latter option and decided to have Dell fix it. A few days after, I received a call from the depot stating that there was water damage to the memory of the PC, and they would need to replace it as well. I agreed to have that done since it was covered by the Complete Care Coverage I purchased. Two weeks later, I received the computer back with a new LCD monitor and cheap-looking, yet stable RAM. All was good I thought.

Here I am, a few months down the timeline, and it turns out that during the numerous repairs and shipping back-and-forth to Dell, something has gone awry with the SATA connection between the motherboard and 320Gb Seagate HD. When I try to boot up, the motherboard diagnostics detect no hard drive, at which point, I have to reseat the drive. I contacted Alienware Tech Support again on 9/16 to troubleshoot the issue with Luis who told me the problem is happening because I've reinstalled Windows 7 on my own without a tech support agent. After explaining to him how you install Windows via USB drive with Microsofts approved tool, he agreed to call me back on 9/17 at 9:00 AM. I never got a call back from him, despite my two outgoing calls on 9/17.

When I called back the second time this morning to speak to Luis, I spoke with a very understanding agent named Marta, who I've copied on this email. She advised me that we needed to first replace the hard drive on the PC. After she looked my account up, she told me that I indeed have no extension on the computer's basic warranty, but that if something catastrophic, excluding "Acts of God", were to happen to the computer, it would be replaced. Back-track to what the salesperson told me in October of 2010 "should anything at all" happen, it would be replaced. I am absolutely dumbfounded by this "Complete Care" package that I was misled into believing that it would cover anything after the warranty expired. I'm fairly sure there is some fine print that explicitly states the problem must be of accident in nature in the rules and policies, but the sheer fact that I couldn't use my laptop for almost two whole months, during the warranty period is ridiculous! I'm being forced into purchasing an extended warranty on what is most certainly the most fragile computer I've ever owned.

Unfortunately, I find myself in a position where phone support is unable and unwilling to resolve the issue with my alien ware laptop. I have tried numerous times over the last seven months to resolve the issue and have not been able to do so. I hope that writing this letter will find its way to your desk so that someone who has the best interest in your image can resolve my issue and make me a loyal DELL customer once again.

To date, I have now been without a fully functioning computer for the last seven months. I had to purchase a net book as most of my household finances and my home care for my parents is done either online or with other various programs. This has been a very frustrating process to say the least. I have been on the phone with your support team so much that it severely cuts into the time I should be spending taking care of my parents. On the average, it takes an hour to get to someone and explain what's going on with the computer (and what's been done in the past to rectify it) and the tech team having to find someone else to ask them what they can do to help. It's an exhausting process.

It's difficult to remain confident in a company that tells you that they will email you or call you back on a certain day, only to be let down. I'm sure you can imagine the disappointment I must feel as a consumer of your product. I have owned and recommended DELL for many years, and to be honest, I feel as though the reason I first started buying DELL is a thing of the past. I sincerely hope that it isn't the case, but with the service I have received and the manner in which I have received it, it seems to be the most likely conclusion.

When I purchased the laptop, I also purchased Complete Care, which, by the definition alone, should give one a sense of security that whatever your issues are, they will be taken care of in a professional and timely manner. In my estimation, it has not happened here at all, not to mention the fact that over seven months of a warranty that I've paid for has been wasted in playing the 'swap your parts' campaign that your tech support team seems to want to wage. Yes, I have received replacements, and yes, there have been techs to my home to repair the computer. But I'm continually having the blue screen issues together with hardware and software issues (which were all installed by DELL). The last replacement I received did not function right out of the delivery box!

When I called DELL to report what was going on, I was directed to take the existing computer apart and swap some parts from that one to the replacement. I have to repair a replacement computer right out of the delivery box before I can use it? Are they not being tested before being shipped out? I have now had the replacement that did not work out of the box for approximately three weeks. When you try to start it, all it does is beep so it is now sitting in a box waiting for some kind of resolution to this matter. If someone could please look into this, contact me directly and tell me what can be done to resolve this debacle, I would appreciate it.

I feel that my only recourse right now is to forward this letter, including over 200 emails along, to the DPBR, BBB and any other agencies that I can find that will help me in getting the value for what I have spent with your company. The last thing I want to do is to have to file a small claim. My hope in finding your email is to only get my issue resolved. I want a working computer, nothing more, nothing less. I don't feel that it's an unreasonable request. I believe that if the tables were reversed, you would feel the same way.

I got one of the first M17X computers they made, thinking it was going to be awesome (big sound, big graphics and some pretty big hardware included). The best $4000 I ever spent, granted this is about three years ago. They were selling 32-bit computer, with 4 gigs of RAM, plus 2 video cards. The one guy doing sales for me didn't know what Vista was, and I can say in no uncertain terms their driver support for their computers then was atrocious! Fast forward three years ago and my computer warranty (I got extended 3-year warranty) was nearing expiration. Conveniently, my monitor stopped working; I needed to file an RMA claim! That and all my fans were grinding like all get out. This went through okay, much to my surprise. Maybe they'd turned a new leaf?

So, I got their package label to ship it back to the US. Of course, this came with its share of challenges. It got held up at customs; I needed to file some extra paperwork, and there were delays. I tried to contact their RMA people, and there was no luck with that. The RMA number they gave to me was bringing a blank to anyone I talked to, and they had no information about me. The customs tried to contact Alienware directly on my behalf, to tell them that the package was held up, and to figure out what they wanted to do.

The lady told me that nobody returned the calls. I then tried an email to the person who sent me the original package label (for the FedEx package), to which there was no reply. We finally got things figured out between customs and myself, and the package made it there-- I guess. From the first week in May until a week ago I didn't hear anything from them. No confirmation that they received it. Again, no response to my emails insisting on an update, no record of my RMA number when I called to get updates. Basically, I sent the computer into an abyss, and I had pretty much written it off because nobody could tell me that they had any record that I'd even sent it to them.

So, finally I got word back from some guy from their RMA department, saying he had good news. When I finally got a hold of him (being put on hold on and off for about 30 minutes), he told me that I had two options. They were going to try and fix it, but they were unable to. So, I could get a refund for the computer, or order a new one for the same value from them. I said in no uncertain terms that I wanted to have nothing to do with Alienware (or Dell for that matter), and I'd take the refund.

Oh, but wait! If they give me the refund there, is a restocking fee of 15 percent because I'm cancelling my contract. Hold on a second. You just told me that you can't fix my computer, and gave me two options. One of which was a refund-- not me cancelling. So, how can you charge me $600 to put it back on a shelf and sell it to someone else? Well, they said, they could use it to fix someone else's computer. Then shouldn't you be paying me the additional $600, so that you can prevent others from having an opportunity to get a refund?

At that point, he said, "Well, we can fix your computer, but we can't guarantee when it will be finished. So, these are your two options. Cancel your contract or buy another computer from us, where we'll conveniently waive the restocking fee. "Okay, but then how is my computer any less valuable to you, if I buy your stuff? Anyway, he said he couldn't continue outside of those parameters because the computer system he was working on of wouldn't let him. It just wouldn't work.

So, I'm still getting my refund. It is $3200, which is a lot of money. Now it's a matter of principle. Six hundred dollars is also a lot of money to hand over to a company like this. From the beginning, it's been **, customer service, where they wouldn't let you into their forums to check things out unless you'd already committed to a computer. When you wanted to back out because you saw the state of affairs-- it was 15 percent restocking fee; often with their computers being about $600 more. Anyway, to those of you thinking you like gaming, I never gamed on that POS because of the problems I had with everything to do with it. Stay away from this company.

To whom this might concern and anyone else caring to read,

I bought a 3 thousand dollar Alienware computer from Dell. Due to major health issues, have not had time to really use it. I installed my programs and noticed that the touch pad wasn't working and there was no card reader for the memory card from my camera like there should have been. Minor issues I told myself. I will get around to calling them. The wait time is so long, it's a real pita to get someone on the phone. Anyway, used it again and only got 1 1/2 hours of battery power. WTF?

This is a laptop and it won't even make it thru the airport on 1 hours of battery power let alone a flight. So...I decided now is the time to call. I went to turn the computer on to better describe the issues on the phone and the hard drive crashed.

I called Dell and they sent a tech over. He replaced the mother board, the hard drive which is an SSD and the touch pad. Said the card reader only reads one type of card and mine isn't it (not what the salesman said) and that it's not meant to be carried around, that's it a desktop and not a laptop. It is advertised as a laptop besides the fact that it is the heaviest damn thing. So now I have refurbished parts into my laptop which isn't a laptop. Oh, and the tech did not even stay long enough to install the software. He gave me the disks and told me to have fun.

When I went to install the operating system, I found out that the disk for the drivers was the wrong one for my system so I called again. Tech said someone will spend a few hours on the phone with me to help me look for and to install the correct drivers. Now keep in mind that none of this is my fault. No, I'm not spending more time on the phone and I'm not an idiot - I simply want the software that should have come with the computer so the tech emails me the drivers.

Seems to be that I have a hunk of junk that this computer was put together with by already using broken parts and then repaired with refurbished parts. All thru this now, I'm back and forth on email with the dell tech. I want a replacement. This is ridiculous. He is 'seeing what he can do'. Turns out they won't give me a replacement since the warranty is 10 months old. I explain that I am a cancer patient and have spent a great deal of time this past year in the hospital and though the warranty is 10 months old, there is at most 4 hours of use on it and it is STILL under warranty. Again he says he will see what he can do.

Came home and sent off another email to the tech who is still seeing what he can do and he never responded. My guess is that he is stalling until the warranty is up for real.

Now I've changed my mind. I don't want the computer at all. I want a refund, not a replacement. This is absurd. All that money spent for 24 pounds of junk. They can shove it.

After telling the world on Facebook, I intend to go to the better business bureau, consumer affairs, and the state attorney general's office. Meanwhile, I will stop payment their monthly bill.

Mr. Steve Jobs, I hope you are reading this. You are about to get another customer. Anyone owning a MAC would never, ever have these issues. I will never ever buy another Dell product and I hope others will follow suit.

I'm sure, Mr. Jobs that if you are reading this, you are laughing because you know that YOU have the best computer out there. Mac Pro Laptop, here I come.

In January I purchased an M17x-R2 laptop from Dell's Alienware division. This is touted as the fastest laptop on the planet and is built with a rugged aluminum case and dual video cards. I paid the premium price of $3305.00 and as soon as I got it out of the box it had issues with not charging the battery, the volume buttons not working, and the left click button on the mouse touch pad did not work. I had a tech connect remotely to the PC; he was not able to fix anything remotely, so they sent a tech to my residence twice. He couldn't repair the problems either time; in fact he damaged the laptop while working on it. I complained to Dell/Alienware and they agreed to replace the laptop with a better machine called an M17x-R3. I was told that the processor was faster, it would have 16GB of ram instead of the 8GB in the R2.

I was very pleased that Dell/Alienware was taking care of me finally (this is almost 3 months after I took possession of the M17x-R2). When I received the R3 I was shocked to find it was made of soft plastic and only had one video card. Having 2 video cards is a massive performance boon for sure, but it is also a safety net in that one card can fail and the machine will continue to be useful with the one remaining card. Had the R3 been the only laptop available from Dell/Alienware at the time of my purchase, I would not have bought it. The case is thin plastic that flexes and creaks vs. the rugged aluminum case on the R2 and it only has one video card.

When I tried to use the R3 I found that the 5.1 sound system was not working properly and that neither of the HDMI video/audio outputs were working either. I contacted Dell/Alienware again one of their techs logged on to the laptop remotely and attempted to fix the issue; after 2.5 hours the tech decided they needed to send an onsite tech to visit me again. This onsite tech worked on the R3 for 3 hours, replaced the motherboard and tried to find the issues in the software. He was unable to fix the problem and Dell/Alienware and said to hang onto the broken R2 a while longer and send the broken R3 back to them for repair.

Since I had both laptops in front of me, I used a benchmarking program called 3D mark (which is a world wide standard for testing the performance of computers) to objectively test both the R2 and the R3. The R3 lost in a big way. The video frame rates of the R3 were almost exactly half that of the R2 and the overall performance score was pretty lopsided. The R2 scored 3894 which is fantastic and the R3 scored 2143 overall. I then went to dell/Alienware's website and looked at the price of the R3 they had sent me. It was $300.00 less than the R2 I had bought. When I contacted Dell/Alienware I told them that I felt that the R3 was not an upgrade or even an equivalent to the R2 because of what the objective bench marking had produced the plastic case, and being short one video card. The fellow (at my suggestion) told me that he would try to upgrade me to a new model, the M18x, which has a rugged aluminum case, dual video cards, looks exactly like the R2, and is priced almost the same as the R2.

I was told after 2 hours on the phone that the best they could do was send me a refurbished R2 and I would swap my hard drives out of my broken R2 into the refurbished R2. I agreed that this would be satisfactory, although I was pretty disappointed to have paid this much for a flagship product to have it replaced with a refurbished model. A few minutes later I was told that the deal had changed again and that after taking my case to his manager, the fellow on the phone had been told that the R3 was what I was going to get and that was that. He told me to send the broken R3 back and use the broken R2 while they repaired the R3.

When the R3 came back I would send back the R2. I protested and the fellow on the phone told me that his manager had told him to tell me no refunds and that if I was unhappy, I could sell the replacement R3 on EBay. I have probably spent over 15 hours on the phone with these folks and had techs in my home 3 times since January. So much for customer satisfaction. I paid for a new working laptop and have yet to receive one, and no one at Dell/Alienware appears to care at all.

3. A replacement M18x of similar build and price value to my M17x-R2.

I will not accept the M17x-R3 as a replacement for the M17x-R2. The performance, build quality, and price are not equal to the broken M17x-R2 I already have. Service tag **. The R3 they sent me is $300 less than the R2 I bought and I would get even less for it on eBay as it is technically used. I would lose $340.00 in taxes. Furthermore, as the tech in Costa Rica pointed out to me, the new M18x is replacing the M17x's and so the prices will go down on the inventory at Dell and there will be sales. Say I sell it for $2500, I would be eating around $800 for having the pleasure of doing business with Dell/Alienware.

Alienware refused to work with me in the credit of a $600 system rebate which they told me and many other customers never arrived to their Washington offices. Alienware's Area 51 7700 mobile workstation slowly broke down internally. The system is unable to boot or if it does as soon as it begins to get hot it freezes. The machine has always felt extremely hot. I became sick to my stomach to think that SO MANY PEOPLE had been bamboozled just like me. Alienware said the temperature issue would not be a problem and never warned me about the problems that could arise. Needless to say the system freezes when it boots but most of the time it refuses to boot and says that either the hard drives could not be found or the BIOS could not be found. Online research tells me the motherboard could be damaged from heat.

The 7700 is the system that allows me to run my business and execute my work night after night at live music events. Having it break down has caused me more grief and embarrassment at work than I can explain. Not only have I have suffered criticism because of the system going down or not working properly during a live event but I have been denied payment from customers because I could not perform (I am a DJ) a specific show. On top of losing my money for that night, I also lost a good customer that won't work with me because to him I am unreliable. This are all damages that are derived from Alienware's inability to make a recall or such which could take care of the issue.

About a year or so later they actually sent me an email customer survey. I complained about the rebate and told them I would never buy anything from them again. They sent a reply saying they had tried to call me numerous times about the rebate but I had never responded! I was the one who had called numerous times.

Mind you all I asked for was a copy of my invoice has turned into this. I am like this is crazy, is this some kind of scam or something. I started searching the inter net a bit and found other people who have had trouble getting this invoice and running out of time just to have Alienware say you are past your rebate period. I also proceeded to call the editors of Smart Computing magazine who Alienware features on their website claiming that Smart Computing gave them an “A” rating for customer service rating them higher than any other computer company including Dell. I spoke with a very nice gentleman by the name of Rod Scher an editor of Smart Computing who said yes we did review them several years ago and gave them that rating. He also went on to tell me they have been talking about revisiting that article do to the number of complaints they have been receiving from people like my self asking how on earth they received a “A” rating. I am currently speaking with my lawyer on what avenues I can take against this company maybe even including a class action lawsuit.

I'm fortunate I don't have the technical problems others are having with their machines. They have been collecting interest off my money for the past 6 months while I've lost interest for the past 6 months. I love my laptop, but as far as their customer support, they have a LOT to learn about dealing with their customers and following their own company policy. For those thinking of purchasing an Alienware machine, you might want to look around elsewhere for one. For those of you that have purchased an Alienware machine in the past 6 months, you might want to start calling them and asking about your rebate, according to customer support, it's not a problem with "my" rebate, theres a problem on THEIR end with rebates.

My daughter searched the internet and found Alienware was building a computer called an "Aurora: Star Wars Edition Dark Side" System. I agreed to buy it for her since I had heard good things about Alienware and it would be a nice Christmas gift. Purchased it over the internet on 5 Nov 2005. Received information that the expected shipping date would be 21 Nov 2005. On 21 Nov 2005, checked Alienware's status page on their web site and the computer was listed as in "Phase 7, Production: Phase 2", which it claims is going through the second stage of their 200-point quality control process.

My daughter emailed them at order_status@alienware.com to find out what was going on and was told that the computer case had to be backordered but they were working on it as best they could. Then a week later she contacts them through email and is told that the computer is still missing the case but it should arrive soon and they expect a shipping date the second week of December 2005. Jumping way ahead to 4 weeks later, the computer is still listed as in Phase 7.

My daughter goes on their chat line and all they can tell her is the case is on backorder but they give her the number to customer service which they say can help her more than them. I call and am told that the parts arrived 2 days earlier and that the computer should be finished next week and shipped then. This is on 15 Dec 2005. On Monday, 19 Dec 2005, the status changes to "Phase 9, Production: Shipping", which states that "the computer is being carefully packed for shipping" on their web site.

On 26 Dec 2005, I email to find out what the delay is. I am told that there was a miscommunication and that the parts missing are the side panels of the computer case which are where the Star Wars characters are located. However, I am a valued customer and they are doing their best to complete the computer. Never have they once told me why the computer sat in Phase 7 for over 4 weeks or why they could not notify me of the delay prior to the first expected shipping date. They have not described how it could change staus from Phase 7 to Phase 9 when the parts did not arrive even though their custmer service had said they had arrived.

In fact, they told me in the last email that the computer is in Quality Control which if you check the Alienware's status web site, that is Phase 8 not Phase 9. They also now have no expected shipping date because the panels aren't there. Alienware is very patronizing without providing any true information to you in their email replies. It appears the answer you receive is dependent on the day, the time and who you talk with. Their status web site erroneously lists the Phase the computer is in production. Overall, I would never buy from Alienware again nor would I recommend it to anyone else. They are not customer oriented.

I was lured into buying a very expensive laptop. The model is the area 51m 7700. The reason I bought the machine was because Alienware states that the machine has an upgradable/user removable video card. I recently called the company to enquire about a price for a later model video card. I was told that my system is not configured to handle that video card.

The problem here is that I was told I can upgrade the video card, yet the new cards that have been released are not able to be installed into my sytem. I was told I would have to upgrade the motherboard, and the case, in order to be able to get an upgraded video card because all the new 51m 7700's have different motherboards and cases. I have contacted the company by phone and email to complain about this, but all they say is that there sorry for the inconvenience and an upgrade might be avalable one day.

I'm now stuck with a machine that cost me $2800. Had I known of this misleading information, I never would have bought it. Now its been about 9 months so I can't return it. All I can do is sell it for much less than what I paid.

I ordered a workstation from Alienware that cost $4,200. Four days after I recieved it there was a software problem with the mup.sys driver that prevented the computer from booting into Windows. I was told that the only way to fix this problem was downloading drivers from their website, and then putting them on a floppy disk. One problem, the computer doesn't have a floppy drive. The tech support person said that I should simply disassemble someone else's computer to get their floppy drive and then intall it into the Alienware machine.

I couldn't belive it. What if I bought a defective car and the dealer said to simply take some parts out of one of my friends cars to fix it. I thought this suggestion was outrageous since I just paid over $4,000 for the computer. After complaining to their customer service department they said I could return it at my expense ($250) plus a $600 restocking fee. They wanted me to pay almost a thousand dollars to return a computer that went defective in only 4 days. After all I had heard about Alienware, I thought I was getting one of the best computers available. However, the level of customer service is horrible.

A CUSTOMER SERVICE NIGHTMARE!! After being houded by my 14 year old to replace her old DELL laptop with the compact, hip ALIENWARE version, I spent over $2400 for a basic laptop. With a promise of a $600 rebate special and a $99 shipping rebate I felt a little better about the cost. I have been trying to get the rebate forms from them for over 5 months. First....they were never in the original box with the laptop (WHICH THEY WERE SUPPOSED TO BE), 2ND - after 2 emails and numerous phone calls -- I am told the time has expired to get the rebate and they can do NOTHING ABOUT IT!!!!

I even spoke with a Customer Service Supervisor, Brian -- who did nothing but infuriate me with his monotone reading of the "rules", stating that they sent me an email with the rebates (which I specifically told them to mail to me....not email). Absolutely no customer empathy, and he could care less that it was not my fault that I never got the rebate forms! You would think we were talking about a $50 rebate, the way he spoke with me. The computer has never been used and is not even registered yet. I told them that perhaps a spam filter rejected their email, and I was the customer who was continually calling them to let them know I hadn't gotten the forms yet. Why didn't they jut drop them in the mail like I had originally requested anyway????

As far at they were concerned, if they said they emailed me the rebates, their job was done, even though I called twice since then to ask where my rebates were. (Oh, by the way, they have no record of those phone calls!) This was my first and LAST purchase with Alienware. I have always bought from Dell who has a great product line AND excellent customer service. Alienware only cares about you as a customer when they are trying to make the sale, otherwise, they could care less about whether or not I was satisfied, they screwed up or if I ever bought anything from them again. Companies with that attitude will eventually crash and burn! My verdict: Alienware is ALIEN to good Customer Service and you should not buy from them.

I ordered the workstation online on September 16th. We waited almost 3 weeks to receive the machine. We were disappointed to learn once we removed it from the box that it only had a single processor installed. When I ordered online, I had chosen dual Opteron processors, but it was determined with an Alienware sales rep I spoke with on the phone that because of a glitch on the online system (you can not hit any "back" button while ordering), the system was built with only one. After additional phone calls to Alienware I was able to purchase the second processor and have that shipped out to install myself. Another week passed before the second CPU was shipped. In the meantime, the computer sat in our office - it was not even turned on as we needed the dual processing power to run the advanced 3D animation jobs.

I was dismayed to find that all that was shipped was the CPU itself, in a simple envelope - not even an anti-static bag. Almost all companies I had previous purchased CPUs from included the heatsink and fan with the CPU purchase and also had anti-static protection around the CPU plastic enclosure. Over 4 weeks from first ordering the machine, we attempted to boot it up. What came up instead of the Win XP64 welcome screen was an error message that OS files were missing or corrupt. Unable to get around the error, or even boot to safe mode, I made the decision to reformat the main hard drive as we needed to get the machine into production on the jobs we had.

After formatting the main hard drive and reinstalling the operating system I thought the machine would be free of errors. I loaded it up with our software and we attempted to begin using the machine. Bear in mind that we only installed Win XP64 certified software and external components. We began having problems on day 2 of using the machine. On boot up, the Win XP64 welcome screen would hang, unable to fully boot. I attempted a number of ways to first determine what was causing this and then fix it.

Finally, I instructed one of our designers to call the Alienware tech support and explain the problem. My designer was on the phone for approximately 3 hours, attempting in vain many of the same things I had already attempted to fix the problem. Tests were run on hardware, etc. The last items the tech had asked my designer to perform rendered the computer absolutely useless to us - unable to boot at all. The next day I phoned Alienware again and explained my dissatisfaction with the system in general, and asked that the problem be resolved as quickly as possible. We had already begun to lose money on the jobs that we had planned for this workstation. I was told that the system would have to be shipped back for repair. I was given an RMA # and a FedEx pick up notice.

Four days passed (this was not the fault of Alienware but FedEx) before the computer was picked up. It is now more than 10 days later and we receive the machine back. All that is noted on the Computer Repair-Customer Receipt is that the, "failure was duplicated", "repaired", and "other - O.S. Corrupted". This could have been preformed right here, by myself, without having to ship it back to Alienware. In fact, this is where we started: with missing O.S. files and my formatting of the hard drive and reinstalling the O.S. Obviously this did not fix the problem initially, and if no hardware changes had been made and the same O.S. disk installed, it would leave one to believe the same problems would begin again. In addition, when the system was sent back, I included a detailed letter as to what was happening and what had been done already and specifically asked for a detailed response and to install a fresh O.S. Neither of which happened. All this aside, after receiving the shipment today we removed the computer from the undamaged box to find the metal casing was damaged. The left, bottom of the case side barely fits on the tower as it is smashed in - meaning this machine had been dropped from a height. Obviously, this was not FedEx as the box was our original box and was completely undamaged/smashed.

I can not believe that an Alienware employee would damage a system so obviously and then simply box it back up and ship that same damaged system back to us as "fixed". We did not bother to turn it on - simply took photos of the damage (enclosed) and boxed it right back up again. We are now approximately 10 weeks from the time we originally purchased this machine and have not been able to use it. I spoke with Christopher Warner on the phone today who refused to offer a refund - all he offered was to replace the damaged case. He also mentioned that was our only option. I also attempted to ask for a completely new system, since it was obvious due to the damage of the case that the system was dropped at some point, and we were refused that as well. We simply refuse to continue to do business with Alienware and demand a complete refund of our original purchase price for the computer that never functioned properly and the additional CPU that is currently installed in the computer: An amount of $4603.26.

We have reported Alienware to the Miami Better Business Bureau. Our complaint ID is 2085963, as well as the Attorney General's Consumer Affairs division. This case has also been documented by mailing via FedEx a similar letter and photos of the case damage to Alienware's Agent of Service, Nelson Gonzalez. We have since discovered hundreds of other similar complaints files against this company.

I offer some advice on how to get your money back. I got all my money back because I contacted the financing company directly after being jerked around by at least a half dozen Alienware employees. I had many complaints, but the final one was Alienware did not say there was a 15% restocking fee until AFTER we received the computer, and even then it was in small print on the bottom of the invoice.

Anyway, the financing company was very professional and helpful. They asked us if we could print copies of the Website showing that they did not disclose their return policy, and also that they did not at any time tell us about this fee. For those who charge their computers to a credit card, contact your bank and see about having your bank get your funds for you. Ive personally done it several times when stung by similar Web sites.

Lastly, if you paid by check, Id contact an attorney in Florida and see what remedies you can do by long distance. Put it this way, I wouldnt give up without a fight.

My story: after hearing all the hype about Alienware, I placed an order. I was told I could apply for instant credit, which I did. But unlike good companies like Dell (by the way, the only company Ill ever by a computer from), Alienware approved me but said I had to send in a copy of a drivers license along with some other forms they were mailing to me. What? Instant approval but they couldnt process my order until I returned some forms? Annoyed but sucked into the hype of this great machine, I waited for the forms and Fedexd them back at my expense. Then I was assured it would go out within 48 hours.

Well the next day I called for a tracking number and nothing. After some persistence and several reps, I was told it would be up to 2 weeks before the machine would go out. Two weeks?! I reminded them about their promise to get it out within 48 hours, and then the bouncing me around game started. I finally got Pablo Q., who did expedite it, getting the machine to me within 5 days, but when the machine showed up with problems, I called him only to have him say hed get back to me, which he never did. I gave up trying to reach him after my third call.

From there it doesnt matter who I name, because they all had the same crap attitude. The machine showed up minus the extra hard drive I ordered; I had to wait another week for the drive and then have to call tech support to talk me through installing it.

On September 21 of 2005, I ordered an Alienware Aurora 7500 PC. I had heard good things about their machines, but the real selling point for me was their website's claim that this machine, configured with their liquid-cooling system, was only slightly louder than a whisper, and was quieter than a mosquito's buzz - this is literally their claim.

I eagerly awaited the arrival of this machine, and made my friends envious with descriptions of its anticipated power and quiet-running noise level. With great excitement I powered the thing up, only to find that the noise generated by its cooling system was more on the level of a leaf blower than a "mosquito buzz". It was INSANELY loud. No one could be comfortable working next to a machine like this.

I called the company the next morning, requesting that they cancel the order, since the machine was not as advertised. They insisted that the machine had passed their "200-point inspection", and that there should be nothing wrong with it. My claim that the website engaged in false advertising was met with counter-claims that they did not promise that the machine would be mosquito-quiet. I directed them to the places on their website where this was indeed claimed, but they still would not allow me to cancel with a full refund.

Damages: They are charging me a 15% ($700) "restocking fee" plus I am out $200 in shipping fees.

In December of 2004 after many years of wishing, it finally was going to happen, I would soon be the proud owner of an Alienware PC. I could hardly contain myself. With pride I informed my friends and family of the impending arrival. My fellow gamers were green with envy and several had resolved to get their own.

Unfortunately my joy was short lived, when the machine arrived it was scratched, software and screws were missing. I was disappointed -- after all this was supposed to be the cream of the crop, 200-point quality control, this had to be an isolated incident. Not giving up I said surely Alienware will make this right, they have award-winning customer service, it says so right on their website.

To make a long story short, I was misled by the customer service personnel and generally am disappointed with the level of service I have received. As I do further research I see that my experience is not unique. I wish I had researched customer complaints before I ordered, If so I most likely would not have ordered from Alienware. I did ask for my money back and was told there would be a 15% restocking fee -- funny the salesperson didn't mention it when I ordered.

I apologize for the length of this post but I want to be thorough. Unfortunately, since the situation is still ongoing, I can't tell you the final outcome. Now granted my situation as an US service member serving overseas has detracted from my ability to deal with this effectively, but to the extent I have, here's the story.

The below chronology outlines my attempt to buy a computer from Alienware Corp, an extremely frustrating event that began in early September 04. I placed an order on the Alienware website for an Area 51 system on 12 Sept 04, the advertised ship time was approximately three weeks, so in a perfect world, the system should have shipped by the second week of Oct. To date, Ive not received the system and on the last day I spoke to anyone at Alienware, 16 Nov, I was told both that it was in the shipping queue awaiting a pick-up scheduled for 24 Nov and that it had shipped to my APO address via FEDEX on 2 Nov.

It took seven phone calls and 11 personnel spoken to, two hours spent on the phone getting me to that 16 Nov conversation.

On Nov. 4, I spoke to Ignatius. Ignatius told me the system shipped from the facility on 2 Nov. When I asked him for a tracking number he said the tracking system is delayed and has not been updated. As soon as its updated, he said, I would receive an email with the shipping details. To this date, I've never once received an email with any information concerning shipping.

16 Nov 04: I contacted Alienware and spoke to Jeff. Jeff told me the system shipped on 2 Nov but he was also unable to provide me with a shipping number. I explained to Jeff that at this point I had absolutely no confidence that the system had shipped and I wanted to cancel the order. He transferred me to Brian. 16 Nov 04: Brian told me there is no shipping number because the system had not actually left the facility but was in the shipping queue and would depart the facility NLT than Wed 24 Nov and asked that I please not cancel the order. He assured me the system was completely assembled and would certainly ship by that date. I explained that everyone I had spoken to at Alienware had lied to me and I demanded that he cancel the order.

He placed me on hold and came back about 2 minutes later and told me he had been mistaken about the ship date. He said it actually had shipped last week via FEDEX and that due to the way that FEDEX ships to APOs it could take up to 6 weeks for delivery. When I told him that I know FEDEX does not accept shipments to APOs and once again demanded that he cancel the order, he transferred me to Nick.

16 Nov 04: After taking about 10 minutes to explain everything again, Nick told me that no one at Alienware would tell me that the company would ship to an APO via FEDEX. He then either hung up on me or we were disconnected.

It is now 4 Dec and I've still not received the system (nor do I have any real confidence that's it has actually shipped). I've not called Alienware back since 16 Nov but I have tried to contact high level management by both Fax and Email. I've never received anything back in response to my rather pointed questions other than semi-meaningless automated responses or macroed form letters. Oh, and lest I forget. Alienware charges your credit card the day they accept the order. So they've had my money since 14 Sep 04 and I've still nothing to show for it. Absolutely the worst company I've ever dealt with.

Damages: Well, I'm out about $5000 and lost interest for 3 months and counting.

My mother and I had finally raised enough money to buy a laptop. I am a college student majoring in Computer Science. It was a problem from the beginning with "Alienware." We ordered the laptop "Area51-M" around the end of March 2003. For weeks they claimed it was in a production stage. Finally it arrived. We called to ask about the extended waranty. We were told we had 45 days to obtain one. My mother even repeated his answer so there would be no misunderstanding.

Well, when we called back within the 45 day period, we were told you have to get the extended waranty before the laptop actually arrives. We told him what their representative had told us, but Alienware said their Rep must have made a mistake. They refused to give us the right to extended coverage. It wasn't long after that the laptop started acting up. Nothing really works on it now. Most of my son's college money was spent on this computer, and now he can't even do his class assignments on it. The computer cost was $2,362.

We went thru the BBB, but Alienware still refused to cooperate. Finally we got a judgement against them, but now we can't even collect the money from them. The computer was a lemon from the start. Maybe that is the reason Alienware did not want to give us a warranty.

My 17-year-old son worked all summer to pay for his ultimate gaming computer. He ordered and paid for it in full, around $5,500.00, a computer from Alienware Corporation. After being weeks late on the order, Alienware shipped the computer but to the wrong person. This person ordered a $2,000.00 machine so he decided to just keep it. Alienware has dug in its heals and tells my son he will get the computer once this person returns it. The take no responsibility, will not send him the computer he ordered.

Their attitude is, tough, we have your son's money and there is nothing you can do about it. Who can we go to for help? Alienware is in Florida and my son lives in California. Since Alienware has all his money he can not afford to get a lawyer.