Complain about a product or service

Alienware

John of Kissimmee FL (12/30/05):
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.

Patrick of Locust VAlley NY (12/28/05):
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.

Timothy of Breckenridge CO (12/26/05):
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 install 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 horible. I would not reccomend purchasing from this company.

Besides having a $4,200 paper weight on my desk, I now need to buy another computer immeadiately since this one does not look like it will be getting fixed any time soon. A similar model for a Dell is will cost me over $5,000. Since I use this computer for my photography business I stand to lose hundreds of dollars a day until it is fixed or replaced. Also, my entire catalog of digital photos is on the computer which cannot be backed up until I manage to get the comptuer to turn on.

Debra of Huntington, NY (12/7/05):
A customer service nightmare!! After being hounded 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. Unfortunately, I have been trying to get the rebate forms from them for over 5 months.

First, they were not in the original box with the laptop (which they were supposed to be) and 2nd after two emails and numerous phone calls, I am told the time has expired to get the rebate and they can do nothing about it!

My verdict: Alienware is ALIEN to good customer service.

Sherry of Costa Mesa CA (12/1/05):
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 performed 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 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 lost an estimated amount of $10,000 on jobs we had accepted and then were unable to run since this machine came to us unoperational and damaged. We are currently in dispute with Alienware via our bank to get our original $4603.24 back.

Lori of Edwardsville PA (11/28/05):
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. I’ve personally done it several times when stung by similar Web sites.

Lastly, if you paid by check, I’d contact an attorney in Florida and see what remedies you can do by long distance. Put it this way, I wouldn’t 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 I’ll ever by a computer from), Alienware approved me but said I had to send in a copy of a driver’s license along with some other forms they were mailing to me. What? Instant approval but they couldn’t process my order until I returned some forms? Annoyed but sucked into the hype of this “great” machine, I waited for the forms and Fedex’d 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 he’d get back to me, which he never did. I gave up trying to reach him after my third call.

From there it doesn’t 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.

Dennis of Los Angeles (10/9/05)
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.

James of Cullman AL (2/10/05):
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.

Floyd of Northport AL (12/5/04):
I apologize for the length of this post but I want to be thorough. Unfortunately, since the situation is still on-going, I can't tell you the final outcome. Now granted my situation as a 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, I’ve 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 it’s 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 APO’s 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.

Dominic of Eight Mile AL (11/29/04):
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.

Michael of Lompoc CA (10/19/04):
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.

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