ALIENWARE HORROR STORIES - Are they true?

[saadsolaiman]

Hi guys I don't know whether this is the right place for the topic but here goes. I ordered my ALIENWARE M17X with custom specs around 5 days ago (i'm in uk). I went on searching online about user experiences (you can understand my excitement and impatience lol) and I found like thousands of horror stories about faulty machines and lack of customer support. I'm kind of worried because obviously there's a lot of money involved. Now some users again defend Alienware saying that the neigh-sayers are just haters. I guess a lot of gamespot users own alienware machines. Can you guys please give me an idea about what I should actually expect? Thanks

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Uhhh.... I also posted this topic on other websites. It seems for some reason people seem to be advising me that I shouldn't have bought an alienware because its expensive... Rather than replying to the topic. Wierd

 

[MattyB]

There are lovers and there are haters. Obviously I'm I lover Peoples support experience will differ in different countries. I have only ever had very good support from Dell/Alienware. As with anything electronic you may experience issues but I have found that Dell have helped me resolve issues very quickly.
You only ever hear the bad things online. Very few people ever say how good things are. If price was an issue for everyone then Ferrari would be out of business pretty quickly! They still get you from A to B but just with a bit more style. Kind of like an Alienware!
If you do have small issues I would suggest to ask on here first because most of us have been through them before and can help you without too much trouble. There are Dell reps who visit here too occasionally.

Good luck and Welcome!

 

[saadsolaiman]

Thanks for the reply. This seems to be the first reasonable reply I got. In every other website I posted the same topic and the reply i get is YOU SHOULDN'T HAVE WASTED SO MUCH MONEY...but financial advise is obviously nit what i asked for.

Thanks again

 

[MattyB]

My pleasure. I went through the same process early last year before my first Alienware purchase. I saw so many bad reviews. I realized that these reviews meant diddly squat and I would take the opinion from the experts. Most of them say that the performance is top notch but the prices are high. As you said, I don't need their financial advise!.......or maybe I do.....

 

[Commy1]

You can't discount some of the horror stories, it has happened, it does happen that bad product is shipped out.
However, if you are fairly hardware savy, you're confident with keeping your OS clean and such then you should have no issue. Alienware laptops are designed very well and I'm sure whatever parts you put into your machine will work very well together.

If you have trouble, you can always post the question here and we'll probably be able to help.

 

[yikes81]

What MattyB said is fairly spot on. We have all bought an Alienware because we are prepared to fork out the dollars. As to hardware, it is just that. Hardware. All the different brands do the same thing. Put hardware together and brand it. Alienware sold itself as putting hardware together to tackle high end gaming. That's what you pay for. I'm sure other brands do it too, but Alienware guarantee it. And they usually get it right. We are here because we support this venture and want to share the good and bad of Alienware, not just the bad.

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[yikes81]

Oh, and to answer your initial concern, I have had good support experiences with Alienware. I am happy to give them praises to meeting expectations. I think that if you don't expect unrealistic things, then you will be happy.

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[Sleepy]

I'm now on my secoend Alienware , after I upgraded from m17x to m18x and I have to say I was also worried about the horrer story's you hear ... And I find it so annoying when talking to most non Alienware users , all I also get is " you have wasted your money " lol I actually have decided that they are just annoyed their wife's have not let them buy one as well lol


I have found customer services very help , I even managed to get some over clocking advice from them ( once only lol )

So welcome to the forum and BTW you are going to love your machin it is a beast to be prod of , and many will be jellus lol

 

[AeonSoul]

Is it true that faulty hardware happens, but that's not AW fault. I remember when I bought a couple of RAM sticks from a local store, worked the first week then they went nuts and started causing BSODS. It just happens, you might never know. Hardware is bound to fail eventually.

As far as goes for customer support, let me tell you this: a thumb rule when dealing with people is to be polite. If you call customer support and start screaming and shouting at them don't expect a nice experience. They might take their time to deal with your problem, but they're not there to serve you and only you, there are other people aswell and they might be busy in that given time.
As far as it goes for me the only time I had to deal with customer support was when I wanted to extend my warranty, and they were nice and fast enough to match my needs.

At least, welcome aboard

 

[jacobberke]

These system are legit, totally worth it cause of the design, might as well enjoy your rig.

 

[SpyderBite]

I have built my own, ordered systems from $250'to $10k. I'll never say one brand is better than the next.

But Dell (Alienware) have always done right by us. We have a small company we run from home that profits around $120k/year and we are very happy with our 3 x Alienware, 2 x Dell Laptops and 2 x Dell Towers which we swap out yearly with new models.

 

[nE0n1nja]

When I first got my M17x, and having also read some of these horror stories online, I thought it was faulty because it blue-screened a lot. I also had some issues where the screen would turn black. I was so disappointed and frustrated. But then I updated all of the drivers in specific order, and the problems were completely gone. It's been running smoothly ever since, not a single BSOD or freeze. So a lot of those horror stories are just from impatient kids who don't want to fix anything on their own.

 

[saadsolaiman]

Thought I'd visit this thread again..... Guys thank you all for your info regarding alienware. I have been using mine for a few days now. I am happy to say that I have never had a better machine! yes the price is ridiculous but what you get for the price is unique. Thanks. It's nice to see such an active community !

 

[tactrdfreak]

Yup!

Hi guys I don't know whether this is the right place for the topic but here goes. I ordered my ALIENWARE M17X with custom specs around 5 days ago (i'm in uk). I went on searching online about user experiences (you can understand my excitement and impatience lol) and I found like thousands of horror stories about faulty machines and lack of customer support. I'm kind of worried because obviously there's a lot of money involved. Now some users again defend Alienware saying that the neigh-sayers are just haters. I guess a lot of gamespot users own alienware machines. Can you guys please give me an idea about what I should actually expect? Thanks

- - - - - Updated; Double Post Auto Merged - - - - -

Uhhh.... I also posted this topic on other websites. It seems for some reason people seem to be advising me that I shouldn't have bought an alienware because its expensive... Rather than replying to the topic. Wierd

All those stories are not internet myths, I am a victim of a serious lack of customer service, a serious lack of technical support, and a dead within 5 days of receiving Alienware M17x R4. If I had to do it all over again, I'd order an Asus or a Sager. Sorry, but if you haven't had trouble by now you will and don't expect to get any kind of real concern or support from the jerks at Dell/Alienware.

 

[nE0n1nja]

All those stories are not internet myths, I am a victim of a serious lack of customer service, a serious lack of technical support, and a dead within 5 days of receiving Alienware M17x R4. If I had to do it all over again, I'd order an Asus or a Sager. Sorry, but if you haven't had trouble by now you will and don't expect to get any kind of real concern or support from the jerks at Dell/Alienware.

Maybe you've had a bad experience, but that doesn't mean he will also, like I said I've been using my M17x R3 on a daily basis for a year now and I haven't had any problems with it.

 

[yikes81]

All those stories are not internet myths, I am a victim of a serious lack of customer service, a serious lack of technical support, and a dead within 5 days of receiving Alienware M17x R4. If I had to do it all over again, I'd order an Asus or a Sager. Sorry, but if you haven't had trouble by now you will and don't expect to get any kind of real concern or support from the jerks at Dell/Alienware.

I have had all good experiences so far. Yes they are not as anal as I am.

But you saying "Sorry, but if you haven't had trouble by now you will" is such an overreaching comment. Like if you are not old now, you will be.

Tapatalk'n on the Galaxy S4

 

[MVLS CROWNZ]

No worries dude you should be fine! trust me i had audio jack issues that i solved myself. This Forum is a great tool, you'll get answers fast. another than that leave it to dell support my friend. good look and welcome to the club

 

[Blaze0510]

I'm currently having my own problem with Alienware and their lack of Customer Service. We fork out a lot of money on these systems and I'm being told they will not speak to me because I'm out of warranty and I have to call between certain hours on only 3 days a week. I've had stupid issues with my machine from the day I received it, but I consider myself fairly computer savy and fought through it. However, now I have either a bad LCD screen or a faulty connection on my motherboard on a 1 year old Alienware laptop. I'm fairly angry and disappointed with Alienware to say the least. I've bought 2 brand new Dells, 1 refurbished Dell, and 1 Alienware in the last 8 years. I have never had an issue with any of my machines until the Alienware; one you would assume would be higher/better quality.

 

[skeptical_M17X]

i have had TWO alien ware m17x first one was the R4 then i got sent the R5 both broke down and had to have the motherboard graphics card and 3 other parts replaced, i got these laptops from doing a diploma in gaming so the college supplied them until you complete your course they are yours when finished.....40 to 50 other students have had issues with these laptops...ssd's failing and over heating problems up to 90 degrees. i don't know whether to laugh or cry as this course is $22,500 course and i pay for the laptop and it seems its a piece of rubbish. so yea they arent real reliable

 

[MattyB]

Well I have another good story to throw into the mix. Looks like my motherboard fried on my M18x. Getting a white screen as soon as I try to boot. No beep codes. Tried different GPU's, LCD and HDD. I bought this from Dell's outlet store and the warranty ran out 2 months ago.
They just emailed me back and are going to do an onsite repair at no cost to me.
Can't argue with that.