Maximum PC

Between eBay fees and the depreciation of a laptop which is no longer new, I think you'd need a deeper discount than that.

For Alienwares, they are selling OLD AREA 51s FOR THE PRICE THEY WERE BOUGHT NEW. I saw a m11x go for 3k.

The saga continues...

So I go back into my bank account to take a look at something else and notice that despite the "cancellation" I'm still having money withdrawn from my account. I looked back a month earlier... and they withdrew it then as well.

Okay, no big deal- I'll call them up and talk to someone and get those charges reversed. Oh yes, and I should add that I haven't got my reimbursment check yet (it's been over a month). I call the same people who I cancelled through and they said I'm going to be charged the restocking fee once... and that was what was withdrawn from my account. No, because it's the same amount as my monthly payment and it's happened twice. Not to mention the fact that the 15% had already been taken off for the amount I actually paid... so I shouldn't be getting charged anymore.

They said they don't have any way of seeing why it is that I'm still getting charged so they put me through to their accounting- but they couldn't do anything because I'm in Canada. So then I got transfered to dell financial in canada... they had my account information for the first computer I ordered and promptly returned... but not the second one. None of my information on that account was up to date after last months' debacle... which is what it is. They said they had no record of anything being cancelled but did know I only had 7 payments left on my computer. Which one, I wondered...

So the lady I talked to was getting frustrated because there was no way for her to get the information from the US division because it's two different companies- basically. So she puts me through to Dell / Alienware tech support in the US hoping that they'll have some reference to the cancellation because it was an RMA issue. Of course they didn't... they then put me through to dell financial in the US hoping that maybe they'd be able to track the issue from their end... maybe alienware put the cancellation through to US financial instead of Canadian... of course by the time that happened I was losing my patience. So they gave me a number that went direct to tech support but that went around in a circle back to dell financial because the automated system heard me say "account difficulties." I talked to that lady and said it'd been two hours since I got on the phone and needed to be bumped up to a manager who oversaw the operation from a level that bridged the gap between the US and Canadian institutions which she promptly did but not until the entire support structure shut down "at 6pm eastern time." So I basically just got a dead line and notification to call back.

So... tomorrow... I'll try again.

I had a similar problem with an ebay seller's hacked account.

Okay... well I am all for ragging on a company when they deficate in the bed but I will also deliver credit where it's due.

Friday I called the Alienware depot again where I'd been dealing originally with the people who were holding my non-cancelled computer hostage. I talked to a few people that day but the last guy basically said "I'm not sure who told you that you'd pay restocking for a legacy system but you shouldn't have to."

Unfortunately, he also said: "I'm going to look into this for you and I'll email you with confirmation."

It's Tuesday... Still waiting.

So I got bored with waiting and decided to start over again today. I called depot again (RMA / tech support) and they couldn't resolve whether or not the computer had been cancelled. They put me through to dell finance, but not the dell finance that deals with alienware legacy. I politely requested (demanded) that I be transferred to someone a level up who could actually DO something and not just tell me things... the guy in the department that actually has something to do with what I'm doing. To their credit, they actually put me through to someone who could help- I think.

I had a bit of an opportunity over that 50 minute period to explain the chronology of events over the 3 day effort and I'm pretty sure that he had a chance to interpret exactly how angry I was at the constant run around. Apparently they can't "talk" to managers... they can only "chat" with them over a computer. They have no phone number so he couldn't put me through to the guy he was chatting with. Nice.

The end result is I got an assurance from this senior account guy that I was going to be issued a cheque for the full amount (4200) at the end of next week. He explained that it takes 3 weeks to actually process the cancellation and then another amount of time to have the cheque arrive.

So though I'm still 100% annoyed at the run around that it took before I could deal with this- Things did end up in a way that I am satisfied with. That is, of course, provided the cheque shows up and doesn't bounce.

Being in Tech support and having to deal with them on a daily basis I can tell you that Dell support sucks money balls. They don't know their ass from their elbow.

Well... the cheque was supposed to arrived 2 weeks ago so I figured it might be worth a look. No big deal- I called the number they left me the last time and tried to sort it out.

The first call was dismissed to someone else because they didn't recognize any of the order numbers I'd been giving. This included my original order number from March 2008, my original RMA number or the RMA number I got with my shipping ticket sent to me by the same people I was talking to. It bounced over to another division in Canada who prompty returned me to the US... offered 4 prompts I chose that for RMA. Instead I got tech support. Tech support couldn't help me, returned me to the automated prompts and this time I had to verbally say "RMA" to the automated voice. Through some miracle of stupidity I ended up being transferred to sales... You can imagine the commentary I offered on that transaction. She put me through to customer support- wrong side of the border... bounced up to Canada this time and finally insisted on talking to a manger. I talked to Gary. He said he assured me that he was going to send me through to the right people this time. He bounced me over to someone in the states that was a level lower who he "insisted would be able to help me resolve my issues." That person said they couldn't help me because they didn't have access and that I was going to need to go to Canada people... which they did and put me on hold for a few more moments. Next guy asks for the order number- which I give to him. Sir, he says, it needs to be 9 numbers. Yes, well, I only have 6. But it needs 9... Okay, well put me through to your manager. Guess who? That's right... Gary again. Gary apologizes and once again puts me through to someone who could help on the other side of the border. Once again, they ask for the order number... asking for 9 digits. This gets old really fast- and I insist on talking to a manager. Apparently I talk to a manager who tells me there is nothing he can do about it and suggested I talk to someone in Canada. This eventually happens after I lose my mind for a couple minutes. I get through to someone in Canada and they tell me they can offer me a call back from a manager to help resolve the issue within 24 hours. I ask if the manager's name is Gary... they say yes it is... How did I know?

I told them to get the guy one level up from Gary to call me... and gave up. I'm pretty sure I won't hear back from them as nothing else they've told me ever went through either.

Anyway- as you can imagine my level of infuriation is beyond calculation. This last volley was 12 people (a couple of people twice) and 3 hours. Nice.

Imagine if I'd actually ordered another computer off them?!

Well- never did get that phone call. I didn't think I would- they just wanted to get me off the phone.

I spent two more days, about 3 hours per day to try and figure out where the cheque is. On top of it, my monthly payment went through at the end of last month- so it was enough to tell me that nobody has done anything- and my cheque was supposed to arrive almost a month ago now. Funny how that works.

Anyone I talked to continued with the same riggamarole as before... can't help me because I'm in Canada... Can't help me because the computer was sent to the states... and on, and on, and on. People were forwarding me back and forth across the border... and strangely enough you just KNEW it was being handled abroad by some call center located in whatever country could do it cheaper. Sure, they said they were sending me to a rep from the US... not a freakin' chance that was happening. I think I bounced at one point from India to somewhere in Western Europe... I think I even talked to someone from Tanzania at one point. I think that's still a place? Bet the labour is cheap.

Anyway- finally... someone put together the fact that I had a system I'd ordered pre-2009 and sent me over to the legacy branch of Alienware. Nevermind that everyone I'd talked to at that point I made CRYSTAL CLEAR that I had an old Alienware system... old as in March 2008. Yet nobody had access to the information needed to make the connection. I did continuously make that point. I wasn't mad at the people who couldn't help. I was made that a multi billion dollar company doesn't provide their employees with the infrastructure necessary to actually help the people who need it. Of the LITERALLY dozens of people I talked to. DOZENS... maybe 3 were actually in a position to use the information I had and help me move forward with resolution. Seriously? Brutal.

The guy I ended up with- a true 1 perceter- took matters on REALLY seriously and ended up talking to the rep who actually processed my original complaint back in August. It was one of those "Oh yeah, I remember that guy. Holy @!$% that was months ago!" Then a supervisor took over the line and explained that they were really sorry blah blah blah at which point I politely interrupted and said "I must admit, I don't believe a word you're saying to me but I do appreciate the time you're taking to say it at all." The whole time, people are apologizing exactly the same way and though it did sound like she was going to take charge of this situation and ensure that it was managed... that's what I thought the last time. Cautiously, I became optimistic because she said they were going to send me an email with all the contact information pertaining to this issue- including the email of the guy who was now in charge of seeing it through. I didn't believe it until I actually received the email (while I kept them on the line). I've been told I was being called by managers, forwarded to managers who ended up being dead end forwards- resulting in the "can not be completed. Please hang up."

We're moving forward again, but let me say this: If you EVER, EVER get lost in an abyss like this- believe me... if you have a dell computer- power to you. I hear plenty of people like them. Hey... great. Actually, the hardware ain't bad. But when it goes bad... holy #^T% good luck with that.

I sent the comp back in May... first week. In between May and the end of August I couldn't email, phone or find anyone who had ANY record of it. I got a random call at the end of August saying they couldn't fix my computer and give me a refund... with the 600 dollar restocking fee (15%). Then, at the end of September when I was trying to figure out why my payments kept coming out, they said there was no restocking fee. The hours that I spent on hold, or retelling to story, or re-updating my information... just to come to that?! Confirmation that it was cancelled and there was no restocking fee came and went... 10 days to receive the cheque came and went. Another month passed where I was being patient and then another 2 days, 3 hours per day on hold... bouncing back and forth. Nobody there had access to the information needed... and they won't- unless you hit EXACTLY the department you need to hit.

Anyway- you've been warned.

For those of you WITH legacy systems... if you're having issues these are the instructions that I was sent:

If you want to call direct to us:

1-866-287-6727 direct phone number. Once dialed, follow the automated menu to select Technical Support (#4) and then All Others (#3)


I have SOME hope that this guy is really trying to help- I have his email but I'm hesitant to post it up. If you need it and you're having issues then just send me a note and I'll IM you the email.

Continuing on with this seemingly endless thread I thought I'd follow up with the good news: A cheque arrived... A cheque. Not THE cheque. Yeah... here we go again.

After trying to track down the cheque that never showed up I made a couple of attempts to contact the guy whose email I had. I sent him a couple of notes- the first was pretty polite and basically to the tune of... haven't heard from you- please send me an update. I received a "I'll call you this morning, what number?" I sent it to him and never heard from him again. Ever.

I sent him another email looking for that confirmation I was promised... nothing. So I sent another one telling him to pass my messages on to his manager so that he could wipe his hands clean of me and put my heap on someone else's plate. That didn't happen either (didn't figure, but was worth a shot.)

So I had to start all over again- basically. Called the number above, 4, 3... then talked to a couple different people. Was put on hold a few times- waited 15-20 minutes each time (depends on what I was doing generally)... finally talked to someone who was able to pinpoint that my case was being handled by Dell Financial and that it would be 3 weeks for them to process the cancellation. I became abrupt and suggested he put me through to someone in charge because I'd been told that a few too many times and clearly there was some information missing. Of course, that put me in the abyss again and resulted in being put through to dell financial "preferred customer" who couldn't help me anyway- then they put me through to dell financial in Canada but their system was down for maintenance and said "call back in 2 hours."

I called the legacy number back and talked to someone who, after I'd had a chance to vent how frustrating this experience has been, nailed my account down enough to say "the cheque will be there on the 25th of November." This was after being put on hold for over 10 minutes. That's why I tend to wait on hold as long as I do with 15-20 minutes being quite common... consistently when these guys go digging for info it takes FOREVER.

On Nov 25th I got a text from a buddy of mine saying a cheque arrived. It was about $2000, which is barely half of what I THOUGHT I was going to get with the 15% taken off... and less than half of what was ultimately promised following months of pursuit.

So back on the phones... talking to random guys- trying to get in touch with the manager I'd talked to before... no joy. Talked to some guy named Steven who put me into the abyss... and then a real saucy type named Marco who could barely stifle the laughter at my frustration and quite hapily just resigned me to an automated prompt that was supposed to be his manager. This after he said "okay, the person managing your account isn't in- but I'll see if I can find someone else who can help you." Well played, Marco. I can't help but imagine that call center- these guys just bounce people who are past the point of infuriated back and forth amongst one another and see who can get the biggest rise.

Today some guy I'm calling "mumbles" put me through to the automated system again... and then I got on the phone with a guy named Maykol- Maykol probably got the worst of my manners but he did laugh when I asked if they put people through to the automated system to knock us down a peg. In hindsight it wouldn't surprise me... so know as you read this that I'm not going at it all blind with rage- but I tried to be civilized yesterday... explaining what happened and saying I was going to go about it as politely as I could in hopes that it would get me more mileage than being abrupt and impatient.

That got me put on hold for 20 minutes the first time. Thanks Steven. Jerk it is then!

Maykol obliged me by not putting me on hold and instead just muted his microphone so I could check that he was still there. He's looking into the file and also sent me his email. In his email signature he has a link to his manager... Yeah, you know that's getting a letter.

Anyway folks... I know this seems like a diary of eno's gripes with Alienware- but I maintain if you end up trying to get a computer fixed, or a refund... or cancel... or whatever... this is what you have to look forward to.

I have always known Dell service sucks, but I didn't think it was *THIS* bad.
My next laptop is going to be an IBM/Lenovo.

I have no idea why this posted here and I can not delete it.

Honest question: do you really feel that a full refund is fair after 3 years of use of this laptop?

You can take that $2k and turn it into a new i7 based laptop that would DESTROY your old one and have money left over ... isn't a new, much faster laptop and cash sufficient compensation?

If nothing had happened to your laptop, you'd have a three-year old laptop .. and that's it. Now, you can have a new, much faster laptop and money for some other toys.

Honestly... under some circumstances I might agree with you Jip. Back when I sent in my computer for an RMA repair (through a warranty I'll remind you I actually PAID for)... I was actually just expecting to get my computer fixed and sent back to me.

Then I didn't hear back from them... despite calling... despite the hangup at customs and their complete absence of any correspondence... I don't hear back from them to get confirmation until the END of August. I'd walked away from the computer by then- figured it had dropped into an abyss and it wasn't worth chasing after because the computer itself is probably worth less than a grand in working form.

Then a guy calls me up and tells me I can get a new comp or get a full refund. I'm sure you've already read all this. I remind you that that is even in the RMA agreement.

I chose get a full refund- largely because of my anticipation for continued service similar to what I'm going through now.

So since the end of August, I've been promised a full refund. A full refund here isn't 2k. It isn't 3600. It's not even 4k. For the last 3 months I've been pursuing this (since I cancelled anyway) people have been telling me I'm getting a cheque for 4200. Every single person I've managed to talk to said the same number (once we finally sorted out the whole restocking fee nonsense. Now, after waiting 3 months to get a cheque for half that... THAT's what pisses me off. Where do you just pull a number like 2k from?

And Jip- to take it one step further. If someone could say to me something like: "The people at Alienware can't see the amount owing- they can only see it's paid for. Over the last 3 years you have only put 2k down on the principal amount for the computer so while you're only getting 2k, we're also terminating your remaining payments. The rest of the money went to interest."

See... THAT would make sense to me but what infuriates me even more than not getting the money is the fact that NOBODY can just come forward and say it! NOBODY can put that together- if that is in fact what has happened. They just pop a cheque in an envelope and go "here you go, half of what we've promised you."

So while I appreciate your perspective on this... 2k buys a great laptop- not disagreeing with you... what pisses me off is that they take us guys who made the investment into Alienware that made them attractive enough to Dell to purchase and basically left us hanging high and dry. I say to Dell: Buy out the remaining legacy guys for... let's say 2k (nice round number)... terminate their payments or give them an option (as they did for me) to buy another comp from Dell with a new warranty and a new contract.

Many would take that option. The hardware is good- but one thing I've learned in talking to so many different people at Dell is most are downright ignorant and rude, most are infuriatingly unknowledgeable and you really "never know what you're going to get" if you have to pick up the phone for tech support.

So 2k buys a great laptop... yes. But it doesn't pay for the fact that I haven't had one since May. And to those thinking "if you'd have let them send you a new computer for 4200 bucks you'd have had it by now... " I say to you:

Would I?

Oh, I understand. I'm not even saying that you shouldn't be pissed and I appreciate the time and effort that you've put into this thread and into trying to get some kind of closure from them.

I didn't realise that you were still paying on this laptop ... if the numbers add up the way that you say (your investment = the amount on the check), then I'd be even more likely to walk away happy. Hell, not having to continue to pay on a 3 year old laptop is fantastic .. now you can own one outright.

You were treated like shit and you deserve some answers ... all true. The service was shitty. The service was not what you should expect and certainly not what you deserve. Agreed.

However, now you have a choice. You can be pissed off ... or you can walk away satisfied. I'm just trying to point out the silver-lining here ... you get a nice new laptop, no more payments, extra cash in hand AND you don't have to deal with them anymore.

Take that big check, buy yourself a nice laptop from someone other than these fucktarded arseholes and let them know that they've lost your business.

Turn a negative experience into a positive, that's all I'm saying. Get yourself a sweet computer and everytime you use it, know that you got more out of this entire ordeal than they did.

Still waiting for someone from Alienware Legacy to tell me why I only got 2100 bucks. The guy I was talking to sent me a couple emails before Christmas saying that it was under review but I've heard nothing since then.

And the games continue.

Well guys… sorry, but if I have to deal with it then you have to keep reading about it.

So last time we talked I’d deposited the cheque for 2016 and wanted to figure out what the issue was. I mean- it’s 2k more than what I had before but all I was hunting for was an explanation. Honestly with all the silver lining and all that- I wanted to know what happened... after what it took for me to get a cheque at all... wtf happened?!

In later on in January I kept trying to get a hold of Maykol- the guy from before Christmas who said "what number are you at so I can call you" but that wasn’t working… I emailed him, his manager- several times- and finally just started calling again and asking for him. Of course, he was never in and the same issue I’d had before with the long on hold times and the utterly infuriating double redundant “please visit us today on the internet where we can blah blah blah” two times back to back each time you call. Anyway, I get through to a guy named Max eventually. Well- Max was the pretty standard Alienware call taker… seemed pretty indifferent about the whole thing and like them all seemed to be reading from a script. “I’m very sorry that you have blah blah blah.” It would mean more if it wasn’t exactly the same thing each and every time.

So we get talking about the issue and he says “well, it’s because of depreciation.” I figured… okay- so at some point between the time that someone at your manager’s level told me I’d get a full value refund for my computer and when my cheque arrived its value was cut in half? You have my number, you have my email- figure maybe someone would call to talk to me about it?

"So then, in your file on this issue- it should have a reason on the file." No reason.

Okay, well get a reason? I made the point once again that it was a bit disturbing that people at Dell can just fire a cheque in the mail without any cause with one denomination or the other and nobody knows about it? Nice.

We went around the rosey for about 10 minutes as I explained to him exactly how ridiculous this whole situation was. Then, the kicker. The current kicker that has me scratching my head.

“We need you to send us a copy of your invoice, and a copy of the cheque that we sent you.” I said pardon?
“Let me get this straight… you guys sent me a cheque for a certain amount regarding a computer I bought from you- and YOU need ME to call the bank, and get them to dig up that cheque from their central storage facility… and take a picture or copy of that cheque… and send you a copy of an original invoice from March 08?”
“Yes, we need that so that we can escalate this. We need information.” SMH.
“You mean to tell me that you have nobody that you can contact that can verify the amount of that cheque. You need ME to prove to you how much the cheque was for?“
“But sir! You don’t understand… we are a very large company with many departments. For me to get that information would take a long time and be many steps. It would be faster for you to get the information…” Holy F#$@#.
I finally relented and said I’d get him the fricken files and to be honest it’s taken me some time to get on it. Which I think was the point… again, it’s just one more diversion that pushes me away and one more chance for them to get me to let it go.

This time, I got the information together and I have the bank looking up the information and I forwarded them the freakin’ invoice. Simultaneously I filed a complaint with the BBB in hopes that may expedite a resolution to this ridiculous situation. Probably not but in reading some of the other threads in forums that talk about legacy issues with Alienware getting them involved has helped.

So as it stands now we’re just waiting for the information to hit “Max” and see what he’s going to do with it. As you and I already know- probably nothing… just like everyone else involved in this quagmire.

Interesting update:

Less than 24 hours after I submitted my better business bureau claim I got an email from Dell's executive support team announcing they had received word of the claim and aspire to have it cleared up in 15 business days following consultation with their accounting department.

At the very least, I'll either get a cheque or an explanation.

Damn dude... just read this thread and you really got some shit on your face! I really hope you get your money and everything is resolved, but yeah I agree with you, this should have been dealt with much faster without so much delay. Damn... I would have done the BBB route after the first month or even after the first extra charge for a laptop that you don't even own anymore. Honestly, I would possibly look into the idea of suing Dell for such a shady practice, specially after they kept charging you for a laptop that was suppose to be cancelled. (And it doesn't surprise me, their Accounting department is full of idiots)


This is why I'm a firm believer in only buying items that you can actually afford, never finance; I've dealt with both Dell's Home and Business accounts (as I have both), its practically night vs. day between the two. Home finance is a complete nightmare even when you have the money and WANT TO PAY THEM! Good god, I've never had so much grief in trying to give a company my hard earned money before, and that was just to get in on a Dell only deal through their Dell Fiance service to save an extra 4 or 8% off the final sticker price.

I literally had to go through like 3 or 4 payment websites/gateways to finally get to the right "pop up" screen that only worked on IE (at the time) and they wouldn't accept my credit card; had to use a bank account transaction, which failed to charge correctly. Then had to deal all the phone CS line like you, but I got it resolved (over multiple calls) to the point of where I just mailed them a physical check. Good grief!

After that, every time I had to buy from Dell, I just buy directly using my CC even though their reps go "you can save few % more with Dell Financial Service!". Fuck you guys; impossible to give you money just so you can over charge people of when they can't figure out how to send you money on time! And that's with a US resident dealing with a US company; I would have pulled my teeth out if I lived in Canada and had to deal with their shits.

Honestly, the only other company that I've dealt with that has an even shittier accounting department is AT&T. Time Warner is up there, but they are actually above Dell since their CS is actually not half bad and their store fronts; their CS/TS people can actually override the system to do the things they need to do to get shit done. Still requires a lot of effort on the consumer side.


Although, if you know the CS shell game, their CS isn't too terrible for tech support and the Dell XPS (laptop and desktops) I have had for the last decade have been pretty reliable (knock on wood). Although, I'm in the US and the CS is probably a lot better than what you have.

My biggest wonder is where you live in Canada because I just find it hard to believe that if you live in a metropolitan area that Dell wouldn't just have sent you a tech to your house for repair. I know they do this since half of my family lives in Toronto or Vancouver; a few of them have dell laptops/desktops. But again, their operation in Dell is probably not on the same network size as the US for tech support (although most Dell techs are just contract workers).

And even then! The Alienware warranty service should have some sort of higher level of TS to actually hire a tech to come out to you. I would have said "Fuck you, I paid 4 grand for this shit. You come to me! I ain't shipping nothing out!" lol



And btw, the Alienware m17x uses the same parts as the same year Dell XPS. It was Alienware's first PC to use Dell parts (2009 model). Even older Alienware laptops used some Dell part numbers for the more generic replacement parts.

I would have never spent 4k on such a system since I got my XPS 17" on a slickdeals sale for $1400 w/ 3 yr warranty after some very smart people figured out a way to stack various coupons for almost 60% off; the exact same Alienware config was 3400+.

Eh JBaz... yes- quite the read, isn't it?

The Alienware "hype" sucked the extra 50% of the cost out of me- no doubt about it. Pretty brilliant marketting on their part- until you actually got into the forums (from having an ID generated by your purchase) and saw the problems everyone was having with their driver support. I had my own issues with that too and knew I was in for a long journey if anything at all ever went wrong.

I packaged all of my "diary" notes in a word document and attached all corresponding emails throughout this... (counting)... 10 month ordeal and it's come out to 33 pages- mostly single spaced. Suffice to say I'm glad that I was able to put it out there- little did I know I was going need to use it as "evidence" so to speak to try and get my point across. I gave him the short version, too... and said "if you feel like really getting into exactly how bad it was... here you go."

I find myself re-reading it every now and then and wonder how bad it must appear... and sometimes I'd forget about some of the things that made me the angriest- little things like bumping me up to a manager after 2 hours on the phone only to discover that the lines were going down because the system shuts down at 6pm eastern. I almost flipped my desk over at that point.

I'm not the sueing kind- but I'll tell you... if my time spent hammering this out was worth what it is when I'm at work- they'd owe me a pretty penny.

And also about the tech support the issue all revolves around the legacy nature of the computer- exactly the same reason why it was that nobody in the conventional CS structure had any information on it. While I tried to get the computer somewhere local (Calgary, Alberta) at the time the only place they told me I could take it was fricken Onterrible somewhere near Toronto. And, like you said, I lost my Sh1t when they told me that the first time. I had no idea why I'd pay for extended warranty if all they were going to do was tell me to take it somewhere 3 provinces away and in the center of the universe!

About the BBB- I was hunting around for more people who were having the same problem as me and apparently it's a pretty widely known issue. The one guy was expanding at length at how to get their attention and to be quite honest I thought it was only something that you folks in the US could do. I dismissed it- but then after this last go-round figured it was worth a shot so I looked into it a bit more. Suffice to say, it's worked- well... hold on. I thought that once before and here I am still ringing around the rosey.

Like you said, if I were to go through something like this EVER again- I would engage this organization immediately. And to those of you out there having similar issues with Alienware legacy systems... I wouldn't hesitate after that first hiccup to do it again. I look back at the "true 1 percenter" who I thought was going to help me resolve things back months ago and he evaporated. Then the next guy and his manager teamed up and made me feel better about it- nothing. Then the next guy... nothing but to tell me to go run around and collect documentation that they should have.

I hope it helps someone out... no sense going through all this if nobody learns a thing or two and benefits from it in the end.

Honestly, the only way I would ever look at an Alienware laptop is if I got it uber cheap (or if someone smart enough and realizes some crazy loophole on dell's website again to accept multiple stacking coupons for huge discounts... lol) or someone else bought it for me. Even when you bought your m17x, there was loads of other options on the market from better boutique laptop makers.

It's funny because I have tons of friends who have a similar alienware setup as my system (some even newer) that have 20x more issues than my XPS. And I've only had two issues: LCD screen died in 1st year and the GPU died after 3 (actually 1 week after it went out of warranty, but I called Dell, bought the 2 year extended warranty and they repaired it); all of which was replaced under warranty the next day by a Dell service tech who came to my house and fixed it in 20 mins or less. Actually the GPU was newer since they didn't have the one that came with it so I got a free upgrade.

And this is talking about an XPS laptop that I've used everyday for years; even been in two motorbike wrecks and survived. The fit and finish isn't anything to talk about, but I've been impressed that I haven't had more issues with it. Although, now thinking about it, the hinge design they've been using on the xps/alienware laptops are the worst design for the last few years. Even most of their new stuff sucks, although Dell has said their latest laptops are completely redesigned... I'd still be hesitant on such a claim.

Even now, alienware are overly priced Dell XPS systems. There are just better options like OriginPC, AVA direct, Sager, Asus, and others that make pretty good mid-budget gaming rigs up to the crazy stuff. I never really needed a powerful gaming laptop since I rock the desktops to LAN/WAN parties. Even then, you can get a modern gaming laptop for $1500 that's just sick; plays almost every game at 1080p on high/ultra.