Alienware: Buyer Beware.

**BoogyMan** · 08-21-2001, 08:45 AM

Well, where to begin? OK. I ordered my system (Athlon 800MHz Area 51) around July 10th of 2000. The person who took my order, Hector, was difficult to understand due to a heavy accent. He didn’t come across as an Alienware ‘counselor’ that wanted to help me build a great system. He seemed rushed and only partially interested.
But I place the order anyway. Heck, this company gets nothing but fantastic reviews!! The system arrived in about 47 days. During the waiting period, I would frequently try to check my order status on their website, but it had never progressed from the first phase of a four or five step process.

When it got to be close, I began calling to see what the status was, and got interesting reactions and half-truths. One day it was in quality checking, the next it was still in assembly. When I started to get angry, I started to get some more accurate responses, and lo-and-behold, my order was now being updated on the website.

My theory: My order was lost or not processed correctly and they built it at the last minute. They knew they screwed up, but lied to my face about it instead of admitting the mistake.

Well I finally received it and all was well in the world…

For about three weeks…

Things started to go wrong while I was surfing the net. My screen would go black for a few seconds and then return to normal. This ‘flickering’ increased in length and frequency as my uptime increased, until it got to the point where you needed to reboot.

Well, it was during one of these reboots that it went dead. System still had power, but no HDD activity, no POST, nothing. On the phone to tech support…

They were actually pretty quick to respond, and the tech had me do all the things I knew to do anyway. Reseat this, try it without that. Still dead. Tech thinks it’s a video card, and fires one out to me. Nope, that’s not it. Now they think it’s the mobo, and want to send a local vendor to my house to replace it. I told them to ship me the mobo and I would do it myself, and they did.

Still nothing! They want to do some more troubleshooting and I say enough, pack it up, and ship it to them to fix. I am being vague on the actual return times because honestly, I cannot remember, but it was well into September before I actually got it back and had the working system I had been charged for in July.

It worked great for the next 11 months. Then, one day when I tried to power it up, the problem returned. It now appears that my battle is lost. Alienware is sticking by their warranty guns, and because I am out of warranty, they can effectively do nothing for me. Out of five Emails to various people at the company, including the general tech support address, I received ONE response from Kevin, the Marketing and Business Development Manager. He has been the only contact at that company who has shown any genuine interest or effort on my behalf.

He forwarded my concerns to Roland, a manager of our customer service department. Well Roland promptly called me and asked a few generic tech support questions, then asked me to hold.
When he returned, he said it was probably the motherboard, and that they were aware of a bad batch of them around the time mine was replaced. Funny how I was never aware of this. He then proceeded to inform me that I was out of warranty and that all they could offer was technical support (whoopee), and I would have to purchase any parts needed. I rebutted, telling him that technically speaking, I didn’t receive a functional system until mid September, but it fell on very deaf ears. I asked him if he personally thought this was right, and he had the gall to say he thought a year was a good operating time for a PC!!

Well that about ended that conversation, and since then, they have hid behind the warranty shield with no desire to actually please this ex-customer. FWIW, I have good reason to believe that I didn’t even receive my system until August 22nd of 2k, but I lack physical evidence because I didn’t keep good records.

So here I sit, surfing the web for a good motherboard / CPU combo for my high performance gaming machine’… I think there are two morals to this story:
1. Don’t believe all the hype about Alienware.
2. Keep records of EVERYTHING!

Also, before anyone gets on a soapbox…

I know I could have built a comparable system for less. I didn’t want to. I have built systems before, and probably will many times again, but at that point in time, I wanted someone to do it for me. I’m not posting this for sympathy or advice, I’m posting it in hopes that I can save someone the anger and frustration that Alienware has put me through for the last year.

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**SunshineSuperMan** · 08-21-2001, 10:16 AM

Sorry to hear that bud and their tech support sounds like a joke.
My first guess would not have been the mobo at all .
Instead a faulty power supply shorting things out or a inproperly grounded MoBo.
That would have caused the reaccuring issue you explained.
Any way word of advice don`t skimp on a new MOBO and buy a bag of rubber MOBO washers ,for when you put it in.
Below I listed my top three MOBO choices for you.
Hope that helps....

First choice
Abit AMD761 Chipset ATX Motherboard Model KG7-Raid Retail Box 6 PCI Slots, Four 184-pin DIMM sockets support up to 4 GB PC1600/PC2100 DDR SDRAM module , 1 AGP Slot. Support AMD Athlon/Duron 700MHz ~ 1.33GHz or future Socket A Processors based on 200/266 MHz(100MHz/133MHz Double Data Rate). Ultra DMA 100/RAID: High Point HTP370 IDE Controller Fedex Saver Shipped $183.00
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProduc...nufactory=1283

Second Choice
Gigabyte GA-7DXR Socket A RETAIL Motherboard with RAID AMD 761 AGPset for AMD Athlon/Duron 200/266 MHz FSB, 1 x AGP Pro Slot, 5 x PCI Slots, 1 x AMR Creative CT-5880 sound chip & AC97 codec Promise ATA100 w/ RAID chip Fedex Saver Shipped $199.00 http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProduc...nufactory=1314

Last resort choice.
EPOX 8KTA3 Motherboard VIA KT133A CHIPSET, Supports 266 mhz FSB, Model 8KTA3+. Socket A 6 PCI 1 ISA 4 DIMM ATA 100 - For AMD Processor - retail box Fedex Saver Shipped $140.00 http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProduc...nufactory=1318

------------------
Farout Man!
Me built System spec`s
Cpu 1.33Ghz Thunderbird
(water cooled)@1.51Ghz!
Mobo IWillka 266R
LeadTek Geforce 3
Ram 768 Megs Pc 2100 cas 2.5
Boot drive 18gig Segate Cheata 15,000 rpm w/card
Dual 80 gig Maxtors
Dual Ibm 60Gxp 60Gigs
Pos 3.5
16x Pioneer Dvd
20x 12x 40x Rhicor burner
Dual 20 Veiwsonics
330 Cfm Alakian FullTower w/500 powersupply
.

**Neo** · 08-21-2001, 10:46 AM

I say kill the bastards.

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Intel p4 1.5ghz
Intel I850 mobo
256mb samsung pc800
Ati AIW 32mb radeon
SB! Live platinum 5.1
Videologic Digitheater DTS
Mitsubishi 2060u 22"
40.2gb Maxtor diamondmax plus 7200rpm
16x Toshiba dvd rom

**BoogyMan** · 08-21-2001, 04:50 PM

Originally posted by SunshineSuperMan:
My first guess would not have been the mobo at all .
Instead a faulty power supply shorting things out or a inproperly grounded MoBo.
That would have caused the reaccuring issue you explained.

Thanks for the links and advice. I have been suspecting the PS for a while, so I'll more than likely replace that while I'm at it...

Looks like I'm going to build my own anyway...

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**patssle** · 08-21-2001, 05:04 PM

i can sum up all that in 3 words:

name brands suck

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The best hardrive on the market right now is the Baraccuda IV from Seagate. 69MB/sec internal transfer rate. You cant even hear it.

PRESIDENT CLINTON OF THE USA: When you rearrange: TO COPULATE HE FINDS INTERNS
GEORGE BUSH: When you rearrange: HE BUGS GORE
DORMITORY: When you rearrange: DIRTY ROOM
EVANGELIST: When you rearrange: EVIL'S AGENT
DESPERATION: When you rearrange: A ROPE ENDS IT
THE MORSE CODE: When you rearrange: HERE COME DOTS
SLOT MACHINES: When you rearrange: CASH LOST IN 'EM
ANIMOSITY: When you rearrange: IS NO AMITY
MOTHER-IN LAW: When you rearrange: WOMAN HITLER
SNOOZE ALARMS! : When you rearrange: ALAS! NO MORE Z'S
A DECIMAL POINT: When you rearrange: I'M A DOT IN PLACE
THE EARTHQUAKES: When you rearrange: THAT QUEER SHAKE
ELEVEN PLUS TWO: When you rearrange: TWELVE PLUS ONE

**TheUltimateNewbie** · 08-21-2001, 05:12 PM

Damn that sucks. I was thinking of getting one before i built one. I guess i was smart not to get one. And where have you been? Combustion junction?

------------------
Look at my BRAND NEW RIG!
Pentium 99999999999 Xeon 99999999999999 Yottahertz
99999999 GB PC19999 RDRAM
Radeon XXX w/ silicon technology. LoL.
Plextor 99999x99999x99999
(it burns in one second!)
9999999999999999999 GB HD
99999999999999999watt PSU
Antec SX99999999999999999
3Com 9999/99999 NIC card
999999999999999Kbps modem
99999999 ft surround view
Klipsch 99999999999999999
Microsoft Voice Keyboard
Microsoft Brain powered mouse
SBLive! 99999999999999999

To get exact measurements, please add a 1 to all the parts.
Just so you know this is a real system.

**ynd69** · 08-21-2001, 05:19 PM

There's this old saying "If you want something done right, do it yourself"

Sorry to hear about your troubles with Alienware. By the way, I have replied to your thread in the Motherboards forum.

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~ Knight of the OC Crusaders ~

My Specs at OC Gurus!
ynd - Young and Dangerous, forever.
Join SE Overclockers Seti@home Team!!

**BoogyMan** · 08-21-2001, 05:21 PM

Originally posted by TheUltimateNewbie:
And where have you been? Combustion junction?

There and Moparchat.

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**lorddraco98** · 08-21-2001, 06:18 PM

Umm boogs. I just got an alienware PC and like the same thing happened to me. Not ur same problem but a different one that still made this thing unusable. I e-mailed and no responces. Tech support SUX. No way to contact them. They say they will call you back. YA RIGHT. 5 hours and still nothing. I try to send it back, sorry after 30 days. It was 38 days. So I agree with the subject. And I went with them cause of all those damn good reviews. and now this thing is bad! O well, best of luck to both of us boogs!

------------------
-Dragon
"Success usually comes to those who are too busy to be looking for it"
"Everyone is a genius at least once a year; a real genius has his original ideas closer together."
"It has become appallingly obvious that our technology has exceeded our humanity. "
- Albert Einstein
"Sometimes one pays most for the things one gets for nothing"
"If I had only known, I would have been a locksmith."
"Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one. "
Check out my rig- http://www.anandtech.com/mysystemrig.html?id=7203

**BoogyMan** · 08-21-2001, 06:38 PM

Originally posted by lorddraco98:
Umm boogs. I just got an alienware PC and like the same thing happened to me. Not ur same problem but a different one that still made this thing unusable. I e-mailed and no responces. Tech support SUX. No way to contact them. They say they will call you back. YA RIGHT. 5 hours and still nothing. I try to send it back, sorry after 30 days. It was 38 days. So I agree with the subject. And I went with them cause of all those damn good reviews. and now this thing is bad! O well, best of luck to both of us boogs!

Man, I'm sorry for you Draco.

Make their life HELL!!! Post your experience on resellerratings.com!!

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**TheUltimateNewbie** · 08-21-2001, 09:45 PM

whats moparchat?

------------------
Look at my BRAND NEW RIG!
Pentium 99999999999 Xeon 99999999999999 Yottahertz
99999999 GB PC19999 RDRAM
Radeon XXX w/ silicon technology. LoL.
Plextor 99999x99999x99999
(it burns in one second!)
9999999999999999999 GB HD
99999999999999999watt PSU
Antec SX99999999999999999
3Com 9999/99999 NIC card
999999999999999Kbps modem
99999999 ft surround view
Klipsch 99999999999999999
Microsoft Voice Keyboard
Microsoft Brain powered mouse
SBLive! 99999999999999999

To get exact measurements, please add a 1 to all the parts.
Just so you know this is a real system.

**Thermo** · 08-21-2001, 10:12 PM

If you don't build it yourself then get a Dell.

------------------
<A HREF="http://communities.msn.com/ThermosPlace/shoebox.msnw?Page=Last
Dual" TARGET=_blank>http://communities.msn.com/ThermosPlace/shoebox.msnw?Page=Last
Dual</A> 1.7 Xeons
860 chip set
512Mb PC800ECC
nVidia Quadro Pro 64Mb
Dual 20gig HD's
Sound Blaster 512V
12x/8x/32x CD
W2000sp2

**hobbes2112** · 08-21-2001, 10:22 PM

That does suck, but you need to realize that Alienware is not the only one that will do this. I owned an IBM once, tech support was non-existant.

Neighbor of mine owns a Dell, got the MTX virus, called Dell for "the #1 Service and Support" took more than 2 hours to talk to someone that both spoke english and didn't just transfer you to another office.

Then after all that crap, they just say that they don't offer help for viruses. Ok fine, that is a little understandable. Then after formating to reinstall (this MTX is a nasty one) Dell refused to offer instructions to this "less computer literate" person on how to re-install drivers.

I had to go over there and do what a half competent Tech Support person could have explained in 15 minutes.

Never again will I deal with a Complete System PC builder. Workstations yes, but PCs heck no.

**adam18** · 08-21-2001, 10:59 PM

Whats the MTX virus? My grandparents just got a Dell and the screen goes blurry now...maybe they got some sort of virus, that is what the Dell tech support guys say. I'm gonna go check it out this weekend, any ideas?

------------------
>>Abit ST6-RAID
>>Pentium III 800eb
>>Hercules Prophet 2 MX
>>IBM 30GB 7200 RPM ATA/100 HDD
>>256MB PC133 Crucial RAM
>>Creative 52X CD-ROM Drive
>>12x10x32x32 TDK VeloCD CDRW Drive
>>SB Live! Value
>>17" Phillips Magnavox
>>Logitech Mouseman Optical
>>harmon/kardon speakers
>>Enlight 7237 w/300W Thermal Control PSU
>>
>>[email protected]

**FeLicKz** · 08-22-2001, 12:03 AM

use system restore if u have a dell... my system below is a dell.. works nice for me!!

now on to ALIEN WARE... haha never have i had a system over heat on me until i got on an alienware pc.. grantite they were running amd.. but just a first expeiriance on their pc..

i emailed alienware and asked them why their sytems cost so much more than a dell or a gateway .. and 2wice as much as bulding one.. they replied they use only the best "SAME PARTS AS DELL ..ceptMOBO" parts and have "TECH SUPPORT" and their systems come with an instrucion manual!!!! OMG!! and i notice ALSO A MOUSEPAD!!

alienware hahahahaha

------------------
P4 1.7Ghz
64MB DDR NVIDIA GeForce3 4X AGP
256 pc800 RDRAM
40 GB ULTRA ATA/100
Samsung DvD rom
8x/4x/32x CD-RW Drive
Integrated 3Com® EtherLink® 10/100 Ethernet Controller
Turtle Beach Santa Cruz -DSP Sound
Altec Lansing 4.1 THX Certified ADA885 Dolby Digital Speakers w/Sub
Dual Booting ME & 2000

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