Alienware Sucks!

Another tale of woe from someone who bought an Alienware computer.

Sunday, November 25, 2007

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posted by Cem Kaner @ 2:22 AM  

24 Comments:

  • At 8:24 PM, Blogger TropicalR said…

    Wow. this comes to show how crappy these people are. I bought an m5750 from them last year, the ocmputer failed twice. They wont refund my money. And now, they don't even want to ship it to my freight forwarder who ships to Guatemala, where I have a summer home. It's the worst experience I have had with a vendor of any kind. Good thing is I have the power to recommend this to several IT related people, and I estimate that for potential purchase of systems, I could inflict $10,000 or more in lost revenue to them, or more. But It still sucks I will not get my $3000 back.

     

  • At 9:40 PM, Blogger Chris said…

    Sir,

    I am going through the same hell with Alienware right now. I am completley lost and your information is greatly appreciated. I have already begun to write a letter to the President and I will be speaking with the Washington Post next week if nothing is resolved when a customer service supervisor calls me tomorrow. I have asked for nothing more than to be a satisfied customer who got what he paid for... A 4400.00 dollar computer that worked when I first recieved it, and worked after their tech department sent it back to me. I have asked for a replacement system or my money back, the reply I got was less than professional. I was told "your options are to send it back again or nothing" and they wouldnt guarantee me that it would be 100% working even if I did send it back again.

    As a just out of college kid living in Washington DC, I bought this laptop to further my career, not delay it. I cannot accept anything less than a full refund or a replacement system that works. Does this seem unreasonable to you?

    Please feel free to contact me about this matter. Any further advice you can offer would be great.

    Thank you

    Chris

     

  • At 1:52 AM, Blogger MY CIGARS HAVE GONE MOULDY said…

    ALIENWARE OR SHOULD I SAY ALIENWEARMEOUT IS ALSO SHITE IN AUSTRALIA TOO....EVEN THOUGH THEY HAVE CHANGED HANDS TO A NEW COMPANY...THEIR AFTERCARE SERVICE IS WOEFUL AND SLOW AND EXPENSIVE....DO NOT BUY ONE IT IS A NIGHTMARE AND EXPENSIVE....U HAVE BEEN WARNED.

     

  • At 2:01 PM, Blogger carmen said…

    I'm so glad I found this blog, I was actually going to purchase from this company because of all the "great" things about it. I guess i better find a better brand.

    thank you so much!

     

  • At 9:08 AM, Blogger thomaslianj said…

    I purchased an Alienware area 51-M 766 Laptop on 05/12/2004 and I paid almost three thousand dollars for it. It was advertised as a laptop with an upgradeable video card and it was considered to be the top of the line gaming notebook and had with some fantastic reviews winning numerous awards and gained a great deal of recognition from industry professionals and technology experts. The laptop should last many years and the main idea is the video card could be changed or upgraded. I thought I bought the best notebook on the market, but I was sadly mistaken. After a year and half, I called Alienware so I could purchase a new upgraded video card, and I was told that Alienware stop supporting my laptop and my video card. I was also told that I have to purchase a video card from a third party called “Uniwill” if I wanted an upgrade. So I called the third party company but no one picked up the phone and I left several messages and they never called me back. I was very surprised that I was unable to get an upgradeable video card. I was also very disappointed to find that so soon I was unable to get what was so strongly advertised and promised. If this isn’t false advertising and false promises made to customers then I don’t know what else is but afterwards I gave up calling and continue to use the notebook. I never thought I would have trouble with it but on November 23, 2007 the video card completely burned out. I contacted Alienware shortly afterwards to ask them if I could purchase any type of video card that would simple just work (forget about gaming or upgrading) so I could at least use the notebook. Unfortunately Alienware stop supporting and making any type of video card for my laptop, and I was told to call “Uniwill” once again to purchase a video card and once again I called, left messages and I never received a return call. I wonder if Uniwill is a prefabricated company created and owned by Alienware to prevent lawsuits. I also researched the Internet; eBay and tried to see if someone out there had anything I could possibly use, but all I found was a very long line of Blogs, many hate websites with a massive amount of posted threads of complaints of many unsatisfied and unhappy Alienware customers who where ripped off and lied to by a company filled with false advertisements, promises, and deceit. I purchased a three thousand dollar Alienware paperweight, and now I've joined a long line of unsatisfied customers.
    Alienware a criminal company (Dell would never screw their customers like Alienware).

     

  • At 9:11 AM, Blogger thomaslianj said…

    I purchased an Alienware area 51-M 766 Laptop on 05/12/2004 and I paid almost three thousand dollars for it. It was advertised as a laptop with an upgradeable video card and it was considered to be the top of the line gaming notebook and had with some fantastic reviews winning numerous awards and gained a great deal of recognition from industry professionals and technology experts. The laptop should last many years and the main idea is the video card could be changed or upgraded. I thought I bought the best notebook on the market, but I was sadly mistaken. After a year and half, I called Alienware so I could purchase a new upgraded video card, and I was told that Alienware stop supporting my laptop and my video card. I was also told that I have to purchase a video card from a third party called “Uniwill” if I wanted an upgrade. So I called the third party company but no one picked up the phone and I left several messages and they never called me back. I was very surprised that I was unable to get an upgradeable video card. I was also very disappointed to find that so soon I was unable to get what was so strongly advertised and promised. If this isn’t false advertising and false promises made to customers then I don’t know what else is but afterwards I gave up calling and continue to use the notebook. I never thought I would have trouble with it but on November 23, 2007 the video card completely burned out. I contacted Alienware shortly afterwards to ask them if I could purchase any type of video card that would simple just work (forget about gaming or upgrading) so I could at least use the notebook. Unfortunately Alienware stop supporting and making any type of video card for my laptop, and I was told to call “Uniwill” once again to purchase a video card and once again I called, left messages and I never received a return call. I wonder if Uniwill is a prefabricated company created and owned by Alienware to prevent lawsuits. I also researched the Internet; eBay and tried to see if someone out there had anything I could possibly use, but all I found was a very long line of Blogs, many websites with a massive amount of posted threads of complaints of many unsatisfied and unhappy Alienware customers who where ripped off and lied to by a company filled with false advertisements, promises, and deceit. I purchased a three thousand dollar Alienware paperweight, and now I've joined a long line of unsatisfied customers.
    Alienware a criminal company (Dell would never screw their customers like Alienware).

     

  • At 10:35 AM, Blogger dave said…

    I had one with them that takes the cake. I did not buy a computer from them, but they sent me an invoice that I did. I called them and they told me that it was training and it was not supposed to be done. I was on hold for 25 total mins with 4 different people to just find out that it was a mistake. The lady that took my call the first time could not cancel the order, they had to send me to another department to do this. Their support sucks and I am glas that I never bought anything from them and never will after I found out they were bought by Dell. Not to mention they are overpriced on all of their parts. I can get a moniter from a local super store for over $100 cheeper than they have listed for a similiar moniter.

     

  • At 2:02 PM, Blogger smithy_t said…

    Everyone might find this funny(although I do not !)

    I payed $4200.00(more than my last 3 cars cost!) for a buggy, malfunctioning, slow piece of garbage, and was talked into settling for choices I did not want by high level employees that are nothing more than fast talking con men. When you're buying your big bucks notebook, everything's peaches and cream and anything's possible. Once they have your money however, 'this' isn't possible and 'that' isn't compatible and they never implied that, etc, etc.

    I actually pulled over $4000.00 back from AlienWare because the company seemed so shady and had terrible reviews and sent it to AVA Direct instead based on their too good to be true reputation.

    I had been calling the company to ask questions and figure out the best system I could afford and was having terrible luck getting through to there tech rep Chris Vermundy. He never answers the phone no matter what time you call and always calls you back at the worst times when your in the middle of work, obviously at HIS convenience. Yet the sales peaple always say he's the one to answer your questions.

    So finally after several weeks of this I asked if there was anyone else I could speak to and was transferred to Misha Troshin, the head sales rep. In what was problably an omen I now see, upon telling Misha that at this time I did not want to give personal information about myself over the phone as I did with Alienware and repeat a mistake that resulted in harassing high pressure sales tactics phone calls, he immediately got snotty and said,' well, your the one who had to speak with someone right now !'.

    So, in a twist of fate, Misha ends up taking my order personally and proceeds to advise me on the best choices for what I'm hoping is a screaming state of the art notebook.
    I have to fight with him the whole time to get the latest components that Alienware, Sager and ExtremeNotebooks all include in the same model Clevo notebook because AVA is so far behind the curve.
    That was a 'joy' in itself and a source of constant aggravation and endless phone calls. I actually had to inform HIM of the latest wireless, graphics and WiFi cards on the market and listen to him tell me they aren't for this notebook or aren't yet on the open market when the other notebook manufacturers all had them. He would get smart or snotty with me and then eventually admitted that AVA purchases all their components on Ebay or similar places in bulk and can 'only get what they can get'... He finally agreed to check on the current availability of some of the components I wanted. Then 1 or 2 weeks later I would see them offered as choices on the AVA site.
    I'M DOING ALL THEY'RE RESEARCH FOR THEM !
    Funny...

    So finally after all this nonsense the big day comes and I call to finalize my order. Misha advises me on no uncertain terms that the purchase of a faster 2.8mhz or so processor is a waste of money for too little of a speed increase and that the 2.4 'stepping' processor is the way to go, because they can just overclock it and it will be faster than the more expensive one. I ask if he's positive it can be done- he says sure, they do this all the time. I ask will it void the warranty- he says no, they have professionals who do this, there's nothing to worry about. So I think wow, what a great guy, this is gona be a scream'n notebook, and I saved a couple bucks.

    When it came to the operating system I repeatedly told him I didn't want Vista, but he AND tech rep Chris assured me I had no choice, the notebook I picked wouldn't work with XP or anything else, even though many other OS's were offered as choices. So against my wishes Vista it was.
    I also pick a 7in1 Iomega card reader because this 'state of the art' notebook only has a 4in1 reader.
    I also am told by Misha this 'top of the line notebook' has an EXTERNAL volume control...
    I also pick the super expensive dual SLI graphics cards...

    I print out my order, put a personal hand written note with it detailing Misha's promises of overclocked processors and say if my notebook can't be overclocked for any reason to call me immediatley, in plain English.

    I also waited over 2 months to recieve my purchase.

    Every once in awhile I'd get nervous about Misha's shakey promises on my notebook choices and call to check up on things and he'd immedietly poo-poo my concerns and assure me they were doing everything they could to expidite my order, and I'd say no, that's not why I'm calling. I don't care how long it takes, just as long as I get what I paid for and it's done right.

    I mean we're talking over 4 thousand dollars for God's sake. He'd assure me everything was just peachy every time.
    He also assured me, at zero hour, that my system wouldn't be overclocked, he never said it could, I picked the processor I did based on cost, not overclocking, and overclocking usually costs a $100.00's extra anyway.

    Ain't that something.

    So, what'd I get for $4200.00 friggin dollars, my life savings.

    A malfunctioning, buggy, slow piece of *#^&@% that didn't even have the latest drivers, sure as hell ain't overclocked, is as slow as a Pentium III, glitches and stalls on 7 year old video games, crashes in the first 24 hours, doesn't have an external volume button, has pop-up boxes that refuse to go away, won't let me install or run anything because I'm not 'Administrator' and has the WORST OPERATING SYSTEM ON THE FACE OF THE EARTH, Vista.
    And get this, the Iomega 7in1 card reader, isn't even compatible !
    Which it says on the Iomega website. NO ONE EVEN BOTHERED TO CHECK !
    It's useless !

    Where in God's name did they get all these wonderfully happy customers !?!?

     

  • At 6:10 AM, Blogger AVPOWERSTN said…

    My Opinion: I a not saying Alienware occassionally lies.I am saying they are Habitual Liars.If you paid by credit card and are having a problem with Alienware.Call your
    credit card company and say "I want to dispute the Alienware charges on my credit card".My CC company said you can dispute charges for 180 days after your purchase.It had been almost ten months since the charge.But Visa said they would still allow me to dispute the charges (I have a feeling Visa knows Alienware are bottom feeders)my problem was resolved shortly after I disputed the charges.I read that Dell bought
    Alienware,thought I would get help
    from Dell.Dell said it was a problem that occurred before Dell purchased Alienware,and they could not help.You would figure that Dell
    having bought Alienware would raise
    Alienware's integrity, just the opposite, Dell's integrity dropped.
    Moe is the Head Liar at Alienware.
    Alienware is the WORST company I have ever dealt with.I built my last computer myself using NEWEGG
    components, no problems at all.I will Never buy anything from Dell or Alienware Again."Dispute the charges" if dealing with these Crooks.

     

  • At 1:21 AM, Blogger LDF said…

    To write that "Alienware Sucks" is a gross understatement! I bought two units,back in October 2005, one for each of my sons. A desktop, that I paid $7000.00 for, and an Aurora laptop for the tidy sum of $4000.00.

    Neither one has ever worked properly. The desktop was shipped back four times. Motherboard, sound card.. you name it. Never worked correctly. Alienware, refused to refund any money (even though the first reparation took place with 30 days of purchase). They isisted on fixing the unit, which usually meant we were on the phone for 6hours disassembling it, prior to them even allowing us to ship it back. (I mean, if you buy a BMW, are you expected to get under the hood, and maintain it?).Just a total ripoff.
    Needless to say, the warranty on the desktop is expired, so it is totally useless.

    The Aurora laptop, malfunctioned within the year, the fan went, but that warranty was only for a year, so it wasn't covered.

    To anyone reading this...save yourself a whole lot of time, money, energy and effort. DO NOT PURCHASE AN ALIENWARE COMPUTER.

    The products are garbage, and the customer service is non-existent!
    LDF

     

  • At 1:25 AM, Blogger b said…

    My question is, why doesnt any lawyers get involved on our side of these matters. It seems it would be pretty simple to start up a class action lawsuit against the company, not only for selling bad products and ripping off the consumer, but for the false advertisement that stats, they are #1 in both product and customer satisfaction. I myself have a Lemon lawsuit in the works for the ordeal they put me through after taking my money, and then costing my a symester at school when they wiped my hardrive clean to replace my heatsinks. I say once and for all we ban together and shut this company down. Or atleast make them feel the pressure so much, the change they're ways to become a reputable company.

     

  • At 8:47 PM, Blogger suprfly36 said…

    definitely the worst, hands down purchase of my life to date. I didnt need this computer to do anything special except keep me occupied while im on the road via games and movies and it couldnt handle that. ive got a $400 gateway that gets trashed on jobs, has probably seen every virus known to man and eats that shit up with a smile. I put a gun to my head everytime i remember that alienware gave me the refund option after the 3rd return for repair (due to my nonstop ranting) and i let it slip thru my fingers because of some negotiating. In total i have owned the system for 11 months it has been in my possession 4 of those. I paid roughly $3000 for the 9750 notebook, i cant even remember what it looks like. At this very moment it has been lost for 25 days in their very own service depot in houston. All of my efforts are now to get a refund what ever the cost even if it means very serious amounts of my time and legal and whatever other help i can get. I HATE THESE PEOPLE, ALL OF THEM AND EVERYTHING THEY HAVE TO DO WITH. Im am going to bash them at every opportunity and I will never forget my experience and I will make sure that any person I can reach will know as well

     

  • At 1:44 PM, Blogger Cece said…

    Hello,

    I was considering purchasing the M17 from Alienware, but I had an uncomfortable feeling about it. After a search on good ol' Google, I came across this blog, and after reading about your ordeal and the comments of others, I will not be purchasing from Alienware. Thank you for all of the information you have provided.

    Sincerly,

    Cecilia

     

  • At 11:03 AM, Blogger demitri said…

    I really needed to see this, i was going to buy a desktop but after reading this, the hell with that.alienware needs to get there shit together. What happened to the customer is always right? In this day and age its hard to get good service anymore, its seems everyone wants this crazy amount of money for things and doesnt want to serve there customers.

    Thanks for the input guys.

     

  • At 5:07 PM, Blogger Matt said…

    January 2009
    Alienware still sucks. Wish I had looked at this website prior to ordering mine. It took them over 60 days to provide the correct charging cord to go with the computer. It was the biggest run-around and nightmare. I feel taken advantage of by their high price, lack of service. They don't stand behind their product at all.

     

  • At 8:22 PM, Blogger Tracy said…

    Long ago, it seems like the stone ages, I bought an Alienware computer as they came highly recommended by friends. I spent about 25% more than on a comparable store bought system & was pleased when it arrived swiftly. I understood that the computer I bought came with no operating system (Windows 2000 had just come out); however I had made dozens of operating system installs & anticipated no great difficulty.

    Sadly enough 60% of the hardware I had selected was so new to the market that drivers were not available on the manufacturers websites. I instantly discovered this when I attempted to load my software and discovered that my system basically only ran in "safe mode" without the missing drivers and, to add insult to injury,I had no internet access due to the aforementioned driver issues.

    I have to say that years of patching together a multitude of computers for my children, friends, and neighbors had provided me with internet access and forms of resolution not available to most purchasers. I spent almost a week attempting to locate drivers for my video card, nic, sound card, and even my keyboard (of all things!) and finally had to give up when my operating system refused to give me any indications of exactly what was in my machine and the cards did not always provide the needed information.

    After my week of futility I finally picked up the phone to speak to tech support. I spent my first hour having my intelligence insulted; I was repeated informed in English so poor I could barely understand it, that I installed my operating system improperly & that all drivers were in the support section of Alienwares support site. Aside from the ridiculous expectation that I could access the internet with no modem or NIC that worked it was a complete fabrication meant to stall me into premature insanity; the website contained no such drivers.

    Without threats, but with considerable sarcasm I admit, I spent 4 hours with the phone over the course of 3 calls (1 put me on hold for almost 1/2 hour hoping I would give u p) I finally received my satisfaction. What do you image my hours of frustration netted me? I became the glorious owner of the 5 driver cd's necessary to make my machine recognize the equipment I had paid to have installed!

    I can see no reason to pay premium dollars to purchase a "top of the line" computer if you will receive bottom of the line support for even the most basic of needs and will never purchase an Alienware computer again.

    I admit I am still, after 6 years, using the same machine I have just mentioned; however this is a testament to the equipment I selected, not the company I purchased it from.

     

  • At 12:10 PM, Blogger MISDirector said…

    I bought a AW M17 which has had issues since day one. Now with the MB acting up and failing to bring online one of the HD in the RAID on boot they send me a new HD (which I had to pay to have cross shipped and came as a refurb not new drive) they want me to ship back my new notebook that has a three year on site warranty.

    Their tech support has less knowledge than my eight year old. I could not believe the lack of capability these people have. I know a lot of people from India and Alienware definately did not pick the smartest they have to offer.

    Dealing with customer service and their supervisors it like dealing with a broken record. They read from scripts and do nothing to resolve problems. They will not ensure any process of repair or time frame for repair.

    Horrible just horrible and they have lost a customer for life.

     

  • At 3:31 PM, Blogger Dick said…

    I bought the porkiest 4 core 4Ghz ALX from Alienware (Ireland) that I could spec, in June 2008. It took 5 months to arrive. When it did it wouldn't power on, well, it powered on, but then powered off. RMA'd, it came back...it worked but blue-screen crashed intermittently. RMA'd again, it came back, worked for 2 minutes, went dark and never ran again. I got my money back, a year after I ordered.

    To their credit (geddit?) I got every penny back, but made sure I posted everything back to them, the damned shirt, the damned baseball cap, the damned pen, the damned monitor, the damned keyboard, the damned mouse, the damned computer and especially the damned nameplate signed by that damned buffoon, Gonzales.

     

  • At 10:27 AM, Blogger charles said…

    i'm a gamer. and of course, i had an eye on alienware. but something made me read your blog. thank you. i found myself reading it from beginning to end. in this black and white world(where a consumer should get a refund for a defective product)there is too much grey in the law.and alienware knows it.alienware just lost me as a buyer thanks to you...stay well my friend.

     

  • At 6:47 AM, Blogger tiagoinka said…

    READ THIS BEFORE BUYING ALIENWARE

    Hi everyone, its the 3rd of September 2009 and I've bought myself an Area 51 X-58 from Alienware, with dual GTX295 GeForce Graphic cards and i7 processor. Im located in Switzerland, which means this computer was assembled in Ireland. The costs have reached alltogether about 4,500 Euro, which basically means at the moment, something around 6k+ dollars.

    The computer I got was a complete disaster. On the first day of use, the Logitech Webcam they sent with the computer (default product), came with the wrong driver and caused an irreversable damage on my Windows 64-bit registry. The so called "hardware support" has said it was a software issue and denied any help whatsoever. They have recommended me calling "software support" which is now provided by Dell. This basically meant I had to pay extra 150 euros to acquire this new service.

    After three times reinstalling my windows and 2 times formating the hard drive, I noticed that it could'nt possibly be just a software issue. And in fact, on a first analysis by the hardware support team, twenty days later, it was found out that the motherboard was defective.

    They have held me back long enough for refund time to expire (in Europe it is just 14 days) and now the best solution they are offering is for me to send the 32kg heavy computer back to Ireland, and wait 5 additional weeks to get that what I should have gotten a month ago.

    I am fighting this to the bitter end. And I am thankful for the whole concept of this Blog, and all of your contributions to it. I was VERY unfortunate not to have found you before my purchase.

    Take care you all. I'll keep you posted on the outcome. I´ll give them aliens a hell of a fight.

    Tiago

     

  • At 1:17 PM, Blogger Nick said…

    Alienware are awful in the US but brilliant in Ireland. Such a difference, Ive had a laptop since last year from the US and have had nothing but problems. Im nw at the stage wher I wouldnt buy another ALienware if someone paid me.
    Thanks

     

  • At 2:25 PM, Blogger Tiago said…

    I don't know where you got that information from, Nick. They have been now using the strategy of ignoring my e-mails. I have requested the e-mail adresses of the manager, of the european director and agent for service of Alienware. As for other requests, I have asked them to: 1 - Pay me a refund, or 2 - Send a new computer in exchange to this defective one.

    You know what kind of treatment they gave me? They have left me waiting for 15 DAYS, (including the manager), making me lose my temper and eventually call them.

    I have the whole converstion recorded and stored (as well as all e-mails up to date) and the attendant have denied me the right to access the director OR the Agent for service. He has also pointed out that the contract is quite clear on the substitution of computers, and that a first time malfunction will not grant me a complete replacement. I dont have to say that a refund was immediately pushed aside.

    Furthermore I am living in a land where international lawyers cost to much to justify any attempt of litigation.

    At the moment I regret buying this computer so deeply that I cant simply get over it.

    Any hint, tip, help or similar is enormously appreciated.

    Yours truly,
    Tiago

     

  • At 1:09 PM, Blogger Drayke said…

    Anyone considering class action, add me to the list. Vortha at g mail dot com.

    System has not worked most of the year I had it. Almost entire system has been replaced. Still failures.

     

  • At 8:56 PM, Blogger Beach95001 said…

    It looks like most of the problems have been with laptops; my desktop hasn't given me any so far; however, i did freak out when i found out Dell was involved in the company, but was assured they had nothing to do with the company except supplying the $$$....however, i was sorely disappointed when going back to purchase a laptop from Alienware, & kept getting thrown into the Dell site. ALIENWARE needs to dump DELL and go back to what they do best; build great computers with great customer service!!

     

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