Alienware - MJ12 m7700i

12/4/06

Hello -

Yet another Alienware complaint to add to your list, if this keeps someone

from buying one of these things it will be well worth writing.

We ordered a m7700i laptop for one of our back office accountants to run our

corporate accounting package from remote locations and also to provide

backup.

[As a side note, it's worth noting that we had previously purchased an

Alienware dual processor workstation for our graphics department about a

year ago. The box arrived, 8 weeks late, with DOA drives and card readers

after spending an extra month in Alienware's "quality control" department.

We swore we would never buy another one - if only we hadn't.]

Back to this laptop. When the box arrives we plug it in and the box runs

for 3 minutes before shutting down. When we called tech support the guy on

the phone knew what he was talking about. We downloaded a couple of test

programs at his direction and ran them on the box. The video test

immediately shut off the laptop. Apparently this test isn't part of the

"quality control" Alienware claims they put all the boxes through prior to

shipping.

The tech arranged for an RMA of the video card, the replacement arrived

today. We mounted the replacement and ran the video test - failure at the 2

minute mark.

We called back customer service to arrange an RMA of the entire system which

had never run for more than three minutes straight since it was delivered

($2700 by the way). When I told the customer service rep that I considered

the box DOA he actually said "well, it's not actually DOA because it turns

on". I explained that a catastrophic system failure at the 2 minute mark

might constitute a DOA box, he disagreed. So here it is - if you think your

box is DOA just because it won't run than you have a different opinion than

Alienware customer service.

You all know the rest of the story, it's on thousands of posts webwide -

Alienware refused to send another box to replace the DOA system and offered

to repair the DOA system (check their Warranty folks - they can use

refurbished parts to do so) with an indeterminate repair time of "a few

weeks". I explained to the CS rep that I wasn't using this box to play

Quake - it was a business critical system component, apparently that makes

no difference. I am now returning the entire system at a cost of $400

(restocking fee for a DOA box). I should have known better.

Heed this warning - look up Alienware's CS issues on the web before

purchasing a box from them. Their refusal to stand behind their gear

coupled with missed delivery times and the lack of professionalism of the CS

department makes them absolutely unsuitable for any corporate environment.

AA