Alienware and my Dealing with DELL

[True_Avery]

I don't believe this is "good customer support" for a f***ing second. They sent a guy, he was incompetent and broke more of your computer, so they are covering their butt by trying a bribe so that you don't, say, make more threads like this elsewhere.

 

That isn't good customer support, nor is it "doing something nice". Don't make me gag. If anything, its a "we're sorry our support is terrible; here is our cheapest laptop to show we care".

 

You get free shiny product, get really happy, 5 star review they can put on their site about their support when, in actuality, they sucked in every part of their job except in excelling at bribing. That, in my opinion, is the worst, and most underhanded a customer support team can be since it not only breeds false positives, but breeds more customers sucked into their system. With how much they overprice their pre-builts, a $900 free laptop is pocket change.

[mimartin]

It is better customer service than what I got from Direct TV. After waiting two weeks and then spending 6 hours on the phone I was still left with a broken receiver and two old receivers in my mother's house. They seem not to give a flying leap that I have had an account with them since 1996 and faithfully paid my bill since then at a little over $100.00 a month. I begged them to leave the new equipment there (since I had already paid for it 2 weeks ago) and let me hook it up since the technician was an ignorant boob who did not want to deal with the heat or mosquitoes. Only after finally after calling Dish Network and then calling back Direct TV to cancel my service did I get any action. They still are not sending the HD receiver, but I will have the other three receivers mailed to me free of charge. The HD receiver will still need to be installed by one of their brain dead technician, but I found a disk on eBay which I will have installed and functioning before he gets there. If he cannot plug in the receiver then I give up and will move on to Dish Network, not that they are any better. I’m convinced the highest job priority for the American worker today is to find a reason not to do one’s job.

 

Never thought I would appreciate having Comcast myself.

[Elite Duck]

I sold the tweezers! Huzzah!

 

On a darker note, I think that them trying to bribe me with a cheap laptop is appauling and I've got a good mind to tell them where shove their free laptop and prepare to get sued. But then again, it is a gamble and if I do sue I doubt I can do much more than a weak dent against their big expensive lawyers. I'm not exactly sure what to do....

[mimartin]

I'm not exactly sure what to do....

Be happy with your fixed machine and the cheap laptop.

[Boba Rhett]

It sounds like they've been beyond great to you, why in the world would you sue them?

[Darth Avlectus]

Yeah that's excellent customer service...we're talking about DELL of all companies? This is unusually generous. I'd say just take what you've got because it's better than what many people before you have gotten from them.

 

It is better customer service than what I got from Direct TV. After waiting two weeks and then spending 6 hours on the phone I was still left with a broken receiver and two old receivers in my mother's house. They seem not to give a flying leap that I have had an account with them since 1996 and faithfully paid my bill since then at a little over $100.00 a month. I begged them to leave the new equipment there (since I had already paid for it 2 weeks ago) and let me hook it up since the technician was an ignorant boob who did not want to deal with the heat or mosquitoes. Only after finally after calling Dish Network and then calling back Direct TV to cancel my service did I get any action. They still are not sending the HD receiver, but I will have the other three receivers mailed to me free of charge. The HD receiver will still need to be installed by one of their brain dead technician, but I found a disk on eBay which I will have installed and functioning before he gets there. If he cannot plug in the receiver then I give up and will move on to Dish Network, not that they are any better. I’m convinced the highest job priority for the American worker today is to find a reason not to do one’s job.

Suddenly I am even more glad I didn't take a job with them as a tech. Thought I'd end up working with all manner of incompetent retards.

[Elite Duck]

It sounds like they've been beyond great to you, why in the world would you sue them?

 

Because I think trying to bribe someone is really pathetic and they showed clear signs of worrying about a lawsuit or something. I've decided there really isn't any point so I'm just going to take their offer and leave it at that. I can't be bothered to mess with them. If I've learnt anything, they'll lead me round in circles until I tire out and die. So that's it really. I'll post again once they return it to me.

 

-ED

[Tommycat]

Did they say we're giving you this laptop for a positive review? No. They did it because the tech(someone like me, but maybe less experienced) screwed up. It was a nice thing to do. They are fixing your laptop that YOU initially broke, AND giving you a free laptop. You call it a bribe, I call it good customer service. Did they say please don't sue us? Did they even know you had a thought of suing them? No. They gave you something of value for your trouble.

 

That's better than any other computer company would have done. Heck they didn't even have you RMA it and cross ship with a CC as collateral

[Astrotoy7]

Because I think trying to bribe someone is really pathetic and they showed clear signs of worrying about a lawsuit or something.

 

Bollocks. Go find a lawyer who'll accept your case based on what you have written here.

 

"Dear Perry Mason,

I was sticking sharp things into my laptop and busted it. I then called Dell. The guy who came to fix it didn't really know much and probably even made it worse. I notified Dell and got a free laptop as compensation and will be having my device repaired and returned soon. This is an outrage?!"

 

Bribe??

 

When someone offers a bribe, they *demand* something in return. Heck the letter even acknowledges their support staff wasn't up to snuff and hence they are offering you compensation. When you fill your Dell feedback, feel free to be as honest as you want, but don't mistake their wanting to please you with anything other than that.

 

Most places would simply have you send the thing back and wait for weeks for a tech to review.

 

You should thank your lucky stars the tech was inexperienced on that rig, a clever tech would have opened it up and seen the telltale signs of you scratching about in there.

 

You get free shiny product, get really happy, 5 star review they can put on their site about their support when, in actuality, they sucked in every part of their job except in excelling at bribing.

 

A company being proactive in addressing a customer's grievance seems to upset you? Sure such acts can garner positive feedback - and it is deserved, because they responded quickly and more than appropriately than would be reasonably expected.

 

EliteDuck - you have been extremely lucky. This is what would have happened on a normal day:

 

*support guy cant fix it, takes the device with him

*device gets reviewed, signs of tampering found

*your support claim gets rejected, your warranty doesn't apply, you get sent expensive laptop back, still busted, will have to pay for repairs yourself

 

I cant see how what has actually happened would make anyone upset, appalled, bamboozled or flabbergasted.

 

Some people are really wired negatively to see this as anything other than a favourable outcome for the customer.

 

mtfbwya

[Tommycat]

And just how much do you think you would get from such a lawsuit anyway. In order to get money you have to PROVE harm. They don't just give you millions for being upset. The most they would give is a full refund on your purchase price, and you would pay more than that in legal fees. It's highly doubtful Dell even felt that you would sue at all. More likely they wanted to ensure they had a happy customer. But there's apparently no pleasing some people.

[True_Avery]

Just to be clear, I don't think this is an anti-lawsuit bribe. Really, from the start, this was sort of your problem for breaking the computer in the first place. Be glad they even fixed your computer, since most warranties wouldn't cover someone ripping a disk out with tweezers.

 

They came out, at least tried to fix your computer, and gave you a free one. By most respects, good form on their part. Hell, if anyone should be trying to sue anyone its them on you for making them spend money on your blunder. Just sayin.

 

A company being proactive in addressing a customer's grievance seems to upset you? Sure such acts can garner positive feedback - and it is deserved, because they responded quickly and more than appropriately than would be reasonably expected.

This is true, but I'm thinking of it sort of from an Xbox 360 customer standpoint here:

 

Microsoft has a similar system set up. Your thing red rings or breaks and you can send it in and get fix of free new one in a reasonable amount of time considering. Convenient? Yes. Worthy of overshadowing the fact that hundreds of thousands of them red ring a year? No.

 

I don't consider having a good warranty to be good customer support. If they really cared they'd be updating the software/hardware in the 360 so that this didn't happen as often. The warrant, imho, is good form but also almost an expectation at this point. Like a default instead of an exception.

 

Having seen many of my own and other's 360s replaced, it doesn't garner positive thoughts in my mind. They know they have a defective product and, instead of fixing it, they have chosen to just replace broken units and make the user wait around 3 weeks for a new one... with questionable stability.

 

At this point, Microsoft doesn't deserve my positive feedback anymore, and neither does Alienware. Alienware may have given him a new computer, but, like Microsoft, it is merely an illusion of good support instead of actual support. They aren't supporting you; they are waving a shiny thing in your face so you don't see the mess beyond it. I'd also add that Alienware's warranty can costs hundreds for a few years.

 

Props for them sending a shiny new computer? Absolutely. Props for every other layer of the system? Not really.

[Tommycat]

Sorry Avery, not even remotely the same thing as this. Yes, MS and the RROD issue is a Customer Support nightmare. That's a defective product. They should have fixed the RROD problem, rather than "Send it to us, and we'll fix it. So later when it RROD's we can fix it again, until it's out of warranty."

 

THIS problem was caused by two people. First problem was the User FORCING a disc into the slot. And the second was a tech that shouldn't have been doing on site support on a laptop(and he's also probably out of work now). The company DID send a tech out to fix an end user created problem(though it is also possible that the slot drive was defective, but may have had a Disc in it already), that tech made a mistake, and the company provided EXTRA compensation for that tech failure. That's excellent COMPANY Customer service. They did not have to send a free laptop.

 

All that was required was returning his laptop as he had it, with broken drive, and non broken connector. 3 stars is returning it with fixed drive, and fixed connector. This would rate 4 stars because the initial tech was not skilled enough to fix it on site. But they are trying to make up for it.

[True_Avery]

Fair enough

 

Just out of curiosity, which warranty build did you get Elite Duck?

[Astrotoy7]

Hahaha, nice. A "don't sue us" bribe!

 

Just to be clear, I don't think this is an anti-lawsuit bribe.

 

Avery, you either have a bad short term memory, or multiple posting personalities

 

Anyway, to summate:

 

*EliteDuck lucks out in stunning fashion,

*We all learn not to poke tweezers in drives.

 

All in all a good outcome \o/

 

mtfbwya

[Elite Duck]

The American Legal system is very different to the English. Mainly because suing someone is a LOT more common in America. In America you would attempt to sue them, they'd send in the lawyers, and you'd get kicked out of court with a dunce hat on your head. Now, In England, you'd attempt to sue them, and because the cost of legal representation costs much more over here, they'd just pay you because it is much cheaper than going to court. That is why I was pondering the idea.

 

I now have it back. It turned out that the optical drive had been put in at a diagonal angle or something by the workers in Shanghai and that is why the disk went in wrong. Also, the tweezers got the disc out and didn't damage the drive at all. I was very careful not to damage the drive. I didn't shove them in there and yank it out. I don't blame whoever built my computer (Because he probably works in a sweatshop) and that's that really. This thread is now open to anyone who still wants to call me an idiot for using tweezers for whatever image they have stuck in their minds.

 

-ED

 

EDIT: Avery I got the 2 year warranty

[Tommycat]

Future reference: Still not a good idea to force a disc in the drive. If it doesn't go in, call for support FIRST. That way you can blame it on the device not working.

 

Actually, legal representation on the part of Dell, they likely still have lawyers there. They have to. They couldn't afford to pay out to every yahoo that decided to sue because they got their knickers in a bind. Lawyers here are just as expensive, and we have more lawsuits that are just settled out of court because they figure it's less cost effective to fight than to pay whatever you sue for. However, you still have to prove harm. Likely they would have fired off a counter suit for legal fees, and you would have ended up owing them more than you would have gotten, to pay for their high priced lawyer.

 

Personally I'm more upset at the technician. He should have known better. In the US, Dell only hires techs that have an A+ cert. Having been through the hiring process, I know they are pretty dang rigorous in their interviews. I have greater than 15 years in the IT field, and they put me through the wringer. Like I said, that tech probably no longer works in the field. He should have had you up and running in 15 minutes. I would have.

 

ALSO for everybody's reference: Slot loading drives... Elite Duck was right. Sadly there is no manual eject mechanism on these slot loading drives. So the only method to remove a stuck disc is to go in there with slim tweezers. My thoughts on him breaking it was jamming the disc in there to begin with. If it doesn't go in, DON'T FORCE IT. But as for retrieval, if the disc fails to eject... Tweezers and be careful. I've never been a fan of slot drives. It just invites dirt in, and since it has more moving parts, is more likely to fail. Not to mention, tray drives have a manual eject. If you look on the front of the drive, there is a small hole. You can use a paperclip to push in in that spot and it will eject the tray.

[Pho3nix]

Alienware was one of those things I thought were cool back when I was about 15

[True_Avery]

Avery, you either have a bad short term memory, or multiple posting personalities

Or I was joking.

[Tommycat]

Alienware was one of those things I thought were cool back when I was about 15

 

Actually, they are the top of the line as far as gaming laptops go. I'm just one that is willing to sacrifice performance for price point and battery life. Best "value" gaming laptop would probably be the Acer. The "Rock" aside from being European(I keeeed, I keeed), are just over priced for performance. The Alienware would actually be a better value than the Rock, and it even looks cooler.

 

For my money, I generally go for something less top of the line and more "It does what I want," so in essence I'm a practical shopper. The thought of spending upwards of 3-4 grand on a laptop is obscene to me. But I spend more time doing Database Design on my laptops than gaming. Which means I have Linux, or Intel UNIX on laptops.

[Jae Onasi]

Elite Duck, you got your computer repaired under warranty, despite you doing something unwise (forcing a disk into a drive when it wouldn't go in initially). On top of it, you got another free laptop out of it--regardless of whether or not you think it's a POS, it's worth at least several hundred dollars. The company went above and beyond the call of duty, and you want to sue? Sue for what? They held up their part of the legal bargain when they repaired your computer in compliance with their warranty. Good luck getting anything out of a court. Of course, you can feel free to consult appropriate legal experts, since I am not one.

 

@Astro--or perhaps Avery just realized she was wrong initially and changed her mind in the thread? We girls do change our minds now and then.

 

@Tommycat--HP has the worst record for having things going wrong on their laptops according to a Consumer Reports survey a couple years back. After having a display hinge go bad (which HP later acknowledged was 'a problem' for many users) and burning out 2 video display adapters on that same laptop in 2 consecutive years, (the second time a month after the warranty expired, and that display adapter had only lasted about a year), and frying another display adapter in another Compaq laptop (after HP had acquired them), I'm less than impressed. I don't abuse my laptops, I don't overclock them at all, I don't run my games at max video on a laptop because I know about the heat problems. HP laptop problems are significant, and until HP is willing to fix that, I'm never going to buy another of their laptops. I'm happy with their desktops, however.

 

Now on to my experience with HP Support:

It's here (clicky). Scroll down to Paragraph 8, where I start talking about how to handle speaking with tech support when English is not their native tongue. This is followed by paragraph 9 and on where I discuss how HP tech support views their callers:

"HP teaches their staff that a. all callers to HP tech support are complete imbeciles, b. HP is always right and c. the Holy Manual of Help must be followed To The Letter, lest God smite the tech support agent with Holy Static Electricity."

[Tommycat]

@Jae Again, from my side of it(having worked on them, though maybe from a different perspective as I was dealing with the "large business" side of it) the systems are fairly robust. Though maybe it's because the people I deal(t) with generally abused their laptops. Perhaps HP laptops tend to be better if you beat on them a bit haha.

 

As for the Tech support, welll... I generally don't have to call them. When I had to RMA something, I had access to the same tools that Tech support had, so I can't speak to that end. And if you got some of the calls I did, you might actually believe "a." As to the holy manual of help... ugh... well can't say what they did, but ME PERSONALLY, I never saw a manual. Of course they very well might be non-technical people who don't have enough knowledge to tell the difference. But seeing as how I'm one to blow away the OS, crack open the system and upgrade things as I see fit, I void warranties faster than they can make em haha. So it makes sense that I wouldn't give a rip about the support(or lack there-of). And of course, knowing the systems the way I do, I always explain it to them, then if they insist on telling me to do something, I ask for a more senior tech. If that tech follows the HMoH, I ask for a more senior tech. If I have to I'll keep asking for more senior techs until I'm talking to the engineer who designed my motherboard.

 

Funny that you had such a hard time with them. My guitarist had a wonderful experience with them. Of course he followed my general rule of when they sound like they are reading instructions, ask for a more senior tech. Repeat until you get a very tired sounding American in a bad mood, and suddenly you get the answer you need.

[Darth Avlectus]

Dells and HP are fun to take out and shoot full of holes once they've proven to be worthless and have no further use.

[mimartin]

Dells and HP are fun to take out and shoot full of holes once they've proven to be worthless and have no further use.

Couldn't that be said about just about anything.

[Darth Avlectus]

Couldn't that be said about just about anything.

 

That it could, but it's far more liberating when the target in question is something that was supposed to be worth its money and instead gave you more grief than it was worth by a longshot. So, it's all the more rewarding to give it a GUN shot.

[Tommycat]

They're still better than Packard Bell was