- Feb 16, 2014
- 52
- 0
- 4,660
Hi guys. I've been a long-time visitor of this site for many situations dealing with tech recommendations (and random tidbits); even seasoned IT co-workers of mine always like the site as a quick reference at times.
Anyway, my Dell Alienware M17X R4 Laptop (purchased factory refurbished from the Dell Site about $1350 with 30% off rebate offer during the July 4th sale) in July of last year (2013) has been giving me issues since November.
1. The audio & wireless NIC stopped being detected at the same time in November, so I had to contact Dell to resolve the issue (I work in IT, but refuse to open up something I purchased to fix it to avoid any warranty issues; especially when I suspected hardware issues). The technician came (I had to take a bit of time off of work that day since they only visit during regular business hours) and spent 3-4 hours trying to change the wireless NIC & audio.
2. After he left (and took a $5 tip, which I later found out wasn't allowed), I noticed that he had not even put the laptop cover back with the bottom flapping a bit... AND the webcam was no longer being detected. I had to call Dell again and tell them about the issue. I had to take a day off of work again where the technician replaced the entire screen because the webcam shares the came connection with it; it did not resolve the issue, and he called Dell to let them know (we both agreed that it was probably the MoBo). They asked me to send my laptop to the Dell facilities to get it serviced there. There goes 1-2 hours off of work to drop the package off at their selected postal provider.
3. They send it back quickly, at least; however, they didn't install the some crucial drivers & forgot to activate Windows 8 for my computer since you obviously have to reattach an OS license when you swap MoBo... I called Dell and the tech support rep didn't seem to understand the situation for half an hour when I was explaining what they probably did wrong, which he finally verified after getting info from their "engineers". He called Microsoft with me to resolve the issue with another license or to attach it to the new MoBo. They weren't able to activate my Windows, so they sent another technician over with a new MoBo once again (this time, I couldn't ask for another day off just for this, so I asked for a family member to be there for the tech). When I got home, the laptop was on the user log-in screen. I took a look and it seemed fine until....
4. I turned the laptop off and closed it. When trying to open the laptop again, I realized that the casing for the screen was either broken or not re-installed properly as the case simply peeled back from the LCD screen (i could actually see the internal components of the LCD along with wires). AND the laptop didn't turn on at all. I tried it plugged in, unplugged, plugged in with the battery off, and with the power button + fn method. Nothing. No sign of power at all... I called Dell once again (I've been VERY polite & thanked each person I talked to for their help each time until now). My voice was agitated (I did not raise my voice or insult anyone) and told the rep that I wasn't upset at them and that they did nothing wrong; but that I was very upset with the service & trouble I was going through for something I paid a lot for. I had to take a few hours off of work mid-day and send my laptop off again to have it serviced. Keep in mind that I'm an Microsoft Certified Solutions Expert (MCSE) and a Microsoft Certified Trainer with a one Office 2013 license and one Visio 2013 license that I used for my laptop; I'm not sure if I can get them back when calling Microsoft since they special licenses.
5. I received my laptop in the mail and it seemed to finally be okay when I used it for the first time yesterday although it was running very sluggish. (The records also only show that they replaced the wireless NIC & "Other" to fix my laptop.) All I installed on this laptop to avoid issues during the first week was Skype & Google Chrome along with a few screenshots pasted onto a Wordpad document to record online notes I was going over. Today, my laptop seemed to be running a bit slower than yesterday and my Google Chrome shutdown due to "low memory" (all I had running on my computer was Chrome with about 10-12 tabs open with gmail, indeed job posts) with 11 of 12 GB of ram being used up... I made sure to restart my laptop just in case & no updates are needed because I had already run the basic Windows system update. My memory is still running a bit high with no web browser running (I also had the only other program I had installed, Skype, off and disabled from startup) at about 3-4GB out of 12GB being used up and my CPU is running at 100%.
None of these are isolated incidents. This was all happening right after they touched my device after my audio & wireless NIC malfunctioned. I've taken 2 days off work for tech visits, asked a family member to come by to be there for me, spent several hours to ship my laptop off twice, and several hours on the phone to resolve this. I'm getting ready to call them again and I know they'll just give me the same response that I've gotten the last 5-6 times that they will send someone over or that for me to send it to them again. I don't even want this product anymore since I can't even trust them or this laptop to work past a month even after they "fixed" it. I seriously just want a refund (or credit) and to forget about this experience.
What do you guys think? I'm ready to go off on them (without profanity, etc of course) because of them wasting my time & energy with a horrendous product & repair service; and basically selling me something that doesn't work. Would you guys call them and take another day off work to get this "serviced" for the 6th time... or is this when I should be demanding my money back?
Sorry for the length of the post, but I wanted to provide enough information.
EDIT: As soon as I submitted this, I looked at my system performance. The CPU is still showing up as running at 100% capacity and now the memory is running at around 92% of the 12GB again with around 1GB of free RAM... I only have this 1 tab (tomshardware) running.
Anyway, my Dell Alienware M17X R4 Laptop (purchased factory refurbished from the Dell Site about $1350 with 30% off rebate offer during the July 4th sale) in July of last year (2013) has been giving me issues since November.
1. The audio & wireless NIC stopped being detected at the same time in November, so I had to contact Dell to resolve the issue (I work in IT, but refuse to open up something I purchased to fix it to avoid any warranty issues; especially when I suspected hardware issues). The technician came (I had to take a bit of time off of work that day since they only visit during regular business hours) and spent 3-4 hours trying to change the wireless NIC & audio.
2. After he left (and took a $5 tip, which I later found out wasn't allowed), I noticed that he had not even put the laptop cover back with the bottom flapping a bit... AND the webcam was no longer being detected. I had to call Dell again and tell them about the issue. I had to take a day off of work again where the technician replaced the entire screen because the webcam shares the came connection with it; it did not resolve the issue, and he called Dell to let them know (we both agreed that it was probably the MoBo). They asked me to send my laptop to the Dell facilities to get it serviced there. There goes 1-2 hours off of work to drop the package off at their selected postal provider.
3. They send it back quickly, at least; however, they didn't install the some crucial drivers & forgot to activate Windows 8 for my computer since you obviously have to reattach an OS license when you swap MoBo... I called Dell and the tech support rep didn't seem to understand the situation for half an hour when I was explaining what they probably did wrong, which he finally verified after getting info from their "engineers". He called Microsoft with me to resolve the issue with another license or to attach it to the new MoBo. They weren't able to activate my Windows, so they sent another technician over with a new MoBo once again (this time, I couldn't ask for another day off just for this, so I asked for a family member to be there for the tech). When I got home, the laptop was on the user log-in screen. I took a look and it seemed fine until....
4. I turned the laptop off and closed it. When trying to open the laptop again, I realized that the casing for the screen was either broken or not re-installed properly as the case simply peeled back from the LCD screen (i could actually see the internal components of the LCD along with wires). AND the laptop didn't turn on at all. I tried it plugged in, unplugged, plugged in with the battery off, and with the power button + fn method. Nothing. No sign of power at all... I called Dell once again (I've been VERY polite & thanked each person I talked to for their help each time until now). My voice was agitated (I did not raise my voice or insult anyone) and told the rep that I wasn't upset at them and that they did nothing wrong; but that I was very upset with the service & trouble I was going through for something I paid a lot for. I had to take a few hours off of work mid-day and send my laptop off again to have it serviced. Keep in mind that I'm an Microsoft Certified Solutions Expert (MCSE) and a Microsoft Certified Trainer with a one Office 2013 license and one Visio 2013 license that I used for my laptop; I'm not sure if I can get them back when calling Microsoft since they special licenses.
5. I received my laptop in the mail and it seemed to finally be okay when I used it for the first time yesterday although it was running very sluggish. (The records also only show that they replaced the wireless NIC & "Other" to fix my laptop.) All I installed on this laptop to avoid issues during the first week was Skype & Google Chrome along with a few screenshots pasted onto a Wordpad document to record online notes I was going over. Today, my laptop seemed to be running a bit slower than yesterday and my Google Chrome shutdown due to "low memory" (all I had running on my computer was Chrome with about 10-12 tabs open with gmail, indeed job posts) with 11 of 12 GB of ram being used up... I made sure to restart my laptop just in case & no updates are needed because I had already run the basic Windows system update. My memory is still running a bit high with no web browser running (I also had the only other program I had installed, Skype, off and disabled from startup) at about 3-4GB out of 12GB being used up and my CPU is running at 100%.
None of these are isolated incidents. This was all happening right after they touched my device after my audio & wireless NIC malfunctioned. I've taken 2 days off work for tech visits, asked a family member to come by to be there for me, spent several hours to ship my laptop off twice, and several hours on the phone to resolve this. I'm getting ready to call them again and I know they'll just give me the same response that I've gotten the last 5-6 times that they will send someone over or that for me to send it to them again. I don't even want this product anymore since I can't even trust them or this laptop to work past a month even after they "fixed" it. I seriously just want a refund (or credit) and to forget about this experience.
What do you guys think? I'm ready to go off on them (without profanity, etc of course) because of them wasting my time & energy with a horrendous product & repair service; and basically selling me something that doesn't work. Would you guys call them and take another day off work to get this "serviced" for the 6th time... or is this when I should be demanding my money back?
Sorry for the length of the post, but I wanted to provide enough information.
EDIT: As soon as I submitted this, I looked at my system performance. The CPU is still showing up as running at 100% capacity and now the memory is running at around 92% of the 12GB again with around 1GB of free RAM... I only have this 1 tab (tomshardware) running.
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