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Alienware sucks! - Printable Version

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- King Imp - 04-08-2003

I don't know how many of you have ever dealt with Alienware's customer/sales/tech support on the phone, but let me tell you it is a fucking joke. I can't believe I've actually read reviews that say they are great. They obviously didn't talk to the idiots I talked to.

First off, and I may be mistaken, but I believe when you call them their support is in Costa Rica. I think I read this somewhere, but I can't recall where offhand. It would make sense since every person I've ever gotten on the phone there barely speaks English. (Note to Alienware: If you really care about your company, get a fucking staff that is literate!)
So, basically what that comes down to is their main office is in Florida, but the phone number and office they use for their MAIN business is in some Third World Country?!?! Who the fuck does legitimate business like this and honestly expects their company to prosper?

Okay, now to the actual call. Before I called, I tried customizing the system online to get a rough estimate how much it would cost. Now, all day yesterday they had a promotion running for free shipping. Considering how much shipping costs, that was a big selling point. This was around noon, but I didn't actually planning on ordering until later. My mistake! I go back online around 4:30 PM EST and see the promotion is still good (pop-up ad tells me so), but the phone rings so I get distracted. When I get back, I decide to refresh the page and lo and behold, the free shipping is mysteriously gone and replaced by another promotion (one that actually adds money to my order which I'll explain later). Who the Hell changes a promotion in the middle of the Damn business day? (I know, 4:30 isn't really the middle, but considering their sales department is open until 9 pm it's pretty close.)

Now, I'm confused so I call them up and proceed to get incompetant, illiterate moron #1. He has no clue what I'm talking about, but does decide to go and ask someone in sales about it. He comes back on and says the web guys just changed the site so there is nothing that can be done. Umm excuse me, but the promotion was just there 5 minutes ago and you can't make the slightest fucking exception?!?! Fine, I hang up, but then get to thinking how wrong this is so I call back and get incompetant, illiterate moron #2. I then ask to speak to a manager and this is where the fun begins. Paco keeps hemming and hawing and refuses to get a manager, saying he's busy on the phone and I would have to be put on hold. I say fine so he does that. Guess who comes back on the phone? That's right incompetant, illiterate moron #2 again insisting on trying to fix things. If I wanted your fucking help Paco I'd take it, but since you barely speak English I want a MANAGER! I had to demand to speak to someone in charge around 5-7 times before actually being put through. Finally I get someone who is supposed to be a sales manager, but when asked what his title is all he could say was "I'm in charge on the floor." I've worked with plenty of Mexican temps in the past so I know they always have one "leader" who does all their talking and negotiating since he's the one that speaks and understands a little more English than the rest. I got the feeling that this is what's going on in that joke of an office over there. Needless to say, Mr. "Manager" refused to budge as well, saying the promotion was done and they couldn't accomodate me. Because they won't take off the lousy $200 shipping charge, they are losing out on a $2000 sale? Who the fuck in their right mind does that? It just goes to show just how stupid they are over there.

Now, back to the new promotion that adds money. It was for some free CD-RW drive that frankly I have no desire or need for. I already have the DVD-ROM chosen so I don't need the other. It wasn't something I wanted originally and I still don't want it now. I click on the customize option to remove it to try and save money on my order and guess what. Removing it takes absolutely NO money off! Before all of this the option for the 2nd optical drive had something chosen and I was able to remove it to lower my cost. Now, I can't get rid of the 2nd drive and am forced to pay more. Once again it was something they refused to budge on.

Bottom line is this, if you ever planned on dealing with this company, DON'T! Save your time and money and go with a legitimate company that actually gives a shit about their customers. Sorry this was so long, but I was and still am very pissed. To think, if I just would have clicked BUY 5 minutes earlier, this would never have happened. :angry:

- LZMF1 - 04-08-2003

d00d.....next time get a dell.

- HollywoodJewMoses - 04-08-2003

Quote:So, basically what that comes down to is their main office is in Florida, but the phone number and office they use for their MAIN business is in some Third World Country?!?! Who the fuck does legitimate business like this and honestly expects their company to prosper?

a few companies do that, it costs less to employ people in such piss poor countries

- Goatweed - 04-08-2003

Quote:d00d.....next time get a dell

what he said.

If I were you, I would take the exact config that you were gonna get from Alienware, call Dell and get a sales rep and (in brief) tell him your story. Ask him if they can not only match what you were gonna get from Alienware, but could they do better on the price (which, since you're a disgruntled customer from another retailer, I'm sure they will do).

- LyricalGomez - 04-08-2003

I'll tell you why Alienware gets high marks. They do build good systems and their prices have come down alot lately, but remember the people who rate these systems are people who will never deal with customer service, they just get the best systems sent to them for review.

- Danked - 04-08-2003

Dude, I think I am gonna get a Dell.

Just picking out some options right now and my father threw his credit card at me. I'd have to pay him back of course, which will take a couple of months, but it's doable.

I'm a computer n00b however, and I'm not quite sure if I should upgrade some of these specs.

Quote:Dell Dimension 4550 Series: Pentium® 4 Processor at 2.66GHz w/533MHz front side bus/ 512K L2 Cache
Memory: 256MB DDR SDRAM at 333MHz
Keyboard: Dell® Quietkey® Keyboard
Monitors: No Monitor
Video Cards: 64MB DDR NVIDIA­ GeForce4 MX™ Graphics Card with TV-Out
Hard Drive: New 120GB Ultra ATA/100 Hard Drive (7200 RPM)
Floppy Drive and Additional Storage Devices: No Floppy Drive
Operating System: Microsoft® Windows® XP Home Edition
Mouse: Dell® 2-button scroll mouse
Network Interface: Integrated Intel® PRO 10/100 Ethernet
Modem: 56K PCI Telephony Modem
CD or DVD Drive: 16 Max DVD-ROM Drive
Sound Card: Sound Blaster Audigy 2™ sound card with DVD Audio
Speakers: Harman Kardon HK-395 Speakers with Subwoofer
Software Bundles: WordPerfect® Productivity Pack with Quicken New User Edition
Security Software: Dell SecurityCenter by McAfee, 90-day introductory offer
Digital Music: Dell Jukebox powered by MUSICMATCH
Digital Photography: Dell Picture Studio, Image Expert Standard
Limited Warranty, Services and Support Options: 1 Year Limited Warranty plus 1 Year At-Home Service
Internet Access Service: 6 Months of America Online Membership Included
CD or DVD Burner for 2nd bay: FREE UPGRADE! New 48x/24x/48x Max CD-RW Drive
Special Offer: $50 Special Offer



Edited By Danked on 1049818819

- Danked - 04-08-2003

Also, should I get a longer warranty? I only chose one year.

- Goatweed - 04-08-2003

If you're a gamer, you're gonna wanna upgrade that video card - if not, it should be more than enough. I would also double that RAM, but before you get it through Dell, see how much Crucial wants for it - if it's cheaper, get it through them. You'll want 512 megs for XP. And speaking of XP, I would either upgrade from Home to Pro, or get your hands on a copy of it - home blows.

Depending on how much you plan on fucking with the machine, the warranty is a judgment call. I would go with the 3 or 4 year deal, only because I upgrade constantly and I had the 3 year on my current Dell, which turned out to pay for itself - my motherboard/cd drive.speakers all died within a few months of each other and they sent the parts and a techie (for the drive and mobo) out to take care of it. If you're gonna leave it as is the 1 year might be enough but sometimes parts can fuck-up without much more than a power surge or you bumping into the case. The way I see it, if you're gonna invest at least $1500 to $2000 into a piece of equipment, a few hundred dollars more to protect it is a worthy investment.

- HedCold - 04-08-2003

yea, get more ram

- Danked - 04-08-2003

Yeah, Weird took a look at my specs and I already upgraded the RAM as well as the Video card.

I'm going to upgrade to a 2 year warranty and just use my old monitor till I can buy my own seperately.

- Weird NJ - 04-08-2003

[Image: ram.gif]
Meeehhhhhhhhh!

- Arpikarhu - 04-08-2003

dont forget the USB bong attachment with optional scuzzi

- 2 tired 2 give N F - 04-08-2003

Quote:optional scuzzi
In reading this forum I've concluded that said scuzzi is responsible for a majority of the problems experienced by the users of this board. I'd recommend against getting it...

- LyricalGomez - 04-08-2003

Quote:Also, should I get a longer warranty?

Yes you should, because all your problems will happen either in the first month or after the first year, and their customer service is the best, Hell one repair will probablly pay for the extra year of warranty.

And I definetly don't buy a monitor from them, you can get some great deals on Monitors at Best Buy right now, I bought another 19 inch monitor last month and it was only like 250 bucks, but I saw some open box ones for alot less.

- Arpikarhu - 04-08-2003

Quote:In reading this forum I've concluded that said scuzzi is responsible for a majority of the problems experienced by the users of this board. I'd recommend against getting it...
it makes me very sad to admit that i found this terribly funny.

- King Imp - 04-10-2003

Ahhh, the power of getting pissed! It's a beautiful thing. :-D
After I wrote my rant I sent a real nice angry fax to Alienware's main office in Florida. I really didn't expect anything to come from it, but to my surprise not only was it replied to, but it was replied to by the actual president of the company. I thought at best some customer service person might say something, but the fact that the top dog took the time to call me up and apologize was huge.

Anyway, to make a long story short, we came to an agreement and he personally oversaw taking my order. He even gave me 15% off and the free shipping I was so pissed at losing out on originally. Now that is REAL customer service! Not like the shit treatment I received from Chico in Costa Rica.

Here are the specs I got.
Alienware Full-Tower Case (420-Watt PS)
Intel Pentium 4 Processor 2.4GHz 533MHz FSB w/ 512KB Cache
ASUS P4T533-C - Intel 850E Pentium 4 Motherboard
1GB RDRAM PC-1066
80GB Western Digital UltraATA 7200RPM 8MB Cache
16/48x DVD-ROM - IDE - Black w/Software MPEG-2 Decoder
PROMOTION - FREE PlexWriter 48/24/48A CD-RW - IDE - Black
ATI RADEON 9800 PRO 128MB AGP 8x AGP Dual Monitor
AlienIce Video Cooling System
Sound Blaster Audigy 1394 - 5.1
Integrated 100Mb Ethernet Adapter
Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition
Microsoft Works Suite 2003
Free Alienware T-Shirt
Bonus 12-Month Subscription to Computer Games Magazine
Alien Autopsy: Automated Technical Support Request System
Aliencare Toll-Free 1-Year 24/7 ONSITE Warranty

- Danked - 04-10-2003

Oooooo. Free T-shirt?

Glad I didn't order the Dell yet!

- King Imp - 04-10-2003

Quote:Oooooo. Free T-shirt?
That was a huge selling point for me. Why do you think I chose Alienware over everyone else? ;-)

- Goatweed - 04-10-2003

Quote:ATI RADEON 9800 PRO 128MB AGP 8x AGP Dual Monitor

I hear this card is a monster, but there's an All In Wonder version coming out very soon - I might jump ship and become an ATI fanboy.

- Danked - 04-10-2003

The quality customer service?