Alienware 15 R2 Fourth Dead Mobo... Losing my mind.

I purchased my most recent Alienware system in late January 2016, 15R2, i7 6820HK and gtx 980m 8gb. Had no issues first 2-3 months other then the usual small things. It had the 4k UHD screen with some screen bleeding, wifi card was cutting in and out (killer one) but I lived with it. One day the system was entirely dead when I attempted to power it on. I noticed a burnt electronics smell from the dc jack. I have everything covered as far as warranties go, premium support, etc but regardless it wasn't anything accidental, it was clearly defective hardware at fault. So as any of you know who have called AW Costa Rica call center before they are as helpful as they can be to a certain extent but most of the time that isn't enough and you have to keep repeating things 100 times over and attempting to escalate the situation to a manager to get any large issues like this resolved. I realized after a few searches I was not the only person dealing with a dead mobo on this 15R2, its not common but it has occured enough to garner some attention.

Anyways, to try and sum everything up, this identical hardware failure occurred 3 more times, and I essentially just lost my mind trying to sink time into multiple reps/managers demanding a system exchange, ended up just getting full mobo repairs after each failure. After the second failure was when I basically said look I have owned AW/Dell systems for almost a decade and never been treated/or had to deal with anything like this, give me a system exchange or atleast SUBMIT one for me. They submitted it, next day I received an email stating that my exchange was granted! Then a phone call the next day stated it was an accident and my only option was to send it back to the Texas depot... The best they could do after hours and hours of me *****ing was lower the system exchange threshold from 3 repairs to 2. I also had to have the wifi card swapped to the intel card and the screen replaced due to really bad lightbleed. This atleast fixed the wifi and bleed.

I have nearly spent a collective 19+ hours on the phone with these reps on over 15-16 occasions. I can't even remember how many representatives or managers I have dealt with total at this point, two times I tried to reply via email conversations and I received automated replies stating that rep no longer worked at Dell.

After the latest mobo failure I finally was granted my "system exchange" but now what I am being told is it has to be a refurbed system... ****ing no way, I don't care what anyone says about refurbished systems, its the principle, I paid nearly $3000 for this new system not even a year ago, there is zero reason a brand new replacement can't be issued, ESPECIALLY when you consider the huge inconvenience and time I have had to sink into their **** defective product. I have done everything I can do on my end as a customer and consumer, I have played by their rules, followed all steps and some. To make matters even worst this is my laptop I use for work, so every single failure is just a bigger kick in the balls financially for me.

There has got to be some way to properly and quickly escalate this without me sitting there going crazy from listening to the hold music for another hour of my life. I have even gone as far as calling the Round Rock Dell corporate center and basically being told to bug off, but hey atleast I heard it right from the source.

 

Your system is not being produced anymore so they have to either give you a refurb or one of the new machines.

Personally, I would push to get one of the new models at least as good as your previous one as it has been done many times before.

 

Did you purchase Premium support? The regular/standard warranty that comes with the system has different priority when it comes to support. You are sent to outsourced call centers and forced to use the cheapest option available. It's an absolute atrocity...

They will ask you to extend the warranty if you haven't already. My recommendation is to not extend it. Why? It seems you started this process well within the time frame of having warranty, so there's no reason you should have to spend more money for them to repair the system, considering they never truly fixed it to begin with. If I were you, I would demand a system replacement and then sell it as a new system to break out of this loop. They'll trick you into ordering extra warranty and string you along as they have been until it expires.

The same thing happened with my Alienware 13, and since it was no longer produced, being an older model, they refused to honor the warranty to repair the system and instead tried to get me to buy more. I did and they sent a new system, and then I sold it asap.

I wish you the best of luck.

 

Thank you for the helpful replies, I posted this in reddit and someone told me I was fishing strictly for an R3 upgrade and I was an ingrate... even though the first 3 mobos fried months before there was even any speculation of alienware doing an upgraded R3 line.

Anyways, I did pay for 4 years of premium support, and 4 years of accidental damage etc, basically I spent 6-700 dollars on warranty. I do this with most Dell/AW systems I have because their support and warranties always end up saving me after they fail, but I have NEVER had a failure like this happen so early and be identical each time.

I'm mainly just trying to figure out what exactly am I doing wrong here due to the fact I have to repeat almost 20-30 minutes to multiple representatives the EXACT circumstances every time I call. This isn't my first BBQ as far as handling customer service reps, especially alienware ones, so I am not sure why I am being treated this way currently. I've been told there is no "premium" support number, they just look up if you have it via your exp code/service tag and then you can receive "video game" installation help or something? That was the explanation I recieved from the last costa rica call center rep. And its not like I am sitting there asking to "speak to an american", like I said usually these reps at the CR call station are helpful after the first few escalations, but I have just gotten absolutely no where and sinking way too much time into this.

Anyone else have any experience calling Dell Corporate in round rock? Atleast they have different call hold music, I think I will give them another shot. There is no way I can take a refurbished system, I don't care what specs I recieve or what type of computer, it just better be atleast the equivalent of what I paid nearly 3K for and be brand new, I didnt pay 2900 for a refurbished system. (I realize there is nothing wrong with refurbs, just the principle)

 

After 3 instances of the same thing ( in your case, 4 motherboard replacements) you qualify for a replacement per their internal rules. See this thread here: http://forum.notebookreview.com/thr...re-notebook-system-replacement-thread.781015/

Give Alienware a call directly. Phone # to use is towards the end of the thread. You will absolutely get a replacement, but make sure you push your point about getting a new system, no refurb. Good luck.

 

You most certainly qualify for a replacement according to their own warranty terms.

 

I suspect your dc in cable within the chassis is frying your motherboards.

 

Thank you. One of my main issues is I feel like I am always connecting to the wrong number/department, and then climbing all the way up the ladder slowly each time I have to call

Yup, on the failure before this one I couldn't afford to send it out and wait I had work related trips coming up, so had them come out and repair it, third mobo and replacement wifi card.

This was something that you would think would be the cause but I've was using a new cable with each failure (they send new one in with replacement)

One thing I did bring up to the techs was perhaps just a bad female dc jack? They said maybe, but went the repair tech came out... he didnt have the new jack, said it wasn't even on his list. So really saying my patience has worn thin isn't even in the ballpark at this point.