HID Evolution Warranty Feedback - WARNING for international Customers

On 03/20 this year I bought a HID Evolution Alienware m17 from USD 3,807.00 (full specs below) while traveling in the US, I was an old customer, having bought my first laptop from them, an Alienware m11x, also on a tourist trip back in 2012.

This time, for the first time, I had to use the warranty because one of the two memory sticks installed by HID Evolution of V-COLOR brand was defective and caused several crashes. After making all the tests memory tests by phone and email with HID evolution support staff it was found that the problem was really this memory stick.

That is, this low-quality memory stick came with a factory defect. Unfortunately, when i was selecting the components for at HID evolution I did the nonsense to replace the original DELL (SMART brand) memory sticks with those low-quality Chinese upgrade which they call "standard", so the dell technician that came to my home after the Alienware software first detect the error said he couldn't replace because the two 16GB memories were not original from Dell.

At this point begins my novel, as the notebook has two 16gb memory sticks, I sent the defective stick back to HID Evolution at the cost of $ 40 shipping (Sao Paulo / BR -> La Habra / CA) and after receipt waited 7 business days for them to send the new Sticks. In order to send the defective Stick to Brazil, HID Evolution "generously" charged me extra USD 37.19, I strongly urged them to test the new memory so that there was no problem again and I asked them not to declare a value greater than USD 50 (with freight added) so that there was no delay and surcharge in Brazilian customs, after all, it was an exchange of a defective small part.

Contrary to my demand, HID Evolution shipped the order via FEDEX for a total of USD 57 (product value + shipping) and it cost me an additional USD 80 in taxes when fedex delivered it to my doorstep.

But.... It turns out that, oddly enough, HID Evolution has succeeded in sending another faulty memory. Worse, they asked me to send it back covering all costs AGAIN but this time, "in a gesture of extreme generosity", they would bear the cost of shipping back to the US from Brazil.

I am very sorry to have spent all that money on HID evolution, could have bought for the same price a m17 with RTX 2080 directly from DELL in which I would have had the warranty transferred to Brazil and would not be experiencing this problem. My advice is that if you live abroad and want to transfer the warranty from dell DON'T BUY ON HIDEVOLUTION if you don't want to throw a lot of money in the trash and get nervous.

These are the full specs:

ItemSkuQtySubtotal Custom Built Alienware M17 - 17.3" FHD 60Hz / UHD 60Hz - i7-8750H - RTX 2060 / 2070 Max-Q - 90WHr Battery - Silver
Chassis Color
Epic Silver - Satin Finish
Internal Battery
Lithium Ion (90 Wh) Battery - No 2.5" HDD/SSD Slot Available
Free Game Bundles
NVIDIA RTX Triple Threat - Anthem, Battlefield V, and Metro Exodus for laptops with RTX 2080, GET YOUR CHOICE of Anthem, Battlefield V, OR Metro Exodus for laptops with RTX 2060 or 2070
Processor
Intel 8th Generation "Coffee Lake" Core i7-8750H (2.2-4.1GHz) 6 Core - 12 Thread Processor, 9MB Smart Cache
Video Card
NVIDIA® GeForce® RTX 2060 w/ 6GB GDDR6
Thermal Interface Materials
Thermal Grizzly Conductonaut on CPU + GPU, and Fujipoly Extreme Thermal Pads on heat sensitive surfaces – BEST PERFORMANCE – installed by HIDevolution - $95.00
Alienware Graphics Amplifier
None
LCD Panel
17.3" UHD (3840 x 2160) 60Hz IPS, 400-nits, sRGB 100% color gamut, Narrow-Border - $300.00
Display Warranty
30 Days Zero Defective Pixel Warranty (perfect panel guarantee) - $35.00
System Memory (RAM)
HIDevolution Approved Standard 32GB Dual Channel DDR4/2666MHz (2 x 16GB) - installed by HIDevolution - $270.00
RAID Options
RAID 0 (striping) - Must select 2x identical drives in M.2 SSD Slots 1 and 2
M.2 SSD Slot 1 (supports PCIe or SATA)
Samsung 970 EVO 1TB M.2 PCIe 3.0 x4 NVMe 3D-VNAND SSD - Up to 3,500 MB/s Read-3,300 MB/s Write - Installed by HIDevolution - $335.00
M.2 SSD Slot 2 (supports PCIe or SATA)
Samsung 970 EVO 1TB M.2 PCIe 3.0 x4 NVMe 3D-VNAND SSD - Up to 3,500 MB/s Read-3,300 MB/s Write - Installed by HIDevolution - $380.00
Alternate Language Keyboard Laser Engraving - $179.00
Hebrew Layout
Alternate Language Keyboard Photo Upload
48ACEB5C-8D15-43FF-9614-798EDEDD9A19.jpeg 800 x 800 px.
Wireless Cards
Intel® Wireless-AC 9260 802.11 ac/a/b/g/n 2x2 NGFF w/ Bluetooth 5.0 - installed by HIDevolution - $35.00
Operating System
Windows 10 Home, 64bit, English, with Multi Language Support
Operating System Clean Install
Yes, Clean Install of Windows 10 including 32GB Clean Install Flash Drive - $40.00
Office Software
None
Power Adapter
180 Watt 3 Prong AC Adapter with 6 ft Power Cord (will work worldwide, includes FREE plug adapter for those without "U.S. style" outlets)
Warranty and Service
1 Year Premium Support + 1 Year HIDevolution US Warranty + LIFETIME HIDevolution Technical Support - $139.00
Accidental Damage Protection
None
HIDevolution International Pre-paid Shipping (HIPS) Service
None
AW-M17-ANORN7CH001H-90W-S1$3,807.00Subtotal$3,807.00Shipping & Handling$0.00 Grand Total$3,807.00

 

Yeah basically HID Evolution is garbage.

Sorry you had to learn this lesson the hard way.
I bet if you complained on social media and it got shared enough, HID Evolution would do something. Sad you have to take such measures, but that's the age we live in.

 

@Donald@HIDevolution

 

I would remove you order number from your post

 

We are sorry to hear about this customer’s predicament. Below are the facts of this case:

• We followed the customer’s declared value instructions. It looks like what happened was FedEx and/or Brazilian customs included the shipping cost in their valuation even though we declared the package with “free carrier” terms. That may have pushed the value over the accepted limit. We properly documented the shipment, but international customs processing can be unpredictable and may result in taxes/fees being charged. We also shipped the package with a proforma invoice, which is used for “return and repair” type of shipments to show that the product being shipped either originated in that country or is a repaired unit to replace the faulty unit. Customs seems to have ignored that.

• The original RAM we installed is branded V-Color with Samsung IC. We only use RAM with IC manufactured by a major semiconductor manufacturer like Samsung, SK Hynix, Micron.

• The replacement RAM (SK Hynix IC) was tested before shipping out.

Despite our best efforts, issues can still occur. We have done everything we can to help the customer up to this point. We will continue to stand by to help within the terms of our policies.

 

I had a very different experience with my international order.

I ordered a barebones Clevo P870TM1-G from HID to be shipped to Denmark by USPS Priority Express International. And HIDevolution upgraded me to FedEx for free. It was shipped in a double cardboard box. There was also a discount being an NBR member when ordering, which was nice.

Unfortunately, my package got damaged at some point during transit. As something had apparently pierced the two cardboard boxes and carved a small scratch onto the side of the chassis. I reached out to HID and they immediately offered to either send me a new one or to compensate me.

 

Sounds like the system board may be at fault then if both sets of ram passed QC?

 

Hi, it passed all the tests, i did replace booth memory sticks with those from my work collegue laptop and it just work fine and i did EVERYTHING, all those tests, step by step with @Zoltan@HIDevolution on SKYPE. So the problem isn't with the board, the problem is within the quality control from Hidevolution and the low budget low quality memory brands (V-COLOR, KFA, etc) that they sell as "standard". BTW: they standard memory sticks sometimes cost more than the "premium" (kingston, corsair, etc) bought elsewhere.

It's the worst warranty i ever saw. I never saw a company doing that, i mean, sending another defective productive as a replacement.
My advice is STAY AWAY FROM THIS COMPANY.

 

The description is wrong, this is the one that came with the laptop. This is definitely not a problem.

 

After reading your post, I'm not even sure what laptop you ordered. You started off by stating you bought an M17X (a 2011 model) in 2020, then the specs state a silver M17 with upgradeable RAM. Looks like it could have been the m17 R1, except they are black. Bizarre.

BTW If it's the m17 R1, I would have hoped to get a 240W PSU with it, since apparently that's what Dell has been shipping with 2060+ m15/m17 models since mid 2019.

Moral of the story, echoed in other threads, is to refrain from purchasing upgrades, since you forfeit the original components Dell might be interested in during direct support. Also TBH $270 for 32 GB of mediocre RAM is hardly a great deal.

 

I fixed the initial statement removing the letter "X" (typo). Thanks