UHD Screen quality issues/woes on Alienware 17 R4 and R5

I wanted to see if anyone has any ideas or advice on this consistent issue I've been having with my Alienware 17 laptops. Ever since I got my initial R4 last September, I've had major issues with having light bleeding and dead pixels on the screens.

My R4 was shipped to me with dead pixels. Then, over the course of--months--I have been through 4 replacement screens, two full system replacements to an R5, and another screen replacement on the second R5, and STILL I'm having issues. It's completely maddening and I really think that I'm never going to get that perfect screen that I thought I should kind of get with an Alienware laptop that's this expensive.

But yeah, each screen has had varying degrees of issues, but the dead pixels have been the biggest issue. Sometimes it was a single green dot in the center of the screen. Other times, it was rows of colored pixels coming up from the edges. My latest screen has two dark dead pixels in different spots on the screen, and I'm pretty sure at this point, customer support will tell me since they're "dark" pixels, they won't replace it...since their policy only allows them to swap screens if it's a bright pixel.

If I knew I was going to have so many issues with this thing, I would've returned it before my 30 days was up instead of listening to support and sending the system in for repair. Now I'm stuck with it in an endless loop of repairs and I don't think it'll ever get fixed. I know this might be super nitpicky to some, but any advice would be appreciated.

 

Sell it on Ebay.

 

I'm having literally the exact same problems as you.. shipped my first one with dead pixels and replaced with the same problems over and over... How did you get them to replace it to an R5..? I been trying to get mine repaired forever now... I even think my replacement was just a refurbished laptop.. They even replaced my Ram and hard drive with slower ones then the ones I purchased it with.......

 

If you have 3 failed repairs within a month then you can qualify for a system exchange, typically to a refurbished system of the same model and "like or better configuration" (unless you live in a country with laws that require them to send you only new items). If they don't have a refurb unit available they will do an exchange with a current model, again with like or better configuration. This is not a quick and easy process.

If you took replacement parts that were inferior that's on you for keeping them and allowing that to happen. You've got to stay on top of things and be an advocate for yourself.

All this being said I have a hard time understanding how someone could have so many issues with the UHD panel as it's the one panel of theirs that's fantastic and doesn't have any chronic issues. The occasional dead pixel happens and the screen frame can put too much pressure on the panel causing what appears to be screen bleed but this is often times something that can be corrected but adjusting the frame / bezel.

 

I can't say exactly if it was 3 times within the month, but I've been sending it in since July... They even put it on billable hold after dropping it and trying to charging me for the damage their repairman caused to the case(though they recently refunded me). And most recently they held it on hold to confirm the issues over the phone or email, and after I called it in, they finally sent it back to me with the same problems I asked to be repaired...... I've been requesting a proper repair or replacement from the start since I had my doubts about the system, telling them it seemed janky/cheap or refurbished ever since the first replacement, but all they do is decline my requests and say cosmetic damage isn't under warranty even thought they caused the damage... And yea the UHD screen is great it's so crisp and sharp. Games and videos are like I've never seen before. But all these problems and cheap repairs really ruin the experience I've had with this laptop.

 

Oh god. You’ve been sending it to the depot l? That explains things.....it’s called “depot hell” for good reason and many people have reported their laptop coming back with physical damage.

Also I wouldn’t be surprised if they never replacing the screen. You didn’t mention the other issues you had with it but I can definitely see their tech turning the system on, seeing the screen works, and then marking it repaired and sending it back. Do you have a support plan? If so have them send a tech to you and then it’s a guaranteed screen replacement right in front of your watchful eyes.

I have received a bad replacement screen before (it was “refurbished”) but the next one was perfect.


Check your service history. If it’s been three times in a rolling month period then push for a replacement. That will address all your issues with this system


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Backlight bleed is hard to avoid and current day 4K panels are very very suspectible of it. Dead pixels though are unacceptable. But yeah never send it to a depot.

The whole shipping out refurbs is crazy too. You paid for a new system.

 

Case was chipped and scratched up(I think they dropped it), bottom plate was dented and scratched, the light strips are inconsistent with colors, track pad has visible damage, dead pixels on screen, case has a few dents, hard drive is slower then the one I purchased, ram was replaced with 2400mhz vs the 2666mhz purchased, very slow boot and alot of freezing/stuttering during overall use, keyboard keys were coming off, it would overheat alot of times running games that really shouldn't stress the gpu or cpu, and even the battery was having problems lasting more then 1:30 - 2 hours just watching youtube vids on lowest battery on the lowest power mode with 0 - 25% brightness. They might think I was just trying to pull a fast one on them since I had only a few months left on my warranty, but I had planned on sending it back since I got it replaced the first time. It was my first Alienware, and I always used to look at them online as a kid. I wasn't trying to go through any hassles as soon as I got it so I just kept it... But even the first time I replaced it the girl on the phone seemed as if she didn't even want to do it like I was lying or something. I had to convince her so hard since they only wanted to replace the screen, but I wanted a brand new one since I thought why would it ship brand new with a damaged screen. And now here I am with the replacement having worse problems than the original one. Right now, I have premium support with the onsite repairs but they keep just telling me to send it in with their box and they always forget to put the letter for repair notes in it(I even had to write my own note, which they ignored), but now they won't even send me the box.

 

What country are you in?

And why on earth would you send it to the depot when you paid for premium on site support? You’ve got to stand up for yourself here.

I would never let them pull what they’re doing with you. The damage alone would have put me through the roof not to mention lower speed memory. And what do you mean by “slower hard drive”

Putting aside the damage and previous issues what performance / hardware / screen issues do you have currently?

How long ago was the laptop damaged by the depot?

Promise me you will never mail it in again. I don’t care what they say...do not accept that. They’ve tried it with me but I stand up for myself and tell them that’s not acceptable.




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Do this - look back at the history of your repairs. Grab it either from e-mails with Dell or from the ticket history online at the Dell support website and post the following info so we can help you get this resolved:

*Date you initiated each repair
*Summary of what you requested to be repaired
*Timeline of when you mailed laptop out to depot and received it back

Just to give you an idea of how things *can* happen here's my recent history that's lead to Dell replacing my top-config 17 R3 with a top-config 17 R5. My laptop was previously exchanged for another 17R3 and they doubled my RAM and upgraded my video card in the process.

On September 12th I contacted Dellienware asking for replacement screen and system board. I e-mailed them a picture of the horrible screen bleed I was having and they were to set up a repair the next day. The mobo didn't get shipped in time but the tech did replace my display panel - I called back that afternoon to address the motherboard issue and request a new screen. These were sent out but delayed due to Hurricane - tech arrived following Monday but, again, there was a shipping issue and only the system board was sent. Called support again to raise a sink over the double failures in shipping parts and was assured the third time they'd get both the display and system board to me. Two days later a completely incompetent tech shows up with both parts and it was painfully obvious he didn't know what he was doing. In the process of swapping the display and system board he nuked my 1 TB Samsung PM951 and the replacement system board has a bad USB controller - only the USB-C port is operational.

That constitutes 3 failed repair attempts so I started the exchange process. Once that is approved they spend 7-10 days waiting to see of a comparable refurbished unit is available and, if not, they order you a new one (which I am waiting to be shipped). The repair process can be extremely frustrating. The Unisys techs often times don't have the necessary skillset. I prefer to take ownership of my own repairs but for somethings (like system board replacement) they insist on their (unqualified) 3rd party techs to do the actual work. I'm a Dell-certified server enginner; they send me parts (and never a tech) to repair servers so it's maddening I have to sit back and watch some moron break my system but it is what it is. In this case it worked out to my advantage as it helped me get a new system!

13 days after I contacted them for the first repair (this time around anyways) I was contacted by the Exchange team. A week after that they decided to order a new 17 R5 and after some back and forth negotiating the exact specifications they put the order in.

Roughly weeks from first call to support to replacement ordered. Again, don't accept what is happening to you. It is simply not acceptable.

There's an entire thread for people discussing system exchanges - while it started many years ago the process is still the same so feel free to read through all the posts if you have the time.
http://forum.notebookreview.com/thr...re-notebook-system-replacement-thread.781015/


If you have a valid issue with your system get it addressed. You paid a lot of money for a working system.

 

I'm in USA, California.

This was my first time buying such a high end laptop but man, I never had problems like this in my life so I really didn't expect all of this from Dell with this laptop period.

Every time I get on the phone they always just say they'll escalate the case and now they keep just asking me for pictures of the damages and I sent it in and they give me some guide on needing to have more than 5 dead pixels to get the screen replaced and say everything else is cosmetic damage which isn't covered under warranty.

When I purchased it, the hard drive was supposed to come with a 64mb cache, but it's only a 32mb cache.

Really right now its the dead pixels on the screen the damage with the trackpad and the light strips. The ram and the hard drive I just realized weren't the ones I purchased it with, and the dents and scratches make me wonder what really happened in the depot. Windows gets buggy sometimes and has very slow boot times. That's about all I can remember right now.

It was damaged back in July and August. They replaced the motherboard the ram and hard drive, replaced the screen like 3 - 4 times now, replaced the keyboard, trackpad, and even the case itself but it still remains with problems.

And yea man I know this is a real problem. I told them I won't accept this laptop. I told them they need to do proper repairs and not try to just pull scams. That's why they refunded me the billable hold they charged. But they try to give me the run around every time I call in or email and just put it off somehow... And my warranty is running out. Expires in November.

 

Unfortunately their support is **** (but not as bad as other companies in many ways - which is sad). They're right that cosmetic damaged isn't covered but THEY caused this so they are responsible.

Nice catch about the reduced cache. If you press them on that they ought to send you a replacement - same for the RAM.

The whole "escalation" thing is a scam. I've busted them before for "escalating" to the manager but it's actually the same guy just pretending to be someone else. It's rare for me to lose my cool but I hate being lied to and I came UNGLUED when they pulled that stunt. Many many other people have come to the same conclusion that their claim of escalating is completely unfounded; just something they say to appease the customer.

The warranty is in full effect until the last day so it should not matter one bit if you're down to just a month. If the system has met the exchange criteria they need to initiate that but it seems like you haven't hit the magic number of repairs in the 4 week time period. I think reading the exchange thread I linked would do you a ton of good so you can see how others got out of similar situations.

 

So how do you think I should go about this? They are making it seem as if I damaged the unit and was trying to get over on them, then act as if I wasn't happy with repairs to the damage that I supposedly caused and they refunded me still, as if I should accept their false claim of damage on receiving the laptop, yet, when I sent it in the parts they claim were damaged were just as when I purchased it, brand new. Now those parts are damaged though what I paid for them was refunded. They are ignoring the facts I am telling them and putting it off longer and longer.

 

I just ordered my first Alienware laptop, and paid for the 4 year premium support. It should be arriving soon. Needless to say I'm extremely disappointed and concerned to see this. From what I've gathered here, if this laptop has any issue whatsoever during the first 30 days, I had better just refund it and go elsewhere. I'm very sorry to hear about what you all have gone through.

 

The posts you see here represent a small minority of total Alienware owners. That's how forums and revies work - when someone is unhappy that want to share that with the world wheras most happy customers enjoy the item and life goes on.

It can be easier to just return the laptop and reorder a new one if you have issues with the unit but not everybody wants to wait another month and will instead opt to have it repaired. This is what I would do unless I wanted to just walk away and go with another brand (which I wouldn't as there's a lot of great things about buying the Alienware laptops).