M14X Replacement

After 3 times of getting my computer I had enough and phoned dell customer service.

First time the problem was the cooling as it was overheating so they changed it and added some proper thermal paste to it.

During that fix the tech broke my DVD reader, so I phoned back and same tech came back a few days later.
So he then installed a new DVD reader and that's where everything went to again.
He broke my chassis (literally goes in with a little bit of pressure and opens up next to vents at the front), broke the back lid for the battery etc (screw stuck and all that) and to top it all off managed to bend the sub woofer a little bit on the right corner and somehow open a tiny breach under alienware name on the screen.

So i phoned dell today to ask for replacement parts and after a conversation with a very helpful guy he spoke to manager and instead of replacement parts he offered me a full refund or the new M14x.

Shall be receiving an email soon from a representative to decide if I want a replacement or a refund.

Dont know what to do...

Any advice would be appreciated.

 

Wow you are better at being patient then me as I would've gone out on a rage and demanded a refund. If you need the m14x, a replacement sounds just to me. Sounds like you've received a lemon/

 

It seems after getting a call from alienware, i will get an offer over email for the new computer.

I had a look at alienwares's website and had a look at the prices and specs of laptops and settle for anything less than what i paid for.

Hopefully everything works out.

 

Hmmm give it a try to see if they would like to upgrade it to a R2 for all the trouble.

 

Does anyone know how long it takes for alienware to send the replacement offer email or even discuss it?

Havent received anything yet.

 

Usually they build new unit for you it takes 5days ~ 2 weeks, that's what I've experienced on my m18x , 5th replacement on it , never wanted a tech to touch my brand new laptop. They will ship out a replacement with shipping label to let you ship back your current machine. Hope this helps.

 

So after 20 days my new laptop is on the way to me.

Took me 1-2 calls everyday to get things moving as customer service would tell me stuff would get done and then i would not hear from them for 3-4 days.

Alienware M14x : Standard Base
Processor : Intel Core i7 3720QM (6MB Cache, up to 3.6GHz w/ Turbo Boost 2.0)
Display: 14.1in Widescreen High Definition + (1600x900) WLED with TrueLife
Memory : 6144MB (1x2048 + 1x4096) 1600MHz DDR3 Dual Channel
Hard Drive : 750GB 7,200rpm SATA 6Gb/s HDD
Optical Drive : Blu-Ray Disc (DVD+/-RW + BD-ROM) Drive including software
Graphics : 2GB GDDR5 NVIDIA GeForce GT 650M
Sound Card : Creative Sound Blaster Recon3Di with THX TruStudio Pro Software
Wireless : Killer Wireless-N 1202
Keyboard : Internal UK/Irish Qwerty Keyboard
Operating System : English Genuine Windows 7 SP1 Home Premium (64 BIT)

Got a much better laptop altogether since they don't make the M14X R1 anymore.
Had to pay for blu ray drive since i wanted it but they gave me the killer network card for free so not bad.

Hopefully I wont have no more problems, and wont let another tech near my laptop since they are useless.

 

I feel your pain. just got my 2nd r2 today. 1st one had a crack through the shiny plastic bezel around the front grill lights. called it in the day I got it. so the tech comes out with a replacement palm-rest. I met him at my house and when I get there had began taking my r1 apart which I had left at home, lol. so I told him that the r1 and gave him the r2 I called about and had been using at my office for the previous 4 hrs. he starts taking it apart and its painfully obvious he has never worked on a m14x. no big deal, they are competent right? now in his defense, i did not personally see him do anything that would FUBAR my machine but I didn't sit there and watch him the whole time either because I could tell he was getting irritated after a couple mins. anyway, after he gets the panel on and get it back together it wont turn on. no need to worry, he probably just forgot the ribbon cable for the power button.
so he starts taking it apart again to check the cables and this time breaks the retention clip for the optical drive. gets it back together the second time and it turns on but the screen is now flashing rapidly while loading the bios and windows. he then tries to tell me that it must have been broken when I gave it to him. I explained how I haven't had a single issue aside from the crack since i had it and had been using it all morning till I packed it up to bring it to meet him.
he opens it up again. Try #3 he breaks the f7 key off the keyboard bracket and all so no snapping it back on. same thing happens when he gets it back together again. during the last rebuild I told him I have taken my r1 apart a bunch of times after the warranty ended to replace the thermal paste. this guy stops where he is at and says he isn't supposed to work it on it then and is supposed to report me to dell. I told him I said "R1 after it was out of warranty, Im not gonna take apart a brand new laptop beyond user replaceable parts, thats why I have a warranty".
he plays around for a few more minutes and calls it in. he runs some sort of diagnostic with the screen flashing and tells me the video card it reporting errors and it must have been defective and that the process of properly replacing the part must have "triggered" the issue in a already defective part. the rep he spoke to asks to speak with me and tells me he suggests I send it out to depot where they can diagnose everything, replace any bad parts and send it back.
I asked why I would want to wait for a box in the mail to send it out when my warranty covers a tech to come onsite with necessary parts and fix it in person? I am told they can do a better job that way and make sure everything works correctly. HOLD UP. you should not be able to do a "better job" than an on-site tech can. Its a computer it should go together and work perfectly or its not fixed correctly. I told her i understand what she is suggesting, but would still like the parts replaced on-site per warranty. after trying to tell me again they will do a "better job" I get her to give me to another rep.
I am internally irate but staying cool on the outside now. second phone rep agrees that he thinks I should send it to depot. I explain to him that I bought a brand new top spec machine for full price and I'm being told to give it up for a couple weeks to send it somewhere where it can be taken apart a 4th time without me watching and trust that they got it right and didnt pinch any cables, break clips, strip screws, etc. on top of that it would be repaired with a refurbished MB and any other necessary parts and what i would get back a couple weeks later would essentially be a refurbished machine that had been completely taken apart and put back together a minimum of 4 times. I told him if I wanted a refurbished machine I would have bought 1 from the dell refurb store and saved a couple hundred bucks and couple week build wait. I was told they would have another rep call me back about returning it and re ordering it.
the tech leaves and has the balls to tell me if I get a feedback call I should give him all 10's,lol. now I will never give anything less than a perfect feedback on such a call or I wont give feedback at all, as long as they did their best even if something else did break, but to ask me for a perfect score after FUBARing my brand new laptop is almost inconceivable! after getting a call back the next day from another rep who "wanted to know how i wanted to proceed with the repair" I told him I called in they day I got it as a brand new machine with a small crack and that because of the tech from their company, I am now expected to send it out for a couple weeks and get a refurb back? finally after another transfer I got someone who said they wound accept a return, but I had to call alienware directly to schedule it, then once my account is credited I could order another. after everything i had just went through I was happy to be told I could get a new replacement, even if it did mean waiting in order-line again. after calling alienware and explaining the situation again the rep told me that a return cannot be done because it had already received repairs. she tells me what I want is an exchange for a new machine and that they would bump it up the build list and ship it overnight with a return label to send the broken one back once I have the replacement.I am told it can be done, but I need to call dell, not alienware. she give me the phone number that had transferred me to them. I told her they just transferred me to her. she said she would talk to them for me and put me on hold. eventually she came back with another very helpful rep who set me up for a new expedited replacement w/ return label. I happy now that someone took responsibility for fixing the situation even though it shouldn't require a couple hrs on the phone explaining the situation to rep after rep. wish I got her name because I would call or email in a glowing review for her.
so got the new machine and it has a small slightly brown discolored section on the top edge of the screen housing, but considering my last experience, I am accepting this as better than risking having the same tech come out to fix it.
sorry for making you read such a long reply, but after seeing the thread and having had my support experience, I felt the need to share my story. I feel its better to deal with a small discolored edge than risk getting the same tech. I don't mean to say he didn't try his best to do the job right, just that in the end he caused more damage than I called in about and tried to tell me it must have been broken prior to him opening it. the worst part is that I really think the guy honestly believes I pulled a fast one on him and gave it to him broke then blamed him.

 

Lol what a long reply ,I actually read your reply, is that part time tech? I found that's really funny lol , I think I could do better then him , like I told someone @ the forum , never let tech touch your laptop , they are like 3rd party technician , which get some commission from dells , not really works with dell.

 

So when I noticed the discolored section I was at the office and only had a min to pull it out. After closer inspection however it has all kinds of flaws, lid closes about 1mm off center, a spot on the palm rest that looks like a big oily thumb print got on it before they sprayed the soft touch coat and it looks like a normal thumb print but won't wipe off, a bunch of scratches at the bottom of the lid through the soft touch also, I hope I'm wrong and they arn't that blatant about it, but in better light it really looks like the brownish area is black magic marker covering a white scratch! Now I made absolutely 100% sure that I re-explained the situation from the beginning to each rep I got thrown at and reiterated that I would not accept any thing refurb in anyway as an acceptable solution and I would return/refund and order new again. They told me I would get a new machine made with all new parts and straight up BS'd me! Quite obvious no part of the chassis or case is new. I like to say it was a misunderstanding but I left no room for any one of them to not know exactly what I was requesting or I would just return it. I'm thinking now the when the last aw rep sent me back to dell and put me on hold to explain the situation, that it went something like this...
Aw: got this dude on the phone and he want a return but its completely broken after a service call and I'm not supposed to refund it
Dell: well I'll tell him it will be brand new parts and he probably won't ever know
Aw: yeah! Then even if he does figure it out it will be past the 21 day return period from when the order was placed, frikin' awesome.
Dell: so that the plan then , ttyl, hail Satan!
Aw: hail Satan!