Need help from guys in Europe (concerning m11x)

Hi there everyone,

I'm a total newbie on Alienware, since my former and current laptops are both Sony Vaio, and I'm considering buying an Alienware m11x (my Vaio served me well, but it's kinda dead now ) I'm living in Austria, and the only way to get a m11x currently is to order it through Dell Germany. I have some questions that hope you guys can help me out:

1. How are the customer services? I've seen people complaining about Alienware/Dell taking too long to solve a problem and it takes a lot of efforts to finally make them solve the problem. Is it the same with Dell Germany? How long does it take for them normally to solve the problem? I'm an IT students and need laptop constantly to bring to school so I can't risk waiting for months to finally get my laptop back, I'll be screwed if that happen. (and with the shipping time of 3 to 4 weeks it's even worse)

2. When, for example, I have to send the laptop back, will I have to send it on my own and pay the shipping fee or will they have some services for that? I asked 2 Dell guys via the chat, one said I have to send back, and one said that someone will come to my house to pick it up. I'm confused.

3. As I want to avoid sending the machine back and fort too often, do you think I should buy a long term insurance plan? I can basically change the hardware and software myself. And what does "accident insurance" actually include?

4. Is it hot? My Vaio SZ burned me and went auto-shutdown on me far too often, especially when I played games on them. Actually its graphic card got burned (or so I think, it basically doesn't work anymore). Also is there any anti-shock for the HDD?

I thank you so much for helping me out. And as I'm a newbie, I'm sorry if some questions are already answered. I tried digging through the posts but I can't find the info I need. If I post this at the wrong place I'm sorry

 

1. I dont know about other issues but I had a faulty AC adapter on mine rang Dell and the replacement was here the following day
2. You dont usually have to send them back, Dell send a technician to your house to replace the broken part
3. Accident insurance covers accidents - dropping it, spilling liquid on it things like that, as for the other point read #2
4. Even on the discrete graphics card it doesnt burn my lap when playing games on it. It gets warm but not hot, the cooling system is good! As for the anti-shock hard drive, that depends on what you order it with. The one that came in my machine isnt the "G-Force" protected one but you may be able to order it with an anti-shock drive over the phone.

 

Hey,

I live in switzerland. Here is my experience:

1) Customer service is very good and was always cooperative. If you get the next business day plan then yout laptop parts will be replaced within the next 2 days (subject to availability) by a technician which comes to your home.

2) Shipping is on Dell cost. Usually you will get a DHL account number or so.

3) Accidental damage includes almost everything, besides stuff like theft and possibly act of war/god. I myself got that, since my wife already destroyed one notebook by pouring wine into the keyboard :x

4) The M11x has really good cooling and people seem to be very happy about it. You will still have to do cleaning maintenance from time to time (as with every other notebook).


Also, make sure you can order from Dell Germany. I was told that you can only have it shipped to the country you order from (e.g. when ordering from Dell Germany, they my only ship to germany)

 

That's one of the strange thing too, because the dell.at domain always direct me to Dell Germany, and there is always that shipping cost of 29 euros. It looks to me like I can actually buy it from there. The Alienware tech guy from Germany told me that I can buy the laptop from there, but a day later when I asked a guy from Dell (international I guess), he told me the exact thing you wrote.


Thank you guys for helping me.