Review: Buying an Alienware Area-51m 7700 Mobile Computer
So I lost 7 days waiting. I had to wait another 7 days for the videocard to finally arrive here on January 12 2006. Then another surprise awaited me. I got called by FedEx and was told I needed to pick up the package myself. I went there and found out that the package was probably opened by someone on the way here. It seemed they had cut open the box with a knife, very rudely (it looked like they were in a hurry), and cut through the videocard packaging scratching the heatsink a little. They probably thought it was something else and were not interested in the videocard because they just left it in the box. Fortunately the videocard didn’t appear to be damaged apart from the small scratch, so FedEx told me to go ahead and try it anyway to see if it would solve my problem. I called Alienware and told them what had happened as well.
When I got home I replaced the videocard with the new one and turned on the system only to find out that it didn’t work. I still had the exact same issue. So it was probably not the videocard afterall. I sent an email to Jonathan asking him to call me, and within 1.5 hours he called and I told him the bad news. I was very surprised and glad at the same time that he responded so quickly. He was as friendly, patient and helpful as usual and quickly arranged everything so I could send the system back to Alienware. I got an RMA number and some instructions from him and the next day I went back to FedEx and shipped the system back to Alienware. I emailed the tracking number to Jonathan.
On January 20 2006 I got an email from Jonathan confirming that the system was delivered at Alienware. It appears he had also been tracking the package since it was shipped. But it’s not until January 27 that I get an automated email saying that the system was received at Alienware’s repair facilities, and that it would now be inspected. The next email I got was on January 30, which also seemed to be an automated email, informing me that the system was now at the “Received at Integration” phase, which involves the following:
Your system is undergoing the Alienware Repair Depot Quality Control process. This stage includes the reinstallation of the operating system, drivers and any applications that are specific to the system you ordered.
Our Alienware Integration Technician will also install any demos, benchmark utilities and burn-in software necessary to correctly monitor your system’s performance. These functions are performed by our proprietary AlienFactory software specially designed for our valued customers.
If the system does not pass this phase, it will be returned to one of our diagnostics technicians to identify and correct any problems before final shipment.
On February 1st, I get another email, this time from someone named Isaac, who informs me that the system had been repaired, and was on its way back to me. It appears they had to replace the motherboard (the video port on the motherboard was probably not working) and also replaced the LCD inverter board just in case this was also causing the LCD flicker problem. He also mentioned that they had to replace one of the two hard disks because it was starting to give some problems.
I called to Alienware on February 2nd to ask for a tracking number for the package, and was informed that the system was shipped on February 1st, but that there were no tracking numbers available. This started to look like the same issue with the videocard which I described earlier. Although Alienware said the videocard was shipped, it was not until 7 days later when I could actually get a tracking number and when it probably really left Alienware’s shipping department. I called back on February 3rd, and still no tracking number. I emailed Isaac about it, and he said he would email me back as soon as he’d have a tracking number for me.