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Alien(Be)ware
ambushbug73
Member Posts: 13
I will start this by saying I know many people have ordered from Alienware with no problems and have enjoyed their systems, this isn't the case for me.
After receiving an email from their marketing department on 01/12/09 regarding their aurora online gaming edition 48 hour quick ship computer that came with a free "Immersion Bundle" that included a monitor and set of speakers I figured what the heck. I'm really past due for a new system and while I could build one time really doesn't permit me to do so at the time.
Now the hook for this computer is that it ships within 48 hours, where as a custom system can take from 3 weeks to 3 months. Since my system is on it's last legs this sounded good to me. A system that met my needs and shipped quickly so I placed my order. The next day I get a conformation email listing my order but did not include the "Immersion bundle".
I contacted Alienware about that and the "Immersion Bundle" was added to my order. Of course the next email I got informed me that I was getting charged over $400 for this free "Immersion Bundle". I called once again and was told this was a typo and that my system would ship on 01/14/09.
Well I won't drag this out, I will just say it didn't ship then, nor on the 14th, 16, 19th, 20th, nor the 21st, all different shipping dates I received. While talking to them on the 21st I was told it was my fault my order was delayed because I kept changing the order. I never changed my order, period.
Anyway, this morning 240 hours after my 48 quickship computer was ordered and still not shipped I canceled the order. The lady I spoke to just laughed and said she didn't blame me. Like I said I know many others have had good experiences with Alienware, but there are also a ton more that haven't. I wish I had done more research instead of buying into the hype, I hope others read this and do their research first and come to their own conclusions. An informed consumer is usually a satisfied consumer.
Check out the following links for other peoples experiences:
Comments
Probably because Dell is now running Alien(Be)ware (I liked that by the way, I got a chuckle).
Now you know for the next time........ build your own
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What if Paul Revere was like the boy who cried wolf....?
Originally posted by Hazmal
What does he say when people ask what he did? "My mommy was irking me yo - I wanted to keep pwning nubs on my xbox, so I roughed her up with a hardshell. That is just how I roll."
That's why instead of Alien(Be)ware (psst, someone get on 4chan and post this. Maybe it'll spread :P) I went for a Dell XPS. One heck of a system too. The case is a dream and each part inside is a third party brand name. Companies like Asus, ATI, Creative, and Patriot. They're worth the money (actually, pricing out each part on Newegg and giving the case a 200 dollar value and the included monitor [19" widescreen included for free] also being priced, it came out a good bit cheaper than if I built it myself. Without the shipping the costs the parts would have incurred. Granted the case may not be worth 200 bucks, the tower was on sale, and the monitor was 'free'.) if you don't want to build your own.
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Telthalion Rohircil - Guardian - Elemandir - Lord of The Rings Online
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== RIP == Torey - Commando - Orion - Tabula Rasa == RIP ==
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Jordaniel Torey - Navy Megathron, Active Armor Tank - Tranquility - EVE Online
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Torey Scott - Rifleman - Fallen Earth
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"I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but I know World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones." - Albert Einstein
yeah, dell gets all their parts dirt cheap! so they can afford to put on a 40% markup on their price and still make a killing..
besides, I like using my own creation, it feels a lot better.
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What if Paul Revere was like the boy who cried wolf....?
Originally posted by Hazmal
What does he say when people ask what he did? "My mommy was irking me yo - I wanted to keep pwning nubs on my xbox, so I roughed her up with a hardshell. That is just how I roll."
Definitely. I wanted to build my own machine at the time, to pick out the parts I wanted. I didn't have the money though so I had to go with the best bang for my buck. The Dell XPS 420. Since have doubled the RAM to 6GB and isntalled a 260GTX+.
____________________________
Telthalion Rohircil - Guardian - Elemandir - Lord of The Rings Online
---
== RIP == Torey - Commando - Orion - Tabula Rasa == RIP ==
---
Jordaniel Torey - Navy Megathron, Active Armor Tank - Tranquility - EVE Online
---
Torey Scott - Rifleman - Fallen Earth
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"I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but I know World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones." - Albert Einstein
Yeah I learned my lesson there. Spent the morning on newegg.com ordering parts. LIve an learn I guess.
I ran into the same thing. Back is Sep I was getting ready to deploy to Iraq so I ordered a "quick ship" gaming laptop from them. Needless to say it was so late it didn't arrive before I deployed. Now I still have a new, unopened, laptop sitting at home. Hopefully i'll go home on R&R in a few weeks and finally get it.
Daragoth
"War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things. The decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feeling which thinks that nothing is worth war is much worse. The person who has nothing for which he is willing to fight, nothing which is more important than his own personal safety, is a miserable creature and has no chance of being free unless made and kept so by the exertions of better men than himself." - John Stuart Mill
wait .... what? I can build one in a day, and have all the parts shipped to my place in 3 days..... I dont get it?
Playing: EVE Online
Favorite MMOs: WoW, SWG Pre-cu, Lineage 2, UO, EQ, EVE online
Looking forward to: Archeage, Kingdom Under Fire 2
KUF2's Official Website - http://www.kufii.com/ENG/ -
I think he was talking about a custom Alien(Be)ware would take that amount of time since it wasn't a preconfigured one.
Das Uber Lurker!
ohhhh, lol alright thanks for clearing that up.
Playing: EVE Online
Favorite MMOs: WoW, SWG Pre-cu, Lineage 2, UO, EQ, EVE online
Looking forward to: Archeage, Kingdom Under Fire 2
KUF2's Official Website - http://www.kufii.com/ENG/ -
No worries.
But man could you imagine having to wait 3weeks to 3months to build your system
. I got annoyed when Newegg shipped my all my components and I had to wait 3 more days for the case to put them in!
Das Uber Lurker!
To the OP: I totally agree!!....Alien(Be)ware was a terrible experience for me....I ordered a laptop a couple of years ago....and it basically had a malfunction to where it would not read every 3rd or 4th disc I tried..(wanted to check out some old MMO's of mine on it)...needless to say....customer service was a complete nightmare....I finally decided enough was enough..so I sent it back after about a week of hassling with customer service....Now they wanted to charge me a 15% restocking fee....
...............You have got to be kidding me......feeling a bit helpless.....I somehow managed to get some "big-wig" corporate guys email address...and basically vented to him the whole situation, and also told him I was going to report them to the better business bureau of florida.....Finally I was told that I would receive a full refund.....but...that didn't happen until two months later of constantly nagging customer service....what a headache!!!!
Stay away from Alien(Be)ware....(unless you don't mind getting crappy, overpriced hardware..with little to no customer service)
aaahhh, I had that same problem. lol. I ordered all the parts, but then forgot to order a case to put it all in lol.
I said im not going to wait and took a drive out to brooklyn to a computer store i know that has a lot of sweet cases and picked one up there. Paid a little more, but I didn't have to wait for it in the mail.
Another thing that takes time, is getting the money situation up. Atleast for me. I mean I have bills to pay, gas to purchase, and insurance to insure my vehicle. normally i'll put some cash aside just incase I see a new piece of technology I've gotta get my hands on.
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What if Paul Revere was like the boy who cried wolf....?
Originally posted by Hazmal
What does he say when people ask what he did? "My mommy was irking me yo - I wanted to keep pwning nubs on my xbox, so I roughed her up with a hardshell. That is just how I roll."
Just bought 2 systems from IBUYPOWER.COM for my wife and I. Their price beat what I could get by building it myself and I have a 3 year warranty. Computers arrived early and in perfect condition. Couldn't be happier.
They were about 1000 dollars cheaper than Dell and about 1700 dollars cheaper than the Alienware (Dell) equivalent.
Alienware is fantastic if you want to pay triple the price for the same thing...otherwise I would not suggest them.
For us gaming laptop users we don't have many good options, we have few places we can really purchase from.
My Gateway just blew a MB after owning it for 9 months, fortunately I had purchased the warranty (they charge $1100 bucks for a MB, and no , that's not a typo). Of course, I had to ship it to them at my expense and it will be gone for about 2-3 weeks.
"True friends stab you in the front." | Oscar Wilde
"I need to finish" - Christian Wolff: The Accountant
Just trying to live long enough to play a new, released MMORPG, playing New Worlds atm
Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions. Pvbs 18:2, NIV
Don't just play games, inhabit virtual worlds™
"This is the most intelligent, well qualified and articulate response to a post I have ever seen on these forums. It's a shame most people here won't have the attention span to read past the second line." - Anon
I also ordered an IBUYPOWER for my first gaming pc. I went to install another video card and when I opened the case, it looked like a birds nest in there.. They wired the computer TERRIBLE. Wires everywhere, hitting fans ( thats when I realized what that noise was ) and I had to re-wire everything, I must have taken out 3-4 different power cord splitters. Nothing was zip-tied, I was just disgusted.
Their computer are relativly cheap, but like I said, I pretty much re-designed it myself.
______________________________
What if Paul Revere was like the boy who cried wolf....?
Originally posted by Hazmal
What does he say when people ask what he did? "My mommy was irking me yo - I wanted to keep pwning nubs on my xbox, so I roughed her up with a hardshell. That is just how I roll."
All I can say is; you get what you pay for. Dell said they wouldn't mess with Alienware but we all knows that's bull (much like EA saying that they won't screw with any of the developers they buy out, or Activision saying they won't screw with Blizzard's products).
Besides, Alienware's are INCREDIBLY overrated. It would cost me anywhere between $5,000 and $10,000 NZD for an Alienware, and they're not even that great. I once used to worship them like the gods of gaming systems, now I know the truth - you can make your own one for more than half the price.
It does not cost $5,000 for what they're selling. There is three main things you're paying for that is just pathetic: 1 is the monitor (for desktops), 2 is the HDD case and 3 is the warranty. The warranty is probably the most expensive thing on it because, last time I checked, it was 5 years.
I'd rather pay $2500-3000 for a custom built computer then $5000 for something that's worse than what I could make. So I'm sorry, but to anyway who actually paid for one of those things, you just wasted your money.