Alienware Aurora R4, What chassis comes standard to Canadian customers, no options available?

I can't say for sure but my guess is you're getting the standard (non ALX) chassis.

When I ordered from Dell Europe 2 weeks ago, the ALX chassis was in short supply and they just left out the option to choose for ALX on the website.

I gave them a call to ask about it and they arranged one for me but if I'd ordered one without asking I would've gotten the standard chassis as well.

Dell's pricing policy for the ALX chassis is very strange though; on the US website you have to pay an extra $200 for it while here in Europe it's only €80 ($107). That's almost half the price!

I had the same issue about a 1 1/2 years ago when ordering my Area 51 ALX.  Only one case in Canada but a few in the US. Also some other option available in the US were not available in Canada.  I guess it's a marketing issue.  I remember a certain type of Cannon printer was available in Germany with an extra feature but not in North America.  Writing to Cannon I was told it was a marketing decision.

Hello, I'm an european customer from Spain and I had the same problem.

I ordered my Aurora thinking that I was getting it with the ALX case, mainly because when I made my order there was only one option of chassis and in the picture figured the new ALX, so I feel kind of scamed by that.

The PC arrived this past friday and I'm looking forward to contact someone on monday to see if they can give me a solution.

I will be looking for a refund and then order another one with the ALX case I just hope they pay the shipment costs because it's DELL's fault to have a wrong picture showing the ALX when it's the standard one.

Well that is unfortunate that dell isn't putting more effort into pleasing their non U.S cliental , because for me that is a deal breaker. I would be more than willing to pay the inflated price for the aesthetics of the unit alone.  I wish they would better describe thier product with proper photos and perhaps letting customers know what customization is not avaliable for thier country would be supreme and save people a lot of frustration and hassle. Now the decision for me is whether to go through the pain of building from scratch or looking at other pre-built units that have what I'm looking for.  I am not trying to dis dell and may still order from them but they really should re- evaluate thier marketing.

I agree -  When I checked out my system I was without noting it on the US site and printed it. After noting it going to the Canadian site everything was different.  Frustrating and a let-down. Then, even more aggrevating, given the US/Can Dollar has now been around par for quite some time with the Can$, most of the time above par, I remember most, if not all parts were considerable more expensive on the Canadian site.  And not by a small amount.  Yes there may be some extra cross-border shipping costs involved but that's the shipping not the parts or labour, for example factory overclocking was US$200 but CAN$300 (pre-tax).. If I remember correctly my unit was assembled in the US. For that particulary item I received a refund  with my replacement unit which was not overclocked - minus the original extra 13 % sales tax charged. Of course the F/X price isue is not just with Dell. Cars made in my hometown and shipped to the US are thousands of dollars cheaper there than those sold within a couple of miles of the factory.  

@Spamfighter

I'm in BC, Canada, and as far as the extra costs, don't blame Canadian taxes and levies system, which are built into the prices for the manufacturer when they post their prices. If the Americans had what we have, TOU - removed attacking statement, they would have to charge much more, ( review the European prices; GASP!!! ) as in "the sound of music" Maria said "nothing comes from nothing, nothing ever could". I would much rather have TOU - removed attacking statement.

You pay's for "What you get " That is; Taxes and cross border Levies - in English or French, nothing else!!! " Canada has a one-year Warranty on everything, the USA-  90 Days. TOU - removed attacking statement.

A Canuck and proud of it! With all due respect, I had to respond! TOU - removed attacking statement. And YES I do vote Conservative!

Good luck.

@dodger_roger

"...they would have to charge much more, (revue the European prices; GASP!!!)"

What do you mean? The price I've paid for my Aurora R4 ALX is the same as the price on the US website. And that's including the ridiculously high 19% sales tax we have to pay here.

The website has the following legal disclaimer on the bottom -

All prices exclude taxes and environmental advanced disposal surcharges where applicable. Prices subject to error, change and/or substitution at Dell's discretion at any time without notice. Dell cannot be responsible for errors in typography or photography. Unless otherwise specifically advertised, promotional offers are not combinable with any other offer or volume based or other discounts to which you may be entitled. Advertised configurations and limited time offers only available to customers in Canada. All purchases subject to Dell's Customer Agreement or Dell's standard terms of sale, Dell's limited warranty terms and the applicable Dell or third party service agreement. Copies available on request or at www.dell.ca. Remember to back-up your data. Dell is not responsible for lost or corrupt data or software. Limit one (1) offer per eligible system. Dell reserves the right to limit quantities to five (5) systems per customer.

Yes.... thank you for posting a similar disclaimer to every retail store..Disclaimers are great for protecting a business from errors in relation to customer satisfaction. But I do not believe a business should hide behind their disclaimer instead of putting the proper effort into fixing the issues presented..I have been a retail manager for many years and the point of the disclaimers is not to be thrown in a customers face when a issue arises, but to protect a store from fraudulent charges while an error can be fixed.

I realize mistakes happen and was more than willing to except the fact that certain options were not available to my country ( why? I am still confused.No real reason) But for a representative  to come back and basically say " Well that's okay we have a disclaimer, so its actually your fault, that we have several errors in regards to one particular product". Well that kinda makes me a little raw both as a potential customer and a retail sales manager.

Makes me really wonder if I want purchase a product as I did actually have another product picked in replacement to the Alienware, or if an issue or error does arrive if I am just going to get a disclaimer thrown at me instead of effort into satisfying the "Error".

@ doger_roger

I too am a proud Canadian.  But I am not going into political arguments on this forum.  

You are missing my point.  Where did I blame CANADA?  

Yes, many of the parts in a US manufactured PC are not produced in the US, Mexico or Canada and come from elsewhere and are thus not exempt from custom duty under NAFTA.  That certainly doesn’t apply to the $100 difference as to the factory overclocking being at that time 50% more than in the US. (*)  And as Chris correctly states prices quoted do not include sales taxes.  

Yes, Dell should have refunded my sales tax too on the overclocking issue. (Replacement PC was not overclocked)  and Dell refunded that cost for it. Since at that time I was much more concerned in having a workable PC (I thus had no problem as to the missing O/C -  just in case that was one of the problem with the original PC) than arguing with Dell that the Ontario HST should have been refunded too. 

And while for the last few years the corporate tax rates have been lower in Canada then the US, Dell being a US Company still pays the difference in the US thus cannot reduce prices in Canada based on paying lower taxes in Canada.  

Your main comments relate to a political statement regarding living in Canada vs the US which, in my opinion, has no basis on this forum. While correctly impacting some prices by US companies to Canadian customers they do not apply to all such prices.  And yes the warranty aspect also will affect prices but should be offset at the extended warranty price as any increased price of the goods in Canada for that reason already cover ¾ for the first year in Canada. Yes, there are more aspects affecting this - cost of farming out the labour issue which may differ in Canada vs the US - could be either way, etc.

(*) excluding the F/X rate impact where a number of companies are much faster in increasing Canadian prices when the US$ goes up then the other way round. Not all though, Just pre-booked 4 days at a hotel in NYC, where the Canadian price was adjusted on the web-site from day-to-day based on the FX rate - and I not saying every company should adjust such prices daily,

No offence.

Aussi88,

It was not my intention to "throw" it in the customers face. I was simply stating the policy about "typography or photography". Every customer has the right to refuse the system and get a full refund within the first 21 days from the invoice date. I do think that it is the customers responsibility to look over the online invoice before purchasing. The customer would see the mistake on the invoice and could correct it immediately with our sales team. If a customer thought they were getting an ALX and instead received the standard, the ALX must be returned, the credit must be reinstated, and then the ALX would be ordered. Of course, we would first look on the website for the country that the customer resides in to verify if the ALX is even sold there. Currently on the USA and Canada website, when looking for the ALX the website states, "This product is unavailable. Below we have suggested a like or better computer to satisfy your immediate needs". It then directs you to the standard Aurora-R4.

I think the problem with the Canadian website is that there's not a word about the ALX chassis, nor that it's optional. Yet there are pictures of it all over the place. It's obvious a potential buyer expects to receive the system shown in the pictures. How could he or she notice the "mistake" on the invoice?

The invoice would state ALX in the description. Bottomline, if they thought they were getting it and we actually do not have it, they would have to return it and hope that Dell decides to offer it again in the future.

Understandable but for those of us who are not computer experts or work for dell we would not know that there were other chassis available other than the one pictured as there was no option mentioned in the customization. As for the invoice there is no mention of chassis model during the final printout. That is most likely due to the fact that there was no chassis option to choose from. As for me the only pictures I have seen of the aurora r4 have had the alx chassis. Every promotional video and picture out there talks about this amazing chassis with its vents and customized lighting. So therefore most of us who are not overly involved in the computer world assume that  is what we are ordering. And seeming that there are quite a few people who are having issues in this regard perhaps , just perhaps it is not just the consumers that are the issue. If you are going to put so much effort into promoting one particular feature of the product since I believe that was the key marketing aspect of this product you should make sure that it is explained in lamens terms both on the Alienware website and the dell customization that this feature is no longer avaliable or not available in certerain countries by putting the option in the customization but saying that that model is not avaliable so that during the customization we know we are not getting the item pictured and that it is not available . That seems like it would prevent a lot of the confusion going on.

My point. But reading Chris's posts Dell obviously feels more comfortable with having systems returned which don't fulfil customers' expectations than to add a few more lines of code to the website. Ah well, it's not my problem; I'm not from Canada and not even the US so I shouldn't worry about it but I think it's a very weird way of doing business. I'd expected a "yeah you're right, the website's kinda confusing this way" reply but instead you're getting a copy/paste of the legal disclaimer and a "tough luck pray we'll be offering it again sometime" reply. My experience with Dell Europe was the opposite and I couldn't have imagined better service! They arranged an ALX for me and also offered me a discount so I'm very happy.