Dell selling wrong graphics cards & refuses to compensate (Alienware 15 R3 NVidia 1060 1070)

Dell Customer Support,

My name is Matthew Johnson.  I purchased an Alienware 15 R3 laptop on 12/12/16 from the Dell website for $2051.47.  The Dell Purchase ID is .  The quoted estimated deliver date upon purchase was December 16-21st of 2016.  This was great, as we planned for this to be a Christmas present.

Sad to say the delivery was delayed.  When I called Dell on December 20th to ensure the computer was going to arrive the next day, I was told by the representative that there was a delay in shipping.  When I asked when the computer was going to ship, the answer was unknown.  The Dell customer service representative said that it could be as long as March 2017!  This was very disappointing since we were counting on the computer to arrive prior to Christmas.  Dell did however offer to compensate me for my inconvenience with $100 refund once I confirmed the computer had arrived at my home.  I some-what reluctantly agreed since I didn’t want to wait until March, but also was hoping Dell would fill my order within a couple weeks and felt $100 compensation was fair.

 After several estimated delivery date changes, the computer finally arrived on 12/30/16.  I was excited that the delay was only a couple weeks and was also satisfied with the $100 compensation for the delay.  I opened the box and setup the computer.  I checked the internal components of the computer and found something VERY alarming.

The graphics card in the laptop was incorrect!  One of the main components of the computer was wrong!  I had purchased a laptop with an NVidia GTX 1070 with 8GB of RAM.  I received an NVidia GTX 1060 with 6GB of RAM.  The other components seemed correct, but the graphics card was definitely wrong!  My first thought was to call Dell immediately and ask them why they sent me an incorrect component.  Instead I searched the web and forums to see if anyone else had similar issues.  To my surprise there we others having the same issue.  See reference forum links below (Ref #1-3).  I called Dell customer support that day (12/30/16) to ask them to rectify the situation.  After going through several departments, a Dell representative in the Order Modifications department admitted that it had been a wide spread issue and Dell was prepared to offer $300 dollars in compensation for the inconvenience or I could return the laptop for a full refund.  He asked me if he could verify with his supervisor, but when he put me on hold again, I got transferred to someone else.  Again, I had to explain the situation, and this time I included the fact that I was already disappointed with the shipping delay and was seeking additional compensation for the incorrect graphics card.  The new Dell representative told me that she could offer me $200 for the incorrect graphics card.  I told her that the last representative already offered me $300 before transferring me.  She said that she would honor that amount and offer me the $300 as well.  I also told her that I was expecting to receive an already promised $100 for the shipping delay.  Once she checked with her supervisor, she told me that the maximum compensation she could offer was $300.  At this point I felt the compensation amount was almost arbitrary, and was getting very frustrated.  I replied that Dell already promised $100 for the shipping delay and that the shipping delay was in addition to the incorrect video card.  I felt that the total compensation should have been $100 for the shipping delay and $300 for the video card.  When she refused, I asked to talk to her supervisor which restated that the maximum compensation is $300.  I felt like I was getting played here.  After stating my frustration, I hung up the phone without any compensation.

Dell was knowingly shipping incorrect components to their customers to “fulfill” orders and minimize delays and order cancellations.  Dell did not contact me prior to the shipment to ask if this order alteration was approved.  They shipped it anyways hoping that I would not notice the fraudulent action.  This suspicion was later confirmed by another Dell representative on 1/11/17.

On after I got off the phone on 12/30/16 I called back to claim my promised $100 for the shipping delay.  On 1/4/17 I received the refund.  Service Request Number .

I called DELL customer support on 1/11/17 and spoke to someone at the Dell support line for order modifications 1800-247-2076.  Dell again admitted to the wide spread shipping graphics card problem, put me on a long hold, while they “checked with their supervisor” then spontaneously transferred me again!  This time to the Returns department.  After another long conversation with a returns specialist (Robert), he told me that I could return the computer for a full refund.  I told Robert that I was previously offered $300 for the graphics card issue.  He said, yes, they have been offering that kind of compensation before, but he would have to check with his supervisor.  After another long hold, Robert returned to tell me that he could not compensate me at all anymore since my order had already been compensated once for the shipping delay.  WHAT!  I told him the shipping delay was in addition to the incorrect video card.  I asked why was Dell knowingly shipping fraudulent products to their customers?  I asked to talk to his supervisor.  Sandra, Robert’s supervisor, works in El Salvador in Central America.  She stated that once the order had been compensated once, it could not be compensated again.  I asked her why not, and her response was that it was policy.  When pressed, she admitted she didn’t have the clearance to compensate my order again, but she repeatedly refused to pass me to her supervisor.  Sandra stated that the only thing I could do was to return the computer, and purchase another one if I wanted to.  I didn’t feel like this was a good option, since I’ve read forums stating the return process was horrible.  I got a good deal on my computer at the time of purchase.  The sales prior to Christmas and not as good as the sales now.  If I returned the computer and purchased another one, I’d have to pay more than what I previously purchased.  I also felt that since Dell already offered $300 for the mistaken graphics card, that this is what is fair despite company policy.  I didn’t want to part with the laptop having had to wait long enough for the shipment in the first place.  Sandra refused the compensation, stating the only choice I had was to return the computer.  I was frustrated at the lack of customer service. 

Dell has purposely sold me a product in order to protect their sales numbers in hopes that I wouldn’t notice.  They knew they couldn’t fulfill the orders and still don’t have the Nvidia 1070 cards in stock (admitted by Dell rep).  Dell knew the shipping would be delay until after Christmas, but posted the before Christmas shipping date to again boost the sales numbers. When asked to fix the situation, they offer compensation but then withdrew that offer.  This is not just happening to me, there are many others out there that haven’t even checked the components on their new computers.  I’m sure they would also be very upset to learn of Dell’s purposely actions.  At the time of this letter Dell is still offering the NVidia 1070 in their laptops via the Dell website despite the part being unavailable.  I wonder how many more victims will unknowingly by purchase the NVidia 1070 graphics card on their Dell computer.

I’ve had many long phone calls to Dell customer support and I’ve not received adequate compensation for the service or product for which I purchased.  I demand $500 in compensation or I will forward this letter to an agency and my local news which has a program to advocate for consumers.

                                                                                                         Matthew Johnson

Reference #1: <ADMIN NOTE: Broken link has been removed from this post by Dell>

Reference #2: http://en.community.dell.com/owners-club/alienware/f/3746/t/19999104

Reference #3: https://www.reddit.com/r/Alienware/comments/5kolfe/alienware_still_sending_out_wrong_components_gpu/