Alienware m15 R2, 2019 Repair

Question

Ok so I got myself a hi-spec Alienware m15 R2 i9 rtx2070, 4K Oled beasty laptop.

I noticed flickering on the screen after a few months of usage, it's extremely intermittent and doesn't affect gaming at all. But when coding or working on office docs it shows up. Now I have the so-called premium support and opened a call. Dell promptly sends an engineer to my home who swapped out the LCD screen.

That made matters worse, the 'new' LCD screen not only flickers (which I now assume to be some other component) but also goes off (sort of like a backlight issue but this is Oled remember). So once again I call it in, well WhatsApp it and the call handler has requested it come into a service center for diagnosis.

Great not even a year old and the machine is going to be out of action for up to 12 days I'm told, which isn't helpful when I'm using it for work and gaming, very premium feel well done Dell! Thankfully I've got my work laptop to use.

So the reason I'm at this page is my m15 R2 was supposed to be collected by UPS yesterday 6th Aug and today I've received an email saying =

"Current Status
Awaiting customer to ship system. UPS attempted to pick up your system. Since no one was available, a return shipping label was left behind."

Now given that we're only just coming out of lockdown, I'm still working remotely from home and do not leave my house. So the above response is a complete barefaced lie and frankly, I'm disgusted in both Dell and UPS. Dell for using UPS and not offering a better service e.g. send someone out to fix it again or just swap the thing out, and UPS for being useless liars.

If this was a Latitude 450 I could perhaps be more forgiving. But it's a £2400 Alienware! So anyone thinking of buying a Dell be warned, if it goes wrong you're not going to have an acceptable experience as they do not care about customers as far as I can tell and the left hand doesn't know what the right hand is doing with regards to internal process management.

AlienwareOz · Answer

Thought I would update this. So, the original problem with UPS was, it seems it never got booked correctly so Dell cancelled that collection and re-arranged a new one. The new pickup arrived on the day they said it would and the driver was able to operate a doorbell yey. The machine arrived in Germany on the 13th but they started the diags on it w/c the 17th, due to shift patterns and change overs etc..so they tell me - fine no probs. Anyway after a few emails that week, we arrived at the point whereby they are waiting on a screen, they havent really told me what they have done despite asking, so I'm assuming just a screen swap again. Which lets face it is a FRU component. But never mind it's getting sorted, the parts are supposed to arrived on the 28th they say, they can then finish their diagnostics and then ship it back, so fair play, they are just about inside their 12day turn around they told me on the call. With the exception of PowerEdge's, and PowerVaults (basically server room kit) I'm just not buying Dell again, I maybe being a bit harsh, but I just find it astounding that a huge company like Dell doesn't carry a decent amount of parts in stock and I'm still sore from a issue with an XPS a couple years ago that was awful. They have been attentive telling me it's getting done, not much fact though, maybe I will feel better when it's back you just expect better from the worlds number 1. But will the flickering problem be fixed.......

DELL-Cares · Answer

Hi there! We haven't heard back from you. Do get back to us at your earliest convenience. Thanks!

DELL-Cares · Answer

Hi there! We see that the repair order was completed. We haven't heard back from you in a while. Should you need additional help. Do let us now. Thanks!

AlienwareOz · Answer

Just a final update.

Dell did sort this in the end, after several attempts and god knows how many swap outs, I'm left with a laptop that runs perfectly it seems. No more flickering and temp wise, it's hot but not insanely hot and I can't help but love the screen now it doesn't flicker.

I'm not a hardcore gamer so I don't need the 300ms 1080p screen, I really love this 4k OLED and I play Elite Dangerous at QuadHD on Ultra, it plays great and looks soooo good, you have to see it to believe it really, OLED's blacks are soooo rich I just can't get rid of the laptop now...

Well done Dell, faith restored.

Customer Care

Alienware m15 R2, 2019 Repair

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