My first Alienware Laptop – Purchase experience

My first Alienware Laptop

This post will describe my purchase experience of my M17x Alienware Laptop and accessories.  It is my hope that this may assist others when considering making an investment in a simularly configured system. 

Customer Service experience

Sadly I had to contact customer service today to discuss my order.  As I posted earlier my M17x series Laptop WIKI article, my order was due to be delivered on 02/02/2010.  Having read numerous post on the forums regarding delays I took action to contact Alienware/Dell on Thursday 01/28/2010 to verify that there were no expected delays of my order.  Customer Service assured me at that time that my order had no flags for delay and that should something arise which caused on I would be contacted via email and or phone to inform me of the reason for a delay. I thanked the customer service rep. at that time and waited patiently for my order shipment notice on 02/01/2010.

Monday 02/01/2010 I arrive home from work to check the status of my order which should be listed as shipped like the other parts of my order. To my surprise the status was still listed as "In Production".  Knowing that in order for the shipment to arrive on time (I paid extra for overnight delivery) it would have to be listed as "Shipped". Being quite concerned I called 1-800-ALIENWARE to seek information. Please note the Estimated Delivery date still stated 02/02/2010. 

Enter the new customer service rep. who politely informed me that my order has been delayed for at least another week and had an adjusted shipment date of 02/09/2010.  I had not choice but to request to speak to a supervisor as I was assured only a few business days ago that there were no holds on my order and that it was on time. I was transferred to a Supervisor from Dell Customer Support.  He asked for some specific information and requested if I could hold while he reviewed this uncommunicated delay of my delivery.  Upon returning (he was prompt) he apologized for the delay and for the lack of communications to me about the matter.  He explained that due to high demand for the M17x systems the factory is unable to build them fast enough. He confirmed that the date was 02/09/2010 but could not commit that the system would be ready by that date either.  He did however ask to put me on hold to try and push the order forward.  Returning to the conversation he again apologized and stated that the date of 02/09/2010 may still be the case but that they (the factory) would try to have the laptop shipped by 02/04/2010 again he stated that he could not commit to either date.

Case Number: XXXXXXXXX69 (edited for obvious reasons) was opened on my behalf and I have been asked to use this for further communications.

Impact:

I travel for business (Sr. Software Consultant) and my Laptop is my main tool for work.  I now have to travel to a client site with my current Laptop vice the Alienware system which I had expected. While this may seem trivial to some or even most, the impact is significant to me.  Had Dell/Alienware communicated in advance the delay I could have made proper adjustments so that I was not running around at the last minute upgrading the system I am replacing so that I can perform my work. Proactive communications should be expected when investing almost $6,000.00 regardless of the business. Why would I purchase such a rig? In addition to using this system for work, I do enjoy computer gaming so this was a dual purpose purchase.

Opportunity to improve:

Both Dell and Alienware have a unique opportunity to improve their customer service and delivery experiences by introducing proactive communications. Prior to this experience they have exceeded my expectations. I as a customer took an active role in the process by contacting them in advance in hopes of participating in the solution. I can only hope that they take advantage of this input and make some improvements to these business lines so that other customers current and new do not have the same experience that I unfortunately had / have to now.

Online purchase experience

I started my shopping by reading the reviews on the Alienware site on the M17x series Laptop. Most of the reviews were positive, but there was little information regarding the Crossfire option which I selected. While the information provided about the system options on the site were clear they were of course from a marketing perspective. Overall I would say that the Alienware marketing team has done a good job of providing details about the options, but might improve with 3rd party reviews being made available to support their position.  In the end I had to perform multiple searches when making the final decision on the options I would select combined with the budget I had set. This may assist some when setting out to make their purchase online.

One note that I would like to make regarding the overall experience is that I found that option for some online assistance being made available was a nice feature. I chose not to use this option as I tend to prefer to research for myself.

My Rig – Items purchased

The following details what I've purchased from Alienware:  

• Alienware OptX AW2210 21.5 Inch Full HD Widescreen Monitor ( Delivered on time)
  
• Megalodon Gaming Headset ( Delivered on time)
  
• Space Black - Anodized Aluminum M17x ( Delayed with no notification from Dell prior to my contacting Customer Service)
• Intel Core i7 920XM 2.0GHz (3.2GHz Turbo Mode, 8MB Cache)
• 8GB Dual Channel DDR3 at 1333MHz
• Alienware M17x 240W A/C Adapter
• 17-inch WideUXGA 1920 x 1200 RGB LED (1200p)
• Dual 1GB ATI Radeon Mobility HD 4870 in CrossfireX
• 512GB Raid 0 (2x 256GB Solid State HDDs)
• Name Plate Engraving
• Personalized Nameplate Trigger
• AlienFX Color, Mars Red
• Alienware Command Center, M17x
• Genuine Windows 7 Ultimate, 64bit, English
• DataSafe Local BackUp 2.0 Basic
• PC-Restore, Dim/Insp
• Alienhead 3D
• Alienhead Chrome Red
• ADOBE READER 9.0 MULTI- LANGUAGE
• Slot-Load Dual Layer DVD Burner (DVD+-RW, CD-RW)
• CyberLink PowerDVD 8.0 Software
• Nero 9 Media Burning Software
• 5.1 Channel Audio
• Dell Wireless 1520 802.11n Half Mini Card
• Automatic Updates: On
• McAfee VirusScan Plus - 30-Day Subscription
• 1 Year Limited Warranty
• Dell Hardware Warranty Plus On-Site Service, Initial Year
• Third Party At Home Service, 24x7 Technical Support, Initial Year
• No Warranty, Year 2 and 3
• Soft Contracts,Banktec Care,Alienware
• Warranty Support,Initial Year
• S and P Drop-in-Box Marcom forDHS Notebooks
• Steam and Portal Factory Installed
• Bluetooth 2.1 with EDR
• Thank You for Purchasing AlienWare

Items received to date

The first item to arrive was the Alienware OptX AW2210 21.5 Inch Full HD Widescreen Monitor. The shipment details provided to me by Dell and FexEx were spot on.  The delivery was on time as stated on the Dell site and arrived safely to my door.

Upon opening the box all of the contents were packaged well with no issues of shipment damages. The packaging of the Monitor kept true to the Alienware branding and added to the level of anticipation of hooking the new monitor up to my existing desktop system.

This monitor has exceeded my expectations considering I was moving down from a 24" Monitor with the same resolution capabilities. The color and response are amazing when playing Lineage II (my game of choice) I had no idea this game was as brilliant as it is now.  The menu system is easy to use and I found no problems with set up. I will of course provide greater details about the monitor once my new M17x arrives and I can utilize the HDMI capabilities.

The second item to arrive was the Razer Megalodon Gaming Headset. In this case as well the shipment details provided by Dell and FedEx were 100% correct.

This is by far the greatest gaming headset I've ever owned. The sound quality blew me away in 7.1 surround sound mode. The packaging alone make this headset a centerpiece on my desk and I would never have expected such superior sound quality from a headset built for this purpose. 100% satisfied.

Still waiting for...

I am still waiting for the delivery of my M17x Alienware Laptop. So I am unable to detail my experience beyond to following at this time.   

•  
  • Nervousness – Reading the forums I see a lot of post about delayed deliveries of purchased systems. I will reserve my final thoughts until I have experience the full cycle. I can state however that to date my items were delivered as promised and the quality has exceeded my expectations. It is currently stated that my system has an expected shipment date of 2/2/2010.
    
    • This date has unfortunately been pushed back at the last minute with the only communications received by Dell/Alienware being initiated by me calling then and asking for an update.
      
  • Anxious – Having been a gamer for well over 12 years I have wanted an Alienware system to be my gaming rig. I've built my own PC's, bought systems preconfigured or a combination of both. I sincerely hope that the system configuration that I've selected blows the doors off of my old systems.
    
  • Excited – This rig if it meets my expectations will allow stress free gaming experiences for me (or that is the hope).
    
    • The level of excitement has grown somewhat colder as I now face an unknown expected delivery date for the system; it is ashame as this could have been completely avoided if they had proactive communications.

In parting

I am reserving my final thoughts on this matter until I have had the opportunity to go through the whole experience and actually be able to use the new system. While I am dishearted at some of the facts that surround this transaction I am still hopeful that I will not experience more delays.  Ultimately the purpose of this post is to provide others with a perspective of the entire process as I've witness first hand as a client.

This post contains my simple perspective of the process and I hope it helps others as they consider the pro's and con's of ordering online. I've learned that I should have read the forums vice the reviews prior to placing my order. I could have then reset my expectations and been more prepared for delays and quite possibly considered my options having been more educated on what I should expect.

Regards,

Rob