We orderd an ALIENWARE M17x laptop arrived on Wednesday Sept 21st, 2011.  Upon removing from box we could hear parts rattling around internally.  DVD drive would not accept a disk mechanically; it would not power up.

Called Dell support to open a case for repair.  Laptop could not be registered on their site and had to be on hold for 30 minutes to it to be entered into their system.  Customer support person 'Punjib' said this would be resolved in 24 - 48 hours.

Punjib called Thursday Sept 22nd to assure us it would be resolved in 24hours.

Punjib called Friday Sept 23rd to ask if the situation had been resolved.  I told him that since no one from Tech Support or Customer support had contacted me, and the laptop was still broken, that the case was obviously had not been resolved.

Punjib transferred me to Tech Support.  From there I was transferred back to customer service.  Over the next hour:

I would be assigned 3 different case numbers:  842661559, 842662701 and 842662210

I would speak to 6 different agents

I would be transferred to a special case dept, but instead the number I was transferred to was invalid, so I got a recorded message to look up the number and try  again.

I asked the laptop be returned and our money refunded, but was offered $100 off my next DELL purchase, in addition to getting the laptop repaired.

I asked to speak to a supervisor to escalate the case, but was denied.

At this point we considered using the laptop for a week until we were over our production crunch and then following up with a repair.

Monday Sept 26th I was contacted by DELL Customer service to ask if the case had been resolved.  I relayed all of the above, and then was transferred to Technical Support.  I could hear the line transfer, and then could hear the chatter of a call center in the background.  I repeatedly said 'HELLO?', thinking someone could hear me.  There were loud beeps over the line, as if someone was speed-dialing a number.  I continued to say 'HELLO' but got no response, although I could hear the call center in the background.  I hung up after 30 seconds of this. 

At 6pm PST Dell Customer support called me again to ask if the case had been resolved.  I relayed the entire story above, but said we needed the laptop and would setup repair later.  We would still happily accept the $100 discount, but I was leaving for the evening and could not relay more then, but would document it all and report it.