Tommy is trapped in one of the more tragic outer circles of Dell Hell. His sin? He’s not entirely sure, and Dell will not tell him. All he knows is that his Alienware laptop won’t charge, his account is mysteriously “on hold,” and no one at Dell will talk to him. [More]
Dell Sends Tech To Break My Alienware Computer, Puts Off Fixing It
By March 1, 2013
John has an Alienware computer. Dell owns Alienware. So Dell sent a technician to his home to fix his computer when one of the USB ports quit working. This tech proceeded to break his computer, and was possibly part of Dell’s elite computer-breaking tech team that we’ve written about before. [More]
To Dell Hell And Back, With A Refund
By August 23, 2012
When we first heard from Dan a few weeks ago, he had been sent to endure punishment in Dell Hell for his sins. His principal sin, of course, was purchasing a computer from Alienware, a once-beloved company now owned by Dell. The products still look cool, but it’s Dell providing the technical support, with all of the competence and generosity that implies. His computer continued to fail. Dell sent a replacement, which was supposed to resolve this, Instead, he reached even more advanced and frustrating levels of Dell Hell. Finally, through persistence (and maybe having his story appear here on the site) he was able to make a deal with Dell and escape with his soul. And a refund. [More]
Relegated To Alienware's Own Dell Hell
By August 3, 2012
There are many circles of Dell Hell. The difference between Dell Hell and Dante’s version of hell, though, is that Dante imagined sinners consigned to different levels of hell according to what they had done wrong in their lives. Your fate in Dell Hell is assigned pretty much at random, according to which model of computer you own, which technical support representatives you happen to encounter, and pure good or bad luck. Apparently, Dan’s first sin was buying an Alienware computer less than a year ago. His second sin, apparently, was having technical problems slightly out of the ordinary. [More]
Dell Redacts Prices And Dates From Sales Chat Transcripts, Rendering Them Pointless
By July 19, 2012
Usually, it’s our job here at The Consumerist to do the redacting, removing employee and location names in order to prevent Internet mob harassment, among other reasons. But now Dell has gone ahead and pre-redacted chat transcripts when customers try to save them, erasing the evidence of price quotes and sale dates that they’ve discussed with potential customers. That’s what happened to Julie when she tried to discuss a financing offer over chat. [More]
Dell Offers 25% Off Deal To Troops, Then Cancels Orders
By May 16, 2012
Matthew, an Air Force veteran, saw a great deal on Dell laptops on the website of the Army & Air Force Exchange Service, a network of stores just for servicemembers. 25% off in a Mother’s Day special, an impressive deal. He ordered three, because who doesn’t want new, discounted laptops for their whole family? Only Dell canceled Matthew’s order and those of some other customers, with no explanation. [More]
Dell Tech Support Manager: 'Sell Your Computer, Buy Something Not Made By Dell'
By April 4, 2012
Andrew had a beautiful and relatively modest dream as a teen. He wanted to own an Alienware gaming computer. When he became an adult, he was able to achieve that dream by purchasing a M14x laptop. There was no happy ending for the man and his computer, though. It has needed to be sent back to Dell five times already. He bought it in August. Of 2011. He hasn’t even owned it for a whole year yet. [More]
Star Wars: The Old Republic Crashes Computers Even When It's Not Running
By February 3, 2012
If you’ve been thinking about buying a copy of Star Wars: The Old Republic and joining the online multiplayer Jedi awesomeness, it might be a good idea to hold off for a little bit. At least until Bioware works out the current problems. Michael writes that on his wife’s computer-a $4,000 Alienware gaming rig, no puny nettop-the game keeps crashing. Checking online, she found that this is happening to a lot of other people. It’s even happening when the game isn’t running. People having this problem have different video cards and different computers, but what they do have in common is SW:TOR. [More]
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Michael Dell Replaces High-End Laptop Previously "Fixed" With Black Marker, Crumbs
By November 4, 2011
Jeremy’s 3D Alienware gaming laptop from Dell didn’t work right from its first bootup. It had blue screens of death and the video card needed swapping out. When he sent it in for repair, he got it back with crumbs in the keys, and a crack on the side someone tried to hide with black marker. When we posted his story on Consumerist, we gave him CEO Michael Dell’s email address to go tell his story. Now Jeremy writes that after he emailed Mr. Dell, the CEO intervened and made sure Jeremy got a brand-new laptop, along with a free memory and CPU upgrade. [More]
Consumerist Techniques Pay Off, Even With Dell
By September 22, 2011
When the cooling block of Jeremy’s Alienware computer began to leak, the answer was obvious: call Dell to see whether they would fix what was an obvious and pretty terrible flaw. Dell’s answer was obvious in turn: tell him that the machine was out of warranty and he should go away. But Jeremy thought that a $2,500 computer shouldn’t destroy itself within two years. [More]
Alienware Laptop "Fixed" With Black Marker, Food Crumbs
By September 2, 2011
Jeremy’s 3D Alienware gaming laptop from Dell hasn’t worked right from its first bootup. It had blue screens of death and the video card needed swapping out. Then when he sent it in for repairs, he got it back with food crumbs between the keys. The side panel was also cracked, and someone had tried to hide the crack by coloring it in with black marker. [More]
Alienware Sells Marine $6,000 Paperweight, Shrugs
By July 18, 2011
The Alienware Aurora ALX is a pricey, awesome gaming computer that sort of looks like a blue Cylon. Except in Drew’s home, it looks more like a giant $6,000 paperweight. No matter how many extra parts Alienware/Dell try to sell him to fix the problem, the glorious beast still won’t work. Drew is a Marine, and he, his family, and his computer are now stationed in Okinawa, Japan. That means transferring the warranty to Dell Japan if he wants to keep trying to get the damn thing to work. What’s Japanese for “lemon law”? [More]
Dell Promises Fix For Defective Alienware Laptop, Now Won't Help Me
By February 23, 2011
David’s Alienware laptop has a defective hinge design, and he’s already had the problematic part fixed twice. While Dell has promised a fix for the defect in the near future, David’s warranty has expired and his computer is close to breaking again. He needs help from Dell that no one is interested in providing. [More]
Morning Deals
By January 11, 2011
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Morning Deals
By May 26, 2010
- Computers and Electronics
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