*aLiEnWaRe*????

[Dru419]

Not only that....they said that my order would be done by March...MARCH!!!! that's just so unacceptable....but i know for sure you'll be getting a NICE system.......

[JoystikJoe]

I'm sure a lot of people have canceled, due to the 5-6 week wait involved. Hopefully, Alienware will find a way to speed up things. I think the holiday orders, and the change to the ASUS motherboard slowed them down a bit. Does the Dell laptop have upgradeable graphics like the Alienware? I bet, though, that you still wish you had an Alien over a Dell, but I'm happy that you're happy with your Dell. As long as you're satisfied, that's all that counts! Hey, Prince of Persia "The Sands of Time" is an excellent game!

[joker_927]

Originally posted by Blac
And Alienware PC machines are well-built, highly reliable, top-of-the-line machines priced about 40% higher than where they should be.

Said perfectly.

[JoystikJoe]

Here's an interesting observation.... My post on ResellerRatings.com has vanished! It's no where to be found! Guess I must have hit a nerve with someone. Could be that I was a bit too honest and observant, by referring to their FAQ in which Alienware states that our PCs are shipped within 30 calendar days of payment being received. Of course, mine hadn't even begun to be assembled at 30 calendar days of payment being received.
Nevertheless, it seems my order has progressed to Phase 9 rather suddenly, after being on Phase 8 for a week. I called Alienware this afternoon (Feb 5, 2004) to inquire about my order status, and the sales rep asked if I had called earlier in the morning because he saw that my order had progressed to Phase 9. I told him that I called Alienware last week, not this morning.
If posting on ResellerRatings.com resulted in my post being deleted, and my system progressing to Phase 9, then it seems that posting here DOES make a difference. I am told now that it will take 3-4 business days for my system to be completed!!!

Feb 8, 2004 Update: My yet to be shipped system has again dropped in price - $165 !!!! I'll call monday to get the additional $165 savings according to the currently advertised price!
With this new price drop, that will make a total of $314 discounted off the price of my system since I ordered January 2, 2004. It seems that the longer it takes to get my system, the cheaper it gets! I think an additional delay of 1-2 business days for paperwork processing is definitely worth an additional $165 in savings.

[JoystikJoe]

Jan 2, 2004: Ordered A-51.

Jan 5, 2004: Payment Charged to credit card (as stated on the
credit card statement. AW keeps saying payment
was received Jan 6,2004).

Feb 6, 2004: Phase 9 finally (told it will take a 3-5 days to be
shipped).

Feb 9, 2004: Third price adjustment (Price drop total -$314)
since ordering. I'm told now that it may be up to
15 days from now for my system to be shipped!

Feb 12, 2004: Still in Phase 9 (5 calendar weeks and 3 days
since payment received!).
Still waiting very very very patiently!!!

Feb 14, 2004: Still in Phase 9 (40 calendar days since payment
was received!). Website FAQ now says that
systems are shipped within 21 calendar days
from time payment is received. Hello??!!!! I've
been waiting 40 calendar days already!!!
Remember me????

Feb 16, 2004: System has been shipped! There is a God!


Feb 18, 2004: E.T. has come home!!!!!!!!
He came in the tallest black computer box that I've
ever seen!!!
WOW!!!!!! AWESOME!!!!!!
It WAS worth the wait!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Muffins666]

Ok I can't resist.

Two sides to this story (as there always is to ANY story).

Alienware makes custom PCs, and when it's done right and all is well, people love it. They praise high and above the greatness, and the service and so on.

But....

In general these selfsame people (and no offense I assure you) have either not had the problems that some people have had, or their problems (while major to them) were minor in comparison and easily dealt with, or they have some pull (major business or friend of someone), or are people that own it, never had an issue, and have been personally asked (and possibly offered) to post "good word" about Alienware to "boost the ratings" (if you think that these people don't do it, don't kid yourself it's been done time and time again).

And the people who have had the problems?

Well some are just loopy. I mean really now, when an issue occurs that is a direct result of fooling around with the system and installing let's say pirated software or something similar...some people tend to forget their own failure and point the finger.

The ones that really have had problems, are far more numerous than one might think.

You then ask..."but why are there not more posts?"

Well, for one not a lot of people...internet savvy or not, know of this place. For another, most of their posts on the Alienware forums are editted or removed, so they tend to think if they go elsewhere it might have the same effect. For another, when one has got as disgusted as some people have for getting the run around, being lied to (hyperthreading capability in the laptops when they first came out with the 3.06 was a straight lie), running into bad service and so on, they tend not to want to deal with anything but a lawyer, BBB, or something similar.

Is all their support bad? No. The people that man the phones are not bad people in general, they do what they are told to do regardless of whether they agree with it or not. After all, if one doesn't tow the company line, one tends to be minus a job. And you can bet, when it hits the fan, the first place that gets looked at is the phone support, because *gasp* there cannot possibly be any issue with policies, procedures, manufacturing, depot, etc. no matter how glaring the error is (it got shipped to the wrong place out of mfg? Oh heck that's all phone supports fault, even if they did confirm and enter in the address correctly).

So the next time you want to consider buying a "boutique" computer either go for a real boutique such as Falcon Northwest, Hypersonic, Voodoo etc. or go Dell.
Alienware is way not boutique.

And most of all, read those reviews, and check the negatives out. Read between the lines and filter out what you see for what is most likely the message.

Originally posted by JoystikJoe
... Guess I must have hit a nerve with someone. Could be that I was a bit too honest and observant, by referring to their FAQ...

The above referencing your removed review: Your observations are incorrect.

Your review was disabled because a certain part of your review was in violation of ResellerRatings' Terms of Use, which states in part:

"(14) The posting contains references, such as names or domain names, to any other companies besides the company that is the subject of the posting. "

On Feb. 6, 2004, we sent an email addressed to your registered ResellerRatings email address. No reply to said email was ever received by us nor has the subject violation been corrected as of this date and time. Also, we never received an independent contact from you inquiring about the deactivated review.

It was stated in our email to you that upon correction of the violation and your noticing us of same your review would then be reactivated. If you wish to contact us for any reason or need the email resent to you, you can do so here:
http://resellerratings.com/contact.pl

If one presumes to make misleading statements in public about our site, we will counter same in public.

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Lara,
ResellerRatings.com