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Alienware Refusing Customers As Thieves
ChrisPaget writes "Thinking about buying Alienware (now owned by Dell)? Think again. After buying an almost-new Alienware laptop on eBay, I've spent the last week trying to get hold of a Smart Bay caddy to connect a second hard drive (about $150 for $5 of bent metal). Four different Alienware teams have refused to even give me a price on this accessory, instead accusing me of stealing the machine since I didn't buy it directly from their eBay store. They want me to persuade the eBay seller I did buy it from to add me as an authorized user of his Alienware account — they have no concept of 'ownership transfer' and instead assume that if you're not in their system, you must be a thief."
Imagine if the same was true for cars: Guy fixing your car: "Sorry mate...can't fix this....seems like you bought it from another human and not from a huge company".
Say NO to unpaid Internships!
The monster cable of pre-built PCs
Sounds as if they're trying to force you to buy from them and never buy used equipment.
All manufacturers want you to buy from them, but usually they won't stoop so low as to try and force you to prove you bought from them to BUY parts and Equipment for your secondhand legitimately-acquired gear.
I'll keep in mind to avoid Alienware gear like the plague, from now on, whether used or new, and recommend everyone else do exactly the same.
With Alienware's prices, I often wonder who is the thief.
One of our offices needed a couple of PC's and I ordered two through Alienware - everything went through fine and they were set to arrive two weeks later.
Three weeks after I placed the order, Alienware informed me that they hadn't built or shipped the computers because I had asked that they be shipped to an address other than the CC billing address.
I'll never do business with that company again.
"Make it idiot proof, and someone will make a better idiot."
Did the vendor include the original invoice? That should work.
Can't understand their 'fix' of adding you as user of the original owner's account, though. Surely goes against the basic rules of CRM.
While we're on the subject of 'ownership transfer', note also that under most EULAs, you should also buy the software all over again...
I bought a new Alienware system a few years back (right after Dell purchased them), and it was honestly one of the worst laptops I have ever purchased. The specs were decent for the time (1.5 Ghz Intel M CPU, 512 MB of RAM, good enough graphics, etc), it looked nice, and even the price was not much more than a comparable system from HP or another vendor. But thats where all the nice things ended. So first was the power cord managed to get frayed from about six months of medium usage, so I ordered another one, tech support was actually decent and they sent me one for only about $20 or so. About six months later the motherboard dies, thankfully it was under warranty and they repaired it no questions asked (save for the guy who couldn't speak English who kept on trying to convince me that it was really my power cord when it wasn't). About six months after that, the power cord became unusable again, due to fraying (I don't know what was with early 2000s laptop power cords, but neither my Alienware nor Gateway laptops' power cords ever lasted long) they informed me that even though my machine was under warranty, they discontinued support for my model so they sent me to a third party retailer. Upon buying the cord that they told me to, I plugged it in and it worked decently for about a month. Then the plastic tip started burning. About that time I decided to change laptops and laptop vendors.
Taxation is legalized theft, no more, no less.
Do you have the original bill provided by the seller? Do you even asked for it to check if the item was not stolen? I think if companies were more careful, like this one, people would be more careful before buying 2nd hand stuff.
Math is beautiful... e^(pi*i)+1=0
"persuade the eBay seller [you] did buy it from to add [you] as an authorized user of his Alienware account."
For the price of an Alienware, you could end up with a Thinkpad W700ds. Order it without the tablet and you'll have a manufacturer that encourages such activity.
Besides, Dell isn't exactly well-known for originality or quality.
Twitter supports and protects racists - by smearing their critics with the "Hate Speech" label.
I had to buy some plastic components to repair a Dell laptop a while back, so I searched online and got a list of the part numbers I needed. I called someone working for Dell in India, and got the total price I'd need to pay to buy the stuff directly from them [after having the phone rep try to sell me RAM or something]. Turns out I saved a bit by buying everything online.
Thinking about buying Alienware (now owned by Dell)?
Nope. They are vastly overpriced for what they are and I'm not in a habit of paying extra for computers because of the way they look.
Four different Alienware teams have refused to even give me a price on this accessory, instead accusing me of stealing the machine since I didn't buy it directly from their eBay store.
If that is true then I agree it's crazy. I noticed that they were asking for a warranty number and I've never heard of a computer manufacturer refusing to SELL you a part unless you have a warranty number. However, is it at all possible that the support people were misunderstanding you and thinking that you wanted the part for free, under warranty? I know it's four different people and you explained it to them, but it is perfectly possible that all four are complete idiots and didn't even bother listening fully to your explanation of what you wanted.
Negative moral value of force outweighs the positive value of good intentions.
They are just ensuring there is no resale value for there products. Imagine if a car company refused to sell you repair parts if you buy the car second hand? Their products would have ZERO resale value, which means that no one would buy one in the first place, because they would know that when they wanted to trade up, there was no market for their old model.
Given the resale value of used Apple hardware, those prices don't seem so high now.
Think Deeply.
Why did the former owner not transfer his alienware account to you?
Sounds like the one ripping you off is the original seller, much like if you bought a car and he didn't transfer the title.
Then again...why do you need an alienware account in the first place?
Seriously, IBM make some of the best laptops around. Alienware makes shit that appeals to "core" gamers who think they're getting the best thing for gaming but all they're getting is an over priced piece of shit. It's been that way before and after the Dell purchase.
Aren't you supposed to say something about "sheeple"?
Other than that, welcome back; we missed you.
Unless you have money to burn or zero skill at assembling a PC yourself, I recommend putting together your own machine.
How does one just put together a laptop? Last time I checked, laptop motherboards and cases hadn't been standardized to that point.
over priced pair of shoes anymore they are no better or worse than any other laptop vendor, but some folks just gotta have the whole "Alienware case of coolness" thing going on.
just amounts to the same parts as Dell, Toshiba, HP, Apple Ect just in a pretty shell.
just like shoes no matter how much you pay for them be it $5.00 or $300.00 they all will wear out at about the same time anymore as most makers of these products out source to the same companies in the same countries.
R.Morton
modded quote "what's that he's talking about? Windows , Never had a problem with Windows till I tried to use it."
Lots of stolen laptops end up on Ebay. Given that, I can completely understand their concerns.
I'm a pro, and have built systems for.... well, longer than the lifespan of many newer Slashdot readers. Unless you like breaking equipment, wasting money, and climbing up a very steep learning curve, I recommend you buy a modest machine and spend your time instead on learning programming. The hard-won lessons of how to gracefully install or replace a heatsnk without getting silver heat sink paste into your memory slots, and to always buy a bag of those thumbscrews, what order the memory modules need to be installed, how to bundle your cabling and keep the airflow clear, how to get hard drives mounted given the knuckle-biting layout of screwing in some disk drives, etc., are a _complete_ waste of useful time for many people.
Alienware is, admittedly, pretty silly. Buy a refurbished Dell machine at their outlet or on Ebay, and spend your money on upgrades when you need them.
Besides, if you're looking for a truly high-end computer and you're not looking to build it yourself (or you're looking for a notebook), Falcon Northwest is one of the best there is, and they've been in the business since 1992. Of course, they're custom-built high-end PC's; They'll cost a pretty penny, and there's no assembly line, so they'll take a week or so to arrive, depending on your order.
Screw the rules, I have green hair!
You act like all of that stuff is difficult, you must work for Geek Squad?
How are they supposed to know if you bought it or stole it?
Maybe they should have a warranty-transfer process? Like automobiles do? Maybe they already do, the seller just lost the card?
Then again, how do you know the seller didn't steal the laptop? Are you in possession of stolen property?
Again, there is no way for Alienware to know whether your possession of the laptop is legit unless the legit owner notifies them of the transfer.
So I would go back to the seller and tell him/her to resolve the situtation.
I bought my wife a Dell. Just after the warranty, the motherboard died. They would not/could not provide a replacement motherboard (their statements were factually inconsistent). I trashed the damn thing and cannibalized some parts.
Dude, you just got Delled.
Alienware is, admittedly, pretty silly. Buy a refurbished Dell machine at their outlet or on Ebay, and spend your money on upgrades when you need them.
Alienware is a subsidiary of Dell. He'd just be giving money to the parent company of the subsidiary that is screwing him over.
Funny that service is one of the things that got Dell to the size they are, then was one of the first things that got shipped off to offshore call centers after they got big. Apparently Dell decided service was the first thing to go at Alienware as well.
That kind of silliness is what got me into building my own hardware. Too bad you can't do that with laptops...or can you?
That's our life, the big wheel of shit. - The Fat Man, Blue Tango Salvage
Lots of laptops sold on eBay are stolen property. If the one you bought was stolen, then the original owner may have reported it stolen, which means the serial # is in a database that Dell maintains of "hot" laptops. No Dell-authorized repair company will work on them.
To their credit, though, they put the database online so you can see if a serial # is in there. Anyone considering buying a Dell laptop on eBay should look up that laptop's serial number first to see if it's stolen. Caveat Emptor.
Never mind. I re-read the blog and realize now that they're just being asses.
Most members of the public have no business trying to build a PC on their own.
And even if you're a computer enthusiast, and you completely know how to do it.. Computers are a commodity now, and there's really no point in building them, once you've done it a few times and had your fun.
I for one would rather spend time designing software, programming, writing, and doing the things one gets a computer to do. So yeah, maybe it's laziness, or more about wanting to concentrate on more interesting things.
Nothing I build on my own will look as cool as an Alienware laptop, or other vendors that make equipment for high-end computers users, utilizing specialized parts.
Alienware uses custom designs you can't just buy off the street and build yourself, not without a lot of pain....
If everyone buys from Dell instead of Alienware, Dell will see the horrible numbers of the Alienware subsidiary, and drop them like a bad habit.
Yeah, Dell actually has a sane policy, you can buy replacement parts from them, without owning or proving you have a Dell PC. If the Dell management ever cracks down on Alienware and makes them change their rules, or they simply absorb Alienware totally, and change their policies, it'll be fine to buy from them.
The blog posting does not show how Alienware made an accusation of theft. The "theft" meme is an invention by the poster. Alienware are quite within their rights to refuse to sell parts to anyone -- although this seems like a very stupid policy. As for the warranty, it is possible that the original warranty requires that the warranty number is provided by the customer, or even that the warranty is not transferable.
All of these actions seem like stupid policies by Alienware, but nowhere is there an accusation of theft from Alienware.
The real "Libtards" are the Libertarians!
I bought two Alienware computers. One for my wife and one for me. Both being avid gamers, we loved them. I managed to spill water in mine though, and severely damanged it. Of course, this was completely my fault and no reflection of their system.
However, their handling of the replacement is. I shipped the laptop and called a few days later to ensure that they had received it, to which they claimed they had. Two weeks from the time I sent it in I had still heard nothing, so I called them, at which point they claimed to have never received it. I managed to misplace the shipping paperwork I had because I believed the laptop had showed up, etc...
They accused me of lying and having never sent in the laptop until I was able to get replacement paperwork, etc. from the post office. The reality was that they had misplaced it in their shipping warehouse. So after the two week delay I then had to wait 6 more weeks for the out of stock part to come in so that they could replace it.
And so, with prompt service, and considerate customer service like that, who needs anyone else.
"Sheeple" is such a useful word.
It instantly lets me know who to not take seriously.
I don't know... I can build a new system in 30min tops if I have the components on my bench and they all are OK. I take probably more to have them ready for production. Depending on the destination I stress test them for at least 24h. After that clean install, clone and be on your way.
And I would advice every one to do this. I enjoy building my computers from parts. It takes me more to chose the right components than to build them.
Take it like a puzzle and enjoy it. And don't worry even if you brake something you are still paying less than buying a DELL.
I see this trend on slashdot and I can't understand it. People saying if you make more then xx$/h you should buy that and don't bother to do it yourself. I would say to you... damn you sleep probably around 8h/day think about all that wasted money.
Nope, I've had the same problem with Dell. I spent the better part of two hours on the phone with various Dell employees on various continents before I found somebody who would sell me the disk caddy for my Dell Workstation. (I am not the original owner.) Even these days their phone bill must have been more than the cost of the plastic part.
did you have an alienware laptop stolen from you recently>?
Politics is Treachery, Religion is Brainwashing
And I have to say, my impression of the company as a whole is that they suck royal balls. I love my laptop, I spoiled myself and got the best m15x money could buy, right? They made a mistake on the nameplate. They refused to even sell me another, they said that they don't offer them as seperate accessories and since I didn't immediately notify them, tough for me. I went out of town the day after I got my laptop, and didnt notice right away. Anyway, long story short, I love my laptop, works great with Linux, but I recommend as a customer that Alienware is one of those, buy it and hope you never have to deal with them companies.
-- Its survival of the fittest...and we got the fucking guns!!!
Write the company and explain your situation. Include copies of your eBay and Pay Pal invoices. Explain that this is not a warranty concern, that you just want to buy the part, you do not expect them to supply it for free. Many times writing a letter will get to the right people and you will get action. It's possible that this could be phrased in a way that your state's attorney general would be interested in sending a letter to them. If you get a negative response, I would pursue that next. Include a copy of your complaint, the original letter to AlienWare, and send an update to the company letting them know that you want this to be investigated as an unfair sales practice (or something like that). If you want to go full guns right away, file your complaint and then send a copy of that with your letter telling them that since they refuse to sell parts that are available for the unit to you, you are pursing legal action against them through your state's attorney general. But I think that the gentler approach might be best, then take further action only if necessary. You might find that someone will give you what you want when they see documentation that you paid for the unit and that it hasn't been reported as stolen.
I'm more of a hobbyist, and have built half a dozen systems for myself over the years. Admittedly all of those were desktops where stuff is mostly standardized. So far I have no breakage from mistakes in assembling the machines. And no problems with the heat sink paste either ;-)
I had to replace a few fans or entire heatsinks when the bearings went bad, and in one case a mainboard/CPU combo. But all of those were bad components, which you can also get from buying a pre-made PC.
I'm not opposed to buying pre-made on principle, but I have rarely seen an offer where I liked all the components that were installed. If those were specified in detail at all.
The better office machines tend to have the quality components I want, but the GPU options often end one class below what I'm looking for. Besides, large vendors often use non-standard parts which will really limit your options for later upgrades. Compaq putting part of the BIOS onto the HD (around the year 2000) comes to mind. Or proprietary main board form factors. Bleh.
The pre-made machines for the home user tend to be built for maximum gaming performance, but without regard for reliability and energy efficiency. CPUs that eat 120 watts of power? Cheap no-name RAM (don't even think of ECC)? Bleh.
C - the footgun of programming languages
Or smart enough** to understand economies of scale.
** i.e., smarter than yourself, apparently.
Alienware expects each customer to have an "account" in their database for the pieces of hardware they own? There you got it right there. Terrible company. Move on. Hardware is like bacon ... I get it, I use it. It's nobody's business to know what I do with it or if I still own it in an hour. Warranty registration is one thing but this sounds to me like a "customer service" scheme running wild.
Indeed, I'd like putting myself on hold when I need me to service my machine.
ever tried to get a driver from those bastards? you cant. we had one at work (computer shop) that we couldn't fix cause alienware wanted us to subscribe to their service plan to fix it.
Misprision of felonies"
This is pretty much one of many scenario's where people would mock the tin foil hat crowd when they get all hysterical about companies/government keeping too much data on them. In this case in the pursuit of "customer service" (read marketing opportunity) they also get to turn every second hand product (MBA's may translate that to "missed sale") into a ticking time bomb. Forget the warranty, you can't get it fixed at any price.
Sounds like a job for the attorney general and/or the FTC. Not that you can get their attention.
Platform advocacy is like choosing a favorite severely developmentally disabled child.
I assume it is stolen. When I buy, say a phone sealed in the blister pack for half what BestBuy charges I am pretty sure it fell off the truck. Its all about where you personally draw the line and your risk threshold. I am not sure I would expect support as the poster did in the same instance. I don't know anything about Alienware, but I would have concerns about buying anything that has a high degree of proprietary fittings on/from Ebay.
6.8SPC TR of 550, l xwind at 6, drift rt at 26" drops 77". AT has 503 ft-lbs at 1403 fps. FT 0.86
This is actually Dell's entire process and proceedure. I bought an off lease Dell laptop from a retailer who got it through dfsdirect.ca (dell financial services). The damn thing had a bad fan, so I called up Dell to buy the fan and just replace it myself. They wouldn't sell me the fan because I didn't know the name and address of the original owner.
I'll never buy a Dell anything again.
Further reading indicates this is very hard to prosecute, and requires actual attempt at concealment. So, aside from South Carolina or somesuch, you appear to be right :)
Building a new one entirely from scratch, maybe. But when it comes to a failure in a component, or wanting to upgrade the motherboard, it's an awful lot cheaper to just replace the required bits, rather than having to buy a complete new machine.
don't buy stuff built by Alienware.
Shoes for Industry. Shoes for the Dead.
With the costs involved in an Alienware system you would think that it would be been reported stolen immediately to Alienware.
I know I would have... and I have for some Dell laptops that where eventually recovered.
Is also very strange that Dell doesn't have a transfer of ownership program for one of their Premium products
but they do for their average systems.
I still don't understand why businesses let these BSA asshats even into their building. They're not cops, so if they show up at your place you can kick them the fuck out, and if they refuse to leave you can have them arrested.
Yeah, if your computer is ever stolen, the thief will get shitty customer service from Alienware. That'll show him, and make him think twice about doing it again!
Learning how to code is harder than building PCs. I've never once killed a part due to ESD (despite having curious cats and often not bothering to earth myself) and these days can build a PC in less than an hour.
Windows pretty much installs itself, you just have to answer a few questions and away it goes. If you install Windows with any frequency then it's worth your while to learn how to do unattended installs over your network. If you can figure out how to build a PC then you can do Windows installations for friends & colleagues and that's always a nice source of beer money.
Nick
This is your fault for buying Alienware. High end rigs are meant to be built, not bought.
Where is he being accused of having stolen stuff? Ans more: most manufacturers will not sell you important replacement parts without analysing the machine first and installing the part themselves. Otherwise you can just plug their brand new CPU onto a defective motherboard and ask for your money back when the system fails to work or even worse: when the motherboard fries the CPU.
Sure, that kind of policy does suck, but it has nothing to do with accusing people of stealing shit.
if you browse Slashdot you can probably do all those things pretty easily.
Browse at -1 to keep an eye out for abuses.
won't be 30 minutes for a first timer, will be hours and maybe even more if they want to run Linux. Most people couldn't be bothered with the risk and time investment, I don't blame them. I just did the barebones thing myself, had to spend a few hours with BIOS settings so I'd get my full 4GB with 64 bit Linux and the $40 used nvidia card working so text boot-up status and full X11 working. Quite frankly I could not feel bad about spending $400 more and not having the hassle.....
Comment removed based on user account deletion
Alienware sucks and has sucked since at least 2005.
Well I build my own computer because it's fun. After 20 years of tearing apart and building my own machines, it's not any less fun now then it was when I first watched the guy in the Radio Shack store rebuild my Tandy 1000 TL/2 (Which I promptly took apart again when I got it home only that time I rebuilt it successfully.)
I would *love* to build my own laptop or netbook specifically. Sadly parts just aren't as easy to come by as desktop parts are.
~~ Behold the flying cow with a rail gun! ~~
I have a couple pair of Mephisto, one bought more than ten years ago and one bought more recently (6 years ago?) and I paid ~USD$300 for the second pair. Both pair are regularly used as cubicle wear, and have even seen the underside of my motorcycles' shifter. Absolutely top rate, comfortable, and long-wearing shoes.
It took me a few years to get my wife out of the habit of buying cute, cheap shoes that she only wore for a few hours since they hurt or broke. Now she spends a lot more money on a pair, but she can wear them for a lot longer and her feet don't hurt afterward.
This guy is an idiot.
First off NO ONE accused him of being a "thief" or a "criminal", that's just his idea of drama.
It might be that the real issue is just the lookup of the
correct part number. The only way the dealer has
of getting the right part (it might have to be special ordered,
and returns aren't profitable) is to type in the serial
number or registered owner name in the
warranty database application.
There is a lot of stupidity in the world, and treating all
repair/accessory/upgrade transactions as though
it were a warranty parts issue is a very common
kind of stupidity. A bad manufacturer will
require jumps through warranty hoops for every
transaction. It sounds like Alienware doesn't have
a catalog of parts that can be read without lots
of form-fill-out including info (a serial number?)
that this particular user cannot/will not disclose.
Buy business systems, not the consumer crap. Goes for every manufacturer.
Although any company has the right to not trade with an individual (provided it's not based on illegal discriminatory reasons - just legal discrimination), it's never a good sign for future customers.
Personally, I can't think of any reason to continue owning such a white elephant, it's probably best to dump, or re-sell this thing and get a more mainstream device from a professional business - rather than a fashion accessory from a bunch of prima-donna's
politicians are like babies' nappies: they should both be changed regularly and for the same reasons
Except that if you are the original owner of a system that has Computrace on it (Think Lo-Jack for laptops) for example, and someone steals your machine, do you want some random Dell tech saying, "Well, you could buy a HDD enclosure to get your important data off that drive" to some mook who is smart enough to steal the computer, but not smart enough to boost the data off the drive themselves?
I'd hope not.
I'd dare say the following statement holds some truth:
Most of us here are the types of people who have two, three, ten, or more machines at our disposal, and a (semi-)permanent connection to the internet in some manner. Most of us ought to be able to key in a service tag, express service code, and the ownership data on our own to do a transfer.
And as for virus removal, it's a data change on the HDD for the technician (since for a couple of models at least, they can only offer a reinstall of the OS or transfer you to paid support that MIGHT wipe the virus), which is why they have to validate you against the records.
In my mind, legit people with legit purchases have no valid complaint about being asked to submit the form that puts it in their name so that Dell knows it's legit.
One of these days, I am going to flip out. When I flip out, I'll be back in five minutes.
Quite right, I am selling a powerbook g4 with a bad optical drive fror $225 today.
THATS ALL IT IS WORTH. Yet I see the same computer on Craigslist / ebay for much
much more. Lots of people try to pump the value with illegit software installs
(CS4, FINAL CUT PRO!, etc.....), but we all know how much those are worth.
I always found ebay completed auctions are a good measurement for market
value (a tiny bit inflated but pretty accurate). I sell my stuff locally instead
for cash, no shipping, no paypal fees, no ebay fees (they really fckin rape you nowdays).
And, unless your seller can provide original receipt, you should assume it is
a stolen machine.
and lastly : ALIENWARE ?????
cmon now.....
music lover since 1969
I hope you remembered to buy an extra LCD for that laptop.
Monster Cable has a generous and prompt replacement policy on their cables. I've had a couple of cable returns with them and it was about as hassle free as an RMA can be.
I've also experienced equipment companies assuming that an exchange of ownership meant that the equipment was stolen. Digidesign/Avid tries actively to keep their older systems off the secondary market, and requires a raft of transfer of ownership paperwork to order things like replacement cabling for their systems. Especially vexing when they deliberately used cables with alternate pinouts for their hookups.
A point in every direction is the same as no point at all. -- Harry Nilsson
I don't have the care to build a PC anymore. I was in your shoes ten years ago, then I realized that I'd rather be out going to bars, playing poker, or otherwise enjoying my nights rather than obsessing over RAM timing.
Then I bought a mac.
Non impediti ratione cogitationus.
Monster Cable has a generous and prompt replacement policy on their cables. I've had a couple of cable returns with them and it was about as hassle free as an RMA can be.
Easy to do, when you charge 2-50x what something is worth -- and people happily pay for it.
Ask the guy you stole it from to buy the bracket for you?
I clicked on your link, and all that's there is a link to "Get Flash". No sale.
Sorry to prod at you again, but, HP fails in this regards too. Seen many a business grade HP chew through HDD's faster than necessary, suffer from crap batteries, and overheat while making a pile of fan noise just the same as my consumer grade ones. I do have an HP business class machine from 1998/1999, and if I could find a drive adapter for it, I'd still use it. When I finally retired it a couple summers ago it was -still- getting 1.5h from the original battery, and ran debian fantastically. Somewhere between then and now, HP screwed up bad. I will never buy another one of their laptops.
Mod parent up.
Finally someone who understands the real issue here.
Guy gets sold a stolen lap top. Blames manufacture for failing to be party to his possession of stolen merchandise.
Sig Battery depleted. Reverting to safe mode.
"Sheeple" is such a useful word.
It instantly lets me know who to not take seriously.
That's exactly what a sheeperson would say.
Maybe not the best business practice, but they do have the right to refuse to sell parts for almost any reason*.
* prohibited reasons vary by state.
This issue is a bit more complicated than you think.
The caddy only hold the drive in place - and since it's such a tight fit anyway, you'll find that if you just buy the connector (you can get 2 for $20 pretty much anywhere - even feeBay), you'll be okay.
I ran my 2nd drive in my laptop for months with just the connector. If you're worried about it moving, a piece of electrical tape makes a good shim.
You're trying to buy something they don't sell individually. A (admittedly brief) look at their site confirms that. While perhaps it might appear to make business sense for them to sell the part, they don't. Spare parts aren't their business. They aren't doing their customers a disservice, you're not a customer.
To try and get you the part anyway, they're treating it as a warranty/after sales situation, so they need the warranty number. No warranty number, no warranty service. My reading of your blog leaves it unclear if the "thief" thing is wholly your assumption or not. If my interpretation of the situation is true, the CSR quotes fit right in with that, no suggestions of thievery, though perhaps what to them is a bizarre situation has aroused suspicions.
By the way, I doubt it is $150 for a $5 bent bit of metal, the other $145 is for the drive that comes with it.
Apologies if I come across a little negative, phone calls to confused companies are always frustrating. But the whole thing seems rather excessive, a typical forum rant (whether justified or not) that for some reason slashdot (which is whom I'm criticising) considered worthy and reliable on the strength of a blog which can be broken down as follows:
A laptop was stolen from our company in August 2008. Two weeks ago, the most recent purchaser acquired it off of eBay and called Panasonic to get tech support when something wasn't working. Panasonic said "That laptop is stolen, please contact this company." We ended up buying it back from this guy for what he paid for it.
Nothing I build on my own will look as cool as an Alienware laptop, or other vendors that make equipment for high-end computers users, utilizing specialized parts.
Is that perhaps why you don't build systems? ;)
They say a little knowledge is a dangerous thing, but it's not one half so bad as a lot of ignorance. - Terry Pratchett
i work for a big Multitech company and one of the guys purchased an alienware pc. He then sold it to another tech. The other tech is a Linux guy so he tried to install several versions of it. All versions dropped his dual core to a measily 800Mhz. when he went to the site to find out what was going on, they said there was a bios update for the machine. He tried to sign up the machine to get the update. The website said something like that serial is already registered. he was stuck. he ended up finding the manufactor of the board and downloading their flash. voila golden. but because the guy before him registered the pc not even phone support would help him. When he went to sell the alienware laptop i stayed away from buying it like swine flu. I purchased a used mac instead. He's still stuck with the hardware because nobody can "reregister" the hardware. Big booo for alienware.
some people are a "glass half empty" some are "glass half full" i'm a "there is something in the glass be happy" person
You think that's bad? A pile of my friends worked for Alienware, specifically he was in customer support which included handling disgruntled customers, taking orders, and trying to find solutions to problems.
He was told "stop putting orders through so quickly" because the contract allows us to charge them and make it later. Sure it takes 6 months for the customer to receive their laptop, but don't worry, people who buy Alienware convince themselves that it's a better product, and worth the wait.
He was told "all of those machines being delivered with problems, tell them it's a problem with the software" because a lot of the laptops were being delivered faulty.
That's just 2 really bad stories.
Although this friend obviously quit and in spectacular fashion, I've several other friends who still work there, and inform me that it's business as usual.
I would never purchase anything from Alienware ever! I don't care if they are selling tissues, they'll find a way to fuck it up!
This is my footer. There are many like it, but this one is mine.
The term is "Flame On".
Worst, troll, ever.
This is my footer. There are many like it, but this one is mine.
How many laptops have you built?
Sounds like someone should've figured that out before they bought something they expected support for off ebay.
What a whiner. Take it up with the seller and ebay.
http://gunadeluxo.blogspot.com/2009/01/fujitsu-siemens-celsius-h250-and-h270.html
Onda Technology Institute
I was a HVAC/R technician for most of my life. I have a very broad skill set for specific repairs of systems and broad based knowledge of every other trade and the skills to replicate what they do. This includes electrical,masonry,roofing,plumbing,carpentry,and sheetrock installing and finishing, carpet laying and flooring, along with setting and repairing ceramic tiles. In other words if it is broke and is in a building, I can usually fix it(hence why HVAC/R techs make the most money of all the skilled trades). But when I want my house painted, I cal a painter, when I want new lights installed in new places , I call an electrician, same with all the other trades. My time is more valuable,even though I am fully qualified to do the work, than the money I save bu doing it myself. But I upgrade my own computers, replace parts and hold long talks with my geek buddy when I want/need a new one. I let him build mine, because i trust his skills much more than I trust mine. But I may build my next one myself with his advice. Well, this post was going somewhere, and had a point, but the everclear and SC has started to kick in and I have lost my train of thought. Anywhoo, even a non-geek like me knows not to buy a pre-built consumer marketed computer.
Ordering the parts and assembling them is the easy part.
You're failing to account for the time spent tracking down issues such as hardware conflicts or other issues. The best case scenario is that you have a spare of every part and your crashes are frequent enough to tell if you fixed the problem.
I use my computer for work, so it's very worthwhile to pay a little extra to be able to send the entire thing back when it starts locking up once every couple days.
I have friends who I do stuff for free(they buy the parts) or people I know who I do stuff fro and they have to pay me something, and it is more than beer money. Fucking call me at 3am because your AC broke, you better be my mom, sister,niece or one of three good friends. Or a customer who doesn't mind being told to fuck off and wait until a decent hour. I made it a habit to do emergency calls for customers at the regular rate, but I decided what was an emergency, not them. I do think I have passed the buzz and went straight to drunk. Maybe it was the pills??
If you can't get a full system built and perfectly configured in BIOS in less than 20 minutes while blindfolded, you should be turning in your geek card and surrendering that wonderfully low UID.
Still waiting on Serviscope_minor to wake up to fucking reality and realize that Jessica Price isn't going to fuck him.
Let me get that straight. Dell has falsely accused you of a felony -- theft of an Alienware PC.
You should be able to turn that into a comfortable retirement for yourself.
-fb Everything not expressly forbidden is now mandatory.
I bought a Dell product for nearly $1000 less than new on the Dell site (the seller supposedly didn't need it or had purchased too many and was willing to take a loss). Deal was on the up-n-up, and Dell wanted (as did I) to transfer the system serial number into my name and note me as the authorized owner.
This has come about because people have too often tended to walk away with hardware that doesn't belong to them, so some responsible companies track who claims to "own" a piece of hardware and that it 'jives' with their established database.
I don't know what weird thing Alienware or the eBay seller has raised in confusion, but the system ownership should be transferred over to you by the seller. Then, as the registered owner of the computer, you shouldn't have a problem.
Is there some problem with the eBay seller NOT wanting to transfer ownership to you for a system that you have supposedly purchased from them?
That sounds like the eBay seller trying to run some scam -- keeping the system in his name while he sells it to you (?). Can't think of why he'd want to do that unless he's trying to use the warrantee on your system to make fraudulent orders for replacement parts or such.
I don't know the particulars of your situation, but assuming Alienware is operating under Dell rules -- they will treat you as a thief unless the system has been transferred by the previous owner, into your name. Is there some problem that you don't want the computer in your name? Or is it that the eBay seller is refusing to sign-over the "deed to the computer"....
Since that's basically what it is -- Dell(Alienware) is making sure you are the registered owner of the product you are ordering parts for. Plain and simple. Any confusion beyond that is either your sellers 'trip', or your reluctance to be acknowledged as 'owner' of a computer that you have purchased. Either way, I strongly doubt Alienware is treating their registered customers as thieves.
Get the ownership of the system transferred and stop whining about how mean Alienware is being. You wouldn't complain if the police stopped you and wondered why you were driving a car that was listed as being owned in someone else's name, would you? Why complain about owning or trying to get service on a computer that hasn't been transferred into your name then?
Just some unsolicited advice (not like that happens much on /. ... </sarcasm>):
Treat it like going to a car dealership... If they want to know if you're paying cash or financing before you even test drive the car, politely tell them you'll worry about that later. In the case of the caddy, I'd say I'm considering purchasing one and just want to know more about it and the price. If they want to look up the serial number or anything, remind them that you are just looking and considering at this point. If you like the pitch you can buy one or come back another time and buy one. If they're stupid enough to not want your business, then let them keep their merchandise and lose a sale. As much as I believe in strong morals and ethics in all areas of life, it's a pretty stupid salesman that refuses a sale on a "what if" assumption.
Assuming this is a fairly recent computer with SATA, why do you need a frickin bay caddy to add a second hard drive? Ever heard of eSATA?
This is a consequence of less and less of the value in a "hardware product" being the actual hardware. I'm seeing it in the musical "devices" I buy - try getting your Pod reauthorized by Line 6 so you can download firmware updates if you don't have a receipt from a seller. Try to get firmware updates for your second-hand Roland keyboard. Try to get firmware updates for a DVR. My assumption is that before long, if you don't have an official registration for a motherboard or video card, you won't be able to get drivers. The bottom line is that, as more value is found in the software included with the hardware, the hardware device will be treated more and more like licensed software, with all that means for registration, etc. And as this happens, it's no surprise that once sane "hardware" vendors start acting like software vendors with respect to licensing. I don't like it, but it does appear to be the way things are going - car analogies notwithstanding.
That is all.
And of course, HP printers never work without silly broken drivers.
$ make available
I've seen a number of comments in this thread about people, who seem like pretty reasonable geeks (Which I mean as a compliment.), have had or have Alienware PCs.
I just always assumed that those of us in the know knew that something like an Alienware PC would be at best an overpriced custom build basically. The idea that actual geeks were buying them instead of building their own or having someone they knew build them a custom rig makes me a little sad.
Sure there are the Apple geeks...really geeks-lite. ;) And if your in need of a laptop well I don't expect you to build one of those but a desktop PC. Really?
Really, I know what I'm doing...Ohhhh, look at the shiny buttons!
"If you can't get a full system built and perfectly configured in BIOS in less than 20 minutes while blindfolded, you should be turning in your geek card and surrendering that wonderfully low UID."
Even so, you can't get the OS installed any faster than the I/O of the filesystem that holds your ghost image.
-fb Everything not expressly forbidden is now mandatory.
"It might be that the real issue is just the lookup of the
correct part number."
The real issue is the way Dell's supply chain is managed. They don't manufacture enough spare parts to allow them to be sold to a broader market than their known customers. Their supply chain is not demand-driven, that's waste they've eliminated, and I am sure, measured in millions of dollars a year.
-fb Everything not expressly forbidden is now mandatory.
Either the seller didn't take the same precautions you tried to take, or he scammed you by selling you a machine without transferring the merchandise.
File a complaint against the ebay seller and say that you received defective merchandise.
Defective in the fact that it doesn't work and may even be stolen.
>Build your own fucking computer.
Well, I can do a certain amount of surface mount soldering, but dense component layouts are beyond my tools (toaster oven). I have no idea how to make multi-layer PC boards. I do have access to a CNC machine shop, but a one-off job for a notebook case would be incredibly costly. I think there are both patents and trade secrets involved in the manufacture of TFT displays, and that's certainly beyond my tools in any case. In the old days I could make ribbon cables but I don't know how to make the new mylar ones.
I could probably build you a decent switching power supply but making it small enough for a notebook computer or efficient enough to not be a space heater, that's beyond my design skill.
On the other hand, if you funded the operation with, say, a hundred million dollars and gave me a couple of years of lead time, I'm sure I could build you a fucking computer.
-fb Everything not expressly forbidden is now mandatory.
30 minutes? Clearly you are spending far to much time actually putting the screws in.
I'd rather be out going to bars, playing poker, or otherwise enjoying my nights rather than obsessing over RAM timing.
Then I bought a mac.
Once you factor in the time spent picking out configurations (vs. picking out parts), a new build takes about an hour* longer than anything store bought.
*give or take depending on how many boxes you've bought
open source modern art: laser taggi
Swapping individual parts is great, to some extent.
There aren't that many parts that are worth swapping in a laptop; possibly Hard Drive, RAM, maybe Wireless card (replace 802.11g card with 802.11n card). If it's seriously broken, send it in under warranty, or (if Warranty's expired) pull the hard drive+RAM, and scrap it for a new one.
It's obsolete in 5 years anyways. I've not had problems with computer parts breaking in 10 years... in general they're outdated and need replacement long before they finally fail...
Then that's one of your hobbies, and there's nothing wrong with that. But the time and research it takes to do all that work is not insubstantial, not to mention the time and expense to locate good prices on and order the various high-end parts from various vendors and time it takes actually physically building the system, after you've spent hours upon hours figuring the design you want...
I question the claim that "every part is high quality" means it's that much better than a Dell with less expensive parts.
And I question the claim it's less expensive to build, even that parts are cheaper.
And also... your time is worth something, isn't it? You consume time you could be doing other things with. That has a certain value and is part of the cost.
I want a nice gaming laptop for when I have to be away from my desk, and since they weren't much more expensive than everyone else, was thinking of Alienware, but now... no way in hell am I gonna buy from them.
"There are laws that enslave men, and laws that set them free. " - Sean Connery as King Arthur
I've worked at Dell support, both client and enterprise, and they're not so bad. Yes, it is usually a bunch of 18 year olds straight out of high school but usually about 50-60% of the team are more than experienced enough to handle the job.
They make mistakes and stuff but they do their best.
The problem is usually Indian support, some of Dell, like the XPS in the past, was out sourced to India and this made Swedes so mad that Dell even allowed Sweden to have XPS support eventually.
I don't know if they'll have Alienware in Sweden, i don't even know if they'll be sold so much here.
Fucking call me at 3am because your AC broke
I'm talking more like reinstalling Windows for people when their machine gets hijacked by the malware du-jour. If you use RIS then the only real work you have to do is download drivers from the manufacturers website. You even avoid inputting their product key - I've built up a decent collection of OEMBIOS files from various people's recovery media so my Windows images will activate on most major name brands.
They give you the box, you plug it into your network, you download drivers at some point and install them. Beer money.
Nick
So don't buy their products.
Holy crap! You must be getting really old, or something. Losing eyesight there, old geezer? No longer have a steady hand? Putting a computer together is really easy, especially nowadays. If you've had THAT much trouble, you're doing something wrong.
If you enjoy it then fair enough. I do the same thing sometimes when it comes to making clothes, sewing my own and taking far longer over it than the cost saving over just buying from the supermarket. But treat that as what it is, a hobby that you are in some sense "wasting" your time on. If you don't enjoy it (and there will be people who don't, not everyone is the same), there is no point building your own computer any more; it's not worth it financially.
I am trolling
Being a different department seems to make a difference. I've never encountered or heard of that kind of wackiness with Dell's mainline hardware.
What does Alienware and Dell have to do with this story? Pretty sure you arent calling Dell. You even said as much in your post, you are dealing with a eBay store. This headline is incorrect and should be fixed
Does the warranty, serial number, etc. matter a damn? He's asking for an ACCESSORY. Not support, not a repair, etc. If a shop asked me for my computers serial number before they would sell me an accessory, I'd tell them to "go fuck themselves" and never return.
I'd strip the warranty number from my computer before selling it too. Just as I'd nuke the hard drive. I'd rather have no personally identifiable information on a machine I'm selling to another party.
Regards,
Leynos
"Did you exchange a walk on part in the war for a lead role in a cage?"
No, I still do such things professionally. There are some hidden requirements: that first 50 hours of experience is really useful. And knowing how, and having the tools to find the drivers elsewhere and get them installed so you can even get the thing booted, connected to the Internet, and the patches downloaded before the thing gets rootkitted if you don't have a good firewall and run it in a DMZ, or having the major patches pre-downloaded on local media, is a nightmare.
This is _especially_ the case for laptops, which often have some very strange chipsets for networks, modems, graphics, touchpads, and power control that are not part of the base operating system. And assembling a laptop, such as the original poster desired is... well, it's insane. Laptops are far, far, far worse than a normal PC tower at having individually extremely expensive, custom fitted components for their display, keyboards, and power supplies that are nightmarish to obtain except from a particular laptop vendor at a triple markup price.
The BBB (Better Business Bureau) gave them a rating of D+. Given that they are a trusted and respected source, I'd say being on their shitlist speaks volumes about Alienware.
Life is not for the lazy.
This reminds me of my purchase of a Dell Latitude D820 off of eBay (1) because Dell REFUSED to even sell me a Latitude, since I was not considered a "business user" (They tried to get me to purchase an Inspiron instead, which I personally think are junk machines, but thats off topic) and (2) because the eBay listing said the computer had the full 3 year warranty as it was a new Dell. I got the machine and the seller's info and attempted to do a ownership transfer. Had to deploy to Iraq the next week, so I didn't have a real chance of verifying the transfer, computer for reason died, I get in contact with Dell, via email / chat / Segovia IP Phone, no dice. Even though the information was verified TWICE, they still would not honor the warranty. I finally had to get it fixed from a 3rd Party repair center. When a company wants your business and is not willing to work with you or even give you a reasonable alternative, take your money elsewhere. (For the record, while I like Dell products, this will be my very last Dell Laptop).
Regards,
MBC1977,
Whoa. And I always thought there were drivers on CDs that came with hardware. I guess those are too expensive nowadays.
What kind of a pro are you?
These days putting together a machine is just putting things in the holds that fit. If it doesn't fit, you have the wrong hole. The only way you break equipment is by forcing something where it fits. This isn't the good old days where you could plug in a processor incorrectly.
Your examples:
- heat sink, most processors ship with a heat sink that has a small area of heat sink compound, no need for paste.
- most cases ship with the more that the necessary number of screws
- Memory modules, what do you mean about order. The only issue is to ensure that you get your memory modules in matching slots if it is dual channel RAM. Even then, most computers will display an error if you get it wrong rather than blowing the RAM.
- cabling, generally not a worry unless you are packing your machine
- HDD screws, depends on the case
Frankly, I'd be pretty confident that my parents (>60, never seen the inside of a machine) could put one together with just the component parts and the instructions they ship with.
meh
Well, you aren't an Alienware customer. You're a customer of the guy who sold you the thing on eBay.
But, unless Alienware can prove you did, in fact, steal it, they ought to be happy to sell you anything you want to buy.
I've never bought anything from Alienware, so maybe they really are stupid enough to sell only to people who have already bought from them. (A bit of a paradox, though.)
It's reasonable for Alienware to refuse free support for used hardware they didn't sell. But it's absurd for them to refuse to sell anything to anyone, period. They could easily sell you that part with the stipulation that they won't support the old hardware unless you buy support.
-- Slashdot: When Public Access TV Says "No"
This is all very interesting, and I can see the point-of-view of both sides.
But really, if he buys a bigger hard drive and gets over his fear of dual-booting, then there's no problem in the first place.
--I'm so big, my sig has its own sig.
-- See?
Slashdot - News for lazy nerds, stuff that.. meh ;}
Sorry, but I'm having a hard time swallowing your comment; First you insist that building a computer is too difficult and insist that it's best to buy a 'modest machine', then you tell people to 'upgrade as needed'. We'll unless you think that upgrades are something done by a shop, they'll need to crack the case. However I'm certain that you mean a 'professional upgrade'. Well, last year (without talking to me) my mom had some 'professional' service done to her pc, and $350 dollars later, they ran a spyware program and installed maybe $75 of RAM. The average user is MUCH better off buy a little better machine that'll last 3 or more years than being ripped off by a 'pro'. Others who have a little OS experience, dealing with difficult drivers, finding and installing new programs, you know 'power users' could find personally building and upgrading PCs a rewarding challenge. One won't save a lot of money really, but you'll get the machine you want.
Of course, sometimes motherboards can be a real bitch, but I've noticed that they gotten easier every couple of years. Better firmware, better drivers, and better manuals. I'm not sure when you've last seen a retail Intel cpu, but the fans come with pre-applied paste, and even if you wanted to use the 'real stuff', if you are getting silver paste in the memory slots, I'd serious suggest that you stay away from anything sharp. Today's motherboards are color coded, and built to be easy to install. Every thing on it will only snap in the right way, and generally you really have to screw up to do it wrong. The only downside is the occasional bad from the factory part. Even the 'missing instructions' can be found using the miracle of the internet search engine. If one takes their time, reads the instructions (a good idea ever for me), plans their build, keeps a working PC handy, and is willing to ask questions (rl friend, forum, or the part's customer service), then it should be good experience.
Also, people who buy Alienware are generally more interested in fps than threading. I'd even go as far as saying that most people, even most gamers aren't very inclined to learning programming. It's very complex, often frustrating, and I'd say much harder than snapping together a box. I love doing both, but I'm weird in other ways too.
The force that blew the Big Bang continues to accelerate.
Rolex does the same thing Alienware is doing in this story. If you send Rolex a watch which has non-Rolex-made parts, they will confiscate them and charge you for the replacements. Maybe Alienware thinks it is a bit too high up the quality scale to treat their customers like real people. -Todd
Omne ignotum pro magnifico.
A couple of years ago I bought a Motion Computing tablet PC off of eBay, from a seller that was clearly well-established. It didn't come with an install disc, so I e-mailed Motion Computing's customer service, asking if I could please purchase another one. I told them I got it on eBay, and gave them the serial number. They replied within only a few days, and said, just send us your address - we'll send you one for free. And they did so. As a result, I tell people about how accommodating they were every chance I get.
Love, Squeedle
This is Slashdot, everyone here should be smart enough not to buy an Alienware in the first place. Pay twice as much for your computer for a cheap plastic alien decal? Please. Alienwares aren't like Macs where the premium can be justified (I need to run Logic Studio!), you have to be a dumbass to buy an Alienware. So I really don't feel sorry for this guy, odds are that if he didn't get ripped off in the auction, it was stolen. I think it's great when companies that make nothing but junk screw over their consumers in even more obvious ways, hopefully that was less people will buy their crap.
"From the depths of my skeptical and rationalist soul, I ask the Lord to protect me from California touchie-feeliedom."
If you're stupid enough to buy Alienware - from the company or otherwise - you deserve what you've got coming to you.
That said, it looks like Alienware just wishes there were no Doctrine of First Sale, from the phrasing of their denial.
This controversy has been settled in law for a long time.
"The first-sale doctrine is a limitation on copyright that was recognized by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1908 and subsequently codified in the Copyright Act of 1976, 17 U.S.C. Â 109. The doctrine allows the purchaser to transfer (i.e., sell or give away) a particular lawfully made copy of the copyrighted work without permission once it has been obtained. This means that the copyright holder's rights to control the change of ownership of a particular copy end once that copy is sold, as long as no additional copies are made. This doctrine is also referred to as the "first sale rule" or "exhaustion rule."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First-sale_doctrine
Get a lawyer.
Overrated, Troll, and Flamebait mod points are not to be used towards posts you disagree with. That IS censorship.
Imagine if you went to the parts department at the dealer and asked to buy some brake shoes and pads because you were planning to do the work yourself. They wouldn't run, or ask for, your VIN. They would just sell you the part. That's the situation here. The poster wants to buy a part and install it himself. Most companies - car companies, computer companies, washing machine companies, whatever - would just sell him the part.
"If it's real, then it gets more interesting the closer you examine it. If it's not real, just the opposite is true." -
You will always, ALWAYS end up with 1 too few case screws. I dunno how it works but even if you have 500 other screws and odds and ends left over, you'll be one case screw short. Most cases these days use thumb screws (screws with big easily gripped heads on them for turning with finger and thumb, not the torture device). Hence buy a bag of thumb screws. :)
Rampant carbon sequestration destroyed the Dinosaurs' tropical paradise. I'm here to help repair the damage.
I own an m9700 Alienware laptop, while powerful, I would never, NEVER buy from alienware again. First off I've had to put new arctic silver on it roughly every 3 months, because the cooling system is a complete failure. To install windows, I MUST have the bottom removed from the laptop for it to stay cool long enough to complete. I am currently using a re-soldered, almost dead AC adapter to power the stupid thing. I bought this directly from alienware, and have an account with them. When I tried to order a new one from them (Less than 2 years after purchasing this laptop new from them), they told me that Li-Shin, the company that makes the AC adapter, no longer manufactured them, and therefore they couldn't help me. I argued with them for awhile and they sent me to 3 websites to buy an AC adapter from a third party. NONE of the sites actually had it. So I found out the M9750's power supply, is identical in ALL the ways that matter, (same volts, same watts, same plug, same or higher amps). But when I asked to purchase the m9750 brick from them, the foreign guy on the other end of the phone said sure just give me a few minutes to process it. About an hour later he came back on the phone and told me he wasn't allowed to sell parts from a different model. I told him it wasn't possible for me to purchase the one for mine because it's supposedly not available. He THEN tried to refer me to those 3 sites I'd gone to previously. I told him I'd already been there, so he said he'd transfer me. I was on hold for a few minutes, then hung up on. When trying to call back, I basically kept getting the same thing. Alienware cares NOTHING about the consumer, my laptop has had more things go wrong with it then any other I've ever purchased, and I can't get any parts for it from alienware. Also when I bought it, I got a dual core processor, and asked them about x64 drivers. They told me they'd be out within the month (2 years ago), guess what, never came out. Just a warning to other slashdot users, NEVER buy from this company from hell. Thank you Dell for completely killing my opinion of your company.
I feel bad for the buyer, but that said, he is definitely a little naive, which is surprising given that he works for Ebay (which I put on par with Alienware in terms of integrity).
Expensive and warrantied items are best purchased from reputable manufactures. Yes, you pay a premium on the price, but you are doing that so that you can have leverage with the company when something breaks.
If you go the second-hand route, you need to call the company first to figure out what you need to do to transfer the warranty OR be willing to deal with zero support.
I think of buying Alienware as buying a Ferrari. You're paying extra because: (1) It's a status symbol, (2) it looks nice, (3) in stock form it is faster than its competitors, (4) but it's going to require more money from the owner to keep it working than a regular car would.
Why not just buy the caddy on ebay like he did the laptop? That way he can match his stolen laptop with a stolen caddy :O
Quit using bloated Operating Systems, then?
MenuetOS - 1.4MB in size and usable for most anything except games and audio/video production.
Three second boot-up, if that. No real install time. Full GUI, 64-bit kernel, faster than anything else on the planet, except maybe DOS.
Still waiting on Serviscope_minor to wake up to fucking reality and realize that Jessica Price isn't going to fuck him.
What the fuck are you talking about? Most shit now days is color-coded and pre-assembled so you don't have to do exactly what you mention.
It's actually been like that for well over 15 years. Steep learning curve my ass. I trained 50+ years old women that couldn't program a VCR to save their lives how to strip and repair a laptop, then re-assemble it in under 20 minutes. It only took two weeks and no steep learning curve required (The only "steep learning curve" is the fucking terminology, which usually has no plain-english counterpart.)
Still waiting on Serviscope_minor to wake up to fucking reality and realize that Jessica Price isn't going to fuck him.
yes, lazy in hobbies. with wife and kids can't spend hours each day farting around with computers any more. there was a time when I spent more hours on hobbies then the 40-50 hours a week working, guess that explains not dating much and not getting married until 33 years old :p
What people are missing here is that whether the computer is stolen or not DOESN'T MATTER! That's right! It doesn't matter if they guy bought it from Dell, or Guido down the alley, or killed some old lady and took it from her. NONE OF THAT MATTERS! The conversation with Dell should go like this:
Potential customer: "I need part X"
Dell: "What's your credit card and where do we send the part?"
The guy wants to pay, they should sell. It wouldn't even matter if he DIDN'T EVEN HAVE the FUCKING LAPTOP. Who cares? Why should they care? Sell him the fucking part. They are not cops. They aren't anything but a computer store.
Any business that makes it hard to buy from should very swiftly go out of said business.
Everything you know is wrong, Just forget the words and sing along.
Who needs custom? If you really need your tower to be impressive you just get yourself a Silverstone (or a Thermaltake if you like it tacky).
USE HOT GRITS WITH STATUE OF NATALIE PORTMAN (NAKED AND PETRIFIED)
Those are usually out of date so there's often no good reason to just use them.
Putting a PC together is easy, though. Parent greatly exaggerates the difficulty of putting together a PC. True, you can't forget the importance of doing research for compatibility ahead of time, but it's generally really easy to do. Especially nowadays that heatsinks just pop in instead of that older-style nonsense with those ridiculous clips.
I wonder if all the bad PR for Alienware this is getting is worth the $150 bucks?
There are. But if you build the boxes from components, or you rebuild from used components, those drivers are often out of date or interfere with other components. BIOS updates are pretty important for basic performance reasons, and if you get a Vista CD and want to install Windows XP, or get a Windows XP Home installation CD and have a license and want to install 64-bit Windows XP (which I did a few days ago on a Dell laptop), it's a painful amount of extra work.
It's like knitting your own socks. If you enjoy it, fine, but it's usually a lot faster and cheaper to just buy them.
I'm an expert, who's been rebuilding custom hardware for decades (although less in the last decade, I finally have company staff who are well trained enough to do a good job). Let's go down your list.
* The pre-provided heat sink paste is usually poor quality. You get better performance, and a much longer lasting heat sink, if you spend a bit of extra money for the silver heat paste and add it. (It's a noticeable the difference between bottom-of-the-line computers and server class hardware.) Also, many heat sinks are a _nightmare_ to install: the clips break, you have to be sure to get all the cabling out of the way and often cut the Ty-wraps and re-arrange the cabling to get the leverage to clip it down. There are well designed cases that minimize this, but they cost more.
* Most cases ship with _awful_ screws. Cheap pieces of tin that strip if you blink at them. And similarly, the threaded holes in many cheap cases are badly aligned, access to the screws is badly handled and it's difficult to get a screwdriver in place to remove or thread them properly. A few extra tools, such as screwdrivers with clips on the end or magnetic screwdrivers or high-quality Snap-On tools with thin but strong shafts are invaluable for such work. The better quality screws, especially those bulky hand-tightenable external ones, make the work much easier.
* Memory is now going to DDR-3, which now means 3 DIMM's at a time, and differing performance depending on how many slots you occupy. This is going to surprise a lot of people who think that 12 slots with 1 Gig modules are going to be the same as 3 slots with 4 Gig modules. And that kind of weirdness about memory layout and matching has been a shifting field for decades. So for a new, self-assembling person, walking through the debugging of POST messages is a nightmare begging to happen.
* Cabling is trickier than you may realize. If you're assembling your machine from components, it _is_ tricky. Many home assemblers do a poor job of protecting their air flow. So do many professional assemblers and repair people, frankly. And until SATA and SAS became so common with their much thinner cables for disk drives, those wide IDE and SCSI cables in the way were a very, very nasty source of ventilation blocking. And few things are as much fun as finding that a cable is just a _tiny_ bit short, and somebody assembled it in a slightly different order or layout, and the power cable for the front panel that used to seat reliably now pulls free over the course of a week, and you have to open it up and recable. And those connectors are often easy to bend and damage: There's nothing like having to replace or resolder a mother board because some amateur bent and broke the power pins for the system controlled fans. (This is a reason that I like Dell machines: they do a good job of this without spending too much money.)
Like cooking pancakes, which so many of us did for our wives and mothers on Mother's Day, there's some up-front training that's vital to doing a good job. It's the difference between Mom saying "how *nice* and having to spend the morning cleaning up the mess in the kitchen, and Mom getting to stay in bed without the fire alarm going off even once. If you've got some experience in the kitchen, or someone to teach you, enjoy the experience. But if you don't have experience, expect surprises.
Your experience is interesting. I've had to do a lot of cleanup from other people trying to upgrade their machines, especially desktops. (I've worked in small groups where people were responsible for their own hardware, but wound up coming to me to clean up the mess.)
It sounds like you have pretty demanding specs for new machines. Good! People like you drive the market to get the components tested for people like me, who are cheaper and happy to be a year behind the curve and let you test out those newer, higher end components.
And you _have_ reminded me of the RAM quality problems. Spending hours after installling the machine, properly burning in the RAM to make sure it's not failing, is very expensive time.
Ok - so Alienware don't know he's not going to use their parts in a stolen computer. So they refuse to sell additional parts, if they cannot verify the buyer owns an alienware pc. The major problem with their approach is that I didn't ask Alienware to try to fight crime. I just expect them to stick to what they are good at - making hardware. I think the real reason they do this is to control their sales channels to protect their oversize margins.
The answer to this is don't buy a new Alienware computer - if nothing else, for the reason that the second hand value will be zero.
They did almost the exact same thing to me a few years ago. I sold the machine days later, and will never touch one of their products again.
Actually I tend to be a few months behind the latest releases myself, because I value reliability over having the very latest features. And a few months of BIOS and driver upgrades often make a difference.
My (desktop) machines are usually mid range in performance, with an eye on quality parts and moderate to low energy consumption. That means things like decent power supplies with 80+ percent efficiency, CPUs and GPUs with a power consumption of 70 watts each or less, and quality RAM with ECC.
For brands that do well in reviews which test robustness and reliability, I'm willing to pay a few euros more. In particular, that means power supplies and RAM, because both reviews and my own experience in those areas have shown there is real crap in the market.
Finally, there is one real lesson learned I'd like to pass on:
If possible, get GPUs and main boards with passive heat sinks (for the main board chipset). Or at least make sure there are aftermarket replacements available. The fans on those tend to be lousy quality and develop defective bearings after maybe a year, and getting a replacement that fits can be difficult (finding a CPU cooler is much easier, so I usually try the standard CPU cooler first and worry about alternatives later).
C - the footgun of programming languages
What if someone bought it from the company and gave it to him as gift? Is he still under the same burden to prove it was purchased legally?
IMHO, I feel the company is being ridiculous. Refusing to sell people spare parts and accusing them of being a thief is, at worst, stupid and insulting and at best bound to lose them a customer.
I've built many of my machines in the past, and I can safely say that I will never be doing it in the future.
When I was younger with more free time on my hands, I thought nothing of spending hours tracking down all of the components. Then, I would order all of the components from 5-6 different vendors, along with the hassle of tracking shipments and keeping warranty information from each vendor in the case of a problem.
If I were in the market for a new machine today, I would spend about 30 minutes doing some on-line pricing of a prebuilt machine. A Dell.com price is going to meet, beat, or be within a few tens of dollars to the price that I could build it for, that it makes no sense for me to do it myself. Plus, one vendor to call for any problems.
Granted, in the past 10-15 years my expectations from my computers have changed quite a bit. I used to be on the lookout for a great deal on a top-of-the-line gaming machine, but these days just about any reasonable desktop is fine for my needs.
True, but I don't think you would also advertise in the sale that it has "1 year warranty left!" If the seller sold a laptop, advertised it had warranty left, but ripped off the warranty info and didn't transfer it/authorize the buyer, then the seller is at fault. He can't claim ignorance. I would never say something had warranty without at least putting a bit of research into it to determine if warranty can even be transferred. However, the blogger never said if warranty was advertised or not, so who knows.
However, I fail to see why they need warranty or identification information to sell the guy a part. He is not getting his laptop serviced under warranty and is, in fact, paying a huge mark-up on a piece of metal. With Lenovo, I call them up, give them an FRU (part #) and my CC info and a few days later I have a part at my door.
So you prefer the idea that big government take over this process and implement this on ALL PC's?
Are you an idiot?
Here we have 1 company, Dell, (there are others that sell large numbers to businesses, or sell expensive computer products who do similar), who tries to slow down the theft of laptops and PC's walking away from businesses and people.' You whine (a bit too vociferously, IMO):
So you have your 3rd most valuable piece of equipment, and don't want someone helping to keep it. If someone takes a computer from you, (and Dell wasn't tracking owners), then you would have to prove to the police that you owned the computer. If you couldn't, you've lost your computer - paper or not. But if you are the registered owner, it only works in your favor. You are the owner, and the thief has to prove that that they legally purchased it from you and you have to 'agree' that you legally transferred it to them. How is this a "bad" thing for a legal owner of the PC? Yet you complain like you are the one who has no legal standing. Why is that?
In addition to tracking for the purpose of preventing casual theft, something that has been a growing problem in the business world where employee theft of computers, especially, laptops that are easy to walk out a door with little notice, has been a growing, chronic problem for decades. I'm thinking they may especially be vigilant when a PC bought for 'business purposes' ends up in non-business hands. Inventory control is an automatic service that Dell advertises to businesses. May of their business PC's have built-in low-jack equipment built into the hardware and BIOS, so anytime the computer connects to any public net, if they lo-jacking is enabled (it's optionally enabled by the owner - but once enabled cannot be disabled w/o an onsite- Dell Service Call). Again, a theft deterrent for legal and valid owners that is totally under their control to activate OR not.
If you don't like such protections on a computer, than you might consider buying a cheaper computer that doesn't contain such safe guards. It still may be the case that their less expensive consumer PC's don't have such tracking, but expensive gaming-rigs like Alienware, would probably tend to include the anti-theft options to help control illegal ownership transfers.
The fact that you have such a violent, self-righteous reaction to this services seems to indicate that your are more worried about having to prove you are the owner of a "PC" you have acquired through "unofficial channels" or through some unscrupulous, third-party reseller of Dell goods. If they are selling stolen goods, then you should direct your anger at the seller. If you are knowingly purchasing stolen goods, you are an accessory to the crime. If they are not willing to transfer ownership and remaining warrantee or support contract to you, then they may be attempting fraud (by ordering parts for a PC they no longer own), OR they may be trying to force you to buy all of your addition and replacement parts through them (so they can get a mark-up). Whatever their trip, your anger should be focused at the right party - not at Dell or Alienware who is trying to "do the right thing" without being forced by some government entity. Government steps in when people aren't ethical enough to do the right thing themselves.
I had intended on spending lots of money on several systems for me and my family but now I have changed my mind and will never do business with such a company that acts so unprofessionally. Fuck 'em! I hope they fail miserably, go out of business and all the employees lose their jobs and stay unemployed for years!
You could always look for the caddy on Ebay =)
And just what were you using to search the web in the 80's?
*** join #chat
> hay guys i need to find a maccas in springdale
fractoid: um, it's down the main street across from quik-ee-mart
> omg tahnks
>/bye
Rampant carbon sequestration destroyed the Dinosaurs' tropical paradise. I'm here to help repair the damage.