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."

Comments

Cars

[googlesmith123]

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".

Re:Cars

[plover]

Imagine if you paid cash for a car from a guy selling one in his driveway. A few months later, maybe you need a brake job, so you head to the dealer to have them do the work.

Do you expect anything except the dealer to do the brake job? Of course not. It's your car, you need brakes, so put brakes in it. But when the dealer types the VIN into his computer and it comes up "stolen", and says to you "sorry, there's going to be a delay," you might assume that he's just running a bad dealership. But that's not how the law works. If they discover you're in possession of a stolen car, they MUST notify the police, and it WILL get impounded and returned to the rightful owner. That's pretty easy to do when it's still in the dealer's garage, but not so easy if he lets the customer leave with it.

In the case of Alienware, if they sent a random customer who asked for a part a note saying "Sorry, but your PC is reported stolen, please bring it to the cops," the chances are good the customer will simply disappear, keeping the stolen goods. What are the chances he is going to voluntarily bring it to the police and say "here, have this laptop, I bought it from eBay and it turns out it was stolen. So you can just keep it, and I'll be out the thousand dollars then. Sure, I'll have a nice day."

Bottom line: how does Mr. Paget know that his laptop isn't stolen merchandise? He says got "a good deal" on it from a "hassle free seller" who shipped it promptly. If I was fencing hot PCs on eBay, you bet I'd be a hassle free, fast shipper. I'd also be gone in about a week. I'd say there's a damn good chance it IS stolen merchandise, and he's about to lose his money.

Re:Cars

[googlesmith123]

alas...my point was that the big companies don't make any profit of a second hand laptop, so they make life difficult for end user. Whether it was stolen or not it beside the point. You can't assume something was stolen just because it was bought second hand.

Re:Cars

[richdun]

I like the analogy in principle, but there's one problem with it - if I bought a car from a random guy (for cash or otherwise), and didn't get the title transferred into my name at whatever government office is responsible for such things in my neck of the woods, I'm an idiot. While there's currently no government agency policing computer ownership (pause for applause / tin foil hat brigade reaction), this highlights the importance of shopping at a reputable dealer when purchasing goods for which there is no clear transference of ownership. That, most likely, is the point you were trying to make in that analogy.

Re:Cars

[GigsVT]

In the case of Alienware, if they sent a random customer who asked for a part a note saying "Sorry, but your PC is reported stolen, please bring it to the cops,"

That's not what happened. They said to send a warranty number that would prove he bought it from them. Alienware hasn't said that the laptop was reported stolen.

Re:Cars

[mpoulton]

If they discover you're in possession of a stolen car, they MUST notify the police...

I call BS. There is absolutely no legal duty to report someone else's possession of stolen property to the police. A dealership might choose to make it a policy, but that's the dealership's own choice and not mandated by law. If there is a law in your jurisdiction that requires dealerships to do this, then it is specific to your jurisdiction only - and would be highly unusual, since such "duty to report" statutes tend to be very controversial and are usually limited to "think of the children" scenarios. And yes, IAALawStudent.

Re:Cars

[Non-CleverNickName]

Well no, he's not asking Alienware to fix anything for him (under warranty or paying directly), he's just simply asking to buy a spare part from them so he can fix it himself.

It's more like buying a used car from someone, trying to buy an oil filter directly from the dealership, and being refused because you're not the original (authorized) owner of the car. You're not asking them to change your oil, which would give them a reason to check your warranty information to make sure everything's in line, or recording your VIN number in their system so they can keep track of what car's they've worked on for the day, he's just someone who wants to buy a part from them. They're just telling you they can't sell you an oil filter because they don't have a record of you buying the car from them.

Really, why should he even be required to be the owner of any Alienware merchandise to buy a replacement part for the laptop? I'm not entirely sure of what he told the CSR's on the phone, but I wonder what they'd say if I called up and wanted to buy a replacement glowing alien head (from their laptops) to decorate something in my house with. Will they deny me because I'm not an authorized owner of the laptop that the glowing alien head fits on, or will they gladly sell me the part regardless of whether I own one of their laptops or not?

If they're denying him the part because he wants it replaced free under the original owner's warranty, that's one thing. Refusing to sell him the part because they have no record of him buying anything directly from them is different.

Re:Cars

[sjames]

Better analogy. Go to an auto parts store and ask for brake pads for a 2005 Taurus. I assure you they will not even ask for a vin number. They sell parts, you want to buy parts, end of discussion.

Apparently, Alienware has no actual reason to believe the laptop is stolen but chooses to ASSUME that it is because they didn't directly sell it to him.

Re:Cars

[HeronBlademaster]

All the guy wants is to buy additional hardware for his machine. Why should he need a warranty number for that? Should car part stores ask for your VIN number when you want to buy a new headlight?

Perhaps a better analogy is laptop batteries. Why should Dell care how I got my laptop, if all I want is to spend money buying a new battery? They certainly don't lose anything - on the contrary, refusing service to me is what's losing them money!

Re:Cars

[thePowerOfGrayskull]

I think it's a case of Chris being an idiot and Slashdot demonstrating, once again, a complete lack of quality content.

Seconded. Random rants on customer service? Hardly seems the place for it...

Re:Cars

[Nitewing98]

Au contraire mon frere! I just recently bought a 2002 dual processor Powermac G4 for 275 bucks. It runs the latest version of Mac OS X, runs great, and I paid about 10% of its original price.

You should qualify your statement - "Used computers aren't good value for your money UNLESS YOU KNOW WHAT TO LOOK FOR."

If you're a saavy bargain-hunter you can find real gems on eBay or in the classifieds.

Re:Cars

[erroneus]

You have NEVER bought used gear legitimately before? I seriously doubt this guy is a thief. And making that presumption is incredibly offensive. There could be any number of reasons why documentation didn't move with the machine.

But as many others have pointed out, it is clearly their intent to discourage second-hand sales. There are lots of companies and industries that operate this way. To me, the "value" or the measure of what something is "worth" is not what something costs, but rather what you can get for it if you needed to sell it. New cars are not worth what people pay for them. Diamonds of any size or quality are almost completely worthless. Alienware (Dell?) is clearly attempting to devalue the second-hand market and it may be within their rights to deny sale of accessories to people who are not the primary equipment owners. But even this is a disservice to "their actual customers" since it truly lowers the resale value of the gear should they choose to sell it at some point down the road.

Re:Cars

[plover]

RTFA. He never wrote that Alienware directly accused him of a crime, or of being a thief. He is complaining that he is being treated like a thief. There is a significant difference between the two statements.

Alienware

[sakdoctor]

The monster cable of pre-built PCs

Re:Alienware

[Ceseuron]

The monster cable of pre-built PCs

Couldn't agree more with this assessment. Alienware is hideously overpriced and their systems aren't really that good. I have an Alienware D900T that a friend of mine owns sitting in my closet. The video card stopped working and it's going to cost $500 for the replacement for a wimpy GeForce 6800. He doesn't want to spend the money so I've disassembled it for the good parts and junked the rest. In disassembling the machine, it's obvious that Alienware doesn't back up their bloated prices with anything resembling quality, too.

Nobody in their right mind should be buying Alienware. There's nothing about their machines that you can't get from regular branded PCs and custom built PCs, except for a huge price hike on the Alienware.

Re:Alienware

[windsurfer619]

I thought that was Apple.

Goodbye karma!

no honor among thieves

[slashdime]

With Alienware's prices, I often wonder who is the thief.

Re:no honor among thieves

[adolf]

*shrug*

I've been building PCs for decades.

Meanwhile, my wife and I each have an Alienware desktop PC.

Why? Well, first, we each needed a new computer. The motherboard was dead on her venerable Dell desktop, and Dell's case was sufficiently strange to preclude replacing that component by itself. Later, I wanted a box to play games on, without disturbing my Linux desktop machine.

Second: The price was right. Before we bought these computers, I did the usual sanity check against Newegg. After buying putting a whole PC worth of good components of similar specification into my cart, the price difference was about $100.

Yeah - $100.

For that hundred bucks, one gets a very fancy ATX case which is easy to work on. Working audio ports on the front which interface properly with the sound card (instead of stupid rear-panel pass-through crap), such that the sound card can detect when headphones are plugged in and reconfigure itself automatically. An in-home service agreement. A PC which doesn't need assembled, but just unpacked and plugged in.

And unlike most prebuilt machines, when they're first turned on, they just boot Windows. I don't have to spend a couple of hours removing extraneous crap software. It comes up and behaves about the same way a new PC would if I'd have taken the time to build it myself and install Windows with a base load of drivers, except I didn't have to do it myself.

Meanwhile, they use about the same parts I'd have chosen myself if I were building a new PC. Good DVD-R, XFX video, fancy-pants motherboard with lots of expansion. The power supply is nameless, but is every bit as heavy as a good power supply ought to be. It included the same Logitech mouse I'd have bought myself. So on, so forth.

And it's pretty.

I don't think Alienware's pricing is out-of-line at all.

YMMV.

Alienware just has horrible CS overall

[firegate]

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.

Transfer

[shentino]

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?

It's a laptop

[tepples]

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.

Re:Alienware are overpriced anyway

[Anonymous Coward]

You act like all of that stuff is difficult, you must work for Geek Squad?

I will never buy another Alienware...

[xaoslaad]

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.

Re:Alienware are overpriced anyway

[ergean]

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.

Re:No I wasn't aware of this unethical practice

[mdwh2]

as is increasingly the case where people use Wikipedia as an authoritative source for information, for example.

Yeah that's right, an article with references couldn't possibly be trusted if it's on Wikipedia, but we'll trust everything from the media, blogs, and random commenters on a forum without question...