Did anyone else get sc$ewed by Alienware?
 

I purchased my son an Alienware computer for Christmas and sent in the rebate. After waiting a few weeks I called and they told me it was voided. Has anyone else had this problem with Alienware? The rebate was for $500.

Each time I call I get a different answer. Once it was voided because it was not received within 45 days. The next time it was voided because it was not accompanied with the original invoice. The next time because it was not accompanied with a copy of the invoice. Once they told me it was approved. What's up with all of this? Help!

Do you have copies of what you sent in & the terms & conditions? The terms & conditions of 'rebates' are devised so as many customers as possible screw something up.

http://www.str8dog.com/articles/182.aspx

I'm not sure how many of the complaints listed at this site concern a voided warranty, but some people did manage to get satisfaction.

Good luck

I would think that a company as well presented as Alienware (www.alienware.com) would not take advantage of it's customers. Unfortunately for me this is not so. What can I do?

Can you send the PC back? Don't you get 30-90 days before you can't send it back? Check the fine print on their paperwork. I have returned several computers (not Alienware) and gotten a full refund...

HIt the BBB for their physical area, start all new communications in some form of writing - fax, email, letters (certified?), etc.

And next time, build the PC yourself. Takes a few hours, one of everything and it all only fits one way, there are usually good directions, etc.

Re: Did anyone else get sc$ewed by Alienware?
 

Dude...........SAME STORY............EXACTLY............EXCEPT MY DEAL WAS/IS CINGULAR phone rebate. SINCE OCTOBER '04!!

F----ing lying, cheating, pieces of s--t.............I've spent more $$ in correspondance and phone calls than the total amount of the "rebate"

From now on, when purchasing something that has a mail-in rebate, I'll consider otherwise because you never receive it. This is the 4th big ticket item that I've purchased in the last year and I've yet to see any rebate from anyone. It's all just hype and BS

File a complaint......

www.bbb.org

They will respond.........

Take it back to the retailer....and give him a ration of kaka

I have filed with BBB (thank you) and will also send a certified letter demanding payment. This was purchased on-line direct from Alienware.

I've had no issues w/ Alienware; which is not to say I wasn't just lucky...

As for building your own system, I did that 3 yrs. ago and saved not a lot of money. When I was looking to build a "godbox" a year ago, Alienware was only $50 more expensive than building it myself, and you get their warranties and support.

Sorry you've had a bad experience w/ them. Most of the hardcore gamers I know would swear by them.

JP

File a small claims suit in your local court of jurisdiction...I bet that will get a check dropped in the mail to you pronto.

FWIW I have built my last several home machines myself. In my case, they usually end up costing more than your typical "major name" PC however you get to hand-pick every component so end up with a best-of-breed and more upgradeable system vs. a cost-optimized planned-obsolescence unit. My last few have been dual-CPU machines (some with high-end SCSI drives etc), which the major brands either don't build or have at the very top of their lines for $$$$.

OS, I didn't expect and was surprised that I did have a problem with Alienware. I remember that the envelope was over stuffed to fit all three 8.5" x 11" papers into the small sized envelope so I know a copy of the original invoice was included. The purpose of this post is to see if others have had the same problem. Basis the way I was treated it seems like the company is having financial problems.

CJ, that's another good idea. Thanks.

campbellcj - once you go smp you won't go back :) Currently on dual 1.2ghz athlons, used to have a dual P2 system

Rebates in general are a scam. They're banking (literally) on you not claiming it and/or denying the rebate for a technical reason. I read thru the Fry's ads every now and then, and have noticed that component XYX will be $N one week, then $N+10 with a $10 mail-in rebate the next.

On top of that, you're just begging for your address to be sold to marketeers.

I've been screwed a couple of times now, and I simply won't buy something based on the rebate alone.

BBB is useless; you'd get better results writing your complaint on a bathroom wall.

Mark the date and time; I'm in complete agreement with Thom on this one.

JP

Icicles are forming on the neon signs in LV as we speak...

I've had a few friends have problems with Alienware too, so you're not alone. Of course though, the higher volume someplace is the more problems you're likely to hear about.

As far as around here, I have been building my own machines for 10 years, and I build them for most of my friends. I've given up on the cheap ones though, too much trouble, if they want me to build something, they have to pay the extra $5 for the good ram, and extra $7 for the good case, etc.

If you want to venture towards building your own, find someone to help you out and it won't be hard at all, or find a local gamer/computer geek that build their own, check out the workmanship of it, and ask them to build you one.

It's easy to see how much someone cares by the little touches in putting the machine together, if you opened up 30 machines at work, you could tell which ones I built vs. which ones the other guy built, all my screws match, cables are tied back nicely, it's all neat and clean, his are just a bunch of cables plugged in.

Hopefully you get it all resolved and can enjoy the machine for 3-4 years, just some things to think about for the future.

Rob -
That is one thing about the Alienware box I bought, was it was exceptionally well put together, w/ all the cables zip-tied and routed out-of-the-way for air flow. When I uprated my power supply (b/c the 6800 Ultra needs a lot of power) I cursed the Alienware geeks for how well they'd tied and hidden everything b/c I had to unplug/untie/fish out/remove the old PS.

I built the two prior boxes I owned, and yes, it was fun... after the first few days of de-bugging, pulling down driver upgrades, attempting to fix interrupt issues, moving pins on the mobo, etc. The Alienware box I bought cost about $100 more than it would've cost me to source all the parts I wanted (w/o counting all the additional shipping) and it came burned in, tweaked and ready to rock. That's worth the ~$100 to me.

JP

Yeah, their machines have always been pretty for the most part, I've seen a few that could have been better, but I think it was right when they got popular real fast and were probably having growing pains.

It costs more for a machine like that, or less for a cookie cutter Dell, it's the in between ones that get really nasty and you have to be careful about.

The whole rebate issue is irritating to me though. I have given up buying things that are a good deal because of a rebate. If's it's a good deal anyway, and I get more from the rebate, so be it. They just always seem like a scam for me.

The way I've always understood the point of a rebate is to give money back to the consumer by cutting your profit margin because of competition.

In example, you build a product for $5 and you sell a product to Fred Meyer for $10, and I buy it for $12. Someone else comes out with a product for $10.

You can't very well tell Fred Meyer to lower the price to below their cost, so you offer a $3 rebate to the consumer so they can purchase it for an end price of $9. Everyone is happy if it goes through okay, and the next time you ship stuff out your price to the middleman is lower to reflect the competition.

It all makes sense to me.

What doesn't make sense is how this is supposed to have any point at all through a direct retailer like Dell or Alienware. My friend got a good deal on a Dell laptop, but had to deal with a $300 rebate.

Why did he have to deal with a rebate when he was getting it from the place that was offering the rebate? Easy, they expect a certain percentage of people to not do it or not follow the rules correctly and thus not have to pay out.

I really dislike the whole concept, and anytime it happens in this way, I think you're in the right to complain to everyone that will listen and hopefully get these places a slap.

[/end rebate rant]

Well they didn't respond to my demand letter so the next step is via the courthouse. I will prepare my claim today and file it tomorrow.

I always photo copy all documents sent in for the rebate, including the fron of the envelope to prove it was properly labeled in the event they deny they recieve it. I have been denied rebates 3 times since i have been doing this over the countless times i sent them in with out issue. Every time i received a postcard/letter stating the reason iwas denied the rebate, and was able to fax the copies i made of reseipt/upc/rebate form etc. and was able to successfullly complete every rebate i have ever applied for. it may or may not be too late for you to resend this information, but it will be helpfulk for future rebates. Also please check out this website www.ibuypower.com it has been many years since i purchased a premade system, but am told there's are quality machines, although some customers have reported videocards glued into machines, and unable to upgraded without replacing motherboard, but there prices cannot be beat for premade systems imho. i would never purchase a premade desktop, but have been considering a laptop from them for school. Also, build your own is very economical if you shop sale and www.newegg.com, after one build you can upgrade your pc one component at a time to maintain a top of the line rig if you so desire as opposed to buying a new sytem every time. Most difficult part of a build is installation of windows and drivers. Sorry for such long post....... Hope i was able to help someone.

in my opinion, "rebate" = "we have zero respect for our customers, as we expect them to be lazy losers, easily enticed buy a low $# . . . and the 5% who we expect to slip thru the cracks, and send-in, we can toy with to eternity."

"rebates" :rolleyes: . .bait, and re-bait . . . change the spelling to protect the lure.

The only kind of "rebate" that I pay attention to is the instant in-store rebate. Any rebate that I have to apply for is as good as worthless, IMO. I don't have the time to track down and extract payment for each of these, so I don't get most of them, and that is exactly what the companies know will happen.

Sorry this happened with Alienware, though. Seem like neat computers.

As for building your own PC, I used to do that. My current desktop is the last one I built, a dual-CPU SCSI machine. I don't think it makes sense to build a run-of-the-mill machine that you could buy for $500, but if you want something special (that would cost >$1500 to buy), and your time is free (including all the time to sort out software drivers etc) then it is fun and educational. Worth doing once, just to learn about PCs.