Derrik Draven
Supporting Actor
- Joined
- Dec 7, 1998
- Messages
- 937
- Real Name
- Chris
After 7 long years, I'm finally on the doorstep of moving up from my venerable Dell Pentium II 300mhz, 3DFX machine.
I'll admit that I was sucked in by Alienware's awesome "looking" machine. I can afford to spend about $2000 so, I can get a decent setup. Not a killer but, decent. No monitor needed.
So...I config my Alienware the way I want it, get ready to hit the purchase button and, something stops my left clicking finger.
Head over the Cnet and Epinions and, hole-e-shit! There is some SERIOUSLY bad reviews of Alienware. Not really about their hardware as most, even complainers, say it's a kick ass computer but, if you dare have any problems, God help you when dealing with their support.
Supposedly it's among the worst. Everything from their support being manned by foreigners that hardly speak english to ridiculous wait times for replacement parts to the wrong system components being installed and the purchasers being out of luck.
All the good reviews were pretty much from people that seemed to have gotten lucky and didn't need any customer support.
So, I figure maybe I'll just stick Dell since I had really good luck with the one I have. The company is huge, they don't chage your card until the system ships, unlike Alienware that sucks you dry of your cash the moment they get authorization, whether your system is done or not, the few time I've used Dell's customer support in the past, it was decent, and their new XPS series is a pretty damn decent gaming machine.
So I check out their reviews. Same damn thing as Alienware except Dell's bad reviews seemed to be more problems with the PC than with customer support.
Anyhoo...not being an idiot, for the most part , I sat back and tried to use my noggin' to sort through the mess because, after reading all this, I'm terrified to buy ANY computer.
So...Alienware...they once were a very small, boutique pc maker, that probably had killer quality service and a killer machine. But, I think they've probably grown too big, too fast and as a result, quality is WAY down, the people there are overworked and, there probably isn't enough support to go around. Reason I figure this is true is due to a couple of posts I read while surfing. Someone mentioned that Best Buy has dropped Alienware from their stores. 2 ways to look at it. One, Alienware definitely had it's work cut out for it when the went to such a large retail store as BB. They probably got swamped with orders. Alienware couldn't deliver worth a shit due to it's overambitious plans. Which lead me to point 2, BB dropped them. I know personally I haven't seen one of their machines at BB in a while. I get the feeling that BB did, in fact, drop them due to all the static BB was probably getting due to people not receiving their orders. So, if BB dropped them, it certainly give real weight to my belief the Alienware is overextended.
Dell, on the other hand, while not a maker of such custom work as the small guys, ie Alienware, VoodooPC, ViciousPC, FalconNW, they do make a nice computer and, they have won awards for their customer support. I haven't read that of Alienware anywhere. They only win for their hardware.
On a last note, I realize that most satisfied customers don't go online to post their praises of a particular company. Some take the time; most don't. However, if you're pissed off, YOU WILL POST IT!!! Anger is one hell of a motivator. But, when you read some of the horror stories, some of them very detailed and very well written, it's pretty frickin hard to believe they're lying about their experience. All the while I just sit there, mouth open, wondering how the hell any company could treat it's customers so badly...and what if I'm one of the unlucky bastards that get a lemon?
I guess I'd like to hear from you guys that have been into pc gaming all these years. I've dropped out and I'm just now returning and it's kind of overwhelming trying to educate myself quickly! Damn near every single custom pc maker, and even Dell, had a virtual plethora of bad reviews.
...I'm now too scared to buy jack shit...maybe I'll just stick with my Xbox.
I'll admit that I was sucked in by Alienware's awesome "looking" machine. I can afford to spend about $2000 so, I can get a decent setup. Not a killer but, decent. No monitor needed.
So...I config my Alienware the way I want it, get ready to hit the purchase button and, something stops my left clicking finger.
Head over the Cnet and Epinions and, hole-e-shit! There is some SERIOUSLY bad reviews of Alienware. Not really about their hardware as most, even complainers, say it's a kick ass computer but, if you dare have any problems, God help you when dealing with their support.
Supposedly it's among the worst. Everything from their support being manned by foreigners that hardly speak english to ridiculous wait times for replacement parts to the wrong system components being installed and the purchasers being out of luck.
All the good reviews were pretty much from people that seemed to have gotten lucky and didn't need any customer support.
So, I figure maybe I'll just stick Dell since I had really good luck with the one I have. The company is huge, they don't chage your card until the system ships, unlike Alienware that sucks you dry of your cash the moment they get authorization, whether your system is done or not, the few time I've used Dell's customer support in the past, it was decent, and their new XPS series is a pretty damn decent gaming machine.
So I check out their reviews. Same damn thing as Alienware except Dell's bad reviews seemed to be more problems with the PC than with customer support.
Anyhoo...not being an idiot, for the most part , I sat back and tried to use my noggin' to sort through the mess because, after reading all this, I'm terrified to buy ANY computer.
So...Alienware...they once were a very small, boutique pc maker, that probably had killer quality service and a killer machine. But, I think they've probably grown too big, too fast and as a result, quality is WAY down, the people there are overworked and, there probably isn't enough support to go around. Reason I figure this is true is due to a couple of posts I read while surfing. Someone mentioned that Best Buy has dropped Alienware from their stores. 2 ways to look at it. One, Alienware definitely had it's work cut out for it when the went to such a large retail store as BB. They probably got swamped with orders. Alienware couldn't deliver worth a shit due to it's overambitious plans. Which lead me to point 2, BB dropped them. I know personally I haven't seen one of their machines at BB in a while. I get the feeling that BB did, in fact, drop them due to all the static BB was probably getting due to people not receiving their orders. So, if BB dropped them, it certainly give real weight to my belief the Alienware is overextended.
Dell, on the other hand, while not a maker of such custom work as the small guys, ie Alienware, VoodooPC, ViciousPC, FalconNW, they do make a nice computer and, they have won awards for their customer support. I haven't read that of Alienware anywhere. They only win for their hardware.
On a last note, I realize that most satisfied customers don't go online to post their praises of a particular company. Some take the time; most don't. However, if you're pissed off, YOU WILL POST IT!!! Anger is one hell of a motivator. But, when you read some of the horror stories, some of them very detailed and very well written, it's pretty frickin hard to believe they're lying about their experience. All the while I just sit there, mouth open, wondering how the hell any company could treat it's customers so badly...and what if I'm one of the unlucky bastards that get a lemon?
I guess I'd like to hear from you guys that have been into pc gaming all these years. I've dropped out and I'm just now returning and it's kind of overwhelming trying to educate myself quickly! Damn near every single custom pc maker, and even Dell, had a virtual plethora of bad reviews.
...I'm now too scared to buy jack shit...maybe I'll just stick with my Xbox.