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2005-02-22
4/5
"My laptop experience:
Initially, I decided to go against buying an Alienware laptop, because of all of these negative reviews I read here on this website. I went with Hypersonic-PC, and purchased their AX-7 model. THAT was a bad experience, and if you wish to read about it, you can check out my review for them on this website... Needless to say, I"m returning my Hypersonic-PC and I have already ordered an Alienware laptop! So, without further adieu, here goes Robby's Rating Reveiw!!!
1.) COnfiguring the order online was a SNAP! Easy as pie! The Customer service was also able to take the configuration on the phone after I configured the machine, and I did the ordering over the phone. Call me old fashioned, but I'll be dog-gon'd if I'm going to spend $4500 bucks online without some Customer Service Schmoozing...
2) The over the phone ordering was a SNAP! Actually, it was more fun than watching that person that sand "Ice Ice baby" be beaten by a pack of homicidal nuns! The lady effectively kissed my boo-tay enough where I went ahead and added to my order! I love you Myriam!
3.) The payment verification was a SNAP! Each phase (phases 1, 2 & 3) each took less than a day each.
I have received constant feedback via emails, and the whole experience has been MORE than user friendly! I am in Phase 4 now, and have been over the weekend, so I'm expecting it to change today. I was told it would take 10 days to build my system, so I'm counting them. Give or take a few, is no matter to me, but I will keep this review updated.
Until my next update, I think Alienware rules!
--UPDATE 05 March 05---
Well, they have missed their ship date by 4 days now, and my order was stuck in phase 5 for the past 10 days (prior to yesterday). I called them on it, and inquired as to why, and I was told there are driver conflicts between the ATI video card and the system, and my computer was on hold until they were resolved. I explained to them that I currently work in Iraq, and am fixing to leave for Russia. I ordered the computer in good faith pertaining to the guarantee of the salesperson that my order would ship by the beginning of March, and I would have the laptop by the time I left for Russia, which is the beginning of April. The Lead Tech I have been speaking with is named Nick, and bless his soul, is doing all he can to expedite my order. I did have to switch to a different video card to make this happen, which thoroughly upset me, but if I want the laptop, I had to do that. as of this morning, my laptop is finally in phase 12, but evidently, they had to bump it up. They say that the reason for the delays in production, is because they have so many laptops/computers to build. I informed them, I am sure that is the case, but they should train their salespersons to be honest about the manufacture & shipping dates. If I hadn't of been leaving, my computer would still be in phase 5, three weeks after ordering. I hope to receive my laptop by April 3d, at the VERY latest, or I will have a huge problem for I won't be here anymore. I will update more as it unfolds.
Key point: Do not expect your laptop to be built or shipped by the date they give you. Add at least 3 weeks to the date for a more accurate guess."
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2005-01-16
1/5
"OKay... First off, I am a civilian contractor working in Iraq, supporting the US Army, and I bought my Averatec 6130 from the AAFES PX. I immediately took it home and booted it up. It seemed to work very well. It was P4 3.0 HT, 512 RAM, 40 GB hd, 64mb ATI Radeon,15.4" widescreen laptop. All in all, it was a very decent laptop for the 1300 bucks I spent on it. It came with Windows XP Home edition. After doing the OOBE, that comes with a new computer, I jumped online and registered it with MIcrosoft & with Averatec. I then called their tech support to find out what I could upgrade on it. THeir tech support was very friendly the first time I called, and actually sent me a link to the exact type of RAM I would need to buy to upgrade the laptop to 1gb. I was also told that after I upgrade the RAM, that I won't need it any longer. Well, the computer worked almost flawlessly for a month, then I took it home with me for my vacation. It started giving an odd POST beep while booting, so I called tech support about it. They said they could not identify the actual sequence of beeps, and would escalate the call up to level 2 or 3 tech support. Well, I never heard back from them, and every time I called, they could not give me an answer. About a week after this happened, the computer started locking up while playing games, like Everquest, Doom3, Vampires: Bloodlines, and Everquest2. Granted these are top of the line games, but even with only a 64 mb vid card, there should be no problems here on this machine. I call tech support again, and I have NEVER been treated so RUDELY in my life by any agency! I was told "Oh well" and "There is only so much we can do", before I demanded to speak to a supervisor... I was then told, "My supervisor is sitting right here beside me. Tell me what you want me to tell him and I will". AFter three times telling the person that I didn't want her used as an intermediary, I wanted to speak to him personally, he finally got on the telephone,and was also very curt, rude, and generally didn't care about me... Joe customer... I was informed that I need to take the laptop back to where I bought it. Well, I tried to tell him that I was in Iraq, and Iraq is a war zone, and the closest PX where I might be able to take it is 400 miles away, so we needed to go with option B. He said there was no option B, and He guess he couldn't help me. I then asked why I cannot ship it back myself? He said, "Oh, I guess you could do that". Yes, he really said this. Now we got into an argument about their company not being able to ship to an APO and I now must find an address stateside, to have the laptop returned there, instead of to me. It took me 10 days to find someone I would trust stateside and arrange it so they will receive the laptop and test it before shipping it back to me in Iraq. After I find someone, I call them back, give them the address, and after being treated with hostility and general rudeness, I explain to them to note on my ticket & log, that I would like to be contacted by their corporate office because I have NEVER been treated so badly by any company. 4 days later, a level 3 tech emails me and apologizes for the experience, and says that they can NOW ship to an APO, so I will be able to have my laptop returned directly to me. I tell him to PLEASE insure it is completely repaired before shipping and he says he has no direct control over that, but he will note it in his log.
Well, I mailed the laptop to them, and it takes about 10 days. IT has been a month and a half, their RMA update page on their website hasn't changed in a month, tech support on the phone doesnt' know where my laptop is, and I"m pretty upset.
My advice is to defer from buying an averatec laptop. they do not value their customer, and their tech support is grossly undertrained in customer service, and totally un-trained in computer troubleshooting. If you want a laptop that will work great for a month before dying, then Averatec is the company for you."
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Is trustworthy
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Overall customer service
Customer service being easy to reach
Customer service making decisions on their own
Customer service being trustworthy
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