My 3450 has dead pixels now.
My Sentia M3450 is not even a year old (only about 10 months old) and it spent probably more than a month of that time in and out of Alienware repair depots. The first time it was sent in I was working with Virgil and my converter card/ribbon for the LCD had to be replaced. The problem with the card was solved, but I received the laptop is very poor condition. The case had been reassembled incorrectly and I had to actually send it back in to be realigned and any damage repaired. The damage actually wasn't even repaired, it's just somewhat hidden now that the case is on correctly.
After that everything seemed to work fine until my motherboard's power supply died.
I called in to have that repaired, but I was told Virgil had been promoted and now worked in a different department. I e-mailed Virgil (he had told me to always talk to him for repairs) and he told me I was reassigned to Oscar and asked me to not contact him anymore.
Oscar got that fixed up and, again, everything was fine until my card reader died. Oscar then got the motherboard replaced and everything seemed fine again. He called me after I received the laptop and told me if there was anymore problems to call him and we would explore other possibilities of repairs. An exchange of laptops was specifically talked about. He agreed with my fear that each problem had damaged other pieces of hardware and that was why there were so many problems. The solution seemed to be just replacing everything.
So now I have dead pixels on my LCD screen. The Sentia is still under warranty and Oscar told me to call if there was anything wrong, so I called last night. The rep last night said he would e-mail Oscar to call me back after 1PM EST, but I received no call. I called back at 4PM and was was told Oscar had been promoted to a new position in a different department, same as Virgil.
He also said Oscar had closed my ticket and therefore any new problem would go through them.
After a long talk the rep told me he had assigned my ticket to a new rep in Oscar's old position who would call me within 24 hours, but there was nothing else he could do for me until I uploaded screenshots of the dead pixels.
This laptop isn't even a year old and already it has had to have 3 components replaced and a repair made to the case due to the treatment it received at the repair depot the second time. It's taken quite a few scratches from being handled at the repair depots. I've had it for a little over 10 months and out of that 10 it has spent at least a good month in Alienware repair depots and being shipped back and forth. And now, after all that, there are dead pixels.
I'm aware of AW's dead pixel policy and I will do the tests they're asking me to do, but with all the repairs it's received I can only place the blame on faulty hardware. Especially after having components directly related to the LCD replaced (converter card/ribbon and motherboard).
I've never lost my cool with AW, yet. I even gave Oscar a glowing review while talking to his manager after the last repair, but now I'm getting pretty upset. I've had two reps get "promoted to new position(s) in a different department" twice now and now I feel like I'm being told to just deal with it.
What's your take on this? I don't think I'm being unreasonable. It feels like I'm getting screwed now. Or am I wrong?
My Sentia M3450 is not even a year old (only about 10 months old) and it spent probably more than a month of that time in and out of Alienware repair depots. The first time it was sent in I was working with Virgil and my converter card/ribbon for the LCD had to be replaced. The problem with the card was solved, but I received the laptop is very poor condition. The case had been reassembled incorrectly and I had to actually send it back in to be realigned and any damage repaired. The damage actually wasn't even repaired, it's just somewhat hidden now that the case is on correctly.
After that everything seemed to work fine until my motherboard's power supply died.
I called in to have that repaired, but I was told Virgil had been promoted and now worked in a different department. I e-mailed Virgil (he had told me to always talk to him for repairs) and he told me I was reassigned to Oscar and asked me to not contact him anymore.
Oscar got that fixed up and, again, everything was fine until my card reader died. Oscar then got the motherboard replaced and everything seemed fine again. He called me after I received the laptop and told me if there was anymore problems to call him and we would explore other possibilities of repairs. An exchange of laptops was specifically talked about. He agreed with my fear that each problem had damaged other pieces of hardware and that was why there were so many problems. The solution seemed to be just replacing everything.
So now I have dead pixels on my LCD screen. The Sentia is still under warranty and Oscar told me to call if there was anything wrong, so I called last night. The rep last night said he would e-mail Oscar to call me back after 1PM EST, but I received no call. I called back at 4PM and was was told Oscar had been promoted to a new position in a different department, same as Virgil.
He also said Oscar had closed my ticket and therefore any new problem would go through them.
After a long talk the rep told me he had assigned my ticket to a new rep in Oscar's old position who would call me within 24 hours, but there was nothing else he could do for me until I uploaded screenshots of the dead pixels.
This laptop isn't even a year old and already it has had to have 3 components replaced and a repair made to the case due to the treatment it received at the repair depot the second time. It's taken quite a few scratches from being handled at the repair depots. I've had it for a little over 10 months and out of that 10 it has spent at least a good month in Alienware repair depots and being shipped back and forth. And now, after all that, there are dead pixels.
I'm aware of AW's dead pixel policy and I will do the tests they're asking me to do, but with all the repairs it's received I can only place the blame on faulty hardware. Especially after having components directly related to the LCD replaced (converter card/ribbon and motherboard).
I've never lost my cool with AW, yet. I even gave Oscar a glowing review while talking to his manager after the last repair, but now I'm getting pretty upset. I've had two reps get "promoted to new position(s) in a different department" twice now and now I feel like I'm being told to just deal with it.
What's your take on this? I don't think I'm being unreasonable. It feels like I'm getting screwed now. Or am I wrong?
Anyway, it's a truly great machine. 
I just think it all started with a faulty motherboard that slowly damaged the rest and now I see the repercussions.
