Hello, everyone. I just registered myself on this forum to share my alienware-experience with you guys.
I am waiting for my Area-51m 7700 to be arrived.
I originally placed an order for Area-51m 5500 on October 21 but later I changed it into 7700 around November 7.
Just like other people who pre-ordered their 7700, I am also on phase 2.
Here's my complaint.
First, when I changed my 5500 to 7700 I called them to change my order.
They made two mistakes. One, they placed my memory card as 2*512 instead of 1*1024. Two, they registered my email address wrong.
It took me about 2 weeks to fixt it. I had to send them emails multiple times and called them three times to fix the problems.
I was okay with it. Because I understood it could happen to anyone.
There again, they sent me an email advising me to upgrade my warranty at 10% discount price.
And my boyfriend who initially suggested me to buy an Alienware also suggested me to get a 3 years warranty.
I tried to access the link they gave me through the email, it showed me another person's name and the product he ordered.
So I called them.
A woman answered so I told her I would like to upgrade my warranty but I haven't gotten my computer yet.
She sounded confused and told me the email I got was supposed to be sent to people who already owned alienwares. That told me I got a wrong email.
And she told me to wait, so I waited on the phone about 10 minutes.
She came back and suddenly asked me [How old I am].
I was kind of surprised and confused but I told her my age which is 27.
She said [No, you cannot be 27!].
I was like what the !@#$ but I told her my birthdate.
After that she started to ask me in a very rude and inappropriate manner about what I wanted. I told her I wanted to upgrade my warranty but I wanted to know what warranty options they could provide me.
She said [Go look on the website.]
At the time, my confusion and anger exploded so I told her I did not appreciate her attitude toward her customer. And I asked her name.
She gave me her first name which is Pat in the sales department.
So I asked her last name, she said [I do not have to give you that.]
So I asked her to put her supervisor on the phone.
She made me waited another 10 minutes and finally her "supervisor" answered.
He called me a sir, so I told him I am a ma'am.
He answered he could not confirm my gender by my name so he decided to call me a sir. He made me more upset.
So I was about to yell at him, they disconnected me.
I called again, waited another 10 minutes or so.
I asked the person who answered to put Pat's supervisor on the phone.
They handed my call to the customer support department without me knowing.
Then the supervior of customer support answered.
So I asked him if it's an appropriate manner to ask a customer about her age without explaining beforehand.
He said [He didn't see why.]
It was like I was complaining to people who did not know about the customer support at all.
After all arguments and what not, he apologized me and explained to me as following.
1. I am a korean living in California without an english name.
He said, they could not identify my gender through my name.
=> Okay, I understand. Then why did Pat's supervisor treat me that way
instead of asking my gender politely?????
2. Because of my english accent and my voice, they thought I am a kid who
gave a prank call. And they got many phone calls from kids in everywhere.
=> Okay, it's understandable. At the same time, it's the age discrimination.
As a prefessional company that handles customers who are more than
willing to pay 3700 USD to their hardwares, they are obligated to serve
their customers regardless of their age!!!
That is, even if I was a kid, they were supposed to treat me as their
customer.
Besides of that, you don't assume anything about your customer and you don't treat your customer in that ridiculously rude manner.
Even more upsetting about their customer support is, the customer support supervisor put me on hold to connect me to another sales representative so that I could upgrade my warranty.
I waited 30 minutes and finally one came on the phone.
After explaining to her what I wanted "again", she said she could not confirm if I am eligible for warranty upgrade or not. So she promised to give me a call.
Of course, she didn't call me at all.
So I called again after few days and finally could upgrade my warranty.
I am buying a laptop at the cost of 3700 USD because of the well-known performance of Alienware.
However, because of that experience I had with the Pat person and the long ass time I have to wait for getting my laptop, I am not satisfied at all.
Even I started to have a doubt about the performance of 7700 if I might get a bad one just like some other Alienware owners in this forum.
I don't know what I would do if I were in that bad case.
Alienware,
I don't think you guys deserve "the best customer support in the industry" title. And I strongly suggest to educate your employees what is the true customer support.
I am waiting for my Area-51m 7700 to be arrived.
I originally placed an order for Area-51m 5500 on October 21 but later I changed it into 7700 around November 7.
Just like other people who pre-ordered their 7700, I am also on phase 2.
Here's my complaint.
First, when I changed my 5500 to 7700 I called them to change my order.
They made two mistakes. One, they placed my memory card as 2*512 instead of 1*1024. Two, they registered my email address wrong.
It took me about 2 weeks to fixt it. I had to send them emails multiple times and called them three times to fix the problems.
I was okay with it. Because I understood it could happen to anyone.
There again, they sent me an email advising me to upgrade my warranty at 10% discount price.
And my boyfriend who initially suggested me to buy an Alienware also suggested me to get a 3 years warranty.
I tried to access the link they gave me through the email, it showed me another person's name and the product he ordered.
So I called them.
A woman answered so I told her I would like to upgrade my warranty but I haven't gotten my computer yet.
She sounded confused and told me the email I got was supposed to be sent to people who already owned alienwares. That told me I got a wrong email.
And she told me to wait, so I waited on the phone about 10 minutes.
She came back and suddenly asked me [How old I am].
I was kind of surprised and confused but I told her my age which is 27.
She said [No, you cannot be 27!].
I was like what the !@#$ but I told her my birthdate.
After that she started to ask me in a very rude and inappropriate manner about what I wanted. I told her I wanted to upgrade my warranty but I wanted to know what warranty options they could provide me.
She said [Go look on the website.]
At the time, my confusion and anger exploded so I told her I did not appreciate her attitude toward her customer. And I asked her name.
She gave me her first name which is Pat in the sales department.
So I asked her last name, she said [I do not have to give you that.]
So I asked her to put her supervisor on the phone.
She made me waited another 10 minutes and finally her "supervisor" answered.
He called me a sir, so I told him I am a ma'am.
He answered he could not confirm my gender by my name so he decided to call me a sir. He made me more upset.
So I was about to yell at him, they disconnected me.
I called again, waited another 10 minutes or so.
I asked the person who answered to put Pat's supervisor on the phone.
They handed my call to the customer support department without me knowing.
Then the supervior of customer support answered.
So I asked him if it's an appropriate manner to ask a customer about her age without explaining beforehand.
He said [He didn't see why.]
It was like I was complaining to people who did not know about the customer support at all.
After all arguments and what not, he apologized me and explained to me as following.
1. I am a korean living in California without an english name.
He said, they could not identify my gender through my name.
=> Okay, I understand. Then why did Pat's supervisor treat me that way
instead of asking my gender politely?????
2. Because of my english accent and my voice, they thought I am a kid who
gave a prank call. And they got many phone calls from kids in everywhere.
=> Okay, it's understandable. At the same time, it's the age discrimination.
As a prefessional company that handles customers who are more than
willing to pay 3700 USD to their hardwares, they are obligated to serve
their customers regardless of their age!!!
That is, even if I was a kid, they were supposed to treat me as their
customer.
Besides of that, you don't assume anything about your customer and you don't treat your customer in that ridiculously rude manner.
Even more upsetting about their customer support is, the customer support supervisor put me on hold to connect me to another sales representative so that I could upgrade my warranty.
I waited 30 minutes and finally one came on the phone.
After explaining to her what I wanted "again", she said she could not confirm if I am eligible for warranty upgrade or not. So she promised to give me a call.
Of course, she didn't call me at all.
So I called again after few days and finally could upgrade my warranty.
I am buying a laptop at the cost of 3700 USD because of the well-known performance of Alienware.
However, because of that experience I had with the Pat person and the long ass time I have to wait for getting my laptop, I am not satisfied at all.
Even I started to have a doubt about the performance of 7700 if I might get a bad one just like some other Alienware owners in this forum.
I don't know what I would do if I were in that bad case.
Alienware,
I don't think you guys deserve "the best customer support in the industry" title. And I strongly suggest to educate your employees what is the true customer support.
