AW Reseller Ratings

The problem with that site, this one, and ones like it is that you hear 100% of the horror stories about something, and <1% of the good ones. Best thing to do is do some research and come to your own conclusion.

There are countless excellent reviews on that site and on this one. It's human nature to focus on the bad ones.

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I'd have to say that any "nosedive" you have noticed in the past 3 months would have to do with the holidays and the release of the 7700. I was very interested in that lappy a couple of months back but the stories I was hearing sent me in a different direction. In alienware's defense though, I would like to say I read a lot of really satisfied posts on various forums about their desktops as well as laptops. So take into account what was already mentioned, we tend to focus on the bad and are quick to bash someone when things don't go our way. Alienware may not be perfect but they wouldn't be where they are now without a lot of support from past customers.


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I did not do a lot of research when I bought a desktop replacement from Alienware, so I didn't know a lot about them. Seemed like from the website and the name recognition, they must be good. I have been shocked at how poor their customer service and support has been. I have been able to address all the issues I had with my machine and it's a great laptop. No horror stories, but I really expected more given the price, they have been pretty useless solving issues (that I was able to solve myself given my knowledge about computers).

My son wanted a gaming notebook for his birthday, so I ended up getting him a Dell XPS. He doesn't mind a bit that he is not getting Alienware given what he has seen with my purchase. I know there are Dell horror stories as well, but I can't imagine the customer support could be worse than Alienware, plus with my corporate discount, I paid a lot less. I actually know 3 people who have an XPS, and none of them have had any concerns about Dell, but I know people do complain about Dell, so no guarantee, but I do have first hand experience with Alienware at this point.

I bought my computer for pro audio and given what I have found using it, I will probably upgrade to a bigger notebook with 2 hard drives and an optical drive, and I will consider the Alienware 7700, but this time I am going to look at other brands too.

I did my research also prior to my purchase of my 7700...I also tend to think those forums focus more on the people who found it hard to wait for their rigs so they find fault with everything...I have had no problems with my AW and would/will have no problem with making another purchase from AW. I had 2 Dells prior to my AW and they were both not purchases without problems. To me AW was my moving up to a high end gaming machine and I made the purchase thinking I was buying an excellent rig from a company that builds PC's for people who can afford the best and not the generic 1 week turn around rig and I definately got what I paid for and what I expected.

I agree with Joelist. While sites like these (resellerratings.com, etc.) are NOT all-inclusive or comprehensive, they do have some value. If what others say are true ("...that you hear 100% of the horror stories about something, and <1% of the good ones..." or "...It's human nature to focus on the bad ones."), then, by default, everyone's (all seller's) scores should be below 5.0/10.0, right? If MORE people are concerned with the bad than the good, then it has to be less than 50% good.

Alas, that is not the case. I, too, have been following alienware's rating for the last 3 months. And I have seen their "lifetime rating" go from 8.3 to, the current, 7.65. So, only the bad people are posting things? NO. There are quite (the majority...since the "6 month review" is still above 5.0 (6.21)) a few good reviews on there. Just, proportionally, less good reviews now than there were 6 months ago.

I don't buy this "100%-of-the-people-complain-while-no-one-gives-any-props" ideology. If that were the case, why even have sites like this? They have to have SOME value. Furthermore, go to the same site and type in "voodoo." A "six month rating" of 10.00/10.00 and a "lifetime rating" of 9.78. Yes, I am aware that they only have 252 "lifetime reviews," whereas alienware has 760. However, this is about percentage. Proportionally, MUCH more people are satisfied with voodoo than with alienware. True, they might have to sell BOTH kidneys to buy one, but this site (resellerratings.com) is not based on "are-you-satisfied-with-your-product-considering-how-much-you-paid-for-it?" No, it is purely...satisfied or not (with varying degrees in between). The pricing is left to the consumer, as it should be.

Anyways, the point of this boorishly, long novel is to agree with Joe's concerns. As much as others on this board will hate it (I was SO psyched up to get an alienware, until I did my fair share of research), alienware's ratings have been steadily DECLINING over the last 3 months. Furthermore, click on the "rating history." Save the pricing of their goods, alienware has dropped in every other category for the last SIX months. Make of it what you will.

Also concerned about shelling out 3.7K,

JT

Edit: Now that I looked at it again, they've "dropped" in the price category as well...just not as exaggerated. So, they're charging more for less ________ (insert quality, service, etc.).

JT

Joelist:

Concerning your questions, Alienware is very dedicated to the service they provide their customers. I am one of the agents that provide help to customers or those interested in Alienware who can be found on various sites on the internet. As an example, we provide assistance here in Notebookforums.

You are going to get customers with bad experiences and good experiences all over the net. The truth is that you will most likely hear the negative than the positive of a company or product. Notebookforums is an exception to the rule. There is greater variety of positive than negative comments here.

There are possibilities when systems can arrive to a customer not working at its optimal capacity and Alienware will do all it can to rectify this.

It is great that you are doing your research and I would do the same. You should feel comfortable with whatever purchase you do.

If you have any questions or concerns, you can contact one of the agents here or call us directly. As well, you have this vast amount of knowledge in these forums and all the great people who will gladly help.

Joelist,

Go over to Voodoo's forums and watch the support area. There are numerous complaints there similar to what you see under all gaming manufacturers. Last time I was there, they were deleting complaints that I was following. Voodoo has lemons, like every other manufacturer, but they have a small community of buyers that paid too much, and won't admit it to save their lives. Pride can be a problem there, so if you go check their forums, don't mention Alienware or your visit will be filled with insults. Recently, someone from the AW forums was looking to buy a new computer, and posted his exchange with a Voodoo employee over their chat. Basically, the customer asked why Voodoo over Alienware, and the Voodoo guy told him if he's interested in AW, go buy AW. They simply refuse to itemize why their computers cost thousands more than AW. The log of the session was posted in AW's forums.

Alienware sells upwards of 6000 computers a month, I'd be surprised if Voodoo sold that many in a six months. Alienware also sells stuff through their "gear shop" and I've known at least two cases where someone got an invoice number from a minor purchase and flamed AW on resellerratings. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to see some of those reviews of AW are unreasonable.

Voodoo will also go on and on about AW's closed forums meaning they have something to hide, but Voodoo deletes messages right and left, and bans people that ask real questions. I know, I was banned for asking why Voodoo was so much more expensive than AW for the same configuration. The only answer I got was AW bashing directly from Voodoo's CTO. When I returned the attitude, I was banned. They went on and on about me for months... That issue was resolved when Nelson Gonzalez, CEO of AW posted a reply to Voodoo's CTO Rahul, and Rahul apologized and sucked up to Nelson big time. It came out at the same time that Voodoo was contacting AW behind the scenes trying to get AW to buy out Voodoo and using them as a custom top of the line computer. AW would gain nothing by buying Voodoo.

In addition, first time "wanabe" buyers are not going to spend the money to buy a Falcon Northwest or a Voodoo when a comparably configured AW can cost thousands less. For that reason, and the popularity of the Alienware name, many first time, or first time upscale rig buyers buy from Alienware. When you have people that don't know squat about computers buying the latest technology, you're going to have problems.

I've solved numerous AW customers problems on the AW forums, as have other regulars. Most of the time the issues are caused by the user. And I've also watched resellerratings from time to time, and AW is full of people that cancel their order before they even receive their computers cause they just can't wait 30 days. I would assume people that buy Voodoo and pay thousands more are more likely to accept delays, and are more familiar with computers and the hassles of having a custom rig built to your specs.

Also understand that all the "1337" boutique computer owners are bound and determined to make everyone believe their machine is better than everyone elses. Spend a little time at Voodoo and you'll see what I mean. That doesn't usually happen at AW.

Last time I looked, AW was considerably less expensive than Voodoo or FN, and their machines perform as well if not better for the same configuration according to the reviews and comparisons I've read.

That all said, resellerratings is important to AW, and they do monitor the numbers.

Hammerhead you may be able to fend off the insane number of "dishonesty" issues at reseller ratings for alienware, but do not even try to insult Voodoo with their NEAR perfect record on there, including Falcon Northwests. This persons original post is EXACTLY why I dont have an alienware, even though I always wanted one. Theres a difference between hardware failures and outright dishonesty and distrust, which is presented as incompetence by the company as almost a lesser of two evils way out.

If Alienware ever got it together they would rule the PC gaming world with some great reputation, and Id be first in line for one of those awesome systems. Heres to hope.

I seem to recall something about a 40% off coupon...

If you think that this is such a viable excuse to say "Alienware Dishonesty" and this is why you don't have an Alienware. Then Explain to me why you have a Dell? Because the reseller rating for Dell is Six-Month Rating: 3.19 Lifetime Rating: 4.49. And Alienware is Six-Month Rating: 6.25 and Lifetime Rating: 7.66. ????? Your Alienware bashing over this issue is starting to get extremely old. Listen, buy what you want. I will buy what I want. But do so based on FACT. Hammerhead posts a clearly written, objective post over the issue at hand and you attack him for it...Thats Sad.
O ya, incase you didn't you missed it before.

Alienware=Six-Month Rating: 6.25/Lifetime Rating: 7.66
Dell=Six-Month Rating: 3.19/Lifetime Rating: 4.49

We are lucky to have Alienware's techs, like Juan and Steve, checking on the owners that use this forum. I've also seen Alienware's presence in various other places on the net assisting owners. There is no agreement between Owner and Alienware that this service is given. It does show that a decision was made at Alienware Corp to provide for the owners in the most personal ways they can as a business. Its clearly going outside of their own forums, outside of the tech support chat, outside of all phone support. Of all of the support that is available for owners to go to, Alienware has taken it upon themselves to go to the owner.

When a person uses NBF AlienwareForums for information they can be assured that they are not reading over-exagerated truth, or outright lies. If an owner has a complaint, its in their own words. Alienware helps these owners and the complaint is guarded against trolls that hang out only to magnify everyones complaints. There is no way for any business to have zero complaints but for the number of owners that use this forum, the number of complaints are small. Thats an amazing thing considering that the main use of a forum is for complaints. If trolls were allowed to post to every complaint or have their own bashing threads, then the troll complaints would easily outnumber the real complaints. The information that people get to base a decision on would be tainted and owners themselves would have no use for this forum. NBF AlienwareForums is an exception to the rule. Good and Bad (Pro and Con) information works. Trolls don't.

Its all a little off topic but to add a couple examples, a year ago a person orders an Alienware and later cancels the order. Imagine that person, now obsessed with bashing Alienware, loose on the internet. They were stopped from being a troll in this forum but they still exist in every other forum that does not protect against these things. A person that never owned an Alienware basically destroying the reputation of a company with an incredible product and an excellent rep with it owners. but they still stay in this AW forum. Another example, a person orders an Alienware and comes to this forum and makes a thread titled DO NOT BUY ALIENWARE!!! The thread wasnt deleted. This person was mad over a delay in getting his machine and decided that no one should own an Alienware. even though he himself would not think of canceling his order. Nothing wrong with venting a little. He did ask to have the title changed. The new title was Order Complaint or somthing like that. Places where Alienware is discussed does attract an obsessed crowd. There are some very great people here in this forum that don't own Alienware but there are some that are just here to bash Alienware and owners. As far as ResellerRatings.com ...we don't tell happy owners to go there. A person with a complaint no matter how big or small will search for everywhere they can go to complain. nothing wrong with that but its up to the happy owners to go there and file a short review.

You make a good point Aurora, those kind of people who post DONT BUY FROM ALIENWARE are annoyed customers taking it out on the forums. I, however, do not intend to project that type of attitude. I honestly was nervous about trusting them because of the dishonesty stories...but as noted, I have no ordered one, so I can only explain why I dont own one.

As for Dell reseller ratings, read them, very little dishonesty is noted. They are all CS complaints from newbies who probably struggle to find the power button.

I think this is a useful thread and Im happy to see the Mods responding to the issue instead of deleting it. Says a lot for Aurora and Craig.

Why don't you contact AW and ask them your questions? This area of this forum has mostly AW owners and one fool who is jealous of those who can afford AW. Wether it is a PC, a car, a razor..you will find people who find fault with everything..period You mention the 200 point inspection..have AW explain this to you. If you think you are going to buy a PC and never have to call support for something then you don't live in the real world but I can tell you that AW will never leave you with a bum rig..they do whatever it takes to make their customers happy. They "custom" build your rig...they do not have hundreds of pre-builts and then switch out parts..they have a web site dedicated to customer support and after you purchase, you will be able to access your support history and an amazing knowledge base of drivers, tested by AW so you know they are compatiable with AW machines and Dell, for example, has nothing even close to that. Where on the Dell site can you access your COMPLETE support history? No where, its lost in India. AW is a total US company..support for the US, is in the US. AW has some loyal supporters here, I am one..I am convinced that they built quality and support that quality with knowledgeable dedicated support. There is only one way for you to find out for sure..isn't there? Become an AW owner yourself..you won't be disappointed.

Voodoo sucks. Now what are you going to do?

I didn't say anything about Falcon Northwests rating, if there's is good, they deserve it.

I notice you didn't say anything about Dell's rating...

Of course not Hammer...he drives a Dell...and he is constantly making comments about the quality and support of a company he does not even own a computer from...hell, I had 2 Dell's prior to my 7700 and they were CRAP..and their Indian support sucked but other than that, I loved my generic Dells and give them an owner rateing of "0" on a scale of 1-10