Alienware, Dell Computers Forced to take apart computer at home thus voiding warranty Miami Florida

My husband and I bought a refurbished laptop computer on April 10, 2008 and when we received the computer it did not work. We bought this computer for $1033.98 through EBay Alienware Outlet Store.

I now believe that we received a computer which had been returned to them broken and was then roughly patched up and passed on to us. I called their technical support on eight separate occasions and spent at least eight hours on the phone trying to get the computer working. Their best solution was to have me, a person with no computer experience, take the computer completely apart and try to fix the problems.

Technical support had me remove the hard drive, install all drivers, take the keyboard off, and remove and replace almost every essential component of the computer. When I repeatedly asked to send in the computer for repair they refused and instead had me (again) remove the hard drive and mail it in. They then sent me a new one.

What we received several weeks later was password protected for some other person's user profile with no password. I called them again and again their best answer was to have me take apart my computer and re-install all the drivers. The warranty is now expired, but the computer still does not work. I had asked on several occasions, within my warranty, for them to take the computer back and fix the unit properly. Alienware refused.

We now believe this was done intentionally to cause the 90 day warranty to expire thus requiring us to pay for the parts. We had saved for a year to buy this computer. All we want is that which was promised to us when we purchased the machine, a working computer. We have called Alienware and asked them to please take it back and repair the unit. They refuse unless we pay for all the repairs.

We took the computer to Falcon Computers here in Waimea to see if they could fix it. The technician looked at it and immediately knew that the problem was probably a faulty motherboard and stated that there would be no reason any computer technician would not be able to diagnose this repair.

This further cements our feelings that Alienware purposely and knowingly ran out our warranty to avoid paying for this repair. We have contacted the Better Business Bureau and filed a complaint. We believe this is a clear case of fraud. We want either a working computer or our money back.

Brooke
Kamuela, Hawaii
U.S.A.