Alienware – Support Policy Complaint

Here is a letter that I have written to Alienware support and their business development and retail sales departments.

Alienware Upside

TO: support@alienware.com; businessdev@alienware.com; retail@alienware.com
SUBJECT: Support Policy Complaint – please forward to Alienware Support Management

PLEASE FORWARD TO MANAGEMENT IN YOUR DEPARTMENTS

Folks,

I have just purchased a high end Alienware system order number
Invoice | 325742

This system came with Vista Ultimate 32bit. I purchased 4GB of memory and due to the restrictions of the hardware and software – of which i was not informed before my purchase – I now only have use of 2.8GB of memory. This is clearly a case of deceptive advertising. I apparently have two options,
(1) Downgrade to Windows XP Pro
(2) Upgrade to Windows 64bit edition

It seems clear that I should not Downgrade to the XP edition. Most of the software that I intend to run either runs fine on the 64 bit compatibility mode or runs on 64 bit native mode.

However, I find two things:

(1) On this page at Microsoft I find that

“Note: 64-bit media is included in the box with Windows Vista Ultimate.”

so I should have gotten the 64bit media with my AlienRespawn recover kit which includes the Windows Vista Ultimate recovery media. But there is no such media included.]

(2) I find that I get a slap in the face by your support policies if I attempt to upgrade. THIS IS TOTALY UNREASONABLE AND PREDATORY!!!
ALIENWARE SUPPORT SITE:

“It is important to keep in mind that since Alienware does not support third party software, it will not be possible to receive support from us if an operating system other than the one that was originally purchased is installed on the computer. This rule also applies to Windows XP 64-bit Edition.
Any questions regarding third-party software or hardware must be addressed to their respective manufacturers.

If your computer does have a third-party operating system installed, you will not be entitled to receive support until the computer has been reverted to its original configuration and is running on Alienware’s OEM operating system.”

So,

(1) Your purchase policies are deceptive in that I purchased 4GB and did not receive the use of my 4GB and did not receive any warning that this was the case. AND

(2) When I have called Alienware about support for my 32bit operating system You say that this support is provided by Microsoft and when I call Microsoft they refuse any support, even during the first 90 days because my install ID contains the letters OEM. So I have NO SUPPORT FOR MY OPERATING SYSTEM SUPPLIED ON MY SYSTEM EVEN DURING THE FIRST 90 Days!!! And support costs $60 per incident from Microsoft!!!

(3) You are unwilling, apparently, to support the originally supplied operating system or software.

(4) You explicitly Deny me support if I upgrade to another operating system which will support all of the hardware that I purchased.

While I can understand your “Cover your Butt” support policy as it might apply to some of the dozens of distros of Linux, I cannot understand your support policy with respect to Windows 64bit Vista when you don’t support Windows 32bit Vista anyway. You refuse answer questions about the operating system , not matter what it is, even tho your use of OEM product licenses apparently requires you to based on Microsoft Support Policy – which you have agreed to by using these licenses.

You cannot have it both ways. Such practice is deceptive and amounts, IMHO, to fraud.

I am asking that you change your support policy to cover all versions of Windows Operating systems equally which would mean:
(1) You continue to not answer questions about 32bit Windows Vista but also be willing to not answer questions about 64 bit Windows Vista.
(2) That you be willing to answer hardware and BIOS – or whatever questions you are willing to answer – about a system that is running Windows Vista 64 bit edition.

Have a nice day,

Darrell Duffy

===========================
1 | AREA-51 7500-R4

1 | FULL-TOWER BLACK CASE 2.0B
1 | EVGA NFORCE 680I SLI MB
1 | D- CORE 2 DUO EXTREME 2.66GHZ QX6700 8M
4 | PDP 1GB DDR2 LOW LATENCY PC-6400 AW96
2 | SEAGATE 250GB SATA 3G 7200RPM 8MB CACHE NCQ
1 | NEC 18X DUAL LAYER DVD±R/W RAM RECORDER
1 | ATECH 28 IN 1 MEDIA READER
1 | INTEGRATED HIGH-DEF AUDIO NVIDIA C55-MB
1 | EVGA NVIDIA GEFORCE 8800 GTX 768MB PCI-E
1 | VISTA ULTIMATE COA 32 BIT
1 | ALIENWARE DIGITAL DOWNLOAD STORE
1 | ALIENFX SOFTWARE VERSION 1.05
1 | POWERDVD 7 FOR VISTA 8CH
1 | NERO 7 R5.9 DL
1 | VISTA RESPWAN KIT
1 | SYMANTEC GHOST CORPORATE VERSION 8 (LICENSE)
1 | OWNER IDENTIFICATION CARD
1 | ELC TO MOTHERBOARD PWR/HD CABLE REV3
1 | ELC TO MOTHERBOARD USB CABLE REV3
1 | ALIENWARE MAIN BOARD RGB REV 4
1 | CONTROL ELC SW CARD
1 | AVC PENTIUM 4 DUAL CORE HSF Z9H741K001
1 | GX2 G80 DUAL SLOT CARD KEEPER
1 | 1 KILOWATT OEM ATX PSU
1 | 1 KILOWATT MOUNTING BRACKET AMTEK
1 | 1 KW POWER CORD
1 | 3.5″ TO 5.25″ EXTERNAL DEVICE ADAPTER
1 | ELC MAGENTA
1 | RAID 0 STRIPING 2 DRIVES
1 | 4-YR 24/7 WARRANTY
1 | ON-SITE WARRANTY
1 | PERIPHERALS
1 | BLACK BASIC OPTICAL MOUSE
1 | ALIENWARE MOUSE PAD
1 | VISTA RECOVERY DVD
1 | VISTA SUPPORT CD – AREA-51 7500 R4
1 | NERO 7 R5.9
1 | ALIENWARE DESKTOP BINDER VISTA
1 | STANDARD KEYBOARD BLACK
1 | NO MONITOR OPTION
2 | ALIENWARE STICKER
1 | ALIENWARE T-SHIRT XL BLACK
1 | Thank you for choosing Alienware.
1 | Check back for the latest deals on Alienware products!

4 thoughts on “Alienware – Support Policy Complaint”

  1. After an hour or so on the phone with Microsoft, and them calling Alienware on my behalf, Microsoft finally sent me to “Media Replacement” where I filled out a form and faxed it in to obtain my Windows Vista 64 bit edition media. That request is in progress.

  2. So, after the hour on the phone with Microsoft and filling out the paperwork and faxing it in, they have refused to honor the request that they said was the solution to my problem. I have sent the whole paper trail to Alienware support to see what they have to say.

  4. Amy, from Microsoft called back to follow up on my request for a Vista 64bit edition disk. We can’t do that… We then transferred to Joyce in Licensing who didn’t have a clue, but was very helpful in navigating some websites and confirming that in order to have 64 bit, I will need to purchase a Complete package of Windows Vista Ultimate, which comes with 64 bit media.
    And in other news, checking the environment variables to determine whether the processor is x64 or x86 does not work. The Intel Core 2 QX6700 quad core processor is indeed 64bit capable, based on the data sheet from Intel. But the environment variable says x86.

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