I have tried to order a computer from Alienware/Dell for about the past month, maybe longer. Originally, I tried to order an Area 51m through the outlet. No problem, excellent. Ordered it, sweet. A few days later, let's see how it's coming along!

Cancelled.

Oh? Cancelled? I don't remember doing that. Call them up (thankfully their hours are cut way back, so getting ahold of someone is already hard). Card was 'declined'. Oh? Oh. Call the bank, they say, "nah, you're good to go. Call back, "We have to verify this." Not a problem, wait for the rep to call back, and no call. Eventually, send a message to the rep, and responses stop entirely. Get discouraged (this is heavily condensed to save you the time of reading too much bitching, but that was probably 20 calls and chats and emails later, throughout this), gave up.

Started watching for the Asus SCAR 17. Was going to get that, but didn't really like how thin it was. Eventually, as the date got closer, the m17 R3 was announced. Decided I might try for that.

Placed an order, as released. Excellent! How's that going anyhow? Oh, cancelled? Yep, cancelled. No call, no notification of it. Just an email. Neat. Let's do this game again. At least the support is open longer this time. Call them up, same story. "We need to verify it, give us a few hours". So, I check it again the next time I have free time. Nope, nothing. No response, no update, no reply or call back. Just, "cancelled", and maybe they're checking into it still, maybe not. At least this time it shows they preauthorized my card, versus the other times.

So, I try a third time. This time, I explain I do NOT want to have the exact situation that happened before happen again. "No problem, we can handle that!" Place the order with a rep, excellent. It's good to go! A few hours later, let's find out. Nope, cancelled. Call back, same old story. "We have to verify, we're gonna transfer you to the verification team." Excellent, no problem. By now I can recite my credit card number from memory. Verify all my information, and then, "we will call you back in a few hours. Three hours, maybe two." What if I miss the call, can I call you back? No direct answer there, just "we need to call you." No problem, I mean I work two jobs, one being overnight, so sleep would be nice, but I can stay up for this. I mean, I've already put easily five hours plus, between all of this, into trying to get a replacement for my 17R4. Let's get this over with.

Drink some energy drinks, power through, 8 hours worth of awake. Not a single call. Call AGAIN and try AGAIN, and once again, the same story. Processed, cancelled.

Now as I type this I'm on the phone with Dell, and of course they 'cannot give me further information'. Gonna need a supervisor if I wanna know more, but they are 'at a meeting'. At 8PM CST (the time zone they go off of). At a meeting. Meanwhile, I want to know why they don't want my money, and I've wasted probably 6 or 7 hours into this at this point (not counting waiting) already, and still no computer or explanation why. Tons of "I'll call you back" assurances that, at this point, pretty much let me know I will NOT get a call back.

I guess at this point, I'm ready to let you guys know to be careful with them. I've had questionable, but manageable, experiences with them in the past, but it seems here it's gone downhill HARD. I'm at the point of just saying screw it, biting the bullet, and going with another brand; even if I don't enjoy it as much. I mean, at least then I'll get it (I've ordered from elsewhere many times with no problem, in the past), and if their support is this bad for even MAKING a sale, what's it gonna be like if it turns out the m17 R3 with the 2080S is as big a failure and a flop as the original Area 51M/2080 setup was? How many phone calls and hours wasted and weeks of waiting, is that gonna take, just to get it fixed?

This is probably the worst service I've ever had with any company, short of a "Clevo-rebrand type" system builder, who several years ago claimed the warranty of a system I had was void, simply because my uncle had purchased it in his name (before I had a credit card with a high enough limit to buy a several thousand dollar computer) but I was the one using it.

Edit: Welp, it's now past their "business hours" (9 PM CST), so it looks like another assurance of a "call back" from a supervisor, didn't happen. Not really sure where to go from here.

Edit 2: See the new post by me for more details on this -- I was actually contacted by a Dell employee that saw this post, and he rectified pretty much every issue completely, working with me and keeping in regular contact over the course of a month. I was quite impressed with the manner it was handled, it was awful at first but once he took over, things started getting resolved in a very reasonable time. The employee was Jerry Strother, I was fairly skeptical at first but upon reaching out (with due caution, of course), it did indeed turn out to be legitimate and I am very glad I took the chance. Hopefully this will help anyone else that looks into this person in the future - I did not find much on the matter when looking up the contact information posted, before contacting, but they are indeed legitimate (they have a Dell domain email, of course, as well as can be reached via Dell's number). Definitely reply back to them, they helped me immensely where no one else would.