Purchasing an Alienware Machine Online? Be Careful

Purchasing used computer equipment online – especially complete machines – can be a little sketchy if you’re not careful. But assuming you receive the machine, and it works, you should be fine. Right? Well, apparently not if it was an Alienware desktop or notebook. According to one consumer’s recollection of a recent purchase, if you buy an Alienware notebook, even new, from a seller and don’t get properly attached to the ownership, you’ll be out of luck with regards to support, and replacement parts.

The author of the blog post, Chris Paget, bought a used Alienware notebook off of eBay, and after receiving it, he decided he needed the “smart bay” accessory, used to hot-swap hard drives, which he wanted for dual-booting purposes. He quickly found out what a hassle it would be, however, as Alienware simply refused to tell him even the price for the component, since he was not the original owner.

Although I appreciate Alienware’s loyalty to their customers, it’s not safe to automatically assume that because someone’s name isn’t on the machine, that it’s stolen. PCs are often given as gifts, and it’s typical for used equipment to get swapped around. It’s also sad that if your seller doesn’t cooperate, you’ll essentially be out of luck for purchasing replacement parts – a hard pill to swallow if Alienware happens to be the only company around with that exact part you need.

This example does raise a real concern though, since Alienware PCs tend to be hot products. Be careful when purchasing one such machine online, and look into getting the name transferred over, because you don’t want to wind up in the same situation as Chris.

Problem is, my money is apparently not good enough for Alienware. Tech support, customer service, and pre-sales support have all refused to even give me a price, let alone take my money. Why? For “security reasons” they’re not allowed to speak to anyone but the registered owner of the system, despite the fact that all I’m trying to do is purchase a (universally compatible) accessory. Nowhere else that I’ve found sells them (the CSR I spoke to suggested eBay and newegg), and Alienware apparently don’t want my money.