I started this review on the 16th October 2026 after being messed about by Dell since September the 20th
I am writing this review to highlight the atrocious lack of support I have experienced with my faulty Dell laptop
The Dell Warrantee specifies:
- First-Year Warranty & Support Features:
- Duration: 1 year of included base hardware coverage.
Alienware Care Included:
- 24/7 hardware and software support via phone, chat, and online.
- On-location repair service (typically 1 to 2 business days) after remote diagnosis.
- File and memory backup assistance.
- Access to the Alienware health check dashboard and proactive part-replacement alerts.
Evidence of authenticity: Dell Service Tag: 9PPMFD4 [Case Number : 231941818/Service Request: 1278241877]
I purchased my Dell Alienware 18 Area-51 mid September 2025 for the not insignificant sum of £3015.
I purchased the laptop primarily for photo and video editing/processing purposes hence the high specification.
Around July 2026, the laptop started randomly totally locking up when I picked it up or moved it in any way.
At first, the Lockups were fairly infrequent so I didn't think too much of it.
As time went on, the Lockups become more frequent, even happening during booting before Windows started up.
By this time, I was totaly convinced that there was some sort of electro/mechanical fault with the laptop (not software as it would Lockup during BIOS booting).
On September 20th, while on a trip to France, with my laptop now almost unusable, I finally plucked up the energy to deal with Dell customer support so I phoned them (after fighting my way past their AI assistant!!).
After an hour of over the phone and remote diagnostics, the support person finally came to the conclusion that it was a hardware problem and not a software issue - even though, I explained to them a dozen times during the call that it only ever Locked up when physically moving/knocking the device!!.
After discussing the problem with her manager, the support person informed me that they believed the problem was with the motherboard and they would have an engineer visit me within 2 business days to replace it.
To cut a very long story short, on the 16th October (today), almost 4 weeks after reporting the problem, my laptop has still not been repaired!! So much for the original 2 business days repair!!!.
I was advised 2 days ago that an engineer would visit today (Friday 16th Oct) to carry out the repair so I re-arranged my schedule in order to sit at home between the advised time of 08:00 and 18:00 to provide access to my laptop for the engineer.
After lunch, I checked the online status page associated with my laptop and noticed that they have changed the scheduled repair date to Monday 19th Oct !!!.
I contacted Dell support (in India) and they advised me that the service engineer was unable to visit as they couldn't contact me by phone!! ( I live in the UK and my phone has a UK number - surprise!! ( I am only visiting friends in France for a short period )
Again, to cut a long story short, it transpired that the French service company would not come out to repair my laptop unless they could phone me on a French phone number!! Is this 2026 or 1926?? Incredible !!. It also transpired that this was the reason the French engineer didn't visit today!!!
I have borrowed a Mobile phone from a friend with a French SIM (mobile number) and provided the details to the Dell servive team, maybe this will help???
By Monday, if the enginner should turn up, I will have been waiting 29 days for a repair that was suposed to happen within 2 business days!!.
Maybe Dell should state in their warranty contract that you are only covered when outised your home country "If, you have a phone number associated to the country you are visiting" What if you are travelling on business???? Do you need to have a SIM for every country????.
Later on Friday afternoon, a Dell support person in India phoned and confirmed they had received the French phone number and that the French engineer had all the parts required and would visit on Monday to effect the repair
Monday 19th October.
At 09:00, after checking the Dell online status page for my problem and finding no update, I emailed Dell support in India
The email reply I recieved back sent my blood pressure through the roof - they advised me that a service technician would not vist me because I don't have a French phone number !!!!
I advised them (by email again as it seems to be the only way to get a timely response ) that I had been through all this nonsense last Friday and forwarded them the email they sent to me thanking me for providing them with a French phone number!!
A reply came back appologising for the "misunderstanding". They also advised me that the French support team have been updated with the phone number and that they will be intouch with me ( but no indication as to when they will be intouch !! )
I again emailed India requesting that they confirm an engineer will visit today but no response has been received back........
My thoughts at this moment are that the Dell wararanty support team(s) are just totally incompetant and I am now regretting renewing my extended warranty (which was not cheap) a few weeks ago :-( !!!
Mid morning update Monday 19th October.
After numerous emails back and forth to Dell technical support in India, they are now saying that they received the French phone number too late in the afternoonn last Friday to enable a repair technician to visit today - what a pathetic excuse !!
Late afternoon update Monday 19th October.
A Dell support person phoned me from India at lunchtime, he advised me that an engineer will definately be visiting tomorrow to repair my laptop.....
A French engineer phoned late afternoon, he plans to visit this coming Thursday but is unable to say if it will be Morning or Afternoon, he sounded like he really wasn't interested!!
I will just have to wait to see what Thursday brings!! - By Thursday, it will be almost 5 weeks since I reported the laptop fault to Dell, 5 weeks without a usable laptop! Very disapointed!!
Thursday 22nd October.
Well, the disaster continues!! Sat at home all day waiting for the repair visit only to be advised late afternoon by Unisys that they were not able to visit today!! Just incredible!!
After a number of emails back and forth to Dell suport, Unisys phoned late in the day to advise that an engineer would definitely visit tomorrw (Friday) with no appologies, explainations or excuses for not visiting today - how bad can it get???
Friday 23rd October.
I was hoping that finaly, after all this time and frustration, today would be the day that I get a working laptop again......
I received a phone call from the Unisys engineer around 09:00 advising that he would be visiting mid afternoon - looking good :-).
Just after 11:00 I received a call from the engineer advising that due to traffic problems, he would not be able to visit today but possibly he might visit on Monday!!! This is now the 4th time Unisys have promised a visit and not turned up!! (Last Friday, Monday, Thursday and now today)
I can honestly say, in my whole lifetime ( and I am no spring chicken ), I have never come across such gross incompetence in a company - ever!!!!
So, it is now back to more emails back and forth to Dell support in India
As an aside, I am certain, based on the wordage, All of the email I receive back from Dell india are AI generated - progress!!!!
Late afternoon ( Friday 23rd ) the Unisys engineer sent a text to advise that someone would "definitely" visit on Monday morning to carry out the repair - we will see!!!
Monday 26th October.
I don't know why but I had great hopes for today - what a fool I am!!
I sat in until mid-day before emailing Dell support in India to get a confirmation that the engineer was still going to visit today as they had promised to visit this morning but it was now afternoon
Dell emailed me back advising that they had sent a message to the French engineer and that he would be in touch to confirm the visit
A short while later, the French engineer phoned to advise that he would NOT be visiting today but tomorrow was possible!!! - No appology or reason given!
I am now totally LIVID. This is the 5th day that I have had to re-arrange my schedule in order to stay at home waiting for the promised engineer visit only to end up being told that they would not be coming for one ridiculous reason or another!!!
So, as a reminder, the Dell warrantee states that my laptop is covered by a 2 working day on-site repair visit. It has now been 36 days since I reported the problem and they initialy advised me that an engineer would vist to repair it within 2 days!!!
Dell support India phoned me after lunch and tried to persuade me to try waiting in for the French service engineer again tomorrow (that would be the 6th day I would have waited at home for a visit!!). I advised Dell support that I would be returning home to the UK this coming weekend and could not afford to spend another day waiting for the French engineer to visit
I advised Dell support that I would set aside next Tuesday 3rd November to be at home all day for an engineer to carry out the repair at my home. The Dell support person advised me that they would arrange for the repair in the UK for next week
I also requested that the support engineer arraange to ensure that the parts required would be available in the UK for next Tuesday and confirmed that he would
Only time will tell if the Dell UK repair service team is better than their French service which is Non Existant!!
I will continue to update this review as the sorry saga progresses........
I would like to note that from the start of this saga, the India based support team have been faultless (including their AI email generator!! )
The problems have occured due to Dell's inability to source/supply the components required to effect the repair followed by the French Unisys group's
incompetence and attitude (total lack of) to supporting customers!!
Based purely on their after sales support, I will most certainly NOT be buying any Dell products again in the future!!
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