I wrote the following letter to Alienware's CEO and President:

Dear Alienware President and/or CEO-
In August, 2007, I purchased from your website an Alienware Aurora M9700. Customer ID number 431318, Order number PC-515487, Invoice number 351814. I am writing to DEMAND a refund or REPLACEMENT!
Upon ordering this computer, I was very excited. ALTHOUGH I PAID A TOTAL OF $2,399.44, I was confident that it would be well worth the price paid…I was SADLY MISTAKEN! When I received my computer, I took it out of the box and powered it up, as the directions stated. Once the power was on, it started making a clicking noise. I called your “tech support” and spent 2 HOURS ON HOLD, AND EVERY TIME I SPOKE WITH ONE OF YOUR “REPRESENTATIVES”, I WAS TOLD, “PLEASE HOLD TWO MINUTES.” After my long wait and some very unprofessional conversation and troubleshooting, I was told to take a SCREWDRIVER to my new computer and remove one of the two hard drives. I told your “representative” that I was very uncomfortable doing this, as I was not by any means a computer technician, nor did I have the proper equipment to ensure that I was grounded, so I didn’t shock the computer with static electricity. Reluctantly, I did so anyway, and was told to send the hard drive back when I got my new one in the mail. For the next few days, I had to sit on the phone for countless hours, attempting to reinstall windows on only one of the hard drives. I had to repeat this process AGAIN when the new hard drive came. Had this been the only problem I ran into, I would not be writing this letter…
Other problems that have come about since then have been as follows:
1.) Constant crashes and loss of information (reported, unresolved)
2.) Countless hardware error messages (reported, unresolved)
3.) Problems with video card (reported, unresolved)
4.) Completely lost administrator account, along with 80+ gigs of IMPORTANT INFORMATION! (reported, unresolved)
5.) HORRIBLE CUSTOMER SERVICE AND TECH SUPPORT
a. Never given straight answers
b. When I had a problem with the wireless card, I was AGAIN instructed by your less than stellar support staff to COMPLETELY REMOVE THE KEYBOARD IN MY LAPTOP AND DIG INTO THE MOTHERBOARD!!!! I again told them that I was not qualified to do this and that I did not have the proper equipment!!

c. Today, I called to speak with someone about my disappointment with your company and spoke with a customer service rep named Mike. After some time, he finally agreed to transfer my call to his supervisor. He told me “please hold two minutes”. I proceeded to hold for 10 minutes. The “supervisor” then got on the line. This supervisor’s name is Eddy Ramos, agent ID# 00377,Customer Service Supervisor. I explained to him that my computer was a LEMON and demanded a refund or replacement. He told me that this was not an option. I demanded to speak with his superior and was told, and I QUOTE: “"You are higher position you can reach customer service dept."
To my knowledge, this means absolutely nothing in the English language.
I asked him to transfer my call to Alienware’s ombudsman, and he refused. I continued to demand to speak with the ombudsman, and was continuously denied. Eventually, your customer support “supervisor” informed me that he did not even know what an ombudsman was, and refused to transfer my call to someone who might be able to assist me further.


In closing, I am again DEMANDING A REFUND OR REPLACEMENT! IF YOU OPT FOR REPLACEMENT, YOU WILL REPLACE IT WITH WINDOWS XP PRO INSTEAD OF VISTA. It is my FULL INTENT to forward this letter to the BETTER BUSINESS BUREAU, THE FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION, MIAMI DADE LOCAL BUSINESS AUTHORITIES, as well as LOCAL AND NATIONAL NEWSPAPERS AND MAGAZINES. ALSO, I WILL BE POSTING A BLOG LATER ON TODAY. THIS IS NOT A THREAT, RATHER A DEMAND FOR TRUE CUSTOMER SERVICE, AND AN ATTEMPT TO SWAY OTHERS FROM MAKING THE SAME MISTAKE THAT I DID....THAT IS, DOING BUSINESS WITH ALIENWARE.