Alienware accused of only courting positive reviews

While our dealings with Alienware have been nothing but positive (although we haven't chosen to review any of their systems), HEXUS seems to have gotten into a bit of tussle with the high-end PC maker, saying that the company will no longer send them products as a result of a negative review. The altercation culminated in an email exchange in which HEXUS claimed that Alienware "will only submit products to publications which will write nice things about Alienware," to which an Alienware representative responded: "That's was (sic) and remains Alienware's global marketing strategy from the beginning. We're hardly alone." Now, Alienware's received its share of less-than-positive reviews over the years so it's not clear how tightly they stick to that "global marketing strategy," if that's the case, but wouldn't the best strategy be to just make great PCs and let the reviews take care of themselves? Either way, we can certainly tell you that if that's actually the case, we'd have stopped dealing with them (or anyone else demanding positive reviews) faster than you can say VoodooPC.

[Via Slashdot]

[Common Sense @ Oct 31st 2006 7:18AM]

Err.. If you talk smack about me, why would i want to hang out with you?

[LS @ Oct 31st 2006 7:45AM]

If you aren't big enough to take criticism then why send your machines for review in the first place? Taking a stance like this can only serve to completely undermine any review of their systems, as surely the reader cannot be assured of the reviewer's independence and thus credibility.

Personally speaking I've had a lot of trouble with my Alienware laptop, as has my boss, so I'd not be rushing out to buy another one no matter how good a "review" might say it is.

[Radiance @ Oct 31st 2006 7:55AM]

Ah, this little insight is great.
Now I know how much to trust a review of any Alienware product. Not.

[7of7 @ Oct 31st 2006 7:59AM]

Surely Engadget of all places should know that it doesn't matter how good a product is there will always be people who hate it. Look at all the great things Microsoft has done for which they've been roundly hated and insulted by the sheeple at Slashdot and Digg. It only makes sense to stop dealing with companies whose dogma is rabidly against your company.

[Revrant2394 @ Oct 31st 2006 8:20AM]

Minus to Radiance, multiple if I could.

First off Alienware has great products, as far as I've experienced anyway, which so far is everything minus the Laptops, who the hell buys a Gaming laptop anyhow? They're already Big Expensive Heat traps, hey, let's give them LESS space, and thus LESS airflow, hotter processors, hard drives, and videocards!

Hoo Freckin' Yeah!

Now that I've established that i think Gaming laptops in general are a foolish idea(and poorly executed for the most part), founded on the already flimsy and undependable lineage of the Laptop, let's move on.

I didn't care to find the review where they bashed their product, but the ones I did find were very positive reviews(And surprisingly extensive), so I'm going to just off and assume the review was for a laptop, as I don't believe I've found a credible negative review for their Desktops.

Word Of Mouth: Avoid a gaming Laptop unless you can palm it yourself and see how it operates, because they're big, heavy, expensive heat traps with poor airflow.

[Alienware theives @ Oct 31st 2006 7:36PM]

Your right in that people should avoid Gaming laptops, however in 2004 I did not know that. I purchased an Area-51m 766 in April. I've had nothing but problems with it since, when I called them about the overheating they told me to turn OFF the videocard. Hello that's the whole point of a gaming laptop.

This past summer my battery died, no problem went to their website and ordered a new one for this same model. When I received it, it was the wrong battery, their customer support argued with me for 30 min about how to properly replace the battery. When I told them I can read them the part number on the new battery he said oh that's for the 7700 series you need for the 766 series. I asked for an exchange because my invoice did list the correct part number. CS then told me they discontinued making that part they can't exchange, I told them I want a refund, 15% restocking fee and they keep what I paid for shipping.

Attn Alienware! You can't keep shipping fees and charge a restocking fee when the error is on your end and you can't fix the issue or get the right component out to the customer. It has been 8 months now of constant arguing on the phone with them at least 1 hour a week. One month after this happened one of their CS reps promised I would have my money back in 2 weeks. I still have not seen a dime. I started calling them again after the two weeks and everytime their computer system is down. If their in house system is broken why would I beleive they home system would work. I finally got an email saying they were going to correct the problem with a gift certificate to amazon.com. I never recieved that, the next time I called I no longer have a account with them. They are trying to say I never purchased from them anything every.

So I've siced the Attorney Generals of Michingan and Florida on them and complained to the BBB. I hope they get shut down. The most frustrating thing is not they return BS but every CS agent I've ever dealt with can't speak english without a thick accent. CS agents must be understandable to the customers they are going to be helping. I have an advantage by speaking 3 other languages other than english, if I can't understand you most other Americans won't either.

DOWN WITH ALIENWARE!!!!!

[koppite1 @ Oct 31st 2006 8:21AM]

Common Sense, and 7of7, maybe you should bother reading the link first, before posting ;)

It's not a case of hating for hatings sake. One of the main points is that Alienware took exception to the fact Nexus pointed out similar spec could be had for less of your $$��

[videoezy @ Oct 31st 2006 8:27AM]

It is just a good business marketing strategy, a bit unethical, but which company these days isn't?

Why on earth would Alienware send their own expensive products (at their own cost) in exchange for a negative review? The whole point of sending their products is for greater publicity and marketing, and if reviewers decide to give negative reviews they should expect a negative response by Alienware. I mean, why would HEXUS want any of Alienware's products now anyway, since it was so negative.

Please keep in mind that these reviewing websites and magazines are businesses too. Reviews do not go through any standard procedure or legal rules before being published, they are merely biased opinions in order to convince unknowing customers to buy a specific product. Many of these reviewing agencies are sponsered by these big companies too, ever wonder why some specific brands are always receiving positive reviews (OK, I guess that there are SOME good brands who always churn out great products).

Look I'm sure Alienware as do most other companies does try to make great products but if they don't, it's a good marketing team responsibility to at least make sure the customers think they have made great products regardless.

As for HEXUS... boo hoo! I guess you can't always get freebies!

[Killernight @ Oct 31st 2006 8:32AM]

I work for a big box retailer which used to carry alienware. we had some times that alienware would make the product wrong and would not take it back and told our gm and regional "manager to bad".

we also had some one pay an extra 2500.00 for a chameleon paint job which was damaged and scratched to a very hot place in shipping and the customer was told that it was not there fault and they need to contact the shipper, the only problem is there was no scratches or any damage to the box..

Needless to say our 3 year contract quickly went to 3 months.

[Aaron @ Oct 31st 2006 8:53AM]

HEXUS is one of the greatest and fairest reviewers of hardware on the net.

It's good to know that journalist integrity still exists, even if it means them not getting hardware to review in future.

If Alienware truly believe in their products then they should continue to send hardware out to review to people who have given in negative reviews in the past. How do they expect their products to improve and thrive if all they listen to is yes men?

[Scuba Steve @ Oct 31st 2006 8:58AM]

I don't really understand all these positive comments (positive towards Alienware at least). I'd have thought that the average Engadget reader buys a lot of gadgets, and therefore relies on supposedly trustworthy review sites for help when choosing those products. Now suddenly you're all fine with the fact that those sites either have to tow the line and post nothing but good reviews, or simply stop reviewing products from companies with over-sensitive marketing departments.

If this behavior is OK with you, does that mean you would be happy to never see a bad review, and to never be able to trust a good one ever again? Or do you all have the time and resources to test every PC (or gadget) in your price range before making your choice?

I get to evaluate a lot of new technology as part of my job, but I'd be a bit lost without all the honest review sites out there. If they don't carry a review of a product, that may well be enough to knock that product off my shopping list...

[Forrest @ Oct 31st 2006 9:18AM]

I think with any company that has a marketing department, you're going to get crap like this. I'm sure the product designers *want* the negative feedback - it only helps improve the next design. The marketing folks don't care, though - it's their job to put a high gloss paint job on even the smelliest pile of crap that falls out of R&D. Hell, in some situations marketing is actually driving the design! Talk about trouble...

I'm in a business where I get regular feedback from customers, and I crave the constructive criticism. Anything that can help me improve my performance is a good thing.

That said, I can understand having an outlook like this. If a reviewer makes multiple baseless, negative claims about the quality of your product, why would you continue to subject yourself to that? I'm not saying HEXUS did anything of the sort, but I think it's wise to at least have a policy to fall back on in situations like that.

[Rob @ Oct 31st 2006 9:21AM]

My review of all those people who defend this practice by Alienware... LAME!

Sometimes I receive trade publications that only have positive reviews (rather than REAL product review), and when trying to make a purchasing decision, these reviews are completely useless.

Those of you who defend Alienware should be forced to only read candy-ass positive reviews before you make your tech purchases. Then you can figure out all the problems AFTER you've paid several thousand dollars for a crappy product.

[Cwoodward @ Oct 31st 2006 9:26AM]

videoezy says 'Why on earth would Alienware send their own expensive products (at their own cost) in exchange for a negative review?'

This comment suggests that a company already knows the outcome of the review before they've even sent the product. A company provides an item to review for the advertising this will bring. They should 'hope' that the review is positive and if not examine the reasons why not. A company that demands only positive reviews before the product has been tested is a company that has no faith in the product they are trying to sell. Shaping a reviewers opinion is an old practice and occurs in every form of business, but that still doesn't make it right. People read Hexus as a guide to make buying a little bit easier. If we can't trust those guides then websites and magazines like them are nothing more than a collection of adverts.

[John Gegier @ Oct 31st 2006 9:29AM]

First of all to all the "Business Fan-Boy's" out there. Shut the hell up, no body cares if something is just business. it's the lie that is destroying the modern world.

Secondly, Alienware is also for Fan-Boys. When they first came out I was like "Cool someone is finally building some high end stuff and not that average crap they sell at Dell" But since their inception they have WAY over charged for their products. Just the other day I went to see what kind of Alienware PC I could buy since it's about that time again and I am going to need to build a new puter. I went in and speced out the meanest AMD based machine I could and threw in all of the options I would like. The price came back at 7800.00 bucks. I them went to NewEgg and proceeded to build an identical machine with a few exceptions, and for those exceptions where I could not match the exact part I went with better hardware. My price in the end, and this with a 3 inch bigger flat screen, was 4400.00. That's 3400.00 more for a glowing alien face. I could build a second kick ass machine for that difference or two typical top of the line desktops.

Anyway, stay away from Alienware, they have always been overpriced, and I have heard nothing but complaints from anyone who has ever tried to return something or have something repaired. Get a book and build your own, PC's are FAR to easy to build to pay these idiots to build them for you, then you get direct support for the various parts manufacturers instead, and if they suck you're out a couple of hundred bucks and have learned a lesson. But with a 7000 dollar piece of crap you going to be living with it for quite some time I'd imagine.

[Al @ Oct 31st 2006 9:38AM]

videoezy, you might want to try reading the review. It's not a very negative review at all. All they did was point out a couple of minor issues on the spec and pointed out that you could get cheaper or faster elsewhere. That's all.

If a company has a dog of a product then they'd be mad to send it out for review anyway (although they probably shouldn't be selling it). To have a blanket policy of only sending out review units if the publication will be nice to them is a step too far. They're probably not the only ones that do this but fair play to Hexus for standing up for what they believe in.

[ebzy @ Oct 31st 2006 9:42AM]

To be honest I couldn't care less about these type of products and their reviews.

Why you may ask. I prefere to build my own to exactly match my needs. I have a seperate computer and laptop (this laptop is a basic novatech laptop which I added ram, hdd, dvd-rw, and also have a whole heap of additional peripherals which I buy as needed) for general office use and DVD, a seperate computer for 3d modeling, and a seperate computer for games and audio editing.

The only reviews I care about are for specific components, not fashionable pc builders.

Where as I comiserate with the average joe bloggs on the street who doesn't knoe the difference between his harddrive and his ram, I seriously think engadget readers should all be able to build their own pc's and fully personalise/customise their own laptops.

[Mahoney @ Oct 31st 2006 9:55AM]

HEXUS come out of that looking pretty bad. Alienware make a poor value system and send it to HEXUS for review. HEXUS review it fairly. Alienware make another system they expect would be reviewed negatively for the same reasons, so they don't send it out for review. Nothing wrong with that, no obligation on them to send stuff to anyone. It's just sensible business practice. If a site still wants to review it they can purchase it anonymously, or they could just draw their own conclusions from Alienware's reluctance to have it reviewed in their roundup.

HEXUS then go off the deep end, drawing quite unjustified inferences about Alienware trying to corrupt them and publishing private email correspondence.

Alienware were pretty straight with them, I thought - to all intents and purposes they said "we expect you to give an honest review, the honest truth is that this isn't a great value for money system, and we don't really see why we should actively work to put that negative publicity out there". If I knew I had a substandard product I probably wouldn't want it reviewed either.

[Steve @ Oct 31st 2006 10:01AM]

I think if you read the email chain...Alienware is asking why they would submit the same SKU again...so presumably the system Hexus was asking for was an updated version of the same system.

So why would Alienware subject themselves to a further bad review for the same system?

[Matt Peckham @ Oct 31st 2006 10:30AM]

I love my Alienware (work DeskMONOLITH) but several guys at our company have bought their laptops, and frankly, have been unimpressed with their service after the fact. The battery died on my boss's big mother (17" 12 pound brick) and when he called to get a replacement, they kept him on hold while they told him they had no idea when they would get more batteries in. After 40 minutes he hung up. Their CS department has gone DownhELL.

I used to love em, but I will be looking for other companies to spend my money with in the future. It all went downhill when they were swallowed by the giant.

[dazsly @ Oct 31st 2006 10:45AM]

Matt Peckham @ Their CS department has gone DownhELL.

I see what you did there mate DownhELL - DELL, very clever nice one :)

Another one bites the dust............

[M @ Oct 31st 2006 10:45AM]

This is why places like Consumer Reports actually purchase the items they will review instead of relying on the company to give them products. I used to think that was a little overkill, but this demonstrates the reasoning. Although I think Alienware's conduct here is bad, the real problem may be with reviewers accepting a stream of free stuff and us expecting an unbiased review. Even if the items are ultimately given away, as we have seen, there are other reasons to stay positive on a product.

[videoezy @ Oct 31st 2006 11:21AM]

Cwoodward - "This comment suggests that a company already knows the outcome of the review before they've even sent the product... If we can't trust those guides then websites and magazines like them are nothing more than a collection of adverts.

Al - "They're probably not the only ones that do this but fair play to Hexus for standing up for what they believe in."

The point I'm trying to get at is, these companies don't try to make a bad product, but when they start giving away free products and they are actually getting burned for doing it, why should they continue giving free stuff? What the question is, is HEXUS standing up for what they believe in? Or are they just whining and making lots of bad press for Alienware because they aren't getting anymore freebies? What I'm also pointing out is that a lot of these reviewing websites and magazines are a collection of advertising, after all they are a business too.

btw, I'm not an Alienware fanboy or whatever, I've never owned one of their products... way out of my price range. lol.

[jds @ Oct 31st 2006 11:29AM]

I purchased an Area 51 laptop about a year ago. Fully-loaded and very expensive. the piece of crap would not work as advertised. I sat in an office with three other laptops and tested the wireless card. Apple Laptop detected three signals. Toshiba laptop detected two signals. eMachines laptop detected four signals. Alienware laptop detected NO SIGNALS. The drive door would not open, the machine would randomly reboot. Random reboots did not always reboot; sometimes the boot process would stick on the Alienware splash screen. The video card would overheat contantly regardless of the surface on which the laptop sat. I contacted them and they ran me around the block until I mailed it back. One month later I received it. Of the eight problems I sent it for repair of, seven remained when I received the laptop back.

Eventually I contacted an attorney, the president of Alienware, and the Florida State Attorney's Office. All of this was necessary for Alienware to either replace my laptop with another or get my money back (they refused to replace my laptop and told me to mail it back to them). Of the sixty four days I owned it, it worked three.

They gave me my money back, all $3120 of it. Their customer service was horrible. Absolutely horrible.

My "Alienware Experience" was very expensive and very painful and I'd ask anyone, ANYONE to never give them a dime.

To those that have great experiences with them... Cool, I'm glad for you and hope you do not experience my "Alienware Experience."

[submang @ Oct 31st 2006 1:37PM]

Having worked for a technology company in the past, I know there are editors who, regardless of the quality or performance of the product, love to hate hate hate. So I'm not going to say I can't see where they are coming from.

I would never court some alienware-hating prick to review my alienware system. My intentions are that by getting press, I'll be able to promote sales, not discourage them. Why would Alienware want to do any different?

If you think they would, you're not only stuck in your consumery world, you're also a moron.

[CritSafetyBoy @ Oct 31st 2006 1:39PM]

"M" is right on point with his reference to Consumer Reports. I was thinking about them, too, but for a slightly different reason.

If I am in charge of marketing a product, whether it be vacuum cleaners or iPods, and I am providing an example of my product to reviewers, I am going to scour my factory for the best one I can find. I am going to make sure that it functions flawlessly.

Consumer Reports, however, goes out and buys these items off the shelf. Doing so ensures integrity on both ends, both that of the producer and that of the reviewer.

[Stoo @ Oct 31st 2006 4:18PM]

Update here: http://www.hexus.net/content/item.php?item=7113&page=5

Basically, Matt Bettinson shouldn't have said what he did in his email about expecting good reviews, nor should he have said that HEXUS would no longer receive review hardware because of a negative review.

I expect Mr Bettinson now has his left butt-cheek supported by a sling..

[Steve Lopez @ Oct 31st 2006 5:04PM]

Here is a link to the response sent by Brian Joyce, Senior VP of Alienware EMEA, concerning this matter. Hopefully it clears up any misunderstandings generated by this incident.

http://www.hexus.net/content/item.php?item=7113&page=5

Thank you

[MorningZ @ Nov 1st 2006 9:26AM]

I got an idea that the "only good reviews" was the case when i first bought my Alienware 51m laptop a few years ago... not until *AFTER* you are a customer do they let you into their forums... omg, you should see all the complaints/problems in there... if i had access to those forums beforehand, there's no way in hell i would have bought that laptop (have since then moved onto a Sony)