How to obtain an Alienware Laptop:

Okay, well first off you are going to need a few things which include:

Service Tag

Now, this is usually suffice but I have ran into issues with just using the service tag, so to ensure that you will be able to do the "Service Tag Transfer" you are going to need to also obtain there name.

Now, the 2 best places to find these are Craigslist & eBay.
aa
Just do a search & be sure to message the seller for the Service Tag. Say something along the lines as you just want to make sure that unit is not stolen & that it is everything described in the ad. If he tries to give you a hard time just remind him that the item your interested in isn't a Playstation 3 & is costly!

The Customers Name

Once you manage to obtain both of these, its time to move forward & start the process of putting the laptop into YOUR name

Simply call Alienware - 866 - 287 - 6727

Now you are going to hear the recorded message & you want to hit 4 then 2

They are going to transfer you to an Alienware rep

Once you are on the phone with the Alienware rep its important to keep to your story!

"Hello, I was calling in regards to my Alienware. I purchased the unit off of eBay & am running into some issues with the person I bought the product off of. I have been unable to stay in contact with him & when I ask him for his personal information he says he doesn't feel comfortable giving it out to me. The only thing I have to prove my ownership right now is just my Service Tag & the name of who I got it from"

Something along those lines. But feel free to mix it to your liking. Its got to come natural as Alienware records and records ALL of there calls. So once you start with a story, you need to stay with it up until you receive the unit!

Now, if your only able to obtain the Service tag, there is still hope!

Do the same thing but mention you have none of the customers information, as he didn't feel comfortable giving it out & its been 2-3 weeks now since you've last made contact with him. Explain how you've tried emailing & calling him non stop but no answer. They should ask you if your device is around so you can get on it. Pretend that you have the device. They will ask you to goto a specific site to register the device BUT here is the kicker:

You have to act as if you can not connect, as if there is some issue on your side.

You WILL be required however to use some sort of Internet Explorer, as the others for some reason DONT work.

Also, if you don't want to say you have the device, do something along the lines of:

"My device is not with me at this time & wont be for a few weeks. I left it at my house & Im not going to be there due to being on college break. I have another laptop here however if you can allow me to do it on that!"

So, hopefully by now you have the unit completely transferred over into your name. Please keep in mind, if you have the Service Tag / Name its SO much easier, but with this method the Service Tag is suffice, but may require a little more SEing on your part. So if your not that good, please wait to do this until you can find a Service Tag & Name!

Another hint for ensuring a Service Tag transfer for ONLY having the service tag:

Instead of eBay, you can say that it was purchased from a pawn shop while you were on vacation. That way if they mention going back or contacting them you cant recall the exact name of the place!

ALSO:

3/4s of the laptops SOLD on eBay are through Amazon! So you could also try using that!

Before the SE & after the Service Tag transfer:

Make sure that you wait about a day before doing this. You can start right away, but that makes it look a little suspicious. So be sure to wait about 24 hours to continue on. I have only don e it this way & never had ANY issues what so ever. If you are feeling like trying it same day, then by all means be my guest but if you do I wont be held responsible if your SE doesn't go as planned!

The SE:

Call in to Alienware Support with the same number I gave you above. They are going to ask for the service tag so make sure its around! Give that to representative & then explain to them that your Laptop has been fine & haven't been experiencing any issues with it until lately. Tell them that the device has simple stopped turning on. Tell them that you have tried connecting the device into different outlets & even took it to your friends house to try it & it still is not working. They are more than likely going to start "Troubleshooting". At this point its important to say that NOTHING IS WORKING! You might also want to mention that the charger has a green light so you know that the power supply cant be the issue. That will eliminate them assuming that & trying to issue you a new charger, which of course would an obvious fail!

Now, they are going to more than likely

At this point, they are more than likely going to ask you to take the battery out of the device & reinsert it for troubleshooting. Now, they do that is great on your part because this is where the SE is key!

Pretend that you are removing the battery from the device & once you remove it you must act completely shocked. You are going to want to rage as much as you can. Your going to mention that something is leaking out of the battery & then YELL! Pretend as if the leaking fluid from the battery has actually gotten onto your skin. Compain about how bad the burn is etc. Now your going to want to tell them that upon further inspection it would appear as if this "fluid" has leaked all over the inside of the computer. Explain to them that you didn't notice this because you never thought to take the battery out as you've never had issues before with the laptop until now.

At this point, there are numerous things that can happen:

Best case scenario - Throw away the computer, were going to send you another one

The other 2 cases:

He will say send the computer back for repair.

or

He will say that they want to get pictures of the unit.

Now, if he does say he needs the unit sent in for repair, just do it. Request a box & wait a day to get it, then you call Alienware and explain how the battery has leaked out all over the box and is disintegrating the box. Tell them that FedEx refused to ship it due to it being a BioHazard & they said it was illegal. This is indeed NOT lying as I have a good friend that used this on his REAL laptop under a different scenario. Technically, you aren't even supposed to send batteries in the mail!

If everything goes right then at this point they should issue you a brand new laptop.

Now, for the case of them asking for the pictures, you have a few options:

Of course, the most obvious would be that you don't have a camera. If he says anything about using a friends etc explain how you live in a rural area, even if you really don't. Explain to them that you don't have anyone with a camera & even your cell phone doesn't have one, its an old flip phone.

Say that after troubleshooting the device and realizing the battery was leaking everywhere you noticed it had started to run down the actual laptop and drip all over your carpet and couch. You didn't want to ruin anything in your house further so you threw it away.

There are tons of reasons to use so just think of the most suitable one for the particular situation. It could be that you have animals in the house (dog/cat) and are worried that they might get into it and attempt to drink it. You could also say that your pet DID indeed get into it & because of it you had to them to the vet & to prevent any further damage to yourself, house, and animals you threw it away!

Say that after you tried the troubleshooting steps you were scared of getting burned again or of others coming into contact with it at your house so your first thoughts were to put the case back together.

Say that after troubleshooting the device because of the battery burning your skin you were worried that it may happen again to yourself or others/animals so you threw it away.

If everything does go right, which it should as this is usually effective 99-100% of the time after the Service Tag transfer, you will be getting a brand new laptop! Just remember that Alienware machines are always built to the specifications of the Service Tag. So if you want a really kick ass machine your going to have to obtain the Service Tag for the actual unit. And remember that by simply obtaining the name of the owner will HUGELY decrease the headache of getting your Alienware registered to you!

Also, try your best to have them manually update the Service Tag. Thats just to ensure that the ownership transfer is 1000%! Because once that is done, as Ive said many times now, this process is 10000% effective!

Also, I CANT STRESS THIS ENOUGH!

Make sure you do all of this through Alienware Support! That is the key, you DONT want to be transferred to Dell but if it does happen so be it. It can still be registered and transferred to you!

Now, you might get contacted AFTER receiving the laptop. They might ask for it back. At this point, simply say the battery had leaked out of the device onto something expensive of your significant others. Like, " My fiance threw it out because it had leaked all over her Louie purse I purchased her for our anniversary. She was worried it would just get onto everything else & become more expensive since it ruined a $1,200 purse."