AW3821DW - Think twice before buying!

Joburgal

Joburgal

Joburgal

Associate
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13 Oct 2020
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Just a word of caution for anyone looking to buy a new ultrawide monitor.

Don’t get me wrong the AW3821DW is awesome when it works with vibrant colours and silky smooth refresh rates and adds a real sense of immersion.The problem is that as many users on Reddit have shared the thing has a tendency to die within a few months which mine did with purple lines down the centre of the screen. No worries you may say it has a next day advanced replacement service (I wish!).

I have just spent 2 weeks battling with dell. With the following conclusions:

1)It can take up to a week to approve a replacement, in my case it took 3 calls as my original service request was cancelled without resolution.

2)Next day replacement means “whenever we have it back in stock” in my case 3 + weeks, I’m still waiting

3) It is ok for dell to ignore emails for up to 10 days

4)There is no formal process for complaint or compensation, if dell don’t deliver on the service they promise you just have to live with it
 
Honestly I'm really not overly impressed with the build quality and reliability of the consumer Dell/Alienware products I've bought over the year.

Their onsite next day warranty is good but my experience has unfortunately been that you'll need it as Dell/Alienware products tend not to last much longer than a few years!

If defense I've generally found that their monitors have been fine but the laptops/desktops not so much. Disappointing to hear that their general support and monitor quality appears to be below average as well.

I guess everywhere is struggling with supply issues due to covid but it's unacceptable if next day replacement comes with no guarantees of a response time IMO. At the very least they should offer a refund or alternative if they cant replace the product in a reasonable timeframe.
 
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The other word of caution is don’t believe the customer reviews on the dell site. Dell use an algorithm to favourably select customers to post reviews i.e not every customer has the option to post a review.

At the time I purchased the monitor there were only limited reviews from official sources I foolishly based my purchase on the 500+ positive reviews on dells site (rookie mistake!)
 
I have had a very similar experience with this monitor and I will never buy DELL again.
(I purchased directly from DELL)
Appalling customer service, poor basic listening skills, obvious language challenges and non-sensical trouble shooting approach.
My warranty entitlement is an open box replacement, essentially a refurb. Are you serious????
I posted a negative review on DELL's product page for the AW3821DW and it never got published.

Over the years, I have owned lots of DELL monitors and they were largely fine, the last one being about 10 years ago but they are not the same company today. Its obvious they have cut costs everywhere and their customer services reflect this.
Buy from literally anywhere else and save yourself the headache.
 
TBH I think pretty much the same can be said of all manufacturers. Some are worse than others, but just because Dell is one of the better ones doesn't mean they have absolutely no issues.
 
pp111 said:
TBH I think pretty much the same can be said of all manufacturers. Some are worse than others, but just because Dell is one of the better ones doesn't mean they have absolutely no issues.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I think this highlights how important it is to buy from a decent reseller that can offer you support as manufactureres warranties often aren't great. I'm increasingly of the opinion that buying direct from the manufacturer is a bad idea!
 
My AW3821DW that I bought back in December developed a bright stuck pixel after a few days of ownership. It was only just replaced last week!!!

So many wasted calls being told the same rubbish and all emails ignored. Promises my issue was being escalated and then they would close the my tickets with no fix or reason.

I always thought Dell had great customer service but this experience means I will look else where in the future.
 
My AW3420 died within a month of getting it. But I have to say that my experience of Dell support was great. It was replaced within 48 hours of me reporting it.
 
Having had multiple issues with Asus I think I'd rather drag myself through broken glass and through a river of acid to get a replacement than deal with their "support".
 
So I ordered mine last week, with a an estimated delivery date of 26th of May!
But I got it for £1170 after talking to CS. I wanted to bag the deal, and didnt mind waiting. (esp as they dont charge CC till dispatch?)

The next morning I got a text from DPD saying parcel is arriving tomorrow. Get home from dropping my son to school and there is a note that my parcel is with a neighbour!
It was the bloody AW3821DW
:D:D:D

I had wanted the LG38, but that seems impossible to buy and also has plenty of bad stories about support.

I went with Dell as they have the advanced replacement thing, and all my last 2 monitors where Dell. We also use Dell at work.
I have not had a bad experience with there support. Both personal and through work. Always got things sorted quick enough.

I do hope I wont need to call on them for this screen...as I LOVE it. ITs awesome.
The build quality seems perfect to me. Came packaged very well too.

I think what a lot of people reading this thread might find is, if you want a 38" UW with the sweet 3840x1600 res & 144hz+, there isn't really anything but this and the LG.
 
34 days of battling with dell and the replacement is finally with me and (touch wood!) no dead pixels or purple lines.

I feel for the poor agent I spoke to on Wednesday after finding out that the reason the monitor had been with ups for two weeks was because dell forgot to include the customs clearance paperwork. 20 mins of telling her how useless dell was and they actually dispatched a second monitor from UK.

The new monitor has a slightly newer firmware version. Hopefully it means they’ve changed something in the hardware to prevent purple lines of death!

I’m with you guys there is only the AW38321 dw and the LG38. The Alienware is cheaper and prettier so is the only choice :-) And yes I will not buy directly from dell in the future :-)
 
I have done Asus RMA before and it was fine. Apart from I just wanted a new power brick as that was likely the problem and they insisted on a whole new monitor. But they were actually ok.
 
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