Hi @rice_tubers  welcome to this user to user discussion forum. This is not Dell Support.

If you have had the same fault on three occasions and its not been fixed under Dell warranty, you become eligible for a new system or a full refund. As Alienware M1 laptops are being manufactured, it seems that a full refund is currently the only option for you. 

thanks, that sounds promising.  i received several pms from dell, sounds like this may be a fourth visit from a tech, we’ll see.  ill update the discussion with what happens.  i do appreciate how responsive dell, and this community, is.  just would like this thing to function properly

for those reading this, after situation being escalated to engineering for 72 hours, dells solution is to replace the keyboard for a second time.  im having a hard time following the logic in this. keyboard was just replaced 3 days ago  and this will now make the 4th service visit in 7 months.  what a lack of respect dell has for their customers time and money.  wow.  i will update as this progresses.  

Hi @rice_tubers  Dell has its own internal authorisation process, and front line call takers do not have any authority and are required to pass this up through their chain of command. These are not normal times, people are suffering and dying from Covid-19. Dell are obviously try to sort this out for you.  

That is a very good point about COVID.  And I do sincerely appreciate how actively Dell support  is responding to my emails and inquiries.  After the last message I sent late last night, another Dell rep told me they were actually going to replace the motherboard along with the keyboard.  That makes a lot more logical sense to me given the history of service on this product. For what it is worth, my son is really happy with the laptop when it works, and these do seem solidly constructed from a mechanical sense.  That doesn't change my feelings about customer expectations and product quality.   

I will  add that this community board is really great and appreciate also that Dell is actively monitoring these chats and responding where they can.  After this gets resolved I'll be happy to post or participate in more positive Discussions.

Hi @rice_tubers  the Dell warranty process appears to be functioning correctly. Dell Product Support are not expected, and have no remit, to participate in or monitor Dell Community forum threads. 

Your thread is posted in this independant user to user discussion forum. You have not paid for other users that volunteer their free time and do not work for Dell. If you are happy with user posts, please remember to give Kudos = thank you. 

Policy clarification =

A refund is only allowed inside the first 30 days from the Dell invoice/ship date.

This m15 R1 shipped from Dell on July 2, 2020. The initial 30 day window for a new system exchange ended on August 1, 2020. Any PC exchange done after the initial 30 day window would be a used/refurbished m15 R1. But this only happens after three service repair attempts have failed to correct the issue.

Appreciate the information.  So, for the record, this will now be the 4th service attempt.  

I received an email today from Dell with dispatch information that a tech was coming to pick up parts and schedule an installation visit. 

A few hours later I received a new message from Dell  informing me that I will need to ship the computer back to Dell for repair work.  That email says that this was previously discussed with me.  It was not.  I'm told it will be 7 to 10 business days before being returned.  My son uses his laptop for virtual school.  If this is the warranty process, so be it, but I am growing increasingly concerned about the outcome of this process and very conflicting information I've received now from Dell tech support.  

And yes, I know this community is not an official manned Dell site.  My purpose is to honestly convey information about this situation to others who may have had similar experiences.  I'll be happy to post a satisfactory outcome.

Hi @rice_tubers  whilst a full investigation of the system sounds encouraging, you should also have been requested to ensure that all your data is saved, because they usually wipe the drives and just reinstall the operating system.  The system, including its drives, will then be returned in the same condition that it was originally supplied. 

If not already undertaken, consider making a clone (copy) of the OS(C:) drive and storage drives. You may also wish to Remove (1) any content that you do not want to share with Dell and its contractors.

(1) Delete removes data visibility from user, but data continues to be hidden on the drive until overwritten.