Posted: 5/20/2008 5:06:54 PM EDT
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my dad unfortunatley bought a gateway from officedepot about 9 months ago. from the beginning he had wireless problems with the laptop. it would never stay connected. in the mean time i got him a linksys pcmcia N card he could use untill i could get it replaced for him i called, we are sorry sir your unit is out of warranty. well maam i have the reciept showing it was purchased 8-24-2007. im looking right at it. well sir my computer screeen says it NOT.  so they let us fax the receipt to them for 'proof" so 3 days later i call (when they said to call) sir your unit is out of warranty. well no sh*t thats what you said last time we have faxed the receipt to you guys. well we haven't received it. you will need to fax it again another 4 days go by i come back and call again. i read him the serial number, YES it looks like your serial number is in warranty.. it also shows we received it twice........ God i was so pissed  i im talking to this script reader. telling him what i've done. turned the system off taken the battery out. reseated the card. reinstalled the network card driver. finally we REPLACED it with a pcmcia card and it WORKS FINE. well he asks me what device manager looks like. it says the card is working fine..... he says well that solves it the card is working.  he says have you added any new componenets or software etc etc. by this time im pretty much pissed beyond belief. i said sir i've been working on computers for 8+ years and the card is bad...... finally something clicked in his mush brain. so he says give me a minute to fill out the paper work. he says SIR we are going to send you a box for you to send the unit back to us for repair..... i said for a friking network card?? he said YES for warranty you send it to us. we do not just send out wireless cards anymore. i asked him what they send out. well let see, ram, harddrives, cdroms, modems... again im flaming HOT again. i said SIR your relize two screws and the wireless card pops out right? he didn't care you get the point. never again will those retards get my OR My dads money..... sigh 
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I had a client/friend send her Gateway laptop back twice for repairs. Windoze had various errors (no BSOD) within about 10 minutes of booting up, faster if she was running a certain amount of programs. They installed a new HD, reinstalled Vista Home. second time, new HD, downgraded to XP Pro. I called Gateway on it, and the script-reader took twenty minutes to find her previous service trips. He said he (named "James", btw, with a heavy Indian accent) would send another box and they could replace the hard drive again, since it was obviously a hard drive error. I told him I'd call him back the next day. Step 1: Reboot the laptop with Hiren's boot CD v. 9.5 Step 2: Run a RAM test Step 3: Find bad RAM Step 4: Call Gateway and tell the script reader's manager exactly what the problem is and make him swear by his holy Cow that he will replace the RAM and send it back, touching nothing else Step 5: ????? Step 6: PROFIT!!!!! This whole testing process took 20 minutes. Some Gateway laptops even have this ability BUILT RIGHT IN THE BIOS!!! I recorded the RAM serials and took pictures of it, just to ensure they changed it. I did, he did, they did, and now the laptop is 100%. Hasn't had a problem since, other than needing a weekly reboot They don't necessarily make a piss poor product, but their customer service is beyond sucking. This shows that what we need is more free thinkers and less script readers. no, this post wasn't made to simply showcase my phenomenal, yet in this case phenomenal troubleshooting skills. 
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so we shipped the laptop off last week. i wrote up a little info on the laptop, the problems we were having, and how to contact me with questions. (i put it under all users and the startup folder) so whatever user that popped up microsoft word opened up and they word document would open automatically........ we get the laptop back. the sheet says. no Complaint found  then down below it says... screen scratched, bezel scratched. we looked it over and found NOTHING scratched. and of course the computer failed within 45 minutes of getting it back  |
Chances are, since you didn't put it on an actual sheet of paper and leave a copy in the shipped box (and another copy folded inside the actual laptop), they didn't even turn it on. Yes, I'm being completely serious. |
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Gateway DESKTOP PCs are just fine. They base them on stock ISA standard Intel boards, which is GOOD for reliability. Dell uses slightly customized versions of Intel boards, made for Dell by Intel. I've found them to be very reliable but not without their quirks. Dell laptops, I like. We have several of them here at work and they always work, no problems at all. I have no opinion on Gateway laptops. I'm definitely straight but won't consider going to Macs. I have a fundamental difference of opinion with a company that would actually have thought to introduce a new computer that had a SINGLE mouse button. (iMac, and others.) That's just STUPID. Apple has committed several major mistakes over the years, if you ask me. The first (other than starting up as a business) was Integer Basic. A computer that doesn't do fractions? You've got to be shitting me. But there it was...the Apple II with Integer Basic. Ask it what 5 divided by 2 was, and it'd say the answer was 3. There's a fundamental problem with a company that would market a product like that. CJ |
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Hmm... I don't think Gateway is alone, here. I've had similar service problems with Dell, Toshia, IBM/Lenovo, HP Compaq. In fact, any time I've had any kind of warranty repair issues, every company I've dealt with has had problems with customer service. Much of the problem comes from having off-shore service centers in which the service representative's primary language is NOT English. These off-shore representatives speak reasonably good Queen's English but US idiomatic English is usually something they have not mastered... So if you DON"T buy from Gateway, I'm not sure where you would go to get better service, unless you go APPLE. Or, "roll your own" by buying from vendors like NewEgg. If you build your own, then you won't have too many problems with Warranty Repair issues anymore. (Just warranty replacement on cheap chips from offshore that come dead out of the box) 
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Bottom line is that computers are going to have problems, and some mfg's are better than others. But if it weren't for these computers breaking sometimes, some of us here would be out of jobs.  Over seas tech support is hit and miss... we all know that. Same with sending your unit in for a fix. Some guys in the shops know what they are doing and some don't. Luckily for me, I've had pretty good luck with the exception of the schmuck (read bitch) that I had on the phone today. But that is another story for another day. -d |
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i have 2 gateway laptops. no problem what so ever. i use them for surfing around the house wirelessly. in fact using it right now. but i do use a router w/mimo. every product ever invented, someone is gonna have a problem w/it. but i agree from your account, their customer service leaves a lot to be desired. |