Gateway Computer Company Totally non-supportive of machine under Warrantee - canned tech support doesnt give a dam Sioux City "Moo" South Dakota
Simple issue. Hard drive failed on my still in-warrantee machine. I called Moo-Town support, and was run around for almost an hour on the phone with someone who knew less about my machine than I did. After I finally got it through the skull of this barely english-speaking "tech" that the hard drive was toast, he have me my options. I send the machine back to Moo-Town at MY expense (and pay three times the labor rate as local vendors for a hard drive install), or I drive it round-trip 5 hours to the nearest Gateway store. Either option? I'm 3 to 4 weeks without a machine.
PO'd beyond reason, I call a local guy who comes to my house wihin an hour of my call & picks it up. They recover the data off the crashed drive & install a new hard drive and return it to me within 48 hours. ( Great guys, but I can't plug the name here ). But, now I need the OEM System Restore disks that have the OEM applications and O/S, and I lost those disks over a year ago. Gateway's answer to my request to 'buy' these Recovery Disks? "You have to BUY the applications and O/S at Retail".
Yes, folks.. after paying WAY too much for the machine to begin with, Gateway wants me to BUY the applications and O/S at retail price. Applications and O/S that I already paid for as OEM barely over a year ago. And, just in case any of you Gateway geeks are looking in, refer to Gateway Support file KMM4465001V23547L0KM.
In closing, I say; "Hey, Moo-Town... go pound sand!" I bought two of your POS systems over the last four years, and I'm done with your company. Both Gateway systems crashed like a 70's hippie on a bad acid trip. And, every time I had an issue, all Gateway Support gave me was a 'canned' response from someone who was both English and technically challenged. So, "Moo" dudes; next time, I'm gettin a Dell.
Robert
West Springfield, Massachusetts
U.S.A.
2 Updates & Rebuttals
Pat
Graham,North Carolina,
U.S.A.
Misery loves company
#3Consumer Comment
Mon, August 25, 2003
It happened to me too. Purchased an expensive machine and a 3 year "in home service" warranty. When the usb ports and sound card failed I called Gateway. Would they send someone out? Oh no, in home service is only to install parts not troubleshoot. Send it to ND at my expense or take it 2 hours one way to a Gateway store. Took it into Gateway. They then wanted $80 to backup only 60mb of my hard drive. Since the hard drive was functioning I declined. What did they do - reinstall windows. Did this fix the problem - of course not. They eventually gave me a whole new motherboard. When I get it home, do the USB ports work - no. Also, the modem no longer works. I call the store and am told to bring it back. They say it is "against the law" for them to come to my house. Yeah right - Gateway's law.
My movers had destroyed all my cd's and Gateway wanted full retail for replacement. At that price, I could buy another computer. They never told me to guard those cds. like gold. To make a long story short, I went to ebay and got most of the programs cheap, figured out the problem with the USB ports was they did not update XP when they reinstalled and I am now back up and running. Lesson learned - BACK UP
Kim
Florence,Alabama,
U.S.A.
I thought that I was the only one that this happened too!!
#3REBUTTAL Individual responds
Wed, August 13, 2003
My husband and I also bought a gateway computer about 2 years ago. Shortly after we bought it, it started locking up and wouldn't type. We have also called tech support and they were no help!! We will have to carry it about an hour from our home to have it fixed. As much as we paid for this system they sould come pick it up or at least let us take it to the gateway store here and have them ship it. I will never buy another gateway computer ever!!!