Complaint Review: Gateway Home Entertainment

I was referred to Gateway Home Entertainment from a friend. I called and spoke with Jeff and he went over the Direct TV/Dishnetwork plans over the phone. Jeff said he would be out the next day to install and hookup everything for me. He came out the next day but could not get all the equipment activated because I didn't qualify as a "new' Dishnetwork customer and would not be able to take advantage of the discount rate packages because of this. I had been a Dishnetwork customer in the past and Jeff said he would have to put the account into my girlfriends name. I said that was fine and he said he would call me back the next day to give me an "update". Jeff did not call me back. I waited 3 days and finally called him to ask when he planned on coming back out to install all the equipment. He finally did come back out. While Jeff and his "assistant" Matt were at my home Matt had asked me if I had any HDMI cables. I had recently purchased two new TV's and was not familiar with HDMI cables or their purpose. I told Matt I didn't have any HDMI cables. Matt said he would sell me two HDMI cables for $40 a piece. Matt stated that this "was the best deal" and that "they are $50 at Walmart so it would be a better deal to buy them now, which I did.....which of course later I found out that I overpaid for the HDMI cables. After everything was hooked up I noticed the "black bar" on one of my older TV's which was not HD ready. Again, I wasn't too familiar with HDMI cables, HD ready TV's or any type of HD programming or HD receivers and I had paid for HD programming and HD receivers. I asked Jeff about the black bar on my older TV, which had an HD receiver hooked up to it. Jeff said that since my TV was old and outdated that he couldn't do anything about the black bar and that I would just have to buy a new TV. Later I found out that pressing the "format" button on my remote would allow me to change the picture formats....of course why Jeff and Matt didn't know that is beyond me. After they left I went downstairs and noticed they had left trash everywhere. I really didn't expect them to pick up the trash but it would have been nice for them to let me know that they had left my basement a mess. A few days later I called Jeff back and asked if he would move the HD receiver that he hooked up to a non HD ready TV to another TV in the house that was HD ready seeing as though I was paying extra for HD programming. He said he would come back out and do that. I never heard from him again. I called Dishnetwork and made a complaint with them. Dishnetwork sent out someone from another company and the tech moved the receiver to another TV. In addition the other tech that came out had to put some additional strut supports on my dish outside because Jeff did not but the proper supports on it when he came out. I have filed a complaint with the Missouri Attorney Generals Office and the Missouri Better Business Bureau against Gateway Home Entertainment for overcharging/misleading me on the cost of the HDMI cables and for failing to come back out and move the HD receiver like I had asked.

Shawn95187
Wentzville, Missouri
U.S.A.