Complaint Review: Gateway Computers - Irvine California

I purchased a gateway 818 GM, Media Center Edition with standard wireless keyboard and mouse from Home Shopping Network in Dec of 2004.... i didnt receive it until Jan. 2005 due to back order of the system.... It never really seemed right from the beginning... being that these things were small i just dealt with them... much slower than what it should be... then it went to screen freezes. then window errors. and each time i called gateway (By the way... if u buy from HSN u have a long distance customer service # to reach Gateway) i was told to do a system restore.

This seemed to shove the problem off for a little while and then eventually it would happen again or get worse. on one of the system restores it didnt even recover my video driver and they were going to charge me for the software to recover this.

then 1 decent customer rep at gateway informed me of the website of Nvidia that i could download my driver for free... that was just the beginning of all the problems after several system restores... the system freezes began... fatal errors... missing file errors... etc... finally by the end of Nov 2005 there were too many errors to keep the computer working right... so gateway told me to do more sytem restores... but this time i started to get file extraction errors during the recovery portion of the restore at 4% into it and it would not go any further... so i of course called gateway yet another time. long distance with at least an hour or more wait time, and they decided i needed a new a hard drive so they sent me one to install myself...

but i had to agree to let them put a charge of $75.00 on my credit card as a hold in case i didnt return my old hard drive.

So... we installed it and put in the restore CD's.... and of course u guessed it... extraction errors again..... by now its Dec 2005 and i call gateway.. they decide it has to be bad restore CD's so they sent me another set (of course i had to jump through hoops to get them not to charge me for them)

New CD's arrive mid Dec.... same error... they sent a total 4 sets of CD's each time saying it was prob a bad batch all with same end... ERRORS... they would of continued endlessly i believe if i hadnt said Enough! this isnt working and my warranty was almost over by this time...

So this was the beginning of the return to gateway period at the end of Dec. 2005 ( mind u each time i call u get completely different answers from everyone while holding for 60-80 min or more.... long distance)

In Jan of 2006 my computer was sent in the first time... i got it back rather quickly and i was happy for that.... found out they put in yet another hard drive and a memory.... ok good... until i plugged it in.... right off it didnt recognize the wireless keyboard & mouse that came with the computer and it had the wrong operating system.... so back on the phone to customer service.... hhhmmm what did they want me to do? u guessed... system restore.... and then with the brand new set of restore disk... i once again got extraction errors....

so i have to then wait for another box to come... and back to gateway it goes 2nd time.... mid feb 2006 computer comes back.... this time they replaced the hard drive and memory yet again and it seems they didnt even finish the preinstallation and my wireless still didnt work with it... so customer service tried have me finish the installation while on the phone with them... she really wasnt sure which options i should be choosing. such as seal the unit for the end user... etc... and once errors starting coming up she seem to panic and say... Shut it down and do a restore. cause i have no idea what repair has done!

So of course another extraction error and back to gateway it goes for 3rd time.... waiting for box.... now its first march 2006... one of the supervisors.... (one of many i talked to )thought it may be the CD drive not reading correctly... ok that sounds reasonable... so they included that in their notes to repair center... and this time i thought it was a good idea to send them my wireless keyboard and mouse so that they could test it before they sent it back to me to make sure the system would recognize them... customer service added it into very clear notes to return all my wireless accessories and i attached a note stating why i was sending them and how many HDs & memories had been put in this far....

got the computer back fairly quick.... but to my utter surprise.... they didnt return my wireless keyboard, mouse or receiver... they put in another HD and more memory... long calls... (i know its a long story) Call customer service ask to speak to supervisor. but of course i have to waste more long distance expaining to them what i am also going to have to repeat again.... to the supervisor... JUST PLZ GET ME SOME ONE TO HELP!.... ok... so... they finally decide to send me new wireless to replace the ones they lost...and they thought i should use my wired keyboard to do system restore just in case...so i did...more extraction errors....

so i called back yet again... to let them know the results of the restore..

customer service rep (who was very polite and said that my patience at this point was God-Like. lol) tells me that they should send me a CD/DVD drive since they cant trust that(and these are his words not mine. so no hate mail to me plz ;P) the Neanderthals in repair cant read their notes... so he thought i should put it in myself. So i thought if their own service reps think that... then it must be true and i should install it... but once again i must let them charge my card a hold fee of 75.00 in case i dont return my old one....

i get it... its mid March 2006.... install it and do a restore and of course same extraction errors (and i had to used my old wired keyboard to do this since i still have not recieved the replacement wireless)

In the mean time the wireless arrive in 3 diff boxes... and one is the wrong receiver... so i call back and customer service guy talks a supervisor (who wouldnt come on the line to tell me this himself)tells him that they have sent me enough parts and they will not replace the wrong part they just sent me.... ok... controlling my temper... (thanks to my mother for teaching me to be a lady =D) I then tell him to talk to another supervisor... this one says the other one was wrong and they will send another part... thank you!..

so back to the issue of the computer still gets errors while restoring. and wireless still doesnt work... i ask if it needs a installation cd for the wireless to work (never did but i am desperate now) they say nope its plug and play.

Long phone calls... they of course want me to send it back. i expained how each time it doesnt recognize my wireless and want them to fix it all right this time... the supervisor thought they would see all the notes and finally decide to replace the motherboard since it was really the only thing that hadnt been replaced yet... they tell me if after this time... it doesnt come back right they will get me a new computer... whew good... the end in sight.... (so i thought)... another manager had mentioned that before to so i thought it must be true..

i finally got it back on 4-11-2006.. they once again changed the HD, and Memory.... ( this makes 4 HD, 3 Memory, dvd drive... start it up...wont recognize wireless and then extraction errors when trying to restore....

they pass me around to everyone under the sun.. and finally a supervisor (and i just got my long distance phone bill too)it went over my 100 minutes with Gateway in 2 phone calls and i got charged an additional 40.00.... mr supervisor gave me the number to gateway corporate and told me to also tell them about my long distance and they would work something out with me... he was sure....

Then comes Michael at corporate office... rude.. talks down to you.... told me he would give me a Refurbished system... i asked him to explain what refurbished meant... another computer that other customers had sent in and they couldnt fix so they refurbished it.... hmmmm. they couldnt fix it for the customer but they can refurbish it to give it to some other poor abused gateway customer... i told him i didnt want someone else's problem computer since in 5 times they couldnt fix mine right and he said either take it or send it back in for another repair.... when i ask him about reimbursemt for the long distance... He says *Yeah! i just reimbursed u for all that we charged u.... then he proceeded to talk down to me like i didnt understand what he was saying.... I ask him for his last name or badge # and he refused me both and then i ask him to transfer me to someone else... he laughed and counted out loud that besides him there 4 other people in his office that runs gateway... and he wouldnt transfer me to any of them... I hung up on him in frustration....

I called back to gateway and talked to another supervisor to see if they had another corporate location and he informed me that those are his bosses and 5 ppl with the same title runs corporate and if i want anything else done from here on out i would have to talk to one of those five people.... and he also informed me that with Refurbished units. there is no guarantee that i will get the same kind of system that i have now... its according to what refurbished they have in stock... so mine being a Media center edition that u can record tv through... and standard wireless... i prob wont get that one back...

so here i am still without any resolution.....

Elizabeth

Indianapolis, Indiana
U.S.A.

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