This falls into the category of "you should have known better." My first experience with a Gateway computer was as a graduate student at the University of Wyoming. The first thing I heard about these computers is that the motherboard had a design flaw, which resulted in the CPU occasionally popping out of its socket. Someone would then have to open the case and reseat it whenever this happened. I worked with a lot of Gateway computers as a PC technician at Research Triangle Institute. During my 3 year tenure in that position, RTI signed a purchase agreement with Gateway, and I received, installed, and repaired approximately 200 Gateway computers during that time. I do not have an exact count, but I am pretty sure nearly every one of those units needed repair at some point during that short period of time. The worse case was a batch of 26 computers whose hard drives all gave out within 4 months of being received.
Many years later, in 2005, I am looking at purchasing a new computer. I included Gateway in my list of options despite my past experiences with them, hoping that they may have finally learned to build reliable computers despite their long history of poor quality. When it came to decision time, Gateway was one of my final two contenders. I ended up going with Gateway because they offered more features for a lower price (not inexpensive... this was one of their top-of-the-line PCs). I purposely purchased the four year extended warranty, hedging my bet that if I did have problems, the PC would be covered. The customer service while I was at RTI typically was typically good, and they would often ship replacement parts to me within 2-3 business days, and after I had replaced them, I could send the old parts back. I am not naïve enough to think that "regular" customers would get the same level of support as corporate customers, but I was really unprepared for what my situation would be.
In June of this year (2008), the PC suddenly stopped working. It would not boot. It would not even POST. It was dead as a doornail with no apparent cause. After running through the online support tests, I eventually determined that it had to be a motherboard problem. Not a problem, I thought, I will put in a service request and get this fixed up. My first issue became what the four-year warranty actually covered. I was certain that I had purchased on-site service. My first several correspondents ranged from "your warranty expired" to "it only covers parts" to "even if you had on-site service, they would only replace the part, service representatives do not visit to diagnose the problem." My online receipt has a cryptic entry for the four year warranty, so it is quite possible that it does only cover replacement. The service people I corresponded with said I should check my receipt or order a replacement receipt. Unfortunately, even though I have all my manuals, I could not find my receipt for some reason. I did order a replacement, which involves both an online order form and an e-mail confirmation, but I did not receive a receipt, though it does not appear that they charged my card either. Good grief! It is hard for me to understand why a simple process that has a manual customer service follow-up can still fail.
Ok, so by this time I have been without my PC for about 3 weeks bickering with Gateway over the warranty and receipt. I decide it is not worth the hassle anymore. I purchased their $67 pre-paid shipping box (miraculously, that order went through) and sent my computer off. On August 8, I got a confirmation e-mail that Gateway received my PC, and I should expect a 3-5 day turnaround.
So I wait.
And wait.
Finally, after two weeks, I send in an e-mail asking for a status report. I get a message back indicating that they determined it was indeed a motherboard problem, and they did not have the part in stock, but it had been ordered. The computer should be ready in 3-5 more days.
So I wait.
After a week with no communication, I write again. Again, I am told that the repair is taking longer than expected, but it should be shipped in a couple of days.
So I wait.
After another week, I am pretty unhappy that I have no computer, and had no communication. I sent a more terse e-mail asking for an update and some kind of immediate solution, like an equivalent replacement. My request was returned with a profuse apology about the delay, and an assurance that they were doing everything they could. However, that obviously did not include a replacement or a loaner.
So I wait.
Again, after another week I send another exasperated e-mail in, requesting action, and a phone number where I can call someone. I received a reply simply stating that they were working on it. No phone number, of course.
So I wait.
Finally! A communication arrived that I did not have to initiate! They said they had finished the repair on my
laptop, but needed my permission to wipe the hard drive to reinstall the operating system. I replied that I had sent in a
PC, not a laptop, but if they were talking about the PC then yes, of course they could reinstall the operating system (I had actually sent it in with a blank drive, because I cannot lose what is on the hard drive). About three days later I get an e-mail stating that they were finished and were shipping the PC back to me. I should receive it in 3-5 days, unless I had purchased the gold plan, in which case I would receive it in one day (I do not think I had the gold plan, but I could wait 5 days if needed, and in my opinion it was pointless to include that note since it would have been too late to purchase it anyway) Hurray! … Or so I thought.
So I wait.
After another week goes by I send in a request for the tracking number, since I had not yet received the PC. They responded saying that the package had been received and included the tracking number. I go to the FedEx site and find that the destination was Temple, TX (I live in NC). So, I wrote back and said that they had shipped it to the wrong address, and that they needed to either recover the PC or send me an equivalent. I get a response back that the PC needed more repairs and was shipped to Temple, TX, where they contract out repairs. Actually, they said it was still "in transit," indicating to me that the really had no idea where the PC was.
So I wait.
It has now been another week since my last e-mail, and I am about to e-mail them again for a status update. I have no idea if Gateway really knows where my PC is, what state of repair it is in, nor do I know if I will ever get my PC or a replacement.
I have reminded them in several of my e-mails that I paid a lot for the PC and more for the extended warranty, but except for the one apologetic message, I have received no sympathy and no action to help resolve the problems. This level of service is completely abominable, and unacceptable. It certainly seems to me that if you purchase a four-year warranty that there is a built-in expectation that the seller would have some plan to deal with any and all repairs during that timeframe, even if it is just to send an equivalent computer back (I suspect an equivalent replacement today costs less than the price I paid for the warranty).
I am posting this blog entry so that my friends, family, and readers will reconsider any thoughts they might have of purchasing Gateway computers. As I stated at the beginning, I should have known better, but I will never make that mistake again, and I hope my readers will not either.
Labels: computers, customer service, review
