DysoForums

Falkhor · DysoMOD|DM Joined: 14 Sep 2002 Posts: 1264

Let me start by saying fuck you, assholes!
Now that i got that off my chest...i bought a gateway computer through a dutch media company. Being used to a macintosh I ignored the first few small errors and performance issues, discarding them as "one of those stability issue pc's have". In the two months before my warranty ended the thing went totally bugfuck on me. Working on my company i couldnt afford missing the thing but since there was no other option i send it in for repairs. To my surprise gateway wasnt even selling anymore in Europe and the machine was reluctantly send off to ireland or wherever and was supposed to be back in 3-4 weeks time. That became seven weeks. 7 weeks without a replacement, in which i had to put on hold starting up my company. 3 parts were replaced and i swallowed the lack of customer support being glad i had my computer back and working nicely. Buuut of course it didnt end there. Your incompetent repairmen managed to replace half the fucking computer except for the part causing the problem apparently. After about a month after the repairs the same shit started happening again. So i called back, explained it and what their answer? "Because you havent replied within 30 days after the repairs we can't help you and we can't let you talk to a higher up about thiis since there are any left in europe". What the fuck? How am I supposed to react if the problem didnt show up within those 30 days. The problem is exactly the same as before, exactly the same so those fucked up morons didn't fix anything, they just left me sitting on my ass for 7 weeks. My computer loses its performance speed within minutes after a restart, i get constant program errors, and i think about 90% of the time it crashes after 5-15 minutes working with some programs. Multitasking makes things fuck up at double that speed. All the people i spoke to who have knowledge of computers tell me it's probably the hard disc and that the problem generally doesnt show up until a few weeks after a full reinstall so how the hell was i supposed to react "within 30 days after the repairs"? The only reason i havent sued your asses for a full refund and income loss for those 10 weeks i havent been able to do shit on this computer is because it costs money to do so. If you have any decency left you'll have the computer fully fixed by a local company whose repairmen weren't trained by monkeys and on your costs. If not i will make work of this and inform any and all consumer agencies about this gross lack of client support. I'm royally pissed off and might lose the chance to start up my company. Trust me when i say, if this is the case i will sue bigtime.
Thanks for your time.

Sascha Steenaart

Anyone wanting to write in as well on my behalf:
https://support.gateway.com/support/contact/contact_tech1.shtml

dreamin' · Hero Joined: 11 Nov 2002 Posts: 625

Falkhor, only thing I could recommend you is: If you didn't buy the PC at Gateway direct, but through a reseller, try to get your support there, and don't let them point you to Gateway. About two (or was it three?) years ago, we sold Gateway computers (working part time in a big reseller to finance university). Besides generally being built from decent quality parts, the QC and technical support of Gateway is the worst I ever encountered. We got about 100 systems sent to our shop per week, it could easily happen that out of those 100 about 50 were not built correctly, meaning the motherboard wasn't screwed in place, cpu coolers were not attached, ide cables missing...
Not long after that Gateway left Europe for good. I'm surprised they even took your PC for repair, cause not a single Customer of us would get a single beep from them, neither would we get a single replacement part for the last two years. So, people who bought a Gateway from us normally end up with a more or less completely new PC provided by us. Gateway doesn't give a shit about bad press here in europe, they have completely given up on that market, but the media company you bought the PC at might care if you stir up enough dust.

Aedin · Mortal Joined: 30 Mar 2003 Posts: 21

tell you the truth, i work in the computer repiar industry and i stay away from OEM(brand name) computers liek the plague. they use proprietary equipment that a normal Tech can't replace without it costing you much more $$$ than a custom build system. also, they perform much slower, as companies like gateway make parts for value and cheapness, not speed and features like the normal over-the-counter parts. if you still have issues with it, use it for a shotput and go to a local computer store and get them to custom-build you one. it may cost more, but the parts will be quality and the warranty better. one thing i HAVE to stress though - YOU DO GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR - if you spend 300$ on a computer, its going to be crap. no ifs, ands, or buts. a good computer will cost over $1000 before tax (all monetary figures that i quoted are in canadian dollars)

Z · Hero Joined: 04 Sep 2002 Posts: 632

:[, I have a Gateway too and its a bitch although it is quite good in other respects. The Tech Support I have found to be ok. But I think the only major reason why Gateway people like me are so pissed off is that when they packed up in Europe they just thought ah well.. sod them. Their UK SUPPORT now is total sh1t, The US site does sh1t for me as the main bulk of support is for US customers only......arghhhhhh.

anyway, the last 2 pcs Ive had were Gateways and when they were still in Europe, they were very good, I rang their tech support number numerous times and got good replies. They even sent a pair of speakers free to me, although I think that was a fluck up on their part.

oh yeah one more annoying thing, Gateway filled up all 4 RAM slots with 64Mb each, bstards, so if I upgrade I lose 64MB/slot already.

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Glorin · The Badgermouthed Joined: 04 Sep 2002 Posts: 4912

Hurin · Master Joined: 14 Jan 2003 Posts: 219

Nemor · Hero Joined: 15 Feb 2003 Posts: 510

I built mine myself, up until it blew itself up at 4 years of age (with regular upgrades of course). Mine always worked sweet as a nut and get top performance in any game/program I used.

Custom built is definetely the only way to guarantee a flawless pc.

The one I have now is no exception, if it's custom built you'll get more for your money and it'll last way longer. Mine never needed anything replaced or regular formats.
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Black Shadow - Rogue
Green Shadow - Mage
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Nemor - Druid

Kindo · Mon 07/14/03 1:01am

Yeah, but it costs three arms and a swollen member.

Spears · Mon 07/14/03 7:49am

If you're seriously thinking of lawsuits, seek me first via PM.

Nefiorim · Elder Joined: 13 Sep 2002 Posts: 876

Custom rules... Don't have to replace stuff often, you can scout around for cheap upgrades and stuff, if anything fails you're the one to blame and not some silly OEM.
Right now I'm replacing the first thing in a year or so (except for keyboard/mouse & speaker). My burned cd's started giving me a crap load of CRC errors, so I ordered a DVD-Burner (NEC 1300something for those that care).
For the rest my XP 1500+ that I bought ages ago is still running fine at 2000+ watercooled, even during the summer!

Custom Custom Custom

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Nemor · Hero Joined: 15 Feb 2003 Posts: 510

My fan decided to blow up on me, scattered pieces around my whole machine.. Was a funny ordeal, shamefully no one was hurt

_________________
Your friendly but rather insane office worker...

As illustrated...

Black Shadow - Rogue
Green Shadow - Mage
Bio - http://www.btinternet.com/~b.russell2k/Shadow.txt
Nemor - Druid

Maelstrom696969 · Mon 07/14/03 3:55pm

Dude, get a Dell.

(or build your own)

ShadowCore · Mon 07/14/03 4:26pm

Build your own!!! Way cheaper, more control, can't blame someone else.

Grusk · The Ownerizer Joined: 11 Dec 2002 Posts: 851

For once I have to agree with Shadowcore.

It's much cheaper to build your own, and sometimes it turns out to be less difficult.

Certainly faster. Always faster.