Gateway to where?!?
Sep 18 '00
My mother and I have been talking about her situation is pretty good detail the past roughly two months. When she found out I did Epinions, she asked me to write this. I make no promises, I just am gonna tell it like I see it.
My mother had a Gateway Pentium II 350 (I believe she said) and loved it. In July, her house was hit by lightening during a strong storm. It basically fried the modem, monitor and printer port. Homeowners paid for her to get a new one. When she called Gateway, she asked for the same thing, or the closest she could get as she knew the Pentium II was "outdated". Ok. She would go with the Pentium III. He said "We have a 700". She said, ok. In about a week, my Dad got the computer from UPS and put it together while my Mom was at work. When she got home, she was far from happy. It wasn't a Pentium. It was an AMD Athlon. Was not what she wanted or asked for. The fact that the case was cracked yet the box wasn't damaged didn't make her any to happy, either. She called Gateway and asked to talk to someone. They informed her that she had to talk to the guy that she ordered it from. He was off for the next two days. Could she call back? She asked to speak to a supervisor and they said that there was no one available. She could order and pay for a new computer thru anyone there, but for a refund or exchange, she needed to talk to the guy that had the weekend off. So, she waited.
When she did get ahold of the guy, he told her no problem. He would ship out her new computer and there would be a call tag in the box for the first one. Ok. Another week past before she got it. Once again, my father put it together for her while she was at work. When she got home, she was not happy, again. It was not a tower, as she had requested. It was a desktop. When she called this time, of course Jeff was off, again. They told her that it came with a little plastic foot that she could clip onto it and set it on the floor sideways. Well, makes it a pain to put in a CD. You have to about stand on your head. Plus, there is no room to add anything on, such as a CD burner. Not to mention the fact this is NOT what she ordered. Well, they informed her, again, that a supervisor wasn't available. She would have to wait on Jeff. She was pretty hot about this time. She did not want to talk to someone that had screwed up her order twice. They said she didn't have a choice. So, once again, she waited.
Well, once again, Jeff said no problem. he would get her a Pentium III and it would be a tower. He would also enclose the call tag for that computer to be shipped back to him. After another week, they got the computer. Once again, my father set it up. Once again, she came home, but this was the right one!! Third time is a charm, right?!? NOT!!! Instead of Windows 98, it had Windows ME on it. It would not allow her to add software. Like for the printer, her disk for the college network for her college classes, or the disk that she got from her ISP to set that up. When she called Gateway, they said, must be the software. All of it?!? She took the Network disk to work where she has Windows 98. It worked just fine. As did the printer disk. She called Gateway again. By the way, Jeff was off for the weekend. No, I am not kidding. She was on the phone with them for several hours and they had no clue.
Well, after three tries, Gateway has now struck out. My mother is spitting bullets and now has three computers sitting in her home office floor boxed up to go back to Gateway. Not to mention the fried one.
If you go with Gateway, good luck. I am not sure what has happened to their service, but they about the most unhelpful people I have ever heard of. Not only did she not have her computer for personal things such as email, she is also taking college courses that require the net. She has been staying at work late to use her computer off of the clock instead of being able to do her homework in her own home. Plus all of the trips to UPS as both of my parents work and are not home when they deliver. The time alone that was wasted upsets her, not to mention the money and time without it.
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Epinions.com ID:
LisaDo
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Member: Lisa D
Location: Back home in Indiana!
Reviews written: 552
Trusted by: 274 members
About Me:
Proud SAHM, Navy wife and member of SHLEPS!
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