I have had 5 great years with Gateway!
Aug 29 '02
The Bottom Line Gateway computers have been great for me! Great customer service, tech support, and low prices make the cow a winner in my book.
As I read through the reviews here at Epinions, I find negative review after negative review. I have a hard time understanding this, as I have been dealing with Gateway for five years and have been VERY pleased with the experience. In fact, just today I ordered a new laptop from my local Country Store!
Three months ago, I purchased my third Gateway Desktop, the 700XL. Let me tell you, this thing rocks! I am a computer programming major in college, so you can imagine that I put my system through a LOT of abuse. My Gateways have held up very well!
I hear complaints about bad customer service. I must say that my experience with Gateway customer service & technical support has been VERY good. The time you spend on hold for technical support has actually DECREASED over the past couple years, and if you can get online their online tech support is awesome! Let's face it, most technical support calls are that of user error. When my mom can't get something to work her Gateway, she goes to Gateway's online tech support, they take over the computer temporarily, and the problem is fixed!
If you buy a Gateway, do yourself a favor and buy the extended parts and service warranty. Keyboard dead? Call tech support. Your going to spend about twenty minutes while the tech ask you to do a bunch of seemingly redundant stuff, but if you're patient eventually they'll send you a new keyboard. Mouse dead? Same thing! Not to mention if your motherboard croaks, your video card checks out, your Zip drive goes zonkers, or your retractable cup holder ceases to work ;-].
Granted, sometimes they make mistakes. One time they accidentally sent me a copy of "Windows 98" instead of a mouse, but they IMMEDIATELY corrected the mistake. Gateway customer service has BENT OVER BACKWARDS for me! When I bought my 700XL they raised the amount of ram that comes with it from 512MB to 1024MB the day after I ordered. I called, complained, and was shipped an extra 512 megs of RAM. They didn't have to do that, but they did.
I hear people screaming that you can't beat "White Box" local dealers, but I have to say that if I have to service a machine, I'll take a national brand any day over a generic white box! Here's an example: The other day I am servicing a locally made "White Box." I format the hard drive and reinstall Windows. I get most of the drivers loaded successfully, except for the 56k modem. I discover much to my dismay that the dealer decided not to include the modem drivers with the machine. I open up the box trying to find some identification on the modem, and there is none.
What's happened is that this local dealer decided to buy the cheapest 56k modem it could find. They probably bought them in bulk, and had only one driver disk. They are too lazy to make copies of it so they just don't ship it. Consequently I am screwed because I can't find an appropriate driver.
If this computer had been a Gateway I would have been able to locate the driver on a special driver cd-rom shipped with the computer. This cd-rom contains all of the drivers required for the system hardware in one spot. At the very least I could have copied down the serial number of the system, got online at Gateway's website, and located a page detailing the exact specs of the system. From there I could have found a modem brand and model number and located the driver.
The final thing I want to mention is that of all the national brand computers, Gateway is usually the least expensive. Don't believe me? Go to www.gateway.com and pick out a PC. Now, go to a few other national manufacture web sites and find a similar system. Customize it as close as you can to the EXACT SPECS of the Gateway PC. Now compare the bottom line. You'll understand my point ;-]
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Epinions.com ID:
mysticmat1
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