Gateway!

trebuin · Oct 16, 2006, 09:08 AM

Ok, I'm only posting this because Gateway has taken this a bit too far for me. Enjoy the read.

www.trebuin.com
2000:
I purchased a CD burner (early generation) at about $150. I ended up returning this. Gateway informed me that they did not receive this. I had proof of them receiving of the drive and informed them of this. They said I would receive a check in the mail and would research this. I never received the check.

Nov 2004:
I purchased a Gateway M675 Laptop in October/November of 2004. It arrived to me in November 2004 with a crack in the bezel to the right of the mouse pad about 1 inch in length. I contacted Gateway customer support and informed them of this problem and they informed me that they will provide a box to have it shipped to them and for it to be repaired, covered by warranty. I informed them that I was going to be moving and the time involved would cross a change of address so they told me that this would be documented and call them when I arrive at my new address.
I notified them from Nov 2004-~May 2005 I would be going TDY for training. They said this would be fine as they had documented the conversation. I also requested a copy of my invoice being that it had not arrived yet. They informed me that one would be sent.
May 2005-July 2005:
I contacted Gateway in regards to the repair. They informed me that it would cost me ~$50 to have it shipped to them and an additional ~$270 to have the bezel repaired. They further informed me that my warranty expired and that is why I had to pay. * I originally had a 1 year warranty on my laptop*
After several emails back and forth, and several phone conversations over a period of 2 months Gateway finally agreed to honor their original claim they had documented. They informed me that I would still have to pay the $50 for the shipping
After all of this, they also agreed to reinstate my 1 year warranty on my product. They informed me that my address change voided the warranty.
I also requested a copy of my invoice being that I still haven't received one.
July 2005:
I received the box to ship my laptop for the repairs.
Aug 2005:
After several weeks without any notice on my laptop, I was contacted by Gateway with them saying that if I did not pay $270 in repairs within one week, they would return my laptop un-repaired. They also said the crack was caused by me. They also informed me that there were multiple large cracks in the laptop.
For the next week, I contacted Gateway over several hours and they informed me that they did not make any agreement in regards to the laptop repair in November and May-July. I would have to pay for the repairs. They also said that the carrier was responsible for the damage and I have to contact them within 30 days of the purchase in regards to being reimbursed. I wish I had known this almost a year before.
They finally told me that I would pay, but would be reimbursed after they did an investigation in regards to the original shipment.
I also requested a copy of my invoice being that i had still not received it.
I paid a total of approximately $350 for the repairs.
Sep 2005:
I arrived home to find my laptop dropped off on my doorstep by DSL with the box severely damaged. I opened the box to find the laptop bezel was repaired but there were several much smaller cracks around the frame on the outside. I informed gateway of this and they informed me that I would have to pay for those repairs and an additional fee for the next box shipment. I refused to have it repaired because the cracks were not critical.
I again requested an invoice that I still did not receive.
Oct 2005:
I had contacted Gateway in regards to my reimbursements. They informed me that they had tried to contact me in regards to the original shipment and the investigation was ended because I never contacted them. They said I could no longer be reimbursed.
I also requested a copy of my original invoice.
I had found that the laptop ran quite a bit hotter than it originally had.
Oct 2006:
My laptop locked up during operation and was never revived. I had my insurance cover the laptop and took it to a repair shop, per request. They had found that the laptop had severely overheated damaging several components and that the cost to repair would exceed the value of the laptop. They pointed out some damages caused by the bezel being replaced...the several micro fractures that I had seen. They also showed me damage to the motherboard on the inside that in their opinion caused the overheating.
I had again contacted Gateway for an invoice for my insurance company and they informed me that it would cost me $15. I refused because they had never succeeded in sending me several requested ones.
Late Oct 2006:
I was informed by my insurance that gateway said I had a 15" laptop by referencing my serial number and that did not match the damage report from the repair shop. Thank you Gateway for LYING, thank you my insurance company for holding the proof of this, and thanks to the repair shop that saw that the laptop is a 17" and faxing this to my insurance company. They are currently in process of detailing all the specs on my laptop to allow an accurate quote due to several specification mismatches provided by gateway.
from my insurance company, what gateway had told them:
equivalent, original value laptop:
Gateway NX560X valued at $749.99
Original laptop:
Model Number: M675PRR
Screen Size: 17 inch widescreen
Screen Resolution: 1440x900
Battery: 12-cell Li-Ion Battery (part #4500945)
Hard driver: 100-GB 7200 RPM Hitachi Travelstart 7K100
Processor: Intel 3.2 GHz/800MHz CPU with Hyperthreading technology 512 cache Part#4500945
Drive: DVD/CD-RW Combo
Memory: 1.5GB PC2700S 333MHz DDR 1024 and 512 Modules
Networking: Broadcom B and G wireless adapter
Operating System: Windows XP Professional
Graphics Card: ATI Radeon 9600/9700 128mb Ram
Audio: Sigmatel� Soft Audio 6-channel AC97 revision 2.3 codec
Refrence:
http://www.pcpartsohio.com/BookDetail.aspx?item_id=559
I wonder if my insurance company is being charged for that misleading quote?
I will provide specific details once this process is complete.
To Gateway:
I loved the Solo 2500 I bought back in 1998 but service went down from there. Congratulations, you made about $500 extra off of me but enjoy this bad press.