On 26 March, or there about, we ordered a Laptop computer from MPC/Gateway through Jen's employee purchase program. The order was shown to be in the "booking" stage for quite some time, and a call to the sales rep advised us that the order was on hold for a carrying case that had been ordered to go with the laptop.
Jen told them to just cancel the carrying case, and ship the computer. Not long after, we noticed that the order still had not shipped. Another call to the sales rep advised us that there was a problem getting some other parts, but that our order was being given top priority.
Thinking we were getting the run around, I decided to call customer service. The customer service rep advised me that the order was held up because of the earthquake in China. I stopped him in his tracks, and reminded him that the order had been placed well before the quake, and to try again.
Eventually we were told that there was a problem getting the chassis, but that our situation had been escalated to upper management. Around the time that the chassis was to have come in, in the middle of June, I suggested that perhaps a free upgrade was in order, since there was likely a machine in a class above the one we ordered that had all the parts available. At that time I was advised that an upgrade would not work, because now the issue was with the motherboard components. Any machine in an equal or greater category as the one we ordered would have the same motherboard issue. (Of course!)
Three months, and three separate order numbers later, MPC/Gateway has offered us no resolution. They did, after I pretty much insisted, send us a wireless router, so that when (IF) we get the laptop, we can connect to The Internet via our cable modem, which is connected to our desktop PC.
We have never been given a courtesy call to update us, many of our emails have gone unanswered, many voicemail messages have been unreturned, and no date has been set for a shipment. We were told that pretty much no laptops are leaving Gateway, and that there are "thousands of other customers patiently waiting out the back order".
It was suggested to me today that if parts for an upgraded laptop were available, that would have been the first thing done to remedy the situation. Only time will tell if we see any upgrades. At this point, we would just be happy with the machine we ordered, and PAID FOR THREE MONTHS AGO!
I would like to let others know what is going on, and I would love to hear from anybody else this is happening to. (Since MPC/Gateway tells me there are so many!) Please pass this on to anybody you think would be willing to send it along to others.
Please feel free to email me at [email protected]
Doug Alley
Central Maine
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