I purchased a Gateway laptop from the Best Buy store in Lafayette, LA in Feb. 2006 for my 14 year old son. On Sept. 16 we started having trouble with it. The display would roll so we could not use it.
Since I had purchased the Repair/Replacement policy (for a pretty penny) I took it back to the store on Sept. 17 where I was informed that they would have to send it off to Gateway to be repaired. Yes, they said Gateway.
I was told that it would take 2 to 3 weeks to get it back which did not make my happy since not only does my son use it for school I also use it for work. Of course they could not give me a loaner or anything to help me out since this is the only computer that we have.
Luckily it came back on Sept. 23 and they had replaced the motherboard, display and a few other things. So many things I could not understand why they just did not replace it. We had it home for exactly 2 hours and it started acting up again. When we turned it on it would shut off after a couple of seconds (it never would boot up).
So I took it back once again and they sent it off. It came back a week and 1/2 later and I picked it up. Since I had to go after work and the traffic is horrible since the Hurricanes (Katrina & Rita) because about 100,000 more people live in Lafayette now and I still had to pick up my daughter at daycare before 6:00 I did not test it at the store.
When I got home I looked at the paperwork which stated that they could not find anything wrong with it. I plugged it in and of course it was doing the exact same thing it was when I brought it in.
So for the 3rd time in as many weeks I returned to the store. The "Geek Squad" looked at it and said that there was a short in the motherboard (that had just been replaced). I called Customer Service while I was at the store to find out how could they have not discovered this when they had it and of course they were absolutely of no help and actually ended up frustrating me even more that I was already.
That was on October 15th. I called the store on Oct 19th to find out when I might be getting it back since my son had some school projects that he needed to do so I was really in a bind. (My son was not able to complete his school work and is now failing 2 classes due to all of this.) I was told that they had to order the parts for it. PARTS? If it was sent to Gateway like we were told originally why did they need to order parts?
I called Customer Service and was told that it was not sent to Gateway but to their repair facility. After I told them what I have been through (like they did not already know) I was told that they would expedite it. Well it is now the 25th and still no computer.
When you call Customer Service you have to wait 10-15 minutes just to talk to someone and of course they could not care less about any problem that you are having and just offer a bunch of excuses. I emailed them a couple of weeks ago with this same complaint and have not heard anything. I guess I know why the wait to talk to someone is so long... There are alot of other people with complaints also.
When I bought this computer I could not get anyone to wait on me. I actually walk out of the store the first time. I guess that should have been my first clue as to how I would be treated if I had a problem.
If it has to go back in for repair a 4th time they are supposed to replace it but I am sure they will have a way around that also.
I promise I will never do business with these people again and I will make sure that no one I know will either.
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