I have had a laptop sitting dormant for about seven months, due to a friend leaving it open on the floor and stepping on it, as a result the power button was stuck and I could no longer turn it on.
Since I am getting ready to start school in the fall, my dad decided to get it fixed for me. He searched online for a company and found gatewayspecialists.com. He used their comment box to ask them a question, and they sent him a box with a return label.
We sent the computer and in a few days received an e-mail from Elaptoprepair, saying that I had a bad motherboard and for parts, labor and shipping it would be $295.00 and could take up to 23 business days. That was on May 7th.
I got slightly impatient and emailed them on the 18th, asking about the status of my computer. I got a response that reminded me about the 23 days, that they would email me when my computer was ready and shipped and that I could contact them with anymore questions.
I waited the full 23 days before I decided to send another email. The email went unanswered, so I sent another. My dad sent another. I tried to call their number, but ended up wasting 41 cellular minutes and going over on my phone bill before I finally hung up.
I sent them another email today, and decided to google the company, when alas! Several usacomplaints.com reports already had mentioning and warning of this company! My mom already contacted the credit card company disputing the charge, and since I found out that we had been duped I have lodged complaints with the Longwood Chief of Police, the Florida Attorney General, the FTC, the IFC, and the Central Florida Better Business Bureau.
I also saw that they go through paytrace.com for their payments, and found the number on their website. He told me there was nothing he could really do, but gave me a toll free number of the people that actually handle the monetary part of the transaction. I plan to call them tomorrow to let them know about my situation, as well as FedEx who are unknowingly contributing to their scam.
I sent them an email letting them know all that I did, and am currently awaiting response. I also noticed that when they sent my dad my first email they had titled it "Service Invoice for Gateway 6510GZ." I pulled my box the computer came in out from under my bed as I was filling out my BBB complaint only to see that my Gateway is a 7330GZ! They have been planning from the get-go to do a little something! So I sent them another email noting that I am very aware of the model of my computer.
I have seen from other people that the ones that actually get a computer back get either the wrong computer or their computer with older parts put into it. I only wish I could have seen these reports before I actually gave this company the benefit of the doubt! So many people are out of money and their computers, but who says we can't fight back? Lodge complaints, the victims have obviously not been fighting hard enough if these people have been able to keep this scam going on for three years now!
I will keep you updated of what I find out. If anyone has any information that may be of help to me, please let me know. Thanks so much.
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