Gateway Computers
Ripoff run around (and around and around and around) I have tolerated a lot from this company and I have a lemon, and no one is willing to help me

I am a travel writer. I travel constantly, at least three weeks every month. When my clunky old laptop gave up the ghost I went off in search of a new one that would be lightweight, powerful, and wireless.

Everything I needed was to be found in Gateway's 200ARC. It's a little bigger than I wanted but it's lightweight and robust. It comes with a Centrino 1.4 processor. It was priced higher than a comparably equipped laptop without wi-fi but with a 2.6g P4.

I purchased my new laptop at the end of August with an additional 3 year onsite warranty, which cost $179. The laptop came with one dead pixel and the power supply cord doesn't seat correctly in the adapter, it keeps falling out. No big deal, I knew I could get that replaced when I got around to it, and I can deal with one dead pixel.

I do not have a wireless router at home since I have a desktop system. The first time I tried to use the wireless was 12 days after my purchase, in the Admiral's Club at Raleigh-Durham airport. It didn't work there and it didn't work in the Internet Cafe at the airport and it didn't work in the Centrino stations either. Of course my assumption was that the wireless in the airport stations were messed up since it couldn't possibly be my laptop, which was brand new.

Off I went to Europe for nearly three weeks. When I got back, the wireless didn't work in any of the stations at JFK either. I called Gateway when I arrived home and was told how to "configure" my system for wireless. Of course I couldn't test it until the next time I was in a wireless zone, and when I did it still didn't work.

Five months later, after numerous pleas for assistance, I finally got a supervisor who told me that a faulty Intel chipset had been used in that system and that I needed to get a completely different system or the problems would likely keep recurring. He suggested that if I wanted to spend $50 I could get a good PCMCIA card and everything would work just fine. Now this really irritated me because if I wanted to use a "good PCMCIA card" I could have spent a lot less money for a system that wasn't set up as wi-fi and I could have had a much more powerful processor than the Centrino 1.4, and also, I didn't think I should be made to spend another penny to correct an inherent flaw in the system that Gateway had sold me. He told me to call the fulfillment department or something during business hours so I could get a replacement system, which I did the very next day.

Of course the guy there just laughed at me since I was like 4.5 months past the 15-day return mark. He transferred me to a "supervisor" of customer care or whatever they call the department where some flunky tries to humiliate and browbeat you and tell you how you must have screwed up the product yourself.

I told the "customer care representative" (an oxymoron as it relates to Gateway) that I had the onsite warranty and wanted someone to come out and fix my system. He said he would send a box. I said no, I have onsite. He told me that "onsite doesn't really mean onsite." This is, of course, news to me. He said it means they would send a box or "replace the chassis, no questions asked." No questions asked? I pointed out that I had been trying to resolve the issue for five months and there were plenty of questions but no resolution. He then said that it had taken that long to determine that it was indeed a hardware issue and now they were ready to replace my hardware with a refurbished unit. I would have to remove and replace the hard drive and optical drive myself.

Um. Pardon me. I shouldn't have to spend "$50 for a good PCMCIA card, " and had I wanted a refurbished unit I would also have saved myself a bundle. What the heck kind of solution is this? I bought a new system and paid a premium price for it. It had never worked. I also bought an ONSITE WARRANTY ("your salesperson should have told you that it doesn't mean 'onsite' really, ") so I wouldn't have to deal with stuff like this. I could either send my machine in to be fixed or I could get a refurbished unit or I could purchase a PCMCIA card. These were my options. Never mind that the company is aware that the chipset is bad, they are forcing me to accept a product that doesn't work and blaming me for the delay in getting the issue resolved.

I have to say that of the 15 or so people with whom I have spoken over the months, only three were rude, stupid or obnoxious. Almost everyone else was really kind and wonderful even if they couldn't resolve my problem. They tried. One young man was obviously new and worked very hard (if very slowly) to get my wireless to work. I was at my mother's house, she has a wireless router, and it was the one place where I could sit on a hard phone line and work to get the problem resolved. I was 15 feet from the router but the wireless still didn't work after two hours of reconfiguring everything. The young man put me on hold for twenty minutes, came back and told me that a senior tech had said that I must be around too many cell phones or something. Jeez.

Although the system looked like it had everything I wanted I wish I had listened to others and kept away from Gateway. I don't appreciate the Gateway employee who posted that people like me are just whiny and trying to take advantage of their largesse. I have tolerated a lot from this company and I have a lemon, and no one is willing to help me.

Jana
Fuquay-Varina, North Carolina
U.S.A.

Company: Gateway Computers
Country: USA
State: Nationwide
Address: Sioux City And Nationwide

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