CUSTOMER SUPPORT AT GATEWAY 2000 AND GATEWAY COUNTRY CAN BE EXTREMELY POOR.

You would be well advised to read the information on this site before you consider buying a system from Gateway 2000 or Gateway Country. Gateway advertises their great customer support. My experience has been contrary.

My story of woe:

I ordered a loaded GX-450XL PII Xeon PC from Gateway Country in Cupertino, CA on January 14, 1999, paying a total of $4,715. It was shipped, on time, about two weeks later. Then the problems started. With a system as complex as this, you should expect some problems. But you should also expect the vendor to make a serious attempt at fixing them. Gateway 2000 hasn't and it was virtually impossible for me to talk to someone at the home office to address the problem.

After the first few days, the system started crashing at the end of the boot process while loading the CD-RW software. I tried to boot from the boot floppy that came with the machine... It didn't work, the FD couldn't read it. Then, after trying several things to get in, I found that the system would boot, one out of every 3 or 4 tries.

I then tried to call the Gateway 2000 support line and was transferred automatically to the automated help system. It was no help. Over the next few weeks, everytime that I called back, the same thing happened. No human ever answered.

I tried the Gateway 2000 website help system. When I tried to register with my customer number and machine serial number, it told me that they were not valid.

Then, I used their forms based email system to report the problem. I described the problem and asked that they also call me to discuss several other minor problems and omissions that seemed too numerous to list in their form: A disk that came with the system was intended for NT, not Win98, a program that was supposed to come with the system seemed to be missing, the antivirus program said that the license was expired, another program would not accept the access code that came with the system, etc.

After that, I checked with some of the accessory hardware vendor websites to make sure that all the drivers were current... They were. I then waited a couple of days. No email response (other than an automated response saying that they had received the message) or call back.

Next, I contacted the Gateway Counry store's repair department. I was told that it would take more than a week before they could get to my system. Then, I spoke to the Gateway Country store manager and explained to him that I needed this machine for my business and reminded him of the price that I had paid. He told me that they would give it top priority. I brought it in and the tech looked at the problem. The Gateway tech told me that he could not support some of the software on the system and would have to (understandably) wipe the disk and start over to make sure that the problem was not software related. I took the system home and backed up all my files. The tech told me that he would low-level format the hard drive and run extensive diagnostics on the system. He also said that if necessary, they would replace the motherboard, the drives and that the parts would be available within 24 hours.

Several days after returning the system, I got a call from the tech asking for my Win98 password. This was what they meant by top priority. It took days before they even looked at the system.

A few days later I picked up the system. The only thing that they had done was reload the OS. They had done none of the things that they said that they would do. I took it home, set it up and it crashed with the same message. I was able to get in again after the usual several tries at rebooting. I called the Gateway Country store and they told me to bring it back in. I did. I gave them some other symptoms that should help them to diagnose the problem. Two days later, they still had not even looked at the system. I have now had the system for about three weeks and still don't have a fully functional system. Then, almost two weeks after I sent the original email message, I received the following email response from Gateway:

Hello Ted,

Thank you for the email. I'm sorry, but we are unable to perform call-back requests or faxes from e-mail messages unless we feel it is the only way to accomplish what has to be done. We would like nothing better than to call back each person who requests it, but it would increase our workload and defeats the whole concept of e-mail technical support.

If you wish to talk to a technician on the phone, please call our toll-free Client Care line at (800)-846-2301.

Let us know how your wish to proceed.

Online Client Support Team Gateway

Geeze, I wouldn't want to increase their workload. Nothing was included in their message about the problem that I had described.

Finally, desperate for some closure, I called the sales department and told them that I wanted to return the system. I was told that I could not return it to the Gateway Country store where I had paid cash for the system well over a month before and that it would take a week to send me the "Return Kit" that would allow me to return the system. I had to ship it back myself. Then, I would have to wait for seven days after they received the system for them to mail me a refund check. They also told me that it would have taken longer if I hadn't paid in cash. To his credit, the manager of the Gateway Country Store did offer to pack the machine for me, but then I would have to make another trip out there. I am trying to re-start my consulting business after a crippling injury over a year ago and I don't get out and about very well.

To save a few bucks ordering the system from Gateway, I have wasted almost six weeks. With the frustration, the loss of business and the lost time involved, I would have been ahead of the game if, at the first sign of trouble, I had thrown the system in the dumpster and bought another one somewhere else.

Imagine if you don't live near a Gateway Country store. You might end up mailing the system back and forth to them. Next time I will buy from a local PC builder.

I got the return kit (shipping labels) a day later than they said (it took over a week). Since I didn't have the shipping cartons anymore, I took all the stuff back to the Gateway Country store. They agreed to pack and ship it but wouldn't give me a reciept for the machine. After I insisted the I couldn't just give them almost $5000 worth of software and hardware, the manager reluctantly signed the shipping reciept but refused to itemize the inventory.

Lastly, I showed him the Federal Trade Commission Decision and Order regarding Gateway's customer service problems. He had never heard of it even though the FTC clearly states that Gateway must notify all management level and above of the Decision.

The status of my problems with Gateway 2000: It has now been well over two months since my ordeal with Gateway 2000 began... I recieved the refund check from them yesterday and it was short by about $200.00. No explanation. No sense in trying to call them or email them, time for a lawsuit and a complaint to the Federal Trade Commission. Last December, the FTC fined Gateway 2000 almost $300,000.00 for false claims about refunds and support. Stay tuned.

The latest as of August 6, 1999:

I recently received a call from someone at Gateway from their Executive Response Team. The message was that he wanted to talk to me about information that he got from my (this) website. I tried to return the call, but always got his voicemail. Sound familiar Gateway fans? A week or so later, I recieved a check from gateway for $107.17 with no explanation. I didn't cash it because I didn't know what it was for. I also got a coupon, in another mailing (months after I sent the system back), for a free upgrade to Office 2000 (which the salesman told me would come with the system, but didn't). I didn't send that in either. Today I got a certified letter from a Mike Osterholt, Execuitive Reponse Specialist at Gateway listing all the refunds that they have sent me, to date. As he stated, the original shipping and handling charges, which as the Gateway limited warranty states are not refundable. Geeze, I should have read the fine print... You have to pay to receive defective merchandise from Gateway. I gather, from the letter that that is what their limited warranty states. It appears that this check was for the return shipping. Why didn't they send it with the original refund? Now remember, I tried, simultaneously, with email, voice and in person at the Gateway Country Store to get a fix for my system problems... Since this forum seems to be the only way to get a response from Gateway...

Mr. Osterholt, call me.

Epilog:

Within days of receiving the first refund check from Gateway, I went to a local PC builder and had them configure system hardware for me that was almost identical to the Gateway system (at about the same price). Same problem. Since I had so much experience with the previous system (that was lost on the Gateway service personel that I had contacted), I knew how to disable the offending hardware and software. I had sent the system back to Gateway before the clock ran out on the 30 day money back period ended because I had no faith in their ability to solve the problems. I desperately needed a high end system to get back into the workforce and could not be without a system any longer. I disabled the stuff that I could live without immediately and went on with my business. A month or so later I called the kid (well, he's probably in his mid-twenties) that configured the system and told him the problem that I was experiencing. He was clueless... He had probably never configured a system like this before (the original was built from standard Gateway options from their website). I brought it in. He solved the problem in 24 hours.

OTHER LINKS

Dale Anderson's Website

Gateway 2000 Computer Complaint Center

This site is not affiliated with Gateway 2000



GATEWAY, GATEWAY 2000 and GATEWAY COUNTRY are registered trademarks of GATEWAY 2000, Inc. Click http://www.gateway.com/home/corpinfo/trademark/ for trademark information.

Copyright (c) 1999 by Ted Feuerbach, Mountain View, CA. All rights reserved.