“We get quite a bit of e-mail from readers complaining about the quality of service and support provided by PC vendors. But one message we received this month stood out because of the epic length of time and effort the reader spent trying to resolve his particular problem. The way Chicago native Karl Immermann tells the story, it’s a tale of lies, vandalism, and outright thievery–and it doesn’t have a happy ending,” Nancy A.
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But PCs are so much cheaper than Macs.
Amazing people keep buying from companies like this. I don’t have to eat 8 bites of a turd and saurkraut sandwich to know I don’t like the taste.
at least they don’t blow up like dells (see MDN archives)
“And, yes, they are officially referred to around these parts as ‘Beleaguered Gateway’ and will be for some time. Even if they do miraculously recover, they will still be ‘beleaguered’ to us for years. Fair is fair, after all. And we like to drive home a point until even Windows users can understand it.”
Very, very Jobsian statement. I should know, I used to work for him. I like this site. It has the real Mac attitude intact. Pirates unite!
damm. now the editorial staff has started using the word “moo” now…
dammit i want royalties.
moo.
And donnie hasn’t used hehehehehehehe since I copyrighted it. What was I wasting my energy for??
Hmm…and Gateway wonders why they have had to shut their doors to all of their stores. The lottery begins, folks. Everyone put in a dollar and guess how many more months Gateway will survive as a company. Place your bets!!!
Too friggin’ FUNNY! Read through the rest of the stories. These people love to throw thier money away, and then have the gall to tell Mac people that the machines they buy suck and cost too much money. I’m laughing my ass off! What a bunch of witless morons. SUCKERS! And then they get back in line for more. Nothing tastes quite so good as a shit sandwich to these losers.
yes but, GTW hit target today, making 20% in less than 2 weeks
” width=”19″ height=”19″ alt=”wink” style=”border:0;” /> tyvm. this is why:
http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/2004-04-01-gateway-stores_x.htm
and making money on stock is what matters, right?
PC buyers look at price and any big number associated with the chip. Gateway sells crap at a low price. Gateway will survive. Only Dell is better at selling crappy PC’s. There is room for 2 crappy PC vendors. I worry about HP and Sony.
I’ve seen stories like this about Macs, too. I’m very skeptical. This guy spent 4 grand on a computer in 2000, wanted a new on in 2002, and still hasn’t replaced it? Two years without a computer. What was he using it for? He obviously didn’t really need one.
I sympathize with the guy–I’ve bought a few lemons in my time, too. But I don’t see any reason Gateway should give him full price for a two-year-old computer.
About 5 years ago, I (a long time exclusive mac user) decided to purchase a gateway computer (and abandon the mac platform sadly). They claimed a 30 return policy if not satisfied. Well, I was not satisfied, so I returned it within 30 days. Guess what? They would not refund my money. I corresponded with Gateway on numerous occasions and each time was told that they had already refunded my money. Funny thing was that I purchased it with on my credit card and no such credit ever showed up on my statement. Gateway claimed it was an issue with the credit card and not them. Gateway provided no assistance and steadfastly refused to refund my money. I filed a dispute with my credit card company and about 6 months later eventually received about 90% of the purchase price. Even though was originally told that there would not be a restocking fee, I dropped the matter, purchased an imac, and have not looked back (until now).
I wonder how many others have such stories about Gateway?
This is the way of the PC world anyway. Remember when Gateway was one of the big dogs right up there with DELL/HP/IBM? Anyone remember Northgate? They were at one time the leaders in the PC world. How about Zeos? Yup, them too. Uhhhh…Compaq? If HP didn’t buy them, they’d most likely be where Gateway is today according to their last financial forecasts. Don’t worry, the PC market is cyclical. DELL won’t be around in 5 years either. I guarantee it.
Re: KennyLucius
I think I know of this story, and the problem is that the computer has been in the shop for pretty much its’ entire life. It is a two-year old computer now, but he has been trying to get it fixed / refunded for about two years as well! If it were something that went wrong recently, I would agree.
son bot one of these yest:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=51036&item=4121492273
truly nib, and the guy has over a hundred with a variety of ram, video, etc. not the dual 3ghz, but we might not live long enuff to see those.
“I don’t have to eat 8 bites of a turd and saurkraut sandwich to know I don’t like the taste.”
” width=”19″ height=”19″ alt=”smile” style=”border:0;” />
I’ll take one of those…. hold the turd though.
It truly is amazing the abuse people will take by choosing a PC. I think much of their choice is based off what CrapMart sells. Need a computer…. let’s go to a store that carries only junk…. get in the car kids… it is time to go to Wally World…. new computer for us! Get computer home and set up (2 hours later), get on internet… ohh…… you’ve got… viruses! Back to Wally world to get antivirus… no sales person would ever mention that every week a new virus is released for the crap box they are about to buy.
Sure… you save a few bucks at the register…. but with the price of gas… and what is your time worth? When is a “good” deal not a good deal? When you buy a PC.
“I sympathize with the guy–I’ve bought a few lemons in my time, too. But I don’t see any reason Gateway should give him full price for a two-year-old computer.” – KennyLucius
I’d have agreed with you if the computer has worked well during that period. But according to the article, the computer has been malfunctioning all the time and Gateway didn’t resolve the issue. It is understandable that lemons are to be found in anything even from the best brand. But, good companies resolve the issue to the satisfaction of the consumer, even if they have to lose money in the process.
BTW, whether the guy needs a computer or not is not the issue. Even the spokesman admitted that the company didn’t resolve the issue to the customer’s satisfaction. What more proofs do you need?
you all have such contempt for human beings. it’s really sad. this guy went through hell. if you don’t care about that, you’re already dead. screw you.
Until Apple decides to effectively demonstrate in their advertising exactly why Macs are better and worth a little more money (or how feature for feature they’re not more money), most people will assume that all computers are created equally, and cheaper is better.
“most people will assume that all computers are created equally, and cheaper is better”
That is why these stupid SOBs keep buying crap. If they are too stupid or too lazy to figure it out who cares?
Meritocracy is self-perpetuating.
“But PCs are so much CHEAPER than Macs.”
Yes… Yes they are.
Gateway does suck, but as an Apple fan, let’s not ignore what happens in our own backyard. Apple still needs to improve it’s service and it’s selection.
I really hate the fact I have to buy everything from Apple, when I can buy hard drives, RAM and other trinkets for MUCH cheaper from someone than Apple. Like someone said before, just give me the case, motherboard, processor and leave out the other stuff.
I think ‘Moof’ would have been more appropriate�
Much of Gateway’s quality problems come from the fact that they DO buy their components as cheaply as possible, Chomper. I worked for a school district that was big into Gateway, and they had problems after one big purchase networking classrooms of computers, just setting up a LAN within the classroom, because the networking cards came from 4 different manufacturers and just wouldn’t cooperate.
The whole point to how Apple sells its hardware is to avoid hardware/software incompatibilities and quality issues like Gateway has. Most people who buy Macs and are aware of this appreciate the result.
All the same, my G4 has 75% of its RAM, both of its hard drives and its internal 4x dvd burner all from non-Apple sources and they work just fine. Who says you have to buy everything from Apple?
You can always go to the Apple Store and custom configure a machine with the minimal RAM and HD then go buy your own. If you want the cheapest possible hardware, tho, then you can always go to CompUSA or online, buy your own components and build your own box.
An anecdote is just that–although something THAT bad should never happen. Large-scale statistical surveys are another matter.
According to Consumer Reports surveys of thousands of people:
Apple is the best PC maker in terms of hardware reliability, for both laptops and desktops.
Gateway is the worst in both categories.
Apple is on top in effective customer service.
Gateway rates much worse (but not at the bottom among PC makers).
Full details here:
http://forums.maccentral.com/wwwthreads/showflat.php?Cat=&Board=general&Number=618987
And FYI, that sounds even worse than my experience with eMachines, which was a similar nightmare. (Drawn out with no solution… ever. Finally my warranty ended and I still never got a working machine!) In the eMachines case, there was less abusiveness towards me but more incredible stupidity.
They sent me a power supply instead of a modem. That’s about the MOST intelligent thing eMachines’ tech support managed.
MDN doesn’t need to explain referring to Gateway as beleaguered…the first reference to “beleaguered Gateway” I could find appeared in March, 2001:
http://www.nctimes.net/news/2001/20010330/aa.html
I feel that the guy’s story is exaggerated. There were 4 or five problems listed: drive, power, software, boot, etc. It’s easy to make it seem like the computer was always in the shop, but it may have been in the shop for only a few days for each incident.
None of us really know the story, but I imagine Gateway offered him a replacement computer (probably faster than his lemon, but cheaper), and he held out for the money. I can’t really blame him, since I wouldn’t want another Gateway after his experience either, but I can’t blame Gateway for refusing him $3500 to take over to Dell.
The funny thing is…I get the impression that the guy was going to use the money to buy a big screen TV or something. He doesn’t seem to need or want another computer.
Give the guy a break, folks. Assuming that his account is factual, he bought a computer with the reasonable expectation that it would fulfill its intended use (even though it was a PC) ;o) Everyone gets stuck with a lemon product or service at some time in their life. The missing information at the end of this story is, “what did he do after this sad experience.” Did he get a Mac?
The proliferation of arbitration clauses is of great concern to me. In many cases the company dictates who arbitrates and where the arbitration occurs. In many cases it is not worth the money and effort to travel to another state, especially when the outcome is in doubt. Your best defense is to use a credit card for any significant purchases. You can backcharge for up to 180 days according to what I have been told.
$4000??? Holy crap, PC s are so much cheaper than Macs!
What is it called when an item is advertised at a low price, but when a buyer finds out that to make it worthwhile, a lot of “extras” (that would be standard for a Mac) have to be purchased as well, usually more than doubling the price…is that bait and switch? Check out the Dell site. By the time you add all the “Dell recommends” items to a $595 computer, the price is well over $1000. I can’t believe people fall for that crap. Of course, they probably brag to their friends that they bought their computer for $595.
I don’t believe it is an exaggeration. Against my advice, my supervisor bought 2 Gateways. Both had problems. One was fixed promptly, but the other was a complete junk. The network connection constantly dropped out. After several hours on the phone, Gateway agreed to send an ethernet card replacement which worked for a couple days. The whole thing was resolved after a total of 2 ethernet card, a CD-ROM, a power supply, 4 RAM module and 2 motherboard replacements. Of course I had to do all the work since Gateway would not send a technician for on-site support. I insisted on a motherboard replacement after the ethernet card replacement died since I thought the problem was with the motherboard, but it wasn’t until pretty much everything had been replaced that we got the motherboard replacements. On another note, I noticed that many parts Gateway sent us was all scratched up and generally looked like junk. I believed they sent us salvaged parts from refurbished computers. No wonder they could sell cheap stuff.
Needless to say, my supervisor agreed that Gateway==crap. Did I mention the hours I lost dealing with that junk? Based on my experience, I can accept the guy’s account without much skepticism.
He should have bought the $595 POS & then bought a new one every 2 years. Still be better off. Or he should have bought a Mac.
Neomonkey, never have seen prices advertised as $99.90 and people say: “WOW, not even hundred dollars! That’s cheap”
PC buyers I know always have reported sticker price for their peecee and the add-ons do not count. Some truly believes one has to do the same with a Mac. They believe a Mac is as *naked* as a PC.