- Average user rating:
- My rating: 0 stars
Full user review
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4 out of 6 people found this review helpful
1.5 stars
"Terrible Service and Support"
Pros: Price; arrived on time
Cons: Service under warranty woefully inadequate
Summary: I rated this product low mainly because of the pathetic support and service I received. After my GAteway NX570XL arrived, I noticed that I was getting an occasional error message after starting the computer. I then realized that while starting Windows, the system would often shut down and start booting over again. Sometimes it would do this several times before starting up. I contacted Gateway tech support, and the technician installed a new video driver (which I had already tried). This didn't solve the problem, so I was told to send the system for service - specifically, for a new motherboard since the video adapter was defective. I was a little unhappy that I had to pay for shipping and insurance to send back a system that was faulty when I got it. However, when the system came back, the problem was the same. Gateway's service people had only formated the hard drive and reinstalled the video driver...again! When I informed customer service, they suggested that my computer needed to be sent in again, at my expense of course.
At this point, I felt I'd invested enough time and headache in this. I wanted either a new system to be shipped out or to return the defective one for a refund. It took the support people 2 days to get back to me and let me know that my request for a replacement was denied. The denial came with a note suggesting (guess what) that we try reinstalling the video driver. When I e-mailed customer service that I wanted to return the system, I was informed that I may be charged a 15% restocking fee for the return. The only way I got to talk to anyone reasonable at Gateway and get the restocking fee dropped was to dispute charges to my Master Card. I'm currently waiting to see if they follow through on their promise to refund all of my money except for shipping.
I can only hope my experience with GAteway's support and service people was the exception and not the rule, but I doubt it. So, from my perspective, if you order a pc from Gateway, hope and pray that you don't have a problem with it.
- 4 replies to this review
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I wished I would have seen this review before I bought my laptop from them. I never had a problem with it for over a year until now, my laptop would load windows but then immediately freeze, I tried the included restore disk and it said it is not the correct CD. So I called support and their automated menu hung up on me, said GoodBye! and then I got dialtone, nice.
If this wasn't enough, I went to gateway live support chat from my PC. I told the support guy about the disc saying ti was the wrong one and read off the label to him. He agreed it was the wrong one but told me that the software had a 90 day warranty and I had to pay $20 to get a new one - eventhough they sent me the wrong disc! I'm very dissapointed with Gateway's support and will never buy any Gateway product ever again. The company they merged with a while back (Micron) already folded and I'm sure Gateway will be next, I hope they do! Acer products are also made by them, so beware of those as well. Avoid at all costs! -
If what I say here prevents one person from buying a Gateway then I will be happy.
In short, last November my notebook's internet access stopped. I brought it to bestbuy and had it looked at. They told me that there was fluid damage and it was not covered in the warranty. I asked for a description of the damage. They told me that the damage was caused by the notebook being placed in a "small pool of moisture". The fluid "must have been sucked up through the fan and onto the motherboard" WHAT!
Anyway, this damage was not repaired because it would cost less to buy a new notebook. I have lasted until August without needing more attention from Gateway.
Recently my system started to bluescreen. I called support and was told that my warranty was voided because of the previous hardware damage. At this point all support on my notebook has been stopped.
To the original point. I was told that the damage could have occurred with as little moisture as humidity!!!!! I was also told that water damage was not covered or that warranty coverage was not even offered for this type of damage.
My final point... I can understand if I spilled something on my machine, left it out in the rain, or put it down on a moist surface but this machine should not be so fragile that humidity could damage it. There should also be some warranty available. Clearly they have an issue with this machine and clearly they are not going to do a thing about it. Buy something else.
JC -
I forgot all about the video driver line. We had the same thing happen with ours and I didn't even include that in my review.
I feel for you. The only difference in our situation and yours is they paid the shipping and we lost all of our money on the computer. -
Sorry for your bad experience, not the case with my communications with Gateway. In fact their service was the deciding factor in selecting their product over Dell. This laptop will be my second Gateway computer, first was a radio freebie that has performed great.
