Gateway computer Question???

[seanR]

We are on our second New Gateway computer in a week. We bought one last saturday PM, Took it back to the store tuesday after talking to the morons at 1-800-tech support. The CD/DVD drive would not work and the A drive would just chatter untill we shut the computer off.
The lady at the store could not find anything wrong so we tokk it home the next day. Saturday we took it back to the store and refused to leave untill we got a new one.
well, guess what, The new one does the same thing, won't read from the CD/DVD drive, wont even aknowledge it is there, won't work with the run command, or the Auto play.

Any ideas?

 

[Eagle]

Any ideas?

Yeah ... don't buy Gateway.

If you live anywhere near a halfway excuse for a city, there must be computer fairs somewhere near you every couple of weeks or so. New Haven isn't a big city, and I can usually hit a computer fair three weekends out of every four. That's where you get the best deals. Just buy from a vendor near you who has a physical store that's open during the week if you should have a problem ... but usually you won't.

 

[seanR]

Just buy from a vendor near you who has a physical store that's open during the week if you should have a problem

That is why we bought a Gateway there is a Gateway store here in Rockford. They are the only ones who sell one brand of computer and have any idea of what is going on. This is the second Gateway Laura has bought from the store in three years. The last one works fine even now, just wanted to upgrade.

 

[Kejtar]

I got a few things I could tell you about Gateways...... but well, they are not something I could put on a family oriented forum.... Anyways, buddy of mine had a gateway desktop, now he owns a dell laptop, and had a blast last time he went shooting at the desert (he did bring the pieces back to hang on his garage wall though LOL). Anyways, I'll say that dell has shipping problems when product is in high demand, but their support and quality is rock solid. I have my laptop about 3 years now, and the things that went bad, was wear and tear (opening the lid everyday for 3 years does tend to loosen them up) but with the extended warranty I bought, they were in my office the next day after I called them replacing my hinges.

Anyways, if I was you, I'd take it back and get a refund... and then go here.

 

[FitchVA]

yeah, i agree with everyone. ynrr firsd$mistake war bu(jng a gateway. if you don't ha6j any other pc places around, go with dell. but as for their support...it'r go>o downhill as of late. `oon't get me wr?kg, it'#%still the best around, but they aren't ahead of the pack as much as they used Ôe be. >jw vhen rou call#thdm, (m you can't und5wstand a middle-eastern accent, you're screwed.

 

[EMTJeepers]

I have to disagree

I've been using gateway since 92-93, and have had no problems with their machines or customer support. I've only heard tale of one laptop problem that took 4 times to fix, but I could tell you a host of problems that have come from dell. Biggest thing, regardless of where you buy the unit, is to have them boot it up infront of you, and verify the problems. One thing that often occurs in shipping(driving in a car included), is that wires can wiggle loose. You may want to check all the cabling in the case prior to returning it, you may want to pull the cables off, and reseat them.(be careful if you have never done this before).

Good luck.

 

[ChiXJeff]

I was forced to use Gateway as a vendor between 88 and 94. Their sales droids were clueless, and the tech support was laughable IF you could get a call back. Dell has treated me MUCH better.

Sean, if you've got the same symptoms with 2 different computers, it's a problem with the software load, or in the build process. Either way, I'd demonstrate the problem in the shop and give them the option of either fixing it on the spot (and showing it's fixed) or giving you an immediate refund. In no event should you leave the store without a working computer, or your money back.

 

[jre29]

Four Letters...

D-E-L-L

Can't go wrong. Trust me.

 

[FitchVA]

have you thought about building one yourself? it's not all that hard to do and you can save some money if you're buying a higher end machine.

 

[RTicUL8]

I've done tech support for the last 9 years. I have dealt with both Gateway and Dell. While Dell is not perfect, they are waaaaaaaaaaay better than Gateway when it comes to customer service and tech support.
-
The company culture at Gateway seems to teach their employees that customers don't really matter. They never go out of their way to satisfy.
-
The only real gripe that I have against Dell is their stupid phone system. You have listen to endless menus before getting to talk to someone. And they never transfer you to someone else if necessary - you have to dial another number and start all over again....grrrr.


P.S. I've personally bought 9 Dell PCs and one Gateway (I returned the Gateway).

 

[XJJPR]

I guess I'm the only one who likes my Gateway.

BTW, their customer service sucks is right!

I've never had a machine issue just service issues with a change on a order, half my fault.

mark

 

[EMTJeepers]

Dell has their issues tooo

I can't begin to tell you the countless number of Dell's that we received that did not work right out of the box. I'm sure they never even burned them in. And getting them fixed/customer support/ all was nothing but a hassle. We stopped using dell altogether as a vendor.

Again. This is personal preference... There are horror stories on both sides of the fence, and in the middle tooooo. Even building your own can cause problems.

Get the machine to the Store and make them fix it, give you a new one(make them boot it at the store, or a refund and try again...

Either way... I wish you the best of luck

 

[RTicUL8]

"And getting them fixed/customer support/ all was nothing but a hassle."

You just have to know how to talk to dem down dere in the great state of Texas.

Yea, I was mashing da buttons on this here ol' cOmpooter and it's running slooower than molasas in march. Y'all gonna fix it sometime soon? :farmer:

 

[FitchVA]

You just have to know how to talk to dem down dere in the great state of Texas.

Yea, I was mashing da buttons on this here ol' cOmpooter and it's running slooower than molasas in march. Y'all gonna fix it sometime soon? :farmer:

texas? i thought they've routed all of their customer support to india? i've called about 2 dozen times in the past month (work for large it firm with tons of dells) and i always get a poor-speaking middle easterner.

 

[RTicUL8]

There was an article in the news recently about Dell moving its tech support back to the U.S. due to a large number of similar complaints. However, I'm not sure how fast they're moving on it.

 

[FitchVA]

i hope they do move it back. no offense, but it's just too darn hard to understand them. plus they don't get any of the cultural slangs we use.

 

[Colin W.]

I also live in Rockford, and we have had many problems with our Gateway. When I had to get a computer for school, I had a friend make me one. Look into that. I'm sure there are plenty of people around who could do it for you. I couldn't be happier with mine and haven't had a problem with it yet, (with the exception of operator error). He also warrantied my parts and his work.