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Gateway is Satan
OMG, full blown rant ahead.
So, over a year ago, in September I got a Gateway laptop. I was very excited, and it was decent. Not amazing, but I was too happy to finally have a laptop, and also, my desk top was a piece of crap, so *anything* was an improvement.
The computer lasted until, oh about, April? Then the AC adapter went. I bought a new one (from the store, because I needed one right away and couldn't wait for one under the warranty) and sent my info in to get one under warranty. Well I needed a *ton* of info to do that, and kind of put it off, until my mom broke the one I bought. Then I called Gateway and asked for them to send me one. A month later I still hadn't received it. I called, and it turned out that the first person I was speaking to never placed the order. I got it soon after that, but if I hadn't called, I never would have got it. It worked for like 2 months before it too broke, this time a month after my warranty was up. Grr. So I bought another one from the store (yo, those things are like $130 each!). Also, for some reason, it wouldn't go into either Standby or Hibernation, meaning the computer had to be either "on" or "off" Not good when your plug in isn't all that reliable.
And then, for Christmas, I got a new computer (there's along story as to why, but basically it was so that I could have a "better" one). We bought it on December 9th, but I didn't actually get to use it until the new year.
By the end of January it was broken. I couldn't get the darn thing to recharge. At first I thought it was the adapter, but no, when I'd plug my adapter into my old computer it worked fine, and vice versa. So I called the help line, and they told me I'd have to send it in to be fixed. It took about a week to arrange it, but by Feb 1st it was in the mail. I was told it'd take 8-10 days for it to get back to me. Now I work in customer service, so I *know* that that's basically BS, but I patiently waited 2 weeks to call for an update. I called on the 18th, which was a Sunday, so I knew I wasn't likely to get answers, but I'd at least get someone looking into. After a half hour heart attack where they couldn't find any sort of indication that they'd even *received* my computer, he placed an "escalation" report, and explained that the warehouse *has* to respond within 48 hours. I call back (because, god forbid they actually call *you* back) on Thursday, well past the 48 hour mark, and they still haven't had a response.
I complained (a lot) and finally got put through to one of the supervisors, who was like "It can actually take 3-5 days to hear back" *rolls eyes* so I complained some more and he filed *another* escalation report (because the first one turned out so well).
So I called back Tuesday. The guy informs me that they're doing something to the computers and can't actually access any info from the warehouse. I mention the reports and he goes and looks them up. Apparently they need to replace the *whole* motherboard, but I should receive it in 2-5 days.
So while my computer's in being repaired, I've been using my mothers computer, which is only 17 months old! Guess what? On Thursday it breaks! The fan won't turn on, so neither will the rest of the computer. Perfect. It's not under warranty anymore, so it's going to cost like $100 to get it fixed, and take forever since they have to order the part in (and that's apparently what's holding my other computer up). The guy at Future show was actually kind of nice, he was going to pull a little switch-er-oo on another Gateway that they were sending back (because apparently Gateway's are crap), but unfortunately it was a different part. :(
So when my extra computer broke down, I called back. This was Thursday, the guy was basically like "Hmm, well, I don't see any info on it" and "That's hateful" and he kept calling me "love" (I always find that really weird). So I hung up with no info, and in fact he kind of implied that they had the part, but no one's actually gotten around to installing it.
So on Friday, my mom called them. The guy told her that they *don't* actually have the part, so yeah, he has no idea when we'll get it. This time my mom called the head office. Waited on the phone for an hour and half (I think the shortest phone call was 45 minutes, and only like 15 minutes of that was talking, the rest was waiting on hold :S) before finally giving in and leaving a message (which they never responded to btw).
I called back today, and I swear I'm ready to kill someone. I was so angry I was actually crying! So I called the tech support line, and, after an hour, the guy's like, "well, we don't have any information, we can send out an escalation report..." Which, no, just no. "You should call the head office." So I did, again.
I got Steve. Steve's like, "well I'll send an e-mail, and you should call back in 24 hours, we'll have information then." Seriously, haw many of these reports am I going to have to suffer through? And he refused to do anything else! I harassed him for over an hour, and all he did was repeat the fact that he's filed this report and to call back tomorrow! He also threatened to hang up on me. A lot. I mean honestly!
All I wanted him to do was call the warehouse and get some sort of answer! he refused to, kept going on about how it wasn't their procedure, well I'm sorry, I've given their procedure 16 days to work, and it hasn't. They've had my computer for 26 days. At this point the computer has spent longer broken then it has been in my possession. Two and half hours later, I still got nothing. They have until 10:00 tomorrow morning to get me something, or I'm going to make their lives living hell, until I *do* get something.
Oh god, I could so rant more, but well, I'm going to stop now.
Does anyone have any suggestions about how to deal with stupid customer service? I should know, I'm in it, but my company treats their customer waayyyyy better than Gateway does, so I'm a little lost when they do *nothing*.
So, over a year ago, in September I got a Gateway laptop. I was very excited, and it was decent. Not amazing, but I was too happy to finally have a laptop, and also, my desk top was a piece of crap, so *anything* was an improvement.
The computer lasted until, oh about, April? Then the AC adapter went. I bought a new one (from the store, because I needed one right away and couldn't wait for one under the warranty) and sent my info in to get one under warranty. Well I needed a *ton* of info to do that, and kind of put it off, until my mom broke the one I bought. Then I called Gateway and asked for them to send me one. A month later I still hadn't received it. I called, and it turned out that the first person I was speaking to never placed the order. I got it soon after that, but if I hadn't called, I never would have got it. It worked for like 2 months before it too broke, this time a month after my warranty was up. Grr. So I bought another one from the store (yo, those things are like $130 each!). Also, for some reason, it wouldn't go into either Standby or Hibernation, meaning the computer had to be either "on" or "off" Not good when your plug in isn't all that reliable.
And then, for Christmas, I got a new computer (there's along story as to why, but basically it was so that I could have a "better" one). We bought it on December 9th, but I didn't actually get to use it until the new year.
By the end of January it was broken. I couldn't get the darn thing to recharge. At first I thought it was the adapter, but no, when I'd plug my adapter into my old computer it worked fine, and vice versa. So I called the help line, and they told me I'd have to send it in to be fixed. It took about a week to arrange it, but by Feb 1st it was in the mail. I was told it'd take 8-10 days for it to get back to me. Now I work in customer service, so I *know* that that's basically BS, but I patiently waited 2 weeks to call for an update. I called on the 18th, which was a Sunday, so I knew I wasn't likely to get answers, but I'd at least get someone looking into. After a half hour heart attack where they couldn't find any sort of indication that they'd even *received* my computer, he placed an "escalation" report, and explained that the warehouse *has* to respond within 48 hours. I call back (because, god forbid they actually call *you* back) on Thursday, well past the 48 hour mark, and they still haven't had a response.
I complained (a lot) and finally got put through to one of the supervisors, who was like "It can actually take 3-5 days to hear back" *rolls eyes* so I complained some more and he filed *another* escalation report (because the first one turned out so well).
So I called back Tuesday. The guy informs me that they're doing something to the computers and can't actually access any info from the warehouse. I mention the reports and he goes and looks them up. Apparently they need to replace the *whole* motherboard, but I should receive it in 2-5 days.
So while my computer's in being repaired, I've been using my mothers computer, which is only 17 months old! Guess what? On Thursday it breaks! The fan won't turn on, so neither will the rest of the computer. Perfect. It's not under warranty anymore, so it's going to cost like $100 to get it fixed, and take forever since they have to order the part in (and that's apparently what's holding my other computer up). The guy at Future show was actually kind of nice, he was going to pull a little switch-er-oo on another Gateway that they were sending back (because apparently Gateway's are crap), but unfortunately it was a different part. :(
So when my extra computer broke down, I called back. This was Thursday, the guy was basically like "Hmm, well, I don't see any info on it" and "That's hateful" and he kept calling me "love" (I always find that really weird). So I hung up with no info, and in fact he kind of implied that they had the part, but no one's actually gotten around to installing it.
So on Friday, my mom called them. The guy told her that they *don't* actually have the part, so yeah, he has no idea when we'll get it. This time my mom called the head office. Waited on the phone for an hour and half (I think the shortest phone call was 45 minutes, and only like 15 minutes of that was talking, the rest was waiting on hold :S) before finally giving in and leaving a message (which they never responded to btw).
I called back today, and I swear I'm ready to kill someone. I was so angry I was actually crying! So I called the tech support line, and, after an hour, the guy's like, "well, we don't have any information, we can send out an escalation report..." Which, no, just no. "You should call the head office." So I did, again.
I got Steve. Steve's like, "well I'll send an e-mail, and you should call back in 24 hours, we'll have information then." Seriously, haw many of these reports am I going to have to suffer through? And he refused to do anything else! I harassed him for over an hour, and all he did was repeat the fact that he's filed this report and to call back tomorrow! He also threatened to hang up on me. A lot. I mean honestly!
All I wanted him to do was call the warehouse and get some sort of answer! he refused to, kept going on about how it wasn't their procedure, well I'm sorry, I've given their procedure 16 days to work, and it hasn't. They've had my computer for 26 days. At this point the computer has spent longer broken then it has been in my possession. Two and half hours later, I still got nothing. They have until 10:00 tomorrow morning to get me something, or I'm going to make their lives living hell, until I *do* get something.
Oh god, I could so rant more, but well, I'm going to stop now.
Does anyone have any suggestions about how to deal with stupid customer service? I should know, I'm in it, but my company treats their customer waayyyyy better than Gateway does, so I'm a little lost when they do *nothing*.