Clueless Gateway Support for P7811FX

So, I started having issues with my P7811FX, BSOD with 3 different types on occassions. It has nothing to do with heat as I have SpeedFan to monitor the CPU, GPU temps and fan speeds.

I've blown Vista out 3 times and cleanly reinstalled Vista Home Premium with all the drivers from their Website since they are WHQL certified drivers and it continues to BSOD randomly thorough out the day.

So I decided to call Gateway support, got some Indian dude on the phone.

He asks me if I have all the Vista patches I said yes, patched up to yesterday.

1st thing he asks me was to do was go to Safe Mode, and use System Restore.

I said I disabled System Restore because it's useless, what good is that? When it's a fresh Vista install, there's no restore point.

Then the Tech guy said, "if you can't do System Restore, I can't help you."

I told him, I do this for a living, I work in IT and I've done this many times on the job and I'm having a hardware problem or else I could've figured out on my own if it's just a software or driver problem.

Then the guy just said "if you cannot run System Restore or build their Restore disc from the Gateway tool then they cannot help."

I explained to the guy, what different would System Restore do, if I am able to rebuild my Laptop from a Retail Vista disc and install all the drivers cleanly. He argues that you need to install from their restore disc that I have to create with the restore partition.

I told him, I blew it away because the Gateway Restore Disc is as bloated as a hippo. Installs all kinds of useless crap that I don't need.

I asked the guy to send me to a manager, he just hangs me up.

So I tried calling back, got the automated message again to enter your serial number.

I entered my serial again and then the system said "Your system is out of warranty."

Hey! Did that dude just voided my warranty!?

So, I ended up calling Tigerdirect Customer Support where I bought it originally I gave them my serial and they looked up the order number. They checked it with Gateway's Support and it was indeed Out of Warranty. No explanation of how it expired but in the description of the product since it was a refurb it came with 90 day warranty so TigerDirect is honoring that and gave me a Return Auth#.

Kudos to Tigerdirect Customer support, thumb down on Gateway monkey tech support.

 

Whoa. You can go further with the process, man. Sue them! That's just atrocious. Like you said, the rep. was absolutely clueless. Well, at least, you getting it replaced by Tiger Direct. They understand Great Customer Service is a must.

D3158

 

just another reason why whenever I called gateway support, the first thing I do is ask for their badge number, after they give it, I tell them I'm recording the call for my own records (even if I'm not actually recording it). They're a lot more helpful after that.

 

brilliant! such a shame we have to go to such measures.

 

Wow, I remember a few years ago when I was in the hunt for a laptop, they prided themselves for having US-based support.

A shame that they got rid of this after the Acer merger.

Hopefully you'll get better service from TigerDirect!

 

It was just this summer that they had US based support. It was amazing, you could chat online from reps from North Dakota and they could be talked into deals and lowered prices, etc.

 

Gateway is just turning into a straight hot piece of crap.

Their quality control sucks
Their tech support sucks
Their warranties suck - no point in warranty if you can't get support anyway
Their products just suck

There has been nothing but problems with the Gateway P7811, whether its screen ghosting, discoloration, flickering...graphics card overheating, lack of support, BSOD's...discontinuations (they think they can get rid of the 7811 and therefore get rid of the users and the problems)...etc.

Gateway, get your stuff straight..cause right now, the name Gateway must mean, Gateway to hell.

 

The Indian guy had an accent and is hard to understand. He tried to be a smart guy with me and said "Since you said you do this for a living, do you know how to get into Safe mode?"

I thought he should do his job like last time with HP support, which they asked me to install a HP Support app which allowed the Tech to remote connect to my laptop and check things out.

 

I work as a software engineer in the USA and worked for gateway's tech support - where you probably pissed him off was simply asking what country he's from.

Honestly I lived in florida all my life I get idiots that act ignorant and simply hang up on them. Never the less tech agent is acting ignorant as well simply asking if you do this for a living. When I worked for gateway I simply asked what experience level people had working on computers and that helped me understand how much they know and I can cut certain corners fixing issues.
I did work overseas and believe me the Indians really hate when they have an accent on the phone and someone pops the really stupid question "where are you from?" Generally people under mind tech support agents as in "I paid for the product i'm smarter then you" Attitude.

If you don't know about to tech support here's a tip - the office I worked at did microsoft, gateway, prodigy and AOL. Anyone can work tech support - you take 6 weeks training even if you never turned on a PC and your hired.
If you have more experience you can make a "team leader" position and your pretty much one in charge of the clueless tech agents. Otherwise when you call tech support usually they have a manual to read - you list the problem and they type it up on a computer.

Honestly want better english tech support? go google.com and research.

/Side joke - Best call ever got someone asking a microsoft software tech agent why his Print key won't print to his printer, even worse explained he had AOL internet but used Internet explorer which was a microsoft product and I had to help him fix it or I would get fired.

 

I have had 7 Gateway computer's now, I know a thing or two about computers, os's and software, to say Gateways sucks at all the things mentioned above is not well founded. Vision33r, if you are basing your statement off of just this site, then you could kind of be correct, but I would imagine 95% of Gateway customers do not even know about this site, I point is just because we all fire off about different issues with our Gateways (most self induced) we are a small part of there customer base. People on this site tend to have more computer knowledge then most so we are going to be more critical of support people who are there for Aunt Bee who can't get her "cup holder to open". Most of us fellow NBR's use this site for our premium support anyways.

 

I don't think it's an "I paid for the product therefore I'm smarter than you" attitude, I think it's a "you get paid to help me, so do it" attitude. The only excuse for hanging up on a customer is if management tells you to or if they're using vulgar language or threatening you with violence. Talking to idiots that act ignorant is part of your job, so you should never be hanging up on them. I'd even go as far as to say that you're part of the problem if that's true. We shouldn't HAVE to go to google when you get paid to provide us with support, that's your job. Asking "where are you from" isn't a stupid question and it shouldn't be something that makes the support agent angry, if that makes him angry, then the support agent has a problem. Whatever the situation, refusing someone support because they've disabled system restore is pitiful and he should be fired.

 

there are so many people that require tech support that the hiring process is weak, quick, and far from idiot proof.
jakamo, i think you would get more support if you would talk to the wall closest to your computer lol

 

What I was trying to say is if you have any knowledge on a PC, and can get on the internet using Google is far more effective then calling tech support in a long run. Yes tech agents should never hang up on people, however I have hung up on people simply because tech agents are here to help not hurt people. Asking where people from is pretty much an ignorant comment, tech agents don't make enough money to have to listen to insults from people. Yes refusing to help someone because they disabled system restore is stupid, however tech agents should not even try, but do everything in their knowledge to help resolve the issue regardless how long it takes. I have had a few calls that lasted over 3 hours, but again when I worked people were making only $8.25 an hour. I do believe I got more people fired for hanging up then just being arrogant and I am really sorry if anyone had to go through bad tech agents. I did my very best at trying to resolve every issue no matter how long it took. Sadly tech agents in India are making far less then $8 an hour and I am only guessing they don't have any of the rules and regulations I went through. In my era you hang up on a customer you were pretty much fired, or refusing to help someone. Again I always stress if you have the need to call a tech support agent at least try to work with him regardless how bad the accent is, if you really can't understand politely ask to be transferred to another rep agent. I am only saying on my account best thing to do is simply try to "google" before you go calling, simply because you will most likely find results a lot faster. The whole "you get paid to help me, so do it" attitude is simply arrogant, but honestly its the truth. Tech agents are paid to do their job however these companies today seriously need to bring tech support back to the USA, I for one can not stand a foreign accent trying to help me on the phone. Sadly its because of money, companies want to make the big $$ and paying someone 8.50 an hour is to much when in India I am only guessing they are making less then $4 an hour.

 

Ya know I don't mind Indian tech support at all as long as they're well trained or knowledgable. I called MS to get a XP install reactivated on christmas day, got an Indian guy. Thing was this XP install was a OEM copy of home that I installed a pro retail upgrade on to get around using it in another machine. (Parents box, wanted to leave all their crap in tact when I upgraded their computer to an all new box). Somehow the original OEM copies hardware change detection thing didn't get properly deactivated so it deactivated the install without warning and wouldn't reactivate the "normal" way. This dude did a bunch of work, and then remotely connected to the PC, and fixed the problem. He was knowledgable, and when he realized I was an advanced user he talked to me like a computer person would talk to another computer person and was EXTREMELY helpful as well as knowledgable. If all outsourced tech support was like this I think far fewer people would bad mouth it, but I've definately talked to some crap tech support.

Speaking of crap tech support, Comcast doesn't outsource their tech support and it's GARBAGE about 50% of the time because the best most of their agents can tell you is "unplug everything and plug it back in" and then they click a button to run a modem diagnostic. If those two things don't fix it you're SOL until a tech comes out.

 

Big Mike thats first thing I generally try to ask someone when I was talking to them in tech support - how much you knew, if you had some knowledge then it made life so much easier for a tech agent, its quicker to say "open control panel" then explain every step getting to control panel.

Yeah I feel terrible for any internet provider tech support, I called a few times to brighthouse, comcast and AOL back in the days and I really can't figure out why internet companies even have tech support if their only answer is "unplug modem, plug back in and check your network settings" usually always ends with "we can't help you over phone will send an agent out" almost 90% times I called it was on their ends and had nothing to do with my internet connection itself. Yet I have to wait 24+ hours for an agent to come out and test my line, which in mean time the company itself won't do anything on their end, but pretty much blame me.

Edited: I actually had to stop asking people the question of how much they knew on grounds few years back a new rule came out, it made some people feel inferior by asking them that, so pretty much after that I had to talk to everyone as if they were turning on a PC for first time, pretty pointless and wasted a lot of support hours.

 

Lol yeah, my house is like 4 years old, they always say "we'll come check your wiring" and every time its been the UMTS or whatever they call it (somethin like that, its basically the server for the neighborhood that all the cable modems tie into) has blown up or something stupid is wrong with it that takes 3 days to fix.

 

I live on a canal which is pretty much an island, same thing - house is 8 years old has bran new wiring (I put fiber optic in for my FIOS) and yet in last year alone I had lost internet 3 times due to drunken kids plowing into my internet relay box killing my TV and internet. And tech agents sent out all say same thing takes 3 days and 10 service trucks later to repair.

 

I can assure you that throughout the conversation I've been polite to him all the way.

I kept questioning his technical methods for helping me out.

Like I pointed him out that having me perform System Restore is useless.

I told him, "If I restored the system using your Vista Restore disc, what would System Restore get me, if there's no restore point?"

I merely pointed out that while you can read off your usual check list of things to get Joe Blow try on his Laptop before dumping stupid problems on Tech support. I cued him on a number of things that I've done to reach the conclusion that my Laptop has either a system board or hardware problem due to instability even with 3 Vista wipe+installs.

He told me you can't install other Vista discs you have to use the Gateway's image build utility to do that. I rebuttal him, "so I paid $299 for Retail Vista Ultimate, I can't install it on this laptop?"

Has nothing to do with the guy's language problems, I've never been impressed ever with any Indian tech support, regardless how poor/great their English is.

 

I agree entirely I believe its a shame our tech support got moved to india simply because people there work for not even half the money we make min wage here. Based on that their training (reason why they are terrible tech agents) is simply nobody invests money to train them properly. However I disinterest any company that moves tech support to india, my opinion they just want to make money rather then make customers happy.

I used to be a fan boy of gateway before the shift in direction of the company, now I entirely hate fact they went from a promising company to piece of junk. Only thing is gateway is one of few computer companies i've bought in last 10 years, I had one of the first 50mhz computers gateway designed 15+ years ago and it lasted forever!

One company I can relate Gateway to directly is AOL - Aol had such a lovely customer service rating in the day, similar to Comcast today. Any comcast users I'm sure had to put up with them, same with Direct TV.

 

Take a look at Dell, you pay extra to get their premium Tech support, just to talk to someone in the states, isn't that what we used to have as part of our warranty for free? I feel all OEM computer company's in the effort to save a dollar have lost what it truly means to have good customer support.

 

Realistically Gateway is no longer a company but just a label, since Acer acquired them.

I worked at tech support a long time ago and I dealt with difficult users but I always do my job and I've never hung anybody up even if someone is screaming, I just pass it to my manager and follow the procedure for handling customer issues.

This Gateway tech obviously acted like he was getting paid 7-11 wage and don't feel like spending time resolving problems.