Gateway support......NOT!

Ok, I have a new t-6859u that has been problematic from day 1. Constantly losing drivers:
2nd day lost network driver. Call tech support they want to e-mail me the driver...hmmm no network....e-mail.
3rd day lost dvdr driver while making backup of the drivers and os. 2 hours later again lost the network driver. Call support again, they tell me to reload drivers and to make back up disc's. Ummm if they are not working? Do recovery, have nice day!
5th day after 2 days using friends computer to get mine working, its up and running..
6th day yup u guessed it network driver is gone again! I ask about being sent recovery disc's since i'm still unable to back them up (get drive error). I am told they will not provide them, but are available for purchase! they email me a link to their website to get the driver. course i must go to a friends house to do it and bring it back on a thumb drive.
day 7. reloading drivers off thumb drive, oops that doesn't work either need the drivers..ugh!!.
day 8 thru 12 I'm out of town.
day 15 thru 25 works great, yeah!!!
day 26 leave town
day 32 come back.
day 34 no network found on computer and drivers won't load! call support they tell me to load drivers. I say they won't load and am told try recovery again!.
day 35 still no network found, plus now dvd drive inop. call support. Told load drivers. i ask for someone more experience and am told, they r level 1 or 2 center and u must PURCHASE support for anything other than load drivers or recovery!

U can imagine my frustration at ahving a laptop that does not function and still fighting support or lack there of to get fixed!

I must say to all who read this AVOID GATEWAY like the plague. It is time we start putting these greed based companies out of business, all they want or understand is give me money, so lets take it out of there pockets!

P.S if anyone has a number to headquarters to get somewhere beyond download driver support from India...LET the World KNOW!


VERY UNHAPPY!

 

sparky 972 , though I have been lucky enough, as of yet at least, not to have faced any such issues.. I agree Gateway support from INdia SUCKS..its the worst tech support I have seen for an eternity..not only are the guys DUMB..as in no knowledge of what they are deaing in.. they r down right RUDE.

 

I don't know who you are talking to, but, according to the information on their support page here: http://support.gateway.com/s/faq/c-custserv/cserv67.shtml, you are supposed to talk to a technician who will do extensive troubleshooting with you to determine exaclty what needs to be sent in for repair.

 

I am in the middle of dealing with them. This is how it has worked for me.
Computer (p7811fx) was hard locking whilst playing games so I emailed their tech support...here we go:
1 - they emailed me back with extensive troubleshooting tips...2 days later.
2 - I do all of the troubleshooting steps to no avail, same hard freeze so I decide to call them.
3 - I talk to Level 1 support and they told me to do the troubleshooting they sent in the emails.
a - I told them I did this already...same problem.
b - They tell me to do a recovery. I tell them the laptop I just bought did not come with a recovery disk.
c - They said I could purchase one.
d - I told them thats unacceptable. I just bought this computer a week ago.
e - He tells me that they can ship me a copy but only because I am still in the 90 day software warranty.
3. I get the recovery disk, and do all the steps included. Load up the game and get the same problem: hard freeze that requires me to power down the machine and reboot.
4. I call Gateway again. I get Level 1 support who then put me through to Level 2 support. They tell me to send the computer. They pay the shipping.
5. I get it back. They replaced the CPU. Same problem.
6. I send it back on their dime.
7. They send it back. Unfortunately I went to a military school for a month and when I got back, Fedex had lost the package.
8. I called Level 2 support and they had to go through an extensive research to figure out if indeed the package was lost and then what they were going to do to get me a working computer

Realise I bought this computer on the 25th of November and up till that last step we are now to May of this year.
9. Level 2 offers me the 7805 and I decline because its a downgrade in resolution. It takes 72 hours for them to come back with another offer.
10. They offer me a 7805 again. Uh, I said no.
11. At this point I am fed up and demand to be put through to someone who can actually help me. After 10 minutes of level 2 telling me there was no one else to talk to the guy relents and puts me through to Corporate Customer Care.
12. Corporate Customer Care is suppose to be the final stop, the complaints department if you will. They are under the same 72 hour wait as far as offers go because the people who make the offers are a different department.
They won't let me talk to that department. They won't let me talk to a Corporate Customer Care supervisor either.
13. They again offer me the 7805 which is a downgrade in resolution (from 1990x1200 to 1440x900) or the Aspire 8730g which is also a downgrade (from a 9800 gpu to a 9600 and from 4gb of DDR3 to 4gb of DDR2). I decline. For 9 months of not having a working computer I would expect not to be downgraded in any way. He acknowledges the down grades but says "but you are getting bluetooth capability and a fingerprint reader". ?


tl;dr - ask for Corporate Customer Care if you aren't getting any joy from Level 1 or Level 2 support. Although they probably aren't going to be of much help either.

Start considering a complaint with the BBB, putting your story on ResellerRatings.com and being a thorn in their sides.

 

i like chatting with them just so i can tell them i have a refurb and see them back away like they're stumbled upon a leper colony.

 

No Offense Starcub, but there free support is what they call level 1 and 2 and they r very limited in what they do. IE very unskilled and generally have little knowledge of the products! The tech's (6 total ) even when giving your product s/n have no info to what model it is and its spec's. I have since gotten a return number for sending it back at MY expense. Fortunetly i found a post on here that fixed my problem at least for now. Apparently these laptops require a manual activation of the network adapters, they r somehow hardware deactivated and thus not visible to windows by default. a few keystrokes and they appeared. Now if there SKILLED tech's new anything they would have caught that and not wasted my time doing endless reloads and recovery!

The computer is now working wonderful, however i doubt i will ever buy again based on the support policies. I wish u could build your laptops like i do my desktops built 3 and all 3 are problem free 3 plus years later!

 

Time to write them a letter detailing the hell they have put you through and threaten legal action due to lack of resolution.

 

Having worked for Gateway, I have to say, if you knew how one of those laptops was built you never would have bought it in the first place. You can keep calling back and try to get a Canadian tech, but Gateway cut back on that years ago due to cheaper support in India, when I left there was about 30 Canadian techs left. Canadian techs live for commission anyway, so they will attempt to sell you a solution. Honestly though, you are lucky they closed all the American tech support offices, those were seriously some of the worst techs I have ever encountered in my life.

As a side note, hardware that will not hold it's drivers is faulty hardware. This system needs to be sent back for repair or a new system needs to be dispatched. Keep calling till you get Canada, if they are even around anymore. You can try this number, it's the Canadian bilingual support number. They may help you, last I heard they would help international calls that mistakenly called the Canadian number, worth a shot anyway 800-297-5980. Just ask for a supervisor right away, and tell them why. Don't act like a jerk either, the French techs will make your life miserable, just for spite. Good luck, hope it helps.

 

i actually had no problems with gateway support when i needed my lcd replaced. it took 4 responses online from thier support. the people were idiots, gave them a full expanation of what happened and they asked me to do many of the stuff i already did. i sent it out and it only took about a week and a half to get my laptop back with its new screen.

 

I think the OP was talking about his bluetooth adaptor. There is a switch on the front of the laptop which you have to turn on to use both the bluetooth and wifi adaptors. In addition, each adaptor can be individually disabled and enabled by toggling specific function key combinations. This is all SOP and included in the Users Manual for the laptop. However, the OP stated that he lost the driver (implying that somehow the device had been de-installed). If you switch off the bluetooth adaptor using either the front panel switch, or using the function key combination, the devices will disappear in device manager.

My guess is that he accidentally turned off the switch, or someone else did it. However, I would have thought that ensuring that the switch was in the on position and that the devices were enabled before attempting to troubleshoot them would have been part of the checklist the tech's would have used. Sounds like the support he received really was pretty bad.

 

Think you better scoot back up to the top of the page and read it again. The network adaptor is not holding it's driver. A sign of faulty hardware.

 

Or it's a Vista problem, having Vista lose the network adapter is a known issue.

I'd heard of it in passing and laughed scornfully at Microsoft (because I'm using XP on my 6860) and sorrowfully for the poor users at the same time, but when I saw this, I did a quick google and lo - quite a few results about this.

 

i have a refurbished 6831 i got from ebay in jan. of this year and all i can say is that i wish i can take it back. the only way to start this thing is to go into the Bios then leave without saving anything. if i start it normally it would just freeze without going into the Vista loading page.

it's not a drivers issue cuz it's all updated. when i called tech support about it they don't know what to do. the problem does not seem to be in there system of information. and since my laptop is refurbished i cant ship it to them for repairs, everything else works just fine. i never have had more problems with some laptop then with this one. out of all my laptops i hate this one the most and mostly stick to my HP, only use the gateway to play some games when i am bored. my next laptop is going to be a Sager since i already have a 2090 without never giving me any problems.

 

He also said that he got it back simply by pressing a few key combinations. The bluetooth and wifi adaptors are network adaptors. If you disable the bluetooth adaptor via the keyboard, or switch at the front of the laptop, Vista will recognize this and de-list the device in device manager. Vista does not erase the driver software, it simply de-lists the device: so if you attempt to find it in device manager you'd think Vista lost the driver. However, once you turn the device back on, Vista will recognize this and re-list the device.

This isn't a Vista issue, or even a hardware issue, this is simply an issue of the user not knowing how the laptop and OS work together.

 

I had a problem with my computer too, I had a problem with my mic. I ended up sending my laptop 5 times to them, yes 5 times, because they keep up sending it to me unfix with the same problem. I will never buy gateway again, Never!