P-6860FX Refurb from Tigerdirect

For anyone looking to get a good deal on a P-6860FX Refurbished unit from Tigerdirect - I will give you this warning.

I saw that both TigerDirect and CompUSA were offering refurbished Gateway P-6860FX units for $799 so I told my sister about them and I ended up ordering one for her. I got it Monday and needless to say if this unit was refurbished then they should fire the tech that did it. Both the hard drive cover and CPU cover were damaged on the unit. The hard drive was basically hanging out of the unit and the plastic vents on the CPU cover were broken. Numerous scratches on the unit as well. I also noticed that the hard drive is starting to make some noise as well. I called TigerDirect and asked if these units were refurbished by Gateway and they said no. These units were refurbished by another company - Seneca Data according to TigerDirect. Good luck in trying to get someone from Seneca Data on the phone either - spent 4 hours trying that...

Needless to say, I'm sending it back to TigerDirect for a full refund. TigerDirect did say they have one or two in stock as replacements but I'm not interested in another used/poorly refurbished unit. TigerDirect also said they will be getting more of these refurbished units in around Sept. 2 in case any of you want to take a chance...my opinion is don't waste your time.

 

ouch, usually refurbished appliances I buy are better than new ones. xD

that's a horrible situation.

 

The item page is still up at TigerDirect.com, and according to their page, warranty is provided by "Gateway Reconditioned". I would suggest calling Gateway and see if they will do anything. The TigerDirect page says the warranty is through them, and that is the reason you bought it.


T

 

Sorry to hear about CRU1966's bad situation. I guess I was one of the fortunate ones. I got a refurb 6860 from TigerDirect yesterday and the unit is like new. Couldn't be happier with my purchase. Was considering a 6862 due to budget limits.....and for the same money basically got the firepower of a 6860. Have been using the unit for both work and play and haven't had one irregularity yet. As long as you trust Tiger's return policy, then I'd still say it's worth the leap. That being said, I don't blame CRU1966 for feeling betrayed. If someone other than Gateway is refurbishing these things, then that's obviously very misleading. Happy with mine so far. Sorry to hear other's have had problems.

 

This is an interesting comment. I'm not disagreeing, just wonder about the logic. I suppose in theory, if refurbed correctly the weak parts are removed so good as new maybe ... but better?

So we have one happy and one sad. What can we conclude? Any other experiences?

 

well with a new product, only certain parts are checked, but with a refurb they check everything. i read/heard something saying that 70-80% of items returned work perfectly fine, it's just the consumer that is having trouble cause they don't understand what their doing or they no longer want the item.

 

Probably true in many cases. I just have not worked up the courage to buy a refurb laptop yet. First poster here has set me back even further.

I've grabbed a copier or two but I lost track of their longevity. They did work out of the box.

 

people seem to be missing the main point p) of his post:
TD will get more in stock on sept 2
spread the word people

 

Actually I think the main point was "don't bother."

 

I ordered mine the next day after it was posted, I believe on the 21, and received it on Tuesday, 8/26.
The machine has only 1 minor scratch on the top cover, but it's all the way to an edge, near the left hinge.
There are no other scratches on the top, sides, or bottom. As I mentioned elsewhere, the cover for the HD bay was closed incorrectly, but nothing was broken, and a small philips fixed that in under 30 seconds. HD works, screen is flawless, with no as-yet-found bad pixels, washout, or CCFL leakage.

HD works great, BT works great, wireless works fine.

T

 

OK, so far that's
1 = NO
2 = YES

 

Well, I have one "hitch" that I don't want to mention just yet - let's see how they handle it - if it's NOT handled, then I would be a

I don't want to jump the gun, like I did on the M-6851 purchase from Costco, which was handled excellently and promptly, once I got hold of the RIGHT person...


T

 

well if you get a piece of crap send it back if you get a good one you save 100s of $$$, heck i almost bought a second one.

 

I think the problem is Gateway is for warranty of the product...not refurbishing of the product. Gateway would fix a defect but they're not going to replace parts that are broken or scratched (that should've been replaced during the refurbish process) as in my case. Also, TigerDirect told me I had to contact the company they used to refurbish them which is Seneca Data. Don't get me wrong - I'm not bashing TigerDirect - as a matter of fact I have bought refurbished items from them in the past and have been very happy - all of them have looked new except this laptop. The box the laptop came in was in better shape than the laptop. There is a "reconditioned" label on the bottom but I seriously doubt they did anything other than restore the hd from a CD. There is a crack on right side of the top cover that goes to the edge. Another crack in the battery area from the screw to the edge of the plastic. Various scratches all over the unit and the laptop just looks like someone beat the crap out of it and returned it. Since TigerDirect told me Gateway doesn't do the actual refurbish on these, I'm not interested in taking a chance again.

I bought this for my sister since I got one from Best Buy about a month ago and love it. I've decided to sell my sister mine and get a P-7811FX from Best Buy for myself. I didn't really want to spend any more $$ but I will for peace of mind. Unfortunately TigerDirect doesn't carry the P-7811FX as I was hoping to get a good deal on one from them due to my situation so I guess I will go to BB instead. I will let everyone know how my return process goes with TigerDirect.

CRU1966

 

I got mine yesterday. No complaints yet, but I've only had about 20 minutes to mess with it, and that was burning the recovery CDs so I can wipe off the insane amounts of bloatware. I didn't notice any damage on mine. Everything works fine so far.

I'm going to put it through the ringer/stress test it over labor day weekend.

All in all, I'm happy, and will probably upgrade to an SSD and 9300 after the 90 day warranty expires.

Now to find a decent pack...

 

I was joking

 

Sorry ... too subtle for us Cro-Magnon types.

First rule ... don't assume the previous poster is an idiot (note to self)

 

I too got mine and it looks/works great. But I would like to test it thoroughly before the 90 day warranty expires.

How do you perform the ringer/stress test?

 

Orthos

http://www.overclock.net/downloads/138142-orthos.html

Or run as many programs as I can until the laptop says enough


I did notice, the laptop does seem to run pretty warm. Adding the 9300 and SSD, as well as a cooler, will help drop it down some.

 

I am selling my P-6860FX if anybody is interested.

 

Just an update...I did get a full refund from TigerDirect but for some reason they credited my account separately for the warranty and laptop. Not sure why they did this...plus it took almost a week for them to credit the laptop amount after they received it. Now my biggest problem is talking to my credit card company so I don't have to pay any financing charges because the credit happened after my credit card statement closed for the month.

CRU1966

P.S.
I am curious to know who purchased these refurbished units from TigerDirect and what condition their laptop came in score from 0-10 (0=poor, 10=perfect, brand new). I would rate the one I received as a "0".