To all those that ordered a Gateway laptop since Feb1

I have a question. have you gotten your order?

if you did or if you have not have you been able to use the web based or phone based tracking system of gateway to accurately track your order?

I ask b/c I placed my order on 2-13. at the time it was EAD (promise delivery date) of 3-7 but I was told by my customer rep to expect it on 2-23 more likely.

he said stuff bout a industry wide shutdown of manufacturing due to Chinese New Year (if this is true they have one hell of a union, getting to shut down all manufacturing for 3 1/2 weeks)...

so I waited... used the tracking system they had and found that on 2-19 it still showed as 'processing' (that is they were verifying my order & payment)... I called and found that there was an issue w/the wireless card & the OS I ordered (hard to believe that I am the only person to order a NX860XL w/Wind XP Pro)... but the issue was being resolved. on 2-23 I received a email saying it has been resolved and that my order will be given 'priority shipping instructions' whatever that means...

on 2-26 I called and spoke with my customer rep as the online system as well as the phone tracking system still showed my order as processing (actually i had to use the internet chat system as Gateways phone system is straight out of Cyborg Hell - you CANNOT find a human to talk to)... he stated it was being built & should be received by me on 3-1 but the EAD would be 3-6...

when I asked him why GAteways systems showed diff he stated that due to their 'platform' changeover he was not surprised that the info was outdated (and I did note a web site change from the time I started dealing w/them and this point but have no idea how that would affect tracking)

today I checked again both online & phone and my order is STILL showing to be in processing... so I'm waiting till friday b/f calling and seeing if I am being played as a fool or not...

has anyone had any success in using their tracking system to keep up with your order?

 

I had a similar obsession of checking the largely useless Gateway order status page. I wouldn't worry about it too much. My order stayed in processing for over a week, spent a couple of days in the 'build' state and then jumped back to the processing state before being shipped. I got my laptop 2 days before the estimated delivery date, but I think that was more FedEx's doing than Gateway's.

 

Hi,
I ordered on Feb 14th, Windows Ultimate. At order time, my sales rep promised a delivery date of 3/7, which is okay with me. My order status is still 'processing'.

I find it hard to believe that they are having a problem with the wireless card, it's it a tried & true one? No wait, it had draft N in it. Perhaps they are having a problem?

 

well thrusday the 1st has come and went and no laptop... the status page is still showing processing... and it is IMPOSSIBLE to get a human at Gateway to actually speak with - they have by FAR the WORST customer service of any company I have dealt with based mainly on the fact you cannot find a human being to talk to.

after calling several numbers and sorting thru several automated options i got put on hold for 20 mins b/f I finally heard a human voice who sadly could not hear my voice so he hung up on me... so back to hold for 20 more min.. ARGH

just got off the phone w/a nice girl at Gateway. from wht i found out and can verify 1) GAteway has no formal place to lodge a complaint (No complaint department/person) 2) they have no means to keep up w/changes in EAD dates and notify the customer of said change 3) my EAD date has changed 3 times and no notice to me (from the March 7th to the 6th to the 9th) 4) my sales rep has lied to me at least once and misled me at least 2 times. (lie was in an email dated 2/21 in which he stated "Your order was amended this morning and switched to the other wireless card that corresponds with the correct operating system. It is put on high priority to be shipped" however per the rep I talked w/now NOTHING in the file reflects this, the normal UPS shipping is all that is shown and no notation of any 'rush' etc is on the file... misled in 'likely delivery date' in that he orignally said 23rd, then 3-1 both of which the rep now said he had no authority to state - better to have not said anything than mislead a person in my book)...5) the sales rep tried to send me to the order status page on their web site so I could "easily keep up with my order status" - when pressed by wht my sales rep said regarding the reliability of the system (basically it doesn't work) she admitted that the system did not work and was at a loss for an answer when I asked by she would try to send me to a system that she knew was not working...

The whole thing just leaves a bad taste in my mouth about the whole Gateway company... seems they are willing to say whatever you wish to hear to make a sale then continue to lie/mislead you...

edit - gonna think this thru rationally and after I calm down, sent a email to my customer sales rep asking for his explanation of the issues b/f I cancel...

I strongly urge anyone else doin business w/Gateway to be VERY carefull in what they tell you.

 

i ordered a nx860 last year on June 6th..... Didnt get it till the end of september.
i just ordered another computer yesterday...well see what happens.

 

ok, new development...

after my phone conversation w/the Gateway rep & sending my sales rep a Email requesting clarification of his claims as well as letting him know what the customer rep told me I log in this morning to NOT find a email response (no surprise, it's still early) but their broken tracking system is suddenly showing the product as 'shipped' with an EAD of 3/7 and not the 3/9 I was told yesterday...

curiouser and curiouser

edit - just realized I have not received a email stating the order was shipped as they said I would

 

and now they have sent the missing email confirming shipment...

me thinks they are a poorly run company

now the question is will my order be right?

 

I think you have a poor sales rep. He should not have promised you an earlier delivery date then what the online system promised. When I went to order online, the very first page said Delivery Date 3/7/07. I realize that that date can move by a few days either way, but not two weeks earlier. Unless, they have some sort of Rush status, but usually you'd pay extra for that?

Not nice to start off with a negative experience. Post when you get the machine. I'm hoping for a delivery this week also!

 

I ordered mine on Feb. 23, and it still says "Processing" w/EAD of 03/07/2007. Either they have given everybody that date, or maybe they mean July 3rd!

 

Got my system Monday morning b/f 9 at my office (march 5) so actually earlier than the EAD.

system is fine and has the proper OS installed (XP Pro)... everything seems to be working properly.

did spend quite a bit of time removing the god awful MacAffe software that kept popping up every 2 mins w/"you are subject to dying a horrible death if you don't buy our product" messages... the McA method of removing the software just seemed impossible to me... I'd run it, it'd say McA virusscanning is running so can't uninstall, so i'd exit turn off all the McA stuff I cld find (I am NOT that knoledgeable on finding all the right programs it seems) and try again just to get the same message... after 30 min I finally gave up, did a google and found a nifty little program that was free that cld uninstall all the McA stuff. Uninstalled the AOL crap... took out the 'big fix'... system runs fine so no permanent damage done by me it seems.

loaded up a couple of games just to see what the graphics would do and it ran like a charm (tried WoW on max settings at the high res setting and was getting 59-61 fps)...

the keyboard takes some getting used to as it is not quite "standard" to me... but after some use it seems fine... the keys themselves have a different feel but I do not have enough experience to know if it's good or bad -they just feel 'different' than my previous laptop (compaq v2000 presario), cheaper almost but not real sure... probly jsut the fact I do not do change well

 

What system did you get?

I own the M465 from their business lineup and am very happy with it.

 

NX860XL... I believe that is the system name...

after 2 days, so far so good.

 

Write a review, I recommend it cause it has great specs for the price but someone really needs to write a review on it =/

 

I would not be the one to do that as I am a) not a writer and b) not knowledgable enough about laptops to be of much use other than saying "it seems to be the best bang for the buck I found in my research"...

 

It is strange to find this here today---I also ordered an NX860XL on Feb. 19,2006 and the ETA was today March 7th. No computer came and I never had the luck of speaking to a person on the phone at Gateway. I did get an email today though (after I sent one to customer service about it not being here) that my ship date was changed to March 16th "due to unforseen delays" and they are "very sorry" that it will be late. I am not happy about this and found it weird that several people ordered on or near the same date as I and got the same response. I have bought from them for years and never had this happen........till now. I hope I get it before Christmas!

 

I am convinced that if I hadn't been a pain in the butt on bothering Gateway the entire time as well as keeping all my corespondance from them that I too would not have my computer yet - the coincidence is just too great for me to believe (getting my product shipped the very next day after talking w/the cutomer rep and sending the email to my sales rep (with copies of his prior promisses to me attached) - btw, I finally got a response from the sales rep to my email, he never answered any of my questions, just gave me a "we appreciate your patience and I have noticed your product has been shipped and you should recieve it shortly" - this occured Monday of this week, the same day I got my product as it shipped the prior week.)

 

Afternoon all,

I'm just visting from the Tablet PC side of the building.

I have to recently ordered a tablet PC from Gateway and seem to be having delays.

I order on 2/26 and was given a a EAD of 3/8/07. When my order was in processing on 3/4/07 still i called my sales rep, and was informed that they has a supply issue with Vista that was delaying things. She said my new EAD was 3/13/07.

Then on the morning of 3/8/07 (my orig EAD) I got an email saying it would be shipped by 3/19/07, not even delivered for sure.

I called the cust care # on the email, got the same story and a sorry, nothing else, no offer for upgraded shipping or anything.

There are also 4 or 5 other people that have recently ordered as well that seem to be in the same spot. 1 person thats already been waiting 3-4 weeks has canceled his order and gone elsewhere.

Just thought I would throw in my 0.02 and see what others were seeing.

JD

 

JDragon,

I am in almost exactly the same boat. Ordered on 2/25 and the arrival date was supposed to be 3/9. Then on 3/9 they say its 3/13. Then I emailed them today and they say its 3/19. They are blaming shortages of "Authentic Windows Vista" for the delay. Are they expecting us to buy that B.S.? Like it takes weeks to secure a copy of vista.

What is further insulting is they always say check our webpage or automated phone service. Webpage is useless and hasn't been updated since I placed the order and the phone says the order has all the pieces, but is waiting to be built. Get the same B.S. answer almost every email. I ask for overnight shipping and they say no way, my inconvenience of their extremely slow build process is not covered by their "warranty." Are they not interested in customers anymore?

 

DarthCY,

Here is a link to the thread I have going over on the Tablet Page.

http://forum.tabletpcreview.com/showthread.php?t=5882

The last couple pages have some info I have gotten since my original post here.

JD

 

Thanks for the post. Interesting reading. I'm happy to hear other manufactures are having delays.

 

Just updating my status for other Feb. orderers:

After Gateway changed the EAD to 3/16/07 at 12:01 a.m. CT on the previous EAD of 3/7/07, I sent a nastygram threatening to cancel my order if I didn't have a firmly committed ship date and/or actual tracking number by Friday. It's Wednesday night, and it's finally updated to "In Production." We shall see....

-- DLF

 

I wrote here on 3-7-07 saying I was having delays also. Since then (I had been told my new delivery date was 3-21-07) and I started emailing every other day to the customer service dept. about my laptop that I still don't have. They wrote back yesterday and said my new date was 3-27-07. I wrote back and told them I was losing patience with this and I wanted my computer, they wrote back today and FINALLY said it's in production (which it FINALLY also says on the order info page) and I should get it before the due date given me--it says 3-21-07on the "in production" page. I'll believe it when it's in my hands! It's comforting to know I'm not the only one with this problem. I forgot to add the company said the delay was due to an "overwhelming demand for this unit and also a shortage of Vista discs". They sell the discs eveywhere, can't they go buy some??????

 

I just found out that my laptop left Shanghai yesterday and Fedex says it should be here with me by Tuesday the 20th! I'll feel even better when it's in my hands.

 

I had to post here because I am going through the most frustrating time with Gateway and my new computer.

I placed an order for my laptop on Feb. 9th and was given a ETD of 2/28. Two days before the arrival date I checked the website to see that I was still listed as "in process" so I called Gateway to find out where my machine was currently.

The first time I couldn't even get through to a human being (I swear - Gateway's Customer Service department must be the prototype for purgatory) so I called my original salesperson back and got his voicemail which gave me another number to call for customer service.

I called that number and FINALLY got through to a real person after going around and around on a phone tree for about 10 minutes. I was told THEN that China (where the computer was coming from) was on holiday until THE END OF THE MONTH for Chinese New Year and because of that my ETD was now pushed out until 3/6.

Needless to say I was very upset. If I had known at the time I placed the order there would be such a substantial back up, I would have gone someplace else. So I waited until 3/2 and then checked the status again. On that day I found my NEW ETD was now 3/13.

At this point I was told that it was because of:

1. Chinese New Year
2. Faulty Motherboard Shipment
3. Not enough copies of Vista.

Take your pick of the above - it depended on who I spoke with as to what answer I would get.

I checked again on 3/9 and SUPRISE! my ETD had been pushed out to 3/20. At this point I was furious. I called my original sales rep and told him at the very least I was owed some sort of compensation for the preposterous delay I was dealing with. His reply was nothing less than ridiculous (and probably sums up the entire Gateway philosophy). He told me I wasn't entitled to any sort of credit because I BOUGHT THE MACHINE ON SALE! Now call me crazy, but I don't think because I was a good consumer and bought my machine on sale that I'm not eligible for some sort of compensation for their lack of customer support!

I checked again for a status on 3/16 and was told AGAIN that my ETD has been pushed out until 3/27. And I should probably mention that at no time have I received any correspondence, email or otherwise, about my order from Gateway. The only way I'm finding any of this out is by calling them myself.

In fact, when I spoke with one Customer Service Rep he gave me his "direct line" so I wouldn't have to go through all the hassle of the customer service phone hell. But when I called him back on that line, I not only didn't get the same rep - I didn't even get Gateway! He had given me a bogus number. (And no, I didn't write it down incorrectly because I even read it back to him.)

Back to phone purgatory.

I checked yesterday (3/22) and was told that I was still scheduled to receive my computer on 3/27. I thought finally this nightmare was coming to an end. So I called again today (3/23) to get a tracking number for the order.
I was given a FedEx number that I threw into their online tracking system the minute I got off the phone. Much to my surprise, FedEx listed it as already delivered TO SHANGHAI CHINA. I immediately called back to find out what the heck was going on and was told that FedEx returned the package because something was wrong with the order. (Can someone please tell me how FedEx knew there was a problem with my computer inside the box?)

So now my ETD has been pushed out to April 9th and I've had it. I've written letters to the Attorney General's Office in South Dakota, lodged complaints in the Better Business Bureau and written a letter to the CEO of the company.

To recap:

My ETD has gone from:

2/28
3/6
3/13
3/20
3/27
4/9

for various reasons including:

Chinese New Year
Bad motherboards
Not enough copies of Vista

and I'm not due compensation for the delay because:

I bought the computer on sale


I would strongly suggest that anyone who orders from Gateway think twice. I cannot believe the hassle I have gone through to get a product that should have taken less than 15 days to get to me. Their customer service is practically non-existent and once they have the sale they really don't care about you as a customer anymore.

My only hope is once the computer gets here (hopefully in 2007) it will be worth the wait.

 

Hello I was wondering if anyone got his laptop and how long did it take? I am thinking of ordering NX860xl but I am leaving the country beginning of june. So I am a bit concerned of getting my laptop in time. Should I Buy the gateway?

 

Hello everyone!
Thanks for all info provided! http://forum.notebookreview.com/images/smilies/smile.gif

Just wanted to let all know, i ordered my gateway nx860xl on feb 21st, it was delayed a few times, (this is due to a few things, one major reason was the updating of the wireless chipset on the nx860xl to move to the intel 4965 agn, and to get vista working properly with all hardware involved (we're looking at you, nvidia) with the gateway system - also from what i hear in rumor central, they had a hard time getting a decent oem vista version to include all their lil crappyware)
But.. after all was said and done, i recieved it late march http://forum.notebookreview.com/images/smilies/tongue.gif
(given a ship date of april 4th - so it was early for that)
its a nice machine, screen is perfect(i got the wsxga-not uxga), it runs everything soooo smooth. ut2004, doom3, i cant wait to try out some newer titles.. but so far, in a word, awesome.
it is a desktop replacement. it does get hot, so buy yourself a cooler. the majority of hot air comes out the left side. i'll admit the keyboard is barely average, it has a little give in the left corner, but its not noticeable while typing. overall, totally worth the 1700 bucks. http://forum.notebookreview.com/images/smilies/eek.gif

(t7200, 2g, 7900gs, 80gHD, wsxga, etc etc)