How should I pursue getting a Gateway laptop replaced?

[uberman]

I've repaired several Gateway desktops 5 years ago and found them to be OK machines. Now I believe all Gateways are garbage. Please don't buy one.

I've had a notebook for 1.5 years that was returned for service 3 times, no display on screen (no backlight), DVD ROM dtrives that froze more than 70 times. I would call after each repair to ask what was done and the reply was, "We fixed it!" I asked, "What did you actually do." They said, "We have no idea, but we fixed it." The final time I called for repairs they sid warranty is now over and by mail have advised I can pay for more unskilled service. I'm in California. Is there a lemon law? It seems strange that they don't keep records of repairs; however, good idea since the repairs don't work.

I have no display on the screen and the DVD ROM Drive still freezes. It is unuseable. I've written their CEO once. What should I try before going to small claims court? Thanks for any advice.

 

[IlllI]

file a complaint with the BBB ?

 

[MercenaryForHire]

Any governmental "lemon law" has long since expired.

What did you buy it with initially? If you used a credit card, consumer protection that extends the manufacturer's warranty may have you covered. You did buy it on a credit card, right?

Don't even bother with first-level Gateway tech support or their supervisors; neither has the authority to green-light a replacement or gratis OOW repair, even with your track record. Call customer service and ask for the "consumer satisfaction department" or "consumer claims". Be calm and patient - remember, it's not the rep's fault, it's the repair depot. Explain the situation, mention that it was repaired multiple times and still failed again with the same issue. Have case numbers, tracking numbers, and dates ready, and if possible have hard copy information.

Oh yeah - Make, model, date of warranty expiration?

- M4H

 

[uberman]

MercenaryForHire,

I bought it at Office Depot and paid cash. I will try your advice and try to escalate. Sorry for the tardy reply but for now I have no computer and ISP. Thanks.

 

[zig3695]

thanks for the heads up. i like the very first few years of gateway's desktops, but they have steadily lowered their parts quality every year.

 

[manimal]

I had horrible problems with a M505 from gateway that I got for my wife, It was sent in twice then they sent me a replacement which was drop shipped-when I asked for a sig-that was stolen from an apartment we were living at at the time, it took months for a replacement to get sent, they sent a badly refurbed unit with a TON of dead pixels and once that one was sent back and another crapbox refurb was sent it had weird hardware gremlins that turned out to be a bad HD and a fried controller.

I had to pay shipping three times for over 60 bucks total because of insurance and will never buy gateway again. Hell the Ibuypower cheapo laptop with a 9700 and athlon 3200 proc I bought a year before we bought my wifes m505 still runs and has never had any issues.

Gateway is going down the road that the American automakers started to go down in the 70s. Quality goes down as they "improve" profits with engineered obsolescence. Its funny Acer seems to be doing better than gateway now after acer almost disappeared when the dell/gateway/hp dominance of the late 90s formed what became todays marketplace.