*Now DEAD* ATI x800 XT PE for $434.95 shipped @ Gateway

[Safeway]

Averox, I was trying to utterly ignore Desmond's ignorance, but since you pointed it out...

"Hello Desmond's ignorance!" said Safeway.
"Durr..." replied Desmond's ingorance as it drools on itself.

So anyway, enough about attention whore Desmond. I just recalled about my order and a new lady (I don't like to call the same people) said that the date was 7/21. When I stated that the new date conflicted with another date I was told earlier, she said that it may arrive before then, but that they are waiting on stock. So one guy said they had my card and would ship it ASAP, another said they don't have my card.

I just thought that maybe since ATI didn't provide CDW with a newly pulled (out of ass) estimated delivery date, that ATI was expecting to, or doesn't need to give them a new one. Meaning, that they cards are actually ready to ship this time. Although I sound like a person hoping to win the lottery or get struck by lightning, who knows? If ATi was religious about fake dates, and then all of a sudden stopped lying, it's like a little sister decided to stop being annoying instantly.

What do you guys think?

Oh, and I will never cease my posting in this thread ... not until I recieve my card, bench it, have fun, talk abot Starcraft some more with EddNog, and say my farewell. Cheerio.

 

[EddNog]

Speaking of Star Craft, I don't know why, but Zealots seem like one of the coolest RTS units I ever seen...

Anyhow, I've owned a few nVIDIA cards in my time; the GeForce3 Ti200, the GeForce4 Ti4200 and also an FX5900 (nonUltra). From ATi, I've had a Radeon 9500 that I softmodded into a Radeon 9700 Pro and am currently using a Radeon 9800 (nonPro).

In the end, however, the majority of the cards I've owned in all my years in this crazy hobby were from Matrox (Millennium II, Millennum G200, the PowerVR card from Matrox--I forget its name, Matrox Millennium G400 Max, a Rainbow Runner G-Series tuner card, and am currently using a G550 in my digital imaging station).

I've seen my share of problems with the products from the major brands; ATi is far from perfect, sure, but so have been nVIDIA and Matrox as well. Don't you think we should enjoy our American freedom of choice with an open mind, see not just the bad but also the good in our options? I choose ATi, personally, because I've found them much easier to tweak and modify than the nVIDIA stuff. Were I to just do simple o/c out of the box and that's it, nVIDIA is probably fine as well. It also depends on your software; of the gaming titles I play, I've had no serious (problems? yes. serious? not really) problems with either ATi or nVIDIA, what with the many cards I've used, I'd say that I can safely make up my own mind about whose product is quality and whose is not (along with its drivers).

-Ed

 

[Safeway]

I've had an ungodly old thing, a TNT 2, an ATI Rage 128, and a Geforce 2 Ti. I don't really run into many problems computer wise at all. Not too sure why. I went with ATI because, well, I wanted to. I liked the performance in a 1 slot cooling solution and 1x Molex connection requirement. And yea, Zealots are way awesome. Toss as a whole are cool. Weapon/Armor upgrades affect so many things! From the Cannons, to the Carrier drones (whatever they are really called).

 

[Averox]

No problems ever since I got my 9700 Pro. I've owned nVidia cards only in the past with no problems from either manufactuer.

Safeway: I was going to wrap a sarc tag around my post

 

[Safeway]

Oh, I knew you were joking Averox; I'm not -that- concrete sequential! Heh. I was sarcing too XD

 

[mike2fix]

I ordered the morning of the 3rd, got a call today from Gateway asking if I wanted to cancel due to a revised shipping date of August 11th.

Yes I will be holding my breath waiting and standing at the mailbox on the 11th.

 

[Safeway]

August 11th!!! You ordered June 3rd!!! THey are lying to us all!!!

They told me 7/12 or 7/21 ... NOT 8/11 - my girlfriend was right, I'll get the damn thing for my birthday with overnight shipping - August 12th ...

 

[Averox]

Yeah as I said earlier I ordered at 2am on the 3rd and I got pushed to 7/30. Re-ordered again with 10% off and got quoted 7/30 and now it says 7/29 although I doubt even that date is correct.

 

[imported_sjaxkingpin]

I ordered mine on 7/1 and I'm still showing 7/30 arrival date. We'll see how long that lasts

 

[ericlp]

6/2/04
CreditCard
Not Available

It was 7/9 for a really long time. Oh well, and the waiting continues. Thank god I have a x800Pro to tide me over for this wait.

 

[EddNog]

How is that Pro? What did you upgrade from (have before the X800 Pro)? Have you attempted the Pro->XT mod?

-Ed

 

[BudAshes]

This is what they sent me now when i asked where the hell my card was. LOLOLOLOLOLOL.


Hello Roy,

Thank you for using Gateway's Online E-mail Support. I understand from
your e-mail that you have not received your order yet and would like to
know when the order will be delivered and why it is taking so long.
Thank you for providing me the opportunity to assist you. Roy, I regret
to inform that at this point of time our tools and database are
undergoing through an upgrade process, due to which I am unable to
access your account information. I sincerely apologize for the
inconvenience this may cause. Please be assured that as soon as the
upgradation process is completed, you will be replied back. Your
patience is highly appreciated.

Roy, I have documented this correspondence in Service Request Number
xxxxxxxxx in our contact tracking database. Please use this number
in the future if you need to contact us again regarding this issue.

Please reply to this message if you require further assistance with this
issue.

Thank you.

Neely
Badge GWSM116
Online Customer Support Team
Gateway

 

[Safeway]

It's a conspiracy theory, let me get Mel Gibson. I think GW has those silent helicopters. Anyway, does sound ass-pulled to me. I suppose I will ask where my card is again, for the unteenth time =) If you can't beat em, annoy em all to hell!

 

[deldd]

I've just about given up with the calling and emailing. Especially aftere reading the responses that gateway and Ati gave others, and considering the response they gave me which was totally different. I think I will call gateway and try to get my shipping updated though.

I've got to say this is going to be the longest time I have ever waited for a product.

 

[Safeway]

I originally believed that since they gave us specific CSRs to talk to via phone and email, that they would actually talk to us. I called my CSR 40+ times and he has never been there, or has constantly been on the phone. I also left him a message, waited 2 days, left a message, waited 2 days, left a message, and it's been 5 days! He has never returned any of the messages. I have also sent him a couple of emails. It took him a week to reply to the first, and it was a very generic response. This last one, I have emailed him every day with a "Please respond to my original email, sent at 9:45 7/5/04" and included the original. He never replies. This alone makes me hate Gateway, the X800 thing is ATI's fault.

 

[Budmantom]

Are you a stalker?





Tom

 

[Safeway]

Actually, when I was typing that post, I was thinking that same thing XD

I am not a stalker, I am just a custumer that -oh my gosh- expects replies from a CSR! I don't think that is too much to ask for. Right after I ordered the product, I emailed him and -never- got a reply. I asked specific questions that needed answers too, pertaining to the electronic check, etc. He never got back to me! It has been 5 weeks. He is a 20-something lazy ass, slacker!

 

[EddNog]

When a site does something along the lines of...

"Today is June 6th. Your order was shipped on June 10th. It is shceduled to ship June 3rd."

You know you're fux0r3d.

And I honestly think that no amount of CSR helpage can really do much in that regard; you'd have to escalate the issue to someone with authority to get anywhere. Judging by what people have said in this thread, however, even that really got nowhere.

 

[VooDooAddict]

Well they have canceled my order on me.

Probably a good thing considering I dropped almost $500 for my buddies wedding.

Still not happy they canceled.

Unfortunetly they use Gateway Machines here at work ... and are about to order 2 more despite my objections. Maybe I can scratchoff the name with a Sharpie.

Hurray for Gateway. They have lost another customer ... and one that many people use as a resorce. We all know gateway is in such a good spot that they can afford to loose deadbeat customers like me who only buy things when it's a good deal.


Chris

 

[EddNog]

They're still losing a customer; whether they can afford it or not is no excuse for just letting customers fall through. If their business philosophy is as we think it may be, then it is seriously flawed.

 

[Safeway]

Yea, I am scared that they are going to cancel my order too. As such, I emailed them FIRMLY stating something along the lines of "Never cancel my order. I do NOT want my order cancelled. I have heard that you cancelled other peoples' orders without their approval. I want to continue my order." I wanted to say, "I will fly to your headquarters and drop you gangsta style" ... but I refrained. I am currently looking up the bait and switch protection laws here in Texas. I have numerous law/law enforcement oriented family members.

 

[EddNog]

Okay, for my fellow thread readers who have orders with CDW instead, I just called them and the call went like this:

Ed (myself): Hello, I'm calling about an order I've had with you for oh, about a month now that the item has not yet arrived. I called last week and supposedly the cards were scheduled to arrive but were no shows, and no new date pending arrival had been provided; I just want to know if you may have received a new date yet?

Jennifer (service rep): Is this about the Radeon card?

Ed: Yes it is, miss.

Jennifer: No, I'm sorry but there has still been no update on that item as of today.

Ed: I see; thanks for your time then.

Jennifer: Well, you're welcome...and is there anything else I can try to help you with?

Ed: Nope, that's it. Bye!


So, unfortunately, everything is now up in the air for everyone involved.

-Ed

 

[Averox]

If it means anything Gameve.com lists the dates they're getting VisionTek X800 XT PEs in a 7/26.

Hope they don't cancel my order. X800 Pros are sounding tastey right about now and I'm not sure if I can hold off the hunger. Of course I'd still keep my X800 XT PE pre-order

 

[Safeway]

That might mean something ... if Gameve.com is telling the truth, and if CDW and GW get the cards at the same time. My est. date is 7/21 so that would put GW ahead of GE ... GW has tons and tons of orders so that may very well be true.

 

[EddNog]

The problem is that VisionTek's cards may not be fabbed by Sapphire, who (supposedly) makes both, Sapphire and the BBA (Built-By-ATi) cards (so much for, "built-by-ATi," huh?). If VisionTek manufactures their own cards using chips provided by ATi, the release dates won't really coincide with that of the ATi or Sapphire cards. In fact, even the Sapphire cards' release won't necessarily coincide with the BBA cards, and they all come from the same factor(y/ies) (the BBA and the Sapphire cards, that is)! The reason being that Sapphire must manufacture the ATi-brand cards precisely following the specifications that ATi provides them, under contract, including who sources which components (i.e. capacitors, resistors, RAMDAC ICs etc.) and what part numbers for them, while they'll probably try to cut costs on their own branded cards by utilizing lesser cost surface components.

If GameVE listed a date for ATi branded cards, we'd have something to go on; unfortunately, that's merely a date for VisionTek cards, and as far as I can tell, Visiontek manufactures the cards for themselves; they're not sourced from Sapphire factories.

-Ed