On Wed, 19 Oct 2005 19:35:59 GMT, lid (dannysdailys)
wrote:

I know a lot of people that have bought them. But no one who bought
them twice. I'm hearing that more and more about Dell as well.

A while back, there was someone on this NG telling about a bumper
sticker that said "I bought a Gateway, Once!"

However, last months issue of MaximumPC did a consumers report of the
big named Sales and Marketing firms that slap their names on cheap
Taiwanese junk and Gateway, Dell and HP hit bottom big time for not
only the crap they are putting their name on now but the lack of any
reasonable support. Dell was rated the worst at how they dealt with
brand new DOA's though Gateway was running a close second. Seems as
though a lot of this trash out of Taiwan with their names slapped on
the side doesn't even work out of the box and Dell 1st and Gateway 2nd
have been reported to the office of consumer affairs (according to
this article) for letting the victim "hang" past the 21 day limit
after purchase to legally get a Full replacement or Full Refund with
all expenses paid by the screwer (Gateway and Dell).

The report also covers where Gateway is trying to weasel out of taking
care of literally 1000's of Taiwanese M5300 Series Notebooks with
their name slapped on the side which are overheating and eventually
toasting. Specifically, there is an overheating problem associated
with the M5305, M5309, M5310, M4312 and M5313 and they refuse to
acknowledge anything is wrong even in the face of 1000's of consumer
complaints. Gateway is now having charges brought against them by the
law firm Sheller, Ludwig and Badey for denying the problem and
refusing to fix the already toasted machines of their victims saying
that lighting must have hit all these 1000's on laptops. And the
biggest laugh is.... in the face of this, Gateway is finally
acknowledging the Taiwanese build the trash they put their name on...
they are saying it is the Taiwanese fault since they built the junky
things.

[The law firm Sheller, Ludwig and Badey are the ones that took IBM to
the woodshed and made them bleed over the 75GXP Deathstar fiasco]

REBATES! the biggest legal screw job this century. Leading the pack
in numbers associated with litigations against are Canon and Gateway.
The article states that there were 12,000 complaints filed last year
against Canon for refusing to honor their rebates. Actually, the
whole state of Virginia is taking Canon to the woodshed over the vast
number of Virginia Citizens screwed by the Canon Rebate scam. The
biggest number of complaints against a Marketing and Sales firm that
slaps their name on Taiwanese computers was Gateway with 4,200
complaints last year. Dell did good in this area as there were only
120 rebate complaints recorded against them last year for that.

The article went on to state that the reason for the overwhelming
number of $299 systems being sold is that the public, as a whole,
assume that they are going to get screwed with their computer purchase
so, if you are going to get screwed then get screwed for $299 instead
of $799 or $999. Why does the public assume they are going to get
screwed? Probably because they already have been or know someone
that has been by these Godless Sales and Marketing firms that slap
their names on these pieces of junk out of Taiwan and then refuse to
or balk on supporting them when they blow up or pass you off to a non
English speaking non-techy in some 3rd world country.

But just like the Godless Politicians, as long as the people support
what they are doing, they will remain to do it more and more to
others.

I made my choice after my last 'Desktop' Gateway in 1999 to support my
Local White Box Builder. A reputable feller, born right here, speaks
the language of course and pays three more local bred and born
employees. And if something goes wrong with any of my whiteboxes,
he's there to fix the problem, not some third world illiterate that
wouldn't know a computer if it jumped up and bit him in the arse.

Local Built, Local Supported, Local Reputation. I got quality
products built by a guy I can look in the eye and talk to face to
face.

BTW, that last Gateway 'Desktop' computer I bought in 1999 never gave
me a bit of trouble. However, It is what Gateway did to all the
people I read about in consumer reports that helped me make my mind up
to go White Box. But there are those that think that because they got
lucky and didn't get screwed that the problem doesn't exist. I have a
1st cousin that had one of those ford trucks that had the gas tank
location problem where it blows if hit from the side. Well low and
behold, he got hit in the side and it didn't blow. Does this negate
the fact that there was a problem with that line of vehicles?