Gateway and Laptop support.

I don't know if anyone has anything to gain by reading this but hopefully
I'll feel better. I'm just getting over a lesson in absurdity, compliments
of Gateway's laptop support.

I had reason to believe that I had a failing Hard Drive in a Solo 9500
(clicking sound and getting hot) and asked for help. After much persuation
Support agreed to send me a shipping box to send it in for service. I got it
back in less than a week, along with a bill for $330, which had been prepaid
via a deposit. The machine didn't boot up. They had removed my
Gateway-bought XP upgrade and reinstalled the ME which had come with the
machine. I reinstalled XP and got it going, then unsuccessfully tried to
find out what they had done for $330. I did find that they had cleaned the
inside and checked cables but had not installed or changed any hardware.
Apparently this service facility in Texas does just that - service!. No
parts are installed there, unless a machine is in under warranty. This I was
not told ahead of time.

Anyway, my machine limped along and finally quit, telling me first there was
no OS then, there was no Hard Drive to load an OS into. I called Gateway
Sales for a Hard Drive and was told they didn't have one that was suitable.
They gave a number for a private company that may have one. I researched the
problem online myself and found a Chinese company that claimed to have an
OEM drive specifically for the 9500. In three days it was here - $68 +$15
shipping. I dropped it straight in and was fully functional in less than an
hour.

Can anyone give me a good reason to have anything to do with Gateway again?
Regards, Denzil.

Certainly disappointing, that's for sure.

FYI, hard drives for the Solo are the same 2.5" drives as for any other brand of
notebook.

I have a client's Solo 9550 here, and it has a failing hard drive. I was able
to get it to boot after doing a diagnostic procedure, but it really needs a new
drive. He'll probably end up paying about $200 for the replacement drive AND
recovery of 99.999% of the data from his failing hard drive. This sort of thing
is not THAT difficult to do, but none of the name brand manufacturers give a
damn any more about service, under warranty or after the warranty has expired.
You won't get much better service from HP, IBM/Lenovo, or Dell.

One of my ex-clients got ripped off by Gateway similar to what happened to you.
She sent a failing desktop system back to Gateway for post-warranty service (I
was told that it was a failed motherboard), and received her system back a
couple of weeks later with the operating system (Windows ME ugh!) exactly as
when the system was originally shipped. So all her data (not backed up) was
wiped out. She never called me when the system crapped out originally, then
****ed and moaned when I charged her for my time to set up all her software and
printers for her business which was limping along without its computer. She
never did say how much Gateway charged her. I really don't need to deal with
computer illiterates who don't want to trust me, so we parted company.

Your best bet is to find a local company who deals straight and honestly and
have all your computer service work done there. A good computer service person
(company) is like a good auto mechanic is like a good rabbi or minister. Once
you find a good one, keep going back... Ben Myers

On Mon, 28 Nov 2005 21:00:17 -0700, "Denzil Hathway" wrote:

I don't know if anyone has anything to gain by reading this but hopefully
I'll feel better. I'm just getting over a lesson in absurdity, compliments
of Gateway's laptop support.

I had reason to believe that I had a failing Hard Drive in a Solo 9500
(clicking sound and getting hot) and asked for help. After much persuation
Support agreed to send me a shipping box to send it in for service. I got it
back in less than a week, along with a bill for $330, which had been prepaid
via a deposit. The machine didn't boot up. They had removed my
Gateway-bought XP upgrade and reinstalled the ME which had come with the
machine. I reinstalled XP and got it going, then unsuccessfully tried to
find out what they had done for $330. I did find that they had cleaned the
inside and checked cables but had not installed or changed any hardware.
Apparently this service facility in Texas does just that - service!. No
parts are installed there, unless a machine is in under warranty. This I was
not told ahead of time.

Anyway, my machine limped along and finally quit, telling me first there was
no OS then, there was no Hard Drive to load an OS into. I called Gateway
Sales for a Hard Drive and was told they didn't have one that was suitable.
They gave a number for a private company that may have one. I researched the
problem online myself and found a Chinese company that claimed to have an
OEM drive specifically for the 9500. In three days it was here - $68 +$15
shipping. I dropped it straight in and was fully functional in less than an
hour.

Can anyone give me a good reason to have anything to do with Gateway again?
Regards, Denzil.

Denzil Hathway wrote:

I don't know if anyone has anything to gain by reading this but hopefully
I'll feel better. I'm just getting over a lesson in absurdity, compliments
of Gateway's laptop support.

I had reason to believe that I had a failing Hard Drive in a Solo 9500
(clicking sound and getting hot) and asked for help. After much persuation
Support agreed to send me a shipping box to send it in for service. I got it
back in less than a week, along with a bill for $330, which had been prepaid
via a deposit. The machine didn't boot up. They had removed my
Gateway-bought XP upgrade and reinstalled the ME which had come with the
machine. I reinstalled XP and got it going, then unsuccessfully tried to
find out what they had done for $330. I did find that they had cleaned the
inside and checked cables but had not installed or changed any hardware.
Apparently this service facility in Texas does just that - service!. No
parts are installed there, unless a machine is in under warranty. This I was
not told ahead of time.

Anyway, my machine limped along and finally quit, telling me first there was
no OS then, there was no Hard Drive to load an OS into. I called Gateway
Sales for a Hard Drive and was told they didn't have one that was suitable.
They gave a number for a private company that may have one. I researched the
problem online myself and found a Chinese company that claimed to have an
OEM drive specifically for the 9500. In three days it was here - $68 +$15
shipping. I dropped it straight in and was fully functional in less than an
hour.

Can anyone give me a good reason to have anything to do with Gateway again?
Regards, Denzil.


Denzil,

The only reason I can think of is that I still own stock in Gateway. But I
can think of no logical reason.

It's clear that you got shafted.

Scott

On Mon, 28 Nov 2005 21:00:17 -0700, "Denzil Hathway"
wrote:

compliments
of Gateway's laptop support.

First and foremost.... There is no such thing as "Gateway" support.
Actually Gateway isn't even a computer company. Gateway is nothing
more than a Marketing and Sales firm that deals in trash built boxes
out of Taiwan who's support is outsourced to whoever the lowest bidder
is which usually is out of some third world dust bowl in some
forgotten corner of the earth.

Can anyone give me a good reason to have anything to do with Gateway again?

No, not really.....

You need to find a reputable local white box builder. Most can
analyze and fix laptop problems. Form a good relationship with one
and stick with them... You'll get personal service by someone who
guards their reputation and whose local reputation depends on YOUR
satisfaction. You will also get local support from the same person
that usually built your toys in the first place even though they don't
build laptops. Replacing a laptop HD is very simple and those HD's
are readily available. You could do it and any local white box
builder could assuredly do it.

Stop dealing with these Marketing and Sales firms that paint their
names on junk out of Taiwan, supported by Larry, Curly and Moe's
outsourced support consortium out of PoDuck India.

Regards,
Ed

Ed wrote:
On Mon, 28 Nov 2005 21:00:17 -0700, "Denzil Hathway"
wrote:

compliments
of Gateway's laptop support.

First and foremost.... There is no such thing as "Gateway" support.
Actually Gateway isn't even a computer company. Gateway is nothing
more than a Marketing and Sales firm that deals in trash built boxes
out of Taiwan who's support is outsourced to whoever the lowest bidder
is which usually is out of some third world dust bowl in some
forgotten corner of the earth.

Can anyone give me a good reason to have anything to do with Gateway
again?

No, not really.....

You need to find a reputable local white box builder. Most can
analyze and fix laptop problems. Form a good relationship with one
and stick with them... You'll get personal service by someone who
guards their reputation and whose local reputation depends on YOUR
satisfaction. You will also get local support from the same person
that usually built your toys in the first place even though they don't
build laptops. Replacing a laptop HD is very simple and those HD's
are readily available. You could do it and any local white box
builder could assuredly do it.

Stop dealing with these Marketing and Sales firms that paint their
names on junk out of Taiwan, supported by Larry, Curly and Moe's
outsourced support consortium out of PoDuck India.

Regards,
Ed

Note to readers: "Ed" is deranged, an idiot. There are no "whitebox
builders". If there were, they would have a lock on marketing a few
computer models in the small one hundred numbers with reliability that
marketers like Gateway cannot accomplish in the thousands.

Ed is an idiot.

Q

Especially notebooks. Nobody builds notebooks in onesy-twosy quantities.

Actually I can build a very reliable computer from the choicest of parts, at a
price few of my customers are willing to pay... Ben Myers

On Tue, 29 Nov 2005 19:40:13 -0700, "Quaoar" wrote:

Ed wrote:
On Mon, 28 Nov 2005 21:00:17 -0700, "Denzil Hathway"
wrote:

compliments
of Gateway's laptop support.

First and foremost.... There is no such thing as "Gateway" support.
Actually Gateway isn't even a computer company. Gateway is nothing
more than a Marketing and Sales firm that deals in trash built boxes
out of Taiwan who's support is outsourced to whoever the lowest bidder
is which usually is out of some third world dust bowl in some
forgotten corner of the earth.

Can anyone give me a good reason to have anything to do with Gateway
again?

No, not really.....

You need to find a reputable local white box builder. Most can
analyze and fix laptop problems. Form a good relationship with one
and stick with them... You'll get personal service by someone who
guards their reputation and whose local reputation depends on YOUR
satisfaction. You will also get local support from the same person
that usually built your toys in the first place even though they don't
build laptops. Replacing a laptop HD is very simple and those HD's
are readily available. You could do it and any local white box
builder could assuredly do it.

Stop dealing with these Marketing and Sales firms that paint their
names on junk out of Taiwan, supported by Larry, Curly and Moe's
outsourced support consortium out of PoDuck India.

Regards,
Ed

Note to readers: "Ed" is deranged, an idiot. There are no "whitebox
builders". If there were, they would have a lock on marketing a few
computer models in the small one hundred numbers with reliability that
marketers like Gateway cannot accomplish in the thousands.

Ed is an idiot.

Q

On Tue, 29 Nov 2005 19:40:13 -0700, "Quaoar"
wrote:

Note to readers: "Ed" is deranged, an idiot. There are no "whitebox
builders". If there were, they would have a lock on marketing a few
computer models in the small one hundred numbers with reliability that
marketers like Gateway cannot accomplish in the thousands.

Ed is an idiot.

Note to readers.... while Quaoar was sucking on its usual big green
one, it totally missed the fact that there is a viable White Box
movement going on in America. It also missed the fact while chomping
down on its daily big one that the whole industry began with white box
builders in Garages.

So then the big greeny chomper known as Quaoar (which actually means
cream filled doughnut anus in MoonPie Outer Mongolia) is the real
idiot here and has displayed evidence that it knows nothing about the
history of the industry and is most likely a Gateway Marketing and
Sales Clone child trying its best to sway all comers away from the
reputable WHITE BOX (Yes folks, there that word again... WHITE BOX)
Suppliers and back to the Taiwanese slop its beloved Marketing and
Sales Conglomerate known as Gateway has their name painted on.

Yep, ole' Cream Filled Doughnut Anus is not only an idiot but an true
dyed in the wool inbred idiot. Top of the list, Numero Uno!

WHITE BOX came first and still exists today folks and don't let some
inbred Gateway clone tell you differently...... White Box suppliers
support their own instead of outsourcing it to some third world crap
hole like ole' Cream Filled Doughnut Anus's beloved Gateway Marketing
and Sales firm does.

Ed

Ed wrote:
On Tue, 29 Nov 2005 19:40:13 -0700, "Quaoar"
wrote:

Note to readers: "Ed" is deranged, an idiot. There are no "whitebox
builders". If there were, they would have a lock on marketing a few
computer models in the small one hundred numbers with reliability
that marketers like Gateway cannot accomplish in the thousands.

Ed is an idiot.

Note to readers.... while Quaoar was sucking on its usual big green
one, it totally missed the fact that there is a viable White Box
movement going on in America. It also missed the fact while chomping
down on its daily big one that the whole industry began with white box
builders in Garages.

So then the big greeny chomper known as Quaoar (which actually means
cream filled doughnut anus in MoonPie Outer Mongolia) is the real
idiot here and has displayed evidence that it knows nothing about the
history of the industry and is most likely a Gateway Marketing and
Sales Clone child trying its best to sway all comers away from the
reputable WHITE BOX (Yes folks, there that word again... WHITE BOX)
Suppliers and back to the Taiwanese slop its beloved Marketing and
Sales Conglomerate known as Gateway has their name painted on.

Yep, ole' Cream Filled Doughnut Anus is not only an idiot but an true
dyed in the wool inbred idiot. Top of the list, Numero Uno!

WHITE BOX came first and still exists today folks and don't let some
inbred Gateway clone tell you differently...... White Box suppliers
support their own instead of outsourcing it to some third world crap
hole like ole' Cream Filled Doughnut Anus's beloved Gateway Marketing
and Sales firm does.

Ed

Hey Ed! How about just providing a smidgen of quantification, i.e.,
point me to where I can purchase or assemble a whitebox laptop? Just
one.

Q

ben_myers_spam_me_not @ charter.net (Ben Myers) wrote:
Especially notebooks. Nobody builds notebooks in onesy-twosy
quantities.

Actually I can build a very reliable computer from the choicest of
parts, at a price few of my customers are willing to pay... Ben Myers

On Tue, 29 Nov 2005 19:40:13 -0700, "Quaoar"
wrote:

Ed wrote:
On Mon, 28 Nov 2005 21:00:17 -0700, "Denzil Hathway"
wrote:

compliments
of Gateway's laptop support.

First and foremost.... There is no such thing as "Gateway" support.
Actually Gateway isn't even a computer company. Gateway is nothing
more than a Marketing and Sales firm that deals in trash built boxes
out of Taiwan who's support is outsourced to whoever the lowest
bidder is which usually is out of some third world dust bowl in some
forgotten corner of the earth.

Can anyone give me a good reason to have anything to do with
Gateway again?

No, not really.....

You need to find a reputable local white box builder. Most can
analyze and fix laptop problems. Form a good relationship with one
and stick with them... You'll get personal service by someone who
guards their reputation and whose local reputation depends on YOUR
satisfaction. You will also get local support from the same person
that usually built your toys in the first place even though they
don't build laptops. Replacing a laptop HD is very simple and
those HD's are readily available. You could do it and any local
white box builder could assuredly do it.

Stop dealing with these Marketing and Sales firms that paint their
names on junk out of Taiwan, supported by Larry, Curly and Moe's
outsourced support consortium out of PoDuck India.

Regards,
Ed

Note to readers: "Ed" is deranged, an idiot. There are no "whitebox
builders". If there were, they would have a lock on marketing a few
computer models in the small one hundred numbers with reliability
that marketers like Gateway cannot accomplish in the thousands.

Ed is an idiot.

Q

The sad thing is that the desktop assemblers are slowly being forced out
of business due to the cut-throat pricing by the major vendors. In my
area the best of these can no longer come close in price or capability
to the HP, Dell, etc. boxes. Their business is transitioning to used
equipment sales.

Q

Yep. That's what I do, along with upgrades, repairs, fumigating software pests,
setting up and managing small networks for small businesses. There's cut-throat
pricing by the major name brand vendors, and also extremely low prices paid by
OEMs to Microsoft for software. Of course, what you get is what you pay for, as
buyers find out too late that (Oops!) the name-brand manufacturer provides no
media for the licensed software installed in the computer when delivered. So
the hard drive craps out, and the computer becomes almost a throwaway, because
the costs (labor + licensed software bought at street prices) of getting back to
a working state are as much as the cost of a new computer. And hard drives DO
crap out a lot these days. But try telling that to a prospective buyer who sees
only dollar signs and cheap initial cost.

I get absolutely no break on prices of licensed Micro$oft or Adobe software from
my so-called wholesale distributors. So if I need some to bail out a client, I
buy it at retail for maybe $2 or $3 more than distributor prices and I get the
software sooner. Of course, the distributors get their nuts twisted on price by
Micro$oft and Adobe, and they, too, make only a few bucks and they carry the
software not quite as a loss leader, but close... Ben Myers

On Wed, 30 Nov 2005 09:46:30 -0700, "Quaoar" wrote:

ben_myers_spam_me_not @ charter.net (Ben Myers) wrote:
Especially notebooks. Nobody builds notebooks in onesy-twosy
quantities.

Actually I can build a very reliable computer from the choicest of
parts, at a price few of my customers are willing to pay... Ben Myers

On Tue, 29 Nov 2005 19:40:13 -0700, "Quaoar"
wrote:

Ed wrote:
On Mon, 28 Nov 2005 21:00:17 -0700, "Denzil Hathway"
wrote:

compliments
of Gateway's laptop support.

First and foremost.... There is no such thing as "Gateway" support.
Actually Gateway isn't even a computer company. Gateway is nothing
more than a Marketing and Sales firm that deals in trash built boxes
out of Taiwan who's support is outsourced to whoever the lowest
bidder is which usually is out of some third world dust bowl in some
forgotten corner of the earth.

Can anyone give me a good reason to have anything to do with
Gateway again?

No, not really.....

You need to find a reputable local white box builder. Most can
analyze and fix laptop problems. Form a good relationship with one
and stick with them... You'll get personal service by someone who
guards their reputation and whose local reputation depends on YOUR
satisfaction. You will also get local support from the same person
that usually built your toys in the first place even though they
don't build laptops. Replacing a laptop HD is very simple and
those HD's are readily available. You could do it and any local
white box builder could assuredly do it.

Stop dealing with these Marketing and Sales firms that paint their
names on junk out of Taiwan, supported by Larry, Curly and Moe's
outsourced support consortium out of PoDuck India.

Regards,
Ed

Note to readers: "Ed" is deranged, an idiot. There are no "whitebox
builders". If there were, they would have a lock on marketing a few
computer models in the small one hundred numbers with reliability
that marketers like Gateway cannot accomplish in the thousands.

Ed is an idiot.

Q

The sad thing is that the desktop assemblers are slowly being forced out
of business due to the cut-throat pricing by the major vendors. In my
area the best of these can no longer come close in price or capability
to the HP, Dell, etc. boxes. Their business is transitioning to used
equipment sales.

Q