Gateway fraudulent billing, not honoring warranty, tech support a fraud! Rip-off! Internet

I'm gonna summarize this since it's a long story. I bought a $1700 laptop through gateway 14 months ago. after a couple months, it overheated and i had to send it in for repairs (at my own expense). I was told it would take 1-2 weeks. It ended up taking 2 months due to the laptop being put on backorder first for a heat sync, and then a thermal pad.

When i got it back, it was working again, but the screen was taken apart to examine dead pixels, which were not fixed, and the screen was not put back together properly. It bowed out on the edges. Screws were removed from the bottom of the laptop and not put back, including the screws for the hard drive. The battery was tested and found to be bad. There was a note attached saying in the 2nd paragraph that the battery is not covered by the warranty. In the 3rd, it said it was covered.

I ended up fighting with gateway for about a month about the fact that i still can not use my laptop and that i wanted a refund. They would not give me a refund, saying they will just put a request for a new chassis (basically a new laptop, all i do is swap out the hard drive and battery). When inquiring about this at one point, one of the tech support reps tried telling me that a chassis was only a hard drive. I quickly ended that conversation and called again so that I could speak with someone different. It took a total of 2 months from the time i got my laptop bac, still broke, before i got the new chassis. That is 4 months that i could not use my laptop.

While trying to accomplish all that, I fought with the cs-reps and their managers (they will not let you talk any higher than the manager) and could not get a straight answer for quite a while. They never called me back when they say they will, and they were quite rude, including the managers. I asked a manager what i have to do to file a complaint and he told me to talk to the cs-rep who put that manager on the phone. I tried to file the report with him but he wasnt typing anything i was saying.

I sent the old laptop back, and a month after they received it, they started billing me for $1300 saying they dont have it. The number they say to call is bugged. You can never get through. You get a recording saying they are busy and then it hangs up on you. They never reply to the emails you send to the address they send to write to. I finally called the main number and got it cleared up. They said they got the chassis and couldnt explain the bill. A month later i get a bill for $350 for the combo drive. I called them up again and explained that its built into the chassis. I couldnt possibly take it out. Again they apoligized.

Around July 11th, i think, my laptop overheated again, this time the power plug melted inside the jack. This was a couple days before my warranty ran out. Since it was still having the problem of overheating, i asked for it to be swapped out for a different model this time. They refused. They also refused to extend my warranty due to it still having the same issue. I was forced to spend an additional $200 to renew the warranty or be stuck with a $1700 paperweight. Their tech support renews the warranty for 30 days after repairs, and obviouly if the problem isnt fixed, i may not know for longer than 30 days. I demaned a refund. They will not give a refund past 30 days. I was forced with getting it repaired again.

This time they sent me a box to ship it back. I sent it in for repairs again. It was received July 27th. They fixed the jack, but when they ran their final tests on the 28th, they found that the mouse pad was broken (it was not broken when i sent it in). I did not find out until early August, when i called to inquire, because they refuse to call and inform people when there is a delay. I was eventually told that the mouse pad part is on back-order and is not due until sept 13th.

One customer service rep decided to put paperwork in to get me a new laptop shipped with all the problems happenning (although the 10 i asked before him refused). He said that the reason its taking so long is that they switched their tech support to a different company and that place hasnt been properly stocked yet. He contacted me later saying if i had the laptop, he could. Since they have it, he can't.

A different CS rep told me that the power-supply for this laptop is 80watts. The first one i had was 80. When it overheated the first time, they sent me a 90 watt power supply instead. When it overheated the 2nd time, i returned the 90, and they sent me an 80. It wasnt until this conversation that anyone realized it was wrong.

I waited until the 13th, and started calling. At this point, they have had my lap for 2 months. It wasnt until the 16th, that i managed to get an update. Apparently the arrival date of the part was changed to October 11th. The person i talked to has a habit of reading out loud. I heard him say 35 other people are waiting for this part. I asked to talk to his manager. Instead he just talked to his manager and came back telling me his manager is going to try to get me a new laptop. He said they will call me back before monday (today). I still have not heard from them. I left a message on their team voice mail, and it was not replied to yet.

I contacted a lawyer and explained to him that out of 14 months having this laptop, i have not been able to use it for 6 and it will be atleast another month before i get it back. He said i could take this to court but it would not be worth it and the fees will be high. He recommends taking this to small claims court where all i can get back is what i spent on the laptop.

Kevin
San Antonio, Texas
U.S.A.

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