"I have to say Gateway has provided me with a customer service low I have never before experienced.

BACKGROUND:

So I ordered the ATI RADEON 9800 PRO from them via the phone, and was confirmed that my order would arrive on or before the 15th. Gateway's policy (confirmed by a CSR) was that they would not bill my credit card until my order was shipped.

Well today is the 14th, and I still have no confirmation e-mail, no receipt, no tracking number, and my credit card statement was not billed.

So I call up GateWay and their automated phone service tells me that they cannot process my order and simply hang up on me. Then I decide to talk to a representative (two of them in fact) and they both tell me that my product is out of stock and will ship in the future (which is not defined). I call up my original CSR and he tells me that it will most definately be here by the 15th and that I will be e-mailed a tracking number. I have gotten nothing.

I chat with the live customer service via www.gateway.com and they are just as rude as the automated telephone service. They simply tell me to use the telephone service and leave me hanging there.

NEVER AGAIN GATEWAY. I will NEVER buy from such a horrible, untrustworthy, deceiving company again. No wonder GateWay has a "

"I too fell for the DX6340 digicam deal, advertised for $118, ordered THREE (3)!, the first email indicated a shipping date. Then a day or two later, it changes to pending status, and finally TEN DAYS LATER, I get this lovely, highly personalized email:

"Dear Valued Gateway Customer:

Thank you for placing your order with Gateway.

Due to overwhelming response, we are unable to accept your order for the Kodak D-6340 camera due to supply constraints. Unfortunately, your order will be cancelled. Gateway does offer a number of other digital cameras that you may be interested in; including our T50, which was named 2004's "Best Consumer Digital Camera" at the Best Magazine Awards.

We apologize for any inconvenience; if you would like to place another order for an alternate camera, please contact us at 1-800-GATEWAY. We would be glad to answer any questions you may have.

Sincerely,

Gateway, Inc."

IOW, I not only get rooked on the deal, but they top it off w/ a form email (I'm so valued, they don't even mention me by name!), and SPAM me to-boot w/ an offer for an overpriced piece of crap.

Will someone please explain to me WHY it is that an organization that SPECIALIZES in online ordering for some 10+ years can't effectively track its inventory?! It's as if these online systems have NO access to the inventory AT ALL at the time of ordering. What the hell is going on?! And then they have you sitting on your hands for over a week, geesh.

I've had this type of thing happen so many times before, I'm fed up, they don't even have the decency to offer a discount on another/similar unit, a coupon, ABSOLUTELY NOTHING, just some spam. The attitude is basically "screw you" (whoever you are).

There's no excuse for this repeated failure to honor placed orders, heck, if Newegg.com and a host of other online retailers can do it, why can't Gateway?

Suggest you shop elsewhere, I've gotten better service and response from my local DMV than these guys! "

"A remarkable collection of idiots, all in one place. Their methods are antiquated and slow. Their customer service policy boils down to "screw you." Their technical support consists of "Billy Bob" sitting on a folding chair somewhere. Their management is where it all begins. I wouldn't buy a pencil from these clowns, on-line or in their store."

"Ordered a camera Kodak DX6340 that was advertised as a net of rebate price, although to get rebate required the purchase of a docking station costing an additional $200. Made a separate $65 memory purchase through another vendor, only to learn over a week later that my order was being cancelled and despite the assurance of Gateway's CSR that the sale would be honored once more stock came in."

"I've bought some accesories from them several times. The experience was strange - but satisfying. They have numerous glitches, which after all don't affect delivery of items. For example, they sent me an email confirmation on Jan.29 saying that the item has shipped on... Feb.5!? Apparently, something's wrong with their server's internal clock (or maybe they hired Marty McFly and Doc to their shipping department). Also the email provided a direct link to the FedEx website to track my order. It took me a while to figure out why the link didn't work, i.e. it actually worked, but FedEx couldn't recognize the shipping number, - because the item was shipped via UPS. And dispite all these and some other glitches, the overall experience was very good - very good prices, very fast delivery (with a free shipping coupon, I had the purchase at my door in less than a week). I would buy from them again. After all, what's wrong with having some fun?"

"After purchasing a Gateway T 50 digital camera I have found it was a mistake.I am on my second camera as the first had a battery problem.The service dept.and customer service dept. are staffed with people who are incompetent and clueless.When I told them i wanted a refund i was told sorry it was after the 15 day money back period.Imagine my surprise sepcially after being told it did not matter in this case by some clueless phone answering person!Now the replacement camera has the same battery problem so I called Gateway and at length I was able to talk to a servive tec.who could not figure out the problem,but is sending another new battery.As on now you can not buy judt a battery,you have to buy a accesory kit.They say that batterys will be sold separately in the future.Big deal!!! I should have known better then to buy from Gateway as my first computer was a Gateway and had nothing but problems with it.Thats why I went to Dell. My davice to all is to STAY AWAY from Gageway,THEY SUCK!!!"

"The worst EVER! order to arrive the 23rd of JAN. 1/2 the order arrived the 28th, the other half the 2nd of FEB! And they wouldn't allow me to add an extended warranty (even before it arrived!) And their customer service is tiresome, slow and incompetant. NEVER again, Gateway"

"Gateway sold a 3yr warranty for onsite repair, now I find out that the type of computer I have requires offsite repair only and I have to pay to ship it in.
I purchased the shipping box was and it was to be delivered next day. When that didn't happen I was told it would be 2 more days. It is now over 7 days and the box has not arrived. Customer Support has been contacted several times and as of today (2/19), I am now told it will ship in 3 to 5 more business days. That means it could arrive here in another 10 business days. So much for accurate and quick service (eg. I paid for the 'Express' box, imagine if I opted for the economy.)
My recommendation is to stay away from Gateway. Their technical and Customer support is off-site in India and they lack the ability to effectively communicate or address your needs.
I am currently filing a complaint with the BBB and my State Attorney's office."

"I got the laptop m305x back in November. No problems, everything worded right the first time and still does. No problems that I can report. "

"After my wife's ancient laptop finally died, she compared laptops from various vendors and decided she really liked the Gateway M505XL. Everyone, both at the local Gateway store and on the phone, were very helpful and encouraging. Laptop was received promptly. We were concerned, however, that the computer came with absolutely NO manual (she was told she would get a comprehensive manual). She was also told on the phone that she would be receiving a full version of XP Pro, not just a recovery disc. All she got was a recovery disc.

Almost immediately, the onboard modem began to have problems holding a connection. My wife checked with her ISP to be sure she'd set everything up correctly, and after that was confirmed, they suggested she call Gateway tech support. Tech support had her run several diagnostics, which confirmed that the internal modem was faulty.

The only relief option they offered her was that they would ship her a new "chassis" for the laptop, which she would then have to install herself. They refused to either have her send the computer in, or to bring it to the local store (we're going to do that anyway, damn them). They also refused to assure her that the replacement chassis would be new. They admitted that it might be a refurbished chassis.

When she pointed out that this is a brand new (less than month old!) computer, and said she wanted a new replacement, the supervisor at Gateway tech support told her "that's not gonna happen - that's not the way it works around here" (that's a verbatim quote), and refused to discuss the matter with her further.

This isn't a "problem" or a "glitch" - this is outright stealing. My wife needs this machine for her work, and needs it NOW. Now she has to go and look for something else, while still fighting with Gateway. We're going to raise hell here, with American Express, with anyone who will listen.
Do NOT buy from these people!

February 27, 2004: After endless calls to Gateway, escalating to the level of threats, they agree to send a new - not refurbished - laptop to replace the faulty one. When we called to check on the shipping times, we were told the shipment had been cancelled. Today, without warning, we find a Gateway box had been left on our doorstep (I suppose this is the shipping company's fault, to be fair). The packaging was all wrong, clearly thrown together, and the laptop is covered in fingerprints and looks very used. So now, we have to begin the fight all over again. Avoid these people like the plague!"

"Purchased a camera on 14DEC03 for daughters Christmas gift, It is a DC-M42, Camera showed problems as soon as we opened it, It would behave different every time it was turned on, Tell you it had no photos stored then display them (maybe) after you cycled power. The camera and batteries get extremely hot. I have been working on trying to get it replaced since we opened it on DEC 27th, Have emailed no less than 11 times, I have called no less than 4 times. They tell me now they will upgrade the camera and I will have it next friday (FEB 13th) I am not holding my breath-
HORRIBLE CUSTOMER SERVICE"

"I ordered a 500S with a 2.4 Ghz HT proc. It arrived on time, I used it for college (adult student). I did my video editing without any difficulty and I passed all of my courses in multimedia using this PC. I lost my hard drive the end of November (clicking, constant seek). I used the email tech support which was excellent. After 3 techs reviewed my case I was sent a new drive. I had to send the bad drive back after getting my replacement. Use email support!"

"Lots of customer service options, but that means you get shunted off in different directions. I called and held for 3 different toll free numbers only to get sent to one of the others. The on-line chat is a nice option but not much help. The rep on chat admitted he had never called any of the various 800 numbers and ended up giving me the wrong one anyway. Bottom line: Nobody owns your problem, but everybody has an idea of what other part of Gateway can help you and they have never tried to solve a problem like yours before.
"

"I do not normally purchase anything from Gateway. A customer of mine needed and still needs a Gateway 160 Watt power supply. After calling Gateway to get pricing and availability. My customer told me to go ahead and order it(shouldn't have done it). Purchased the power supply with UPS Red Tag Shipping (UPS 3 Day). Was told that the Power Supply would ship out that day.

Called this morning, because the website said "We are awaiting arrival of your parts to fulfill your order." Excuse me?? This was supposed to be in stock.

Called Gateway's customer service, after being hung up on 5 times finally got through. Was literally told that Customer Service has nothing to do with the Sales department and they could not and would not help me with this issue."

"Ordered a canon s400 digital elph camera, a flash card reader, and a 512mb flash card. All items were reported "in stock" so i went ahead and sprung for 2 day shipping. I ordered on a saturday and knew nothing would be processed until monday. Monday i recieved an email saying my "estimated" delivery date was 11/24/2003 which is a week later. I checked the website and it said something to the effect of "waiting for parts". I checked the items again and the website still said they were in stock. Called customer service and they said the shipping would be after the order is processed and confirmed that the 24th is when the items were estimated to arrive. Told them basically that it was BS that we had to wait a week after paying for 2 day shipping. Service representative told us to call back in 2 days and they would refund the shipping if it hadn't arrived. We call back Thursday (3 days) after recieving ONE of the items via fedex (the flash card reader, which does no good without the flash card and camera). The customer service representive tries to give us the same crap but we shut him down. He then tells us that HIS computer says the item is on backorder. We tell them we don't want to pay $12 for 2 day shipping for an item that's going to arrive in a week or later. He tells us there is NO WAY to ammend the shipping charges. We will never order from them again and have cancelled our line of credit with them. Then we check the gateway website AGAIN and it STILL says the camera is in stock. Hopefully the item will come some year."