A Stray Gateway Lemon

Just like with cars, sometimes a computer will turn out to be a lemon. While computer manufacturers rarely handle that situation very well, the experience one reader is having right now with a bad Gateway eMachines desktop is deserving of special attention. Not only is Gateway failing to fix it, they can’t even seem to find it long enough to send it back to her.

“I have an eMachines T6524, which I purchased in August 2006,” the reader wrote. “It broke for the second time on Dec 21, 2006 and I called in the service request on Dec. 22nd — Service Request EM120622N0124. Gateway has now lost the system, or is refusing/unable to send it back to me. Their story keeps changing depending on who I talk to.”

The reader’s system had already been in for repair once before, so she was familiar with the routine when it once again refused to boot. She sent the machine to Gateway/eMachines support in the box they provided, and they later confirmed they received it on January 4th. After several weeks went by, she began calling, e-mailing, and talking online with Gateway to find out what had happened to it. Each tech would promise she would have it back in 7 to 10 days, but none would say what was wrong or what was being done with it.

“Fortunately I have the internal service number, as that seems to be the only way to track it,” the reader wrote. “Apparently they checked the system in under the wrong serial number. We finally got that figured out and they upgraded it to priority one. Three times I called back. I finally got upgraded to the Corporate Relations department at Gateway when the service rep admitted that something was seriously wrong and he couldn’t find the computer in the system. At the corporate office, I spoke to ‘Matt’ who told me that the last service rep was wrong and the computer had been checked into the service warehouse. He knew exactly where it was. However, it would not be fixed because it was out of warranty.”

Since the machine was purchased in August and has since spent almost as much time with Gateway as with her, the reader explained that the system certainly was still under warranty. “Matt asked me to fax the sales receipt to him to prove when I purchased it. I did that. Then, when I called Matt back, he said the computer was only going to be covered under a 90-day warranty and it was still going to be out of warranty. When I asked why the one-year warranty wasn’t being honored, he said because it was purchased from an unauthorized vendor.”

The reader contacted her reseller, Tech for Less, which confirmed they were an authorized Gateway service center and that the system did come with the manufacturer’s warranty. “A Tech for Less rep attempted to resolve the issue with Gateway,” the reader wrote. “Tech for Less has agreed to service the computer and honor the warranty, as one of Gateway’s authorized service centers, if I can get it back from Gateway. The Gateway rep refused to send the unit to Tech for Less to be serviced.”

The only consistent response to the reader’s continuing calls to eMachines and Gateway is the statement that “I see some opportunity here to enhance your computer experience.” In other words, they want to convert the support call into a sales opportunity, when the only real way to enhance her computer experience would be to fix her computer and send it back.

All the reader’s attempts to communicate with Gateway now just end in promises to look into the situation and to call back. “They don’t call back — it is this endless cycle. At this point, they have had the computer for over two months and the customer service reps and corporate relations managers are unable to solve the problem. My letter to the Vice President of Customer Service has gone unanswered. Calling the corporate offices send me into this indefinite cycle of holding and being transferred to someone else. The whole thing is borderline criminal.”

Well, this is one more way for the reader to try to communicate with Gateway, and let’s hope that someone there decides to take that service number and do something. Even just finding the system and sending it back so she can get it to her reseller would be a big help. When you’re stuck with a lemon, it’s just not fair if the people who are supposed to be fixing it can’t even find it.

Do we need a lemon law for computers? Let’s hear what you think. Leave me a message in the Gripe Line voice mail at 1 888 875-7916 or write me at Foster@gripe2ed.com.

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