Gateway, Inc

My shopping experience with Gateway is the worst I've ever experienced. I had an issue with my computer and of course the "only way" to fix it was to order an upgrade software for $220.00. After being told 3 different times when the software was supposed to arrive...it didn't. When it finally did get here, I had trouble installing and the tech support said there was nothing they could do and I would have to call Microsoft. After a few hours on the phone with Microsoft it was determined the software was no good. I call Gateway and was told they don't take back opened software and there was nothing they could do for me. I requested the assistance of a supervisor who informed me of the same thing. Basically I was told they won't refund my money and I could return the software but they would turn around and send the same junk software back. My blood is boiling. I should have bought a Dell. I've heard nothing but good things about their customer service.

 I would not shop here again

I ordered a laptop through a third-party retailer. The laptop arrived in a timely fashion, but without the 26 software title CDs that was supposed to come with it. Gateway told me they would be sent immediately at no charge. I checked a few days later, and the order had been placed but was waiting for financial approval. WHAT? When I checked the web site a week later, there was a note that the order could not be processed and to contact a customer rep. When I did, I got the same song-and-dance--they would be sent out immediately, customer service is first priority, and my experience is not the norm. Yeh right.

 I would not shop here again

I purchased an M675 with docking bay for 2,300.00 It ran perfect on the T1 line. I decided to take it on a business trip to use it at the motel. I took it home and set up an account to use the modem before I left. When I plugged in the phone cord and   Read full review...

 I would not shop here again

I've bought all my company's computers from Gateway, and each experience has been better than the last. I look up what I want from the online menu, make my selections, than go to Sales Chat to ask whatever questions I still have (and usually there are a few... there are so many choices sometimes I need just a little advice) and then order. It's that easy. And everything comes just as it is promised.

 I would shop here again

The problem in a nutshell: Ordered computer - computer arrived with faulty modem. Rather than go into the utter hell of an experience that I had, I'll give the basics of the problems I experienced: All the tech service people give you their first name   Read full review...

 I would not shop here again

We were excited to finally buy the Rebel camera. Talked to sales Reps over the weekend several times to get info on the camera and ordered on Monday 3/15. Each time Gateway confirmed, Yes,..the camera is in stock... We even paid for expedited   Read full review...

 I would not shop here again

My laptop has been in 3 times in the past 4 months for service. Gateway has refused to replace it saying that it just needs to be serviced. I am tired of this BS. Now they don't even know where the computer is. Apparently it was lost in transit. I called and was transferred to customer service. An indifferent Gateway representative said they would send me a check for the estimated value of the system (just over $100). That will not get me a laptop anywhere, not to mention the money I've spent to have it serviced. I will NEVER SHOP AT GATEWAY AGAIN!

 I would not shop here again

My wife and I decided to purchase an HDTV and selected the Gateway 23". I went onto Gateway.com and initiated live chat. Since it was after 11PM ET, I didn't expect much but after about 30 seconds, Oscar answered all of my questions and called me minutes later to take my order waving shipping and taxes. He was excellent and didn't try to up-sell me the warranty or anything else, for that matter. My entire credit approval (Gateway account), order and confirmation was done in less than 10 minutes.
It is by far the best on-line purchase using new credit, to date. Conversely, my most recent Dell experience was like having teeth pulled at home! Thanks Oscar and Gateway.com

 I would shop here again

I shopped at the Gateway Online Store, called the 800 number to talk to a real person about the 710XL. They varified the hardware was what I wanted and there weren't any options I needed that I didn't have selected. I placed the order online. Computer   Read full review...

 I would shop here again

I ordered a monopod for my camera at half of the local price. I read the other reviews and was skeptical that I would have a good experience. To my surprise the item shipped and was on my front porch within 3 business days. I would rate my experience with Gateway as being excellent.

 I would shop here again

I ORDERED THE HIGHLY RATED VIEWSONIC E90FB. NOT ONLY DID I GET THE BEST PRICE I GOT FREE SHIPPING AND IT ARRIVED TWO DAYS AFTER I ORDERED IT. I LIVE 20 MILES FORM THE FONTANA CALIFORNIA DISTRIBUTION CENTER. THE FLAT CRT MONITOR LIVES UP TO THE HYPE. GREAT JOB I'LL DO IT AGAIN
SAN BERNARDINO

 I would shop here again

Buying a product from gateway is the worst thing I ever did. The product didn't work and upon returning it I didn't receive a credit of $250 for a month. A simple return for a inferior product was quite a hassle.

 I would not shop here again

Disappointing service. Ordered 2 Canon lenses, both supposedly in stock. Originally said 2 weeks to ship. Eventually shipped in 4 weeks, and then shipped each item completely separately! No method of paying for an express service to get goods shipped next day.
They did ship to my work address as opposed to home address, which was helpful (especially to the UK). Also, they didn't charge my card until the goods actually left them. Both of which I liked.
Customer service was hard work, but we got there in the end.


 I would not shop here again

Hmmm...maybe if some of you people had a little patience and faith, buying from Gateway is pretty sweet actually. I can't agree with these people. Gateway's sales people, both on the phone and online were excellent. The Gateway DV-S20 Multi-cam is excellent. I'm a college student, and this thing put me on the map. Great deal, and was delivered 2 days before expected. Thanks, Gateway!

 I would shop here again

I've ordered a Targus Traveler Coolpad on Feb 20 (Friday) and I've got it on Feb 24 (Tuesday) thru Fedex. It sounds unbelievable after reading all these bad reviews but I'm surprised too. Maybe I was just lucky, anyway, everything worked fine for me (confirmation mail and two additional mails including the tracking number). The only thing is that it's saying in the e-mail that the product shipped thru UPS but actually it's been shipped thru Fedex which I've learned after calling Gateway.

Usually the company who has the lowest price is doing really stinky business but they didn't. Anyway I can't speak for more valuable things but if you're going to order something small in price, go for it.

 I would shop here again

Ordered a 42 inch plasma TV which came with supposedly FREE 13 inch LCD TV value of $399 weeks before Christmas. LCD did not arrive with the plasma. After countless phone calls of crazy things they said happened including telling me it was canceled, it would be overnighted, etc, (which you are on wait for literally hours) with managers also, it arrived a couple weeks after Christmas. Turned on and it has a bright red dot in the middle of the screen. Again numerous phone calls and them telling me they would send replacement, never arrived. Now I call them and they tell me they know of this problem with the red dot in the LCD's and my replacement has been canceled but am stuck with the TV. NEVER EVER BUY FROM GATEWAY! I am going to write Better Business Bureau and am contacting my credit card to fight. Oh PS. Bought wireless mouse and keyboard. After just a few weeks of typing on it, the letters are already starting to fade away off the keyboard. STAY AWAY FROM GATEWAY

 I would not shop here again

its really horrible at gateway. i ordered my product, a notebook, and was told it would be shipped by 6th of february, 2004. i checked online and my order was still pending processing by the 6th. i called customer service and talked to 3 different representatives. two of them told me there is a hold on my order and the delivery date (expedited shipping) is 17th of february so i should talk to a sales representative. this lady sales representative was so rude and is the worst representative I've ever come accross in my life. finally, she said there is no hold on my order. so what is happening at gateway? you better sit up because your representatives are loosing you precious customers. will never shop or tell any friend or family member to shop here again. i should have taken advice from the reviews I read. what is management doing after reading all these reviews.

 I would not shop here again

First I received the custimary email stating it would be delivered in 10 days. That came and went. When I called Customer service they said it had been shipped. 5 days and 5 calls later they siad it was on back order and it would be a month before it was shipped.

I finally received it and it would pop the and record everything darker. It would also sometimes not finalize the disk, it would render it useless. Then during playback the recording would pause or freeze every few seconds. Disk played back in this same manner on any dvd player I played it on.

They said to ship it to Chino,CA. That was 2 weeks ago. USPS said they received the player with 2 days. Gateway says it was never received. Countless calls to customer service and email to online service and they all say the same thing. They will research this and get back to me. No one has contacted me yet. I haven't made the first payment on this piece of junk. Don't know what to do now.
DO NOT do business with gateway. Buy from DELL. NO problems there.

 I would not shop here again

Tried to get information on AR-230 DVD recorder. Received 5 different answers about event timer features. Both web site and the phone sellers did not know the product. Taking a chance on the order. I have received the recorder as the phone seller said I would with free overnight shipping.

 I would shop here again

Believe the reviews! I thought that all of the negative things that I read about Gateway could not possibly be true. I thought there was no way I would have the same problems as others I read about. I was wrong. Do not set yourself up for that kind   Read full review...

 I would not shop here again

After reading the reviews, I did not believe that Gateway's customer service could possibly be so bad. Well, they are bad. Very bad. I cannot recall a customer service experience that can rival the utter incompetence of Gateway. I ordered a computer, but it took them so long to process the order that I canceled it. Despite the cancellation, Gateway still shipped the canceled order, and I of course refused shipment. After almost a month, I've yet to receive a proper credit. I cannot believe that a company which handles orders this poorly can remain in business. I must warn you, do not purchase a computer from this badly run business, it would be a decidedly unsound investment.

 I would not shop here again

Gateway has extremely poor service. I my order was said to be "in-stock" yet I had to wait over a month and still never got it. They did not even send me emails to tell me that my order was delayed past the expected shipping date. I will never use gateway ever again.

 I would not shop here again

In brief, it is a bad idea to shop at Gateway. Their customer service sucks. And I was charged $60 plus tax to return a product I thought was inferior. They charge a $15% re-stocking fee even if the product was never opened out of the box.

 I would not shop here again

I ordered a Fuji Digital Camera from this site in order to use my Gateway Mastercard "points"... After being notified that "the order was waiting for parts" (all they had to do was put the "in-stock" camera in a box), I finally received my camera a week and a half late. When i went back to the Gateway site to check on it, I noticed that the camera had dropped $25 in price. While i waited for the camera to come back in stock, they dropped the price and then sold it to me at the higher price. I'm completely fed up with Gateway and will not shop here again.

 I would not shop here again

My on-line order of a DC-T50 camera took 5-days to arrive via UPS 2nd day. In comparison, my Dell computer took only 3-days! Hey, the camera just needed someone to stick a mailing label on the box. But the computer had to be built to specifications before it could be packed and shipped. Who's more efficient here?

Now the bad part. It's been over 7-weeks that I've been waiting for good 'o GATEWAY to send me a $50 rebate form, which I must fill-in, then send back, then wait, and wait, and...W A I T! to get the rebate check.

Is GATEWAY a one man shop? I hope I'm still alive when this is over.





 I would not shop here again

First, I will admit that I had to wait 48 hours to be told that my product was in fact on its way to me. But after that, I had no problems at all. I ordered the connected DVD player (100 cheaper than the GoVideo, AND with a wireless PCMCIA card to boot!), and I am 110% thrilled. I have now updated my computer server that sends the files to the DVD player, and I am even happier! I can record a DVD to the computer, and then play it on the TV and stereo with no loss of audio or video quality! I love this product.

 I would shop here again

I followed the links through Dealtime which promised Free Shipping and no sales tax. However, when I tried to place the order with Gateway, a shipping charge was added. I phoned the store and the CS agent quickly offered to waive the shipping. As we neared completion of the order process, she tried to add sales tax. A gentle reminder from me, and it was netted out.

So far so good.

I called the next day for tracking info and learned the order had been canceled! I had to talk to three people before I could get the order re-entered.

I checked the next day and learned that the "in stock" item had been backordered!

It was shipped later in the week and arrived on time, but I really had to work for this one!

 I would not shop here again

Summary: Order: 26 days from order to delivery Quality: Dead hard drive, defective computer case fan and CPU fan, and loosely installed floppy disk drive. Service: Virtually non-existent. Replaced new parts with refurbished parts. Didn't complete work   Read full review...

 I would not shop here again

Ordered a total of $4210. of PC & peripherals. Order arrived only 7 days late, at that point I was leaving for 3 months on internship. Back home unpacked to discover $89 webcam missing. Despite many inquires both online and local store [since closed] NEVER resolved. So I'm only missing 2% of my orders value.
Now every online or phone inquiry results in no resolution and a transfer to Sales dept where some new software or hardware will allegedly resolve the issue. Ex: the PC has 1,024GB of RAM and they suggested I buy more memory!!
Joke: I got a letter from Ted Waite that I could go to a store 85 miles to do business.
If you don't mind making a contribution -- go ahead and buy.

 I would not shop here again

1/21/2004 After submitting a letter via planetfeedback.com Gateway finally contacted me and resolved my issue.

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 would shop here again

I bought a cable modem from Gateway's website, it was put on backorder but they did not contact me regarding it, I had to call them. When it arrived I tried to get my rebate, they said if I singed up to an ISP through gateway I would get a $100 rebate, but nobody I called knew anything about it or who I should talk to. After TWO WEEKS of calling them every day (hours at a time) I got someone who knew what to do, however by then the rebate had expired. As for the modem the ethernet port does not work so I must use the USB port (due to the setup of my network it's not a problem to me though), and as a final insult the little rubber feet were not in the box so now my modem will slide around from time to time, and nobody at gateway could fix that either.

 I would not shop here again

Bought a 200sx computer from them. Will never purchase anything else from these people again. The WI-FI still does not work, after about 18 phone calls to them- I am not exaggerating. To top it off, when asked if I can simply send it in for service, they said "sure, but I doubt we will fix it right"

I am beyond consoling. I usually don't complain. 12 other computers in my medical office, and have never run into swuch incompetence.

One silver lining. The customer service people at the CEO's office are not bad, but others in the company did not follow their directives.

 I would not shop here again

I bought a desktop computer from Gateway. I found their customer service to be excellent. When my DVD drive would not "eject", they promptly sent me a new one. My 700 XL computer screams and has had no problems other than the one mentioned. I then purchased a 300S for my son and it has been a super computer for the price! I am 100% satisfied. They get an A.

 I would shop here again

Ordered from gateway, one box came with UPS and the other one with Federal Express. Do not know why they do not ship with same company.
Box through UPS came on time and box with Federal Express never arrived.
Reason according to Gateway, they had wrong address or address not found. Whose fault is It?
Canceled order.

 I would not shop here again

I ordered software from this company which was fairly fast and easy to do. Withing 24 hours I received an email saying that I will get another email in the next 24 hours completing the order, and this email would contain delivery status and details. I   Read full review...

 I would not shop here again

Absolute worse on-line inventory system ever. I ordered the Gateway Connected DVD Player, wireless version, on Nov 28th. Here it is December 23rd, and every time I call I get a different date that it is supposed to come in. Actually, the last time I called they wouldn't even give me a date.
Two guesses to what the availability says on the web page, and the first one doesn't count. that's right, in-stock ships in 1-2 days. It's read that since I ordered it back in November. Way to go Gateway, wish you would would have went the way of the other crappy dot coms a few years back. My experiences with Dell have been excellent and there is no comparison. Makes Gateway look like a swap meet.

 I would not shop here again

Saw an ad on tv. 1/2 hour later, looked on website for deal offered. It wasn't there! Engaged in e-chat with a salesperson. He said that deal was so popular that they ran out of merchandise 3 or 4 days ago and are offering a different deal which is actually much better now. The new deal, for a digital camera and printer, costs $180 more than the original deal. Sounds like bait and switch to me.
I asked him why the ad wasn't pulled or changed or why they didn't have an equivalent deal to offer, but he had no reply.
Sooo, would not order from this company.

 I would not shop here again

Joy--> Confusion---> Anger --> Suspicion ---> Regret by sinatravoice, Dec 15 '03 Don't waste your precious time! I ordered a low-end digital camera from Gateway (to where?!)as a nice little Christmas present for my wife. After   Read full review...

 I would not shop here again

what a loser never buy from here again shop some where else it might be worth spending more money it takes forever to ship whit no answer why it takes so long .read reviews before buying i'm not the only one they suck

 I would not shop here again

I purchased a rather powerful CPU from Gateway about 2 years ago. I've never had the occasion to call their tech support but was most pleased with delivery time and product performance. Purchased the AR-230 DVD Recorder about 2 weeks ago and experienced nothing but problems with it. Tech Support was helpful but decided that the unit was defective and promised a replacement unit by 12/15/03. So far (12/15), the replacement unit has not arrived.

 I would shop here again