Rant -- Gateway Support!!

I don't rant here often...today I will...

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Customer brings in 3 month old Gateway...Weird problems with constant reboots (XP Home). Try chkdsk & OS repair (both worked for about a day, but problem returns). System has a Seagate Barracuda drive, so I run seatools on it. Diags run for 15 seconds and return an error code.

Call Gateway as machine is still under warranty.

Get indian support tech named "Bob". (how many freakin indians do you know named Bob? -- later got one named "Matt".)

Apparently Seagate diagnostic tool on Seagate hard drive is not good enough, so they make me run GW Scan (Gateway diag tool). Run quick test with tech on phone (comes up bad).

Now they make me run an Extended test (takes 3 freakin' hours -- & customer has called me twice now wondering why it is taking so long).

Call gateway back -- extended test comes up bad (no error code on either GW Scan test).

Tech tells me to write zero's to drive. Do so. Comes up freakin' bad.

Tech makes me run chkdsk. no errors.

Tech proceeds to tell me that because chkdsk returns no errors, drive is not bad.

I proceed to tell tech that I'd like to test the brakes on the buggy of a car the bastard drives & tell him that 3 of 4 test came up with brakes needing replaced, but the fourth did not, so brakes are good.

Finally get a supervisor who agrees to send new drive. Surprise!!! -- Name of customer does not match serial number -- F&*#ing Gateway ...

</rant>

We have great support from them. We have a person who is assigned our account, and he lives here in the US wherever their farm is. We usually get things shipped to us overnight. Of course, we're a power company that averages 3-4 computers a week from them........home user support ALWAYS sucks...from EVERYONE. Its because the home users are the ones who demand lower prices......at any price.

Feel better now Pinhead? I always do after a good rant.
Know why they are called Matt and Bob?
Try asking them to spell Prindaruwahluvayaminda. :devil:

Hi there,

I got the same crap from Dell when I just need to get a replacement mouse, nagging them for an hour and pretending to do all that tech crap for no reason (it's the mouse, I'm not stupid). Stupid extended warranty really bites. No more buying Dell anymore.

Ju Leon...

PC Mag just did their reader satisfaction survey: http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1759,1623863,00.asp Although they got whacked for the reliability of their desktops, IBM got very high marks for their tech support. All their techs are in Atlanta or Raleigh.

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Originally Posted by hudsonsmith

PC Mag just did their reader satisfaction survey: http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1759,1623863,00.asp Although they got whacked for the reliability of their desktops, IBM got very high marks for their tech support. All their techs are in Atlanta or Raleigh.

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Quote:

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Unlike many of its competitors, IBM refuses to use overseas technicians, and its tech-support scores are impressive. Readers give IBM a 7.0 overall score for desktop tech support and a 7.6 for notebooks. They rate IBM support techs' ability to comprehend user problems and to speak in a clear, understandable manner at least a point higher than they do Dell, HP, Sony, and Toshiba techs.

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I'm getting a warm fuzzy feeling towards IBM. I really like that articles criteria where the ability to speak in a clear, understandable manner is important.
If IBM put that in their ads I think it would help sales a lot.

Feelin much better now, but still haven't gotten the drive sent. Called today with owner's information and I have the correct phone number, address, date of purchase, place of purchase, and last name, but the first name is wrong. AHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!

As far as IBM is concerned, I have never had any trouble with them. IBM and Sony both work out very well for me, but that's about it.

Anywho...Gateway wants me to have the owner call them and verify that they can send me a drive. I'll see what I can do...

It isn't gauranteed you won't get Apu in Atlanta with IBM, trust me on that one

To be honest, I couldn't care less where Apu lives or what his name is...as long as he can help me the quickest possible way...

I get pissed when they give Apu from Bangladesh a name like "Randy". How stupid do they think people are.

"Well, he has an indian accent, but his name is Randy so he MUST be American"

Besides the fact that I spent countless hours trying to get a simple hard drive RMA, I think that is what pissed me off the most.

Hail to Bob the indian...

Quote:

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Originally Posted by pinhead

To be honest, I couldn't care less where Apu lives or what his name is...as long as he can help me the quickest possible way...

I get pissed when they give Apu from Bangladesh a name like "Randy". How stupid do they think people are.

"Well, he has an indian accent, but his name is Randy so he MUST be American"

Besides the fact that I spent countless hours trying to get a simple hard drive RMA, I think that is what pissed me off the most.

Hail to Bob the indian...

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Thanks Bob.
http://www.imagesoftheworld.org/India/India156.jpg

Gateway Support ???

Oxymoron

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Originally Posted by Escape_Driver

Gateway Support ???

Oxymoron

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It used to mean something. Now it mean squat. We will never own a Gateway machine (and we have bought 4 in the past 10 years). Nevermore.

Hey, what did you expect from long-distance tech support?
Especially from low-paid tech who barely speaks English? :flames: I't more like long-distance sex... :devil: Even worse - no satisfaction... :devil:

rant? Can i rant about Toshiba?

had an issue where the back plastics broke in what i, my peers and repair depot thought was a design flaw. Toshiba though otherwise.

To make a long story short, me being a vetran of call centers go escalated to the Customer Care manager in charge of all of canada (Marc Drevlin) and got flat our refused by the rudest person i could have talked to.

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My opinion is the opinion of the engineer who says that it's not a design flaw

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I dealt with broken promises on call backs, corp red tap like none i've seen before and sticking to my guns go me that high in the company (with a little luck)

BTW: Escalation tip, if they offer a call back, tell the agent sure, i'll wait for the call back as long as i have you on the line with me till the call back arrives, sit back and grab a coffee. Add insult upon injury, refuse to let anyone go, collect each person along the way and make it a huge conference call (i got 7 people on the line one time i called toshiba)

I've done tech support for several companies and done it for others. A few things i can say for sure;

The more you pay, the better the service. I'm not talking about buying the best of the bottom line models, but looking at the mid to high range products offered. Dell has it's XPS line and Business line, IBM has it's levino (sp?) etc etc etc. Usualy buying from one of the "premium" products will net you a better overall experience with tech support. Secondly, be friendly and patient, if your nice, they tend to be more willing to bend the rules.

Can I rant about Alienware??

I have a firend who bought one of their Area 51 7700. 18 Months old, and it has got to be the most expensive doorstop I have ever seen. It is either the video card or the motherboard. We can't even test if it's the video card, because they refuse to supply a replacement even if we pay the full price for it. (£192.00)

Anyone got a geforce go 6800?

Holy thread resurection, Batman! Almost three years old.

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Originally Posted by FatalException0E

Holy thread resurection, Batman! Almost three years old.

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I know, nastalgia is always a nice thing.

Well, let me toss in a rant about HP tech support ...

The other day I wanted to order a second hard drive tray and adapter rail for my laptop so that it would be easier to swap the hard drive in and out as I test various Microsoft beta products.

I called the home customer support line and asked what I thought was a very simple question ... "I want part kit number XX-YYYYYY, can you tell me what comes in that kit?" The support person (sounded like English was a non-native language) asked me what I wanted the kit for, and I stupidly told him the truth. He put me on hold, talked to his supervisor, then informed me that not only would he not tell me what was in the kit, he refused to sell me one because the reason I gave for wanting the kit was not a supported activity!

The next day I called the business HP tech support line and gave them the same story. The person I got on the phone answered my question in about 30 seconds AND offered to overnight the part kit to me at my work address if I needed it that quickly. This gentleman was clearly a resident of Dixie and quite eager to give me the support I wanted.

It should make no difference which support line I call, I should get the same support ... but clearly that's not the case. :(

I guess my philosophy is a bit different. If a customer machine has a hardware problem while under warranty, I show them how to contact the manufacturer, and let them duke it out, since I am not going to get paid for their warranty hassles.

I am a self employed tech. I get paid to fix stuff. If someone is really having trouble getting their warranty part replaced, I may see if I can bump things along for them, if they are an established customer.

Otherwise, it just isn't my problem :)