I made a post a while back about a crashed hard drive in my grandma's computer. Its a gateway. The warranty on it was for 3 years, parts and on-site, it was Ordered in November 1999, delivered in December 1999.
So the hard drive crashed and could not be fixed. We called tech support and they wanted us to upgrade, but it was a big ripoff($130 to go from a 27.7gb IBM Desktar 7200rpm to a 40gb WD 7200rpm) so we decided just to get the hard drive replaced for free using the warranty. The hard drive came last week on Wednesday, and a technician was supposed to come out and install it within a few days. Gateway was supposed to call us back and schedule an appointment. They never called, so we called them on friday. They told us that we would have to wait 48hours before getting an appointment, and they would call us back again. So Saturday goes by, no call(and they are available on saturdays), Sunday, Monday, No call. So finnaly on Tuesday I just went ahead and installed it myself. Took maybe 15 to 20 mins.
She calls them back today and is asking why she hadnt been contacted and why no technician had come out. The call went on for a while, and she explained very clearly to the woman what happened. So then she wanted to file a complaint. They put her in contact with some claims department or something like that. The tech she just explained everything too didnt bother to tell the claims person what was going on, he was clueless, so she had to explain to him again. When she told him that I installed it he says "Oh! Well there is no problem then is there? Its been taken care of."
Several times before we had to have parts replaced, lost 2 powersupplies on that PC and both times it was promptly replaced and the appointment for install was made immidiately. But this was when the PC was rather new, about 8 months after it was bought. Now here we are at less than 2 months left on the warranty, and they could give a crap. Its still under warranty regardless. And the thing that is really rediculous is that the warranty starts when you ORDER the PC, not when you receive it. There was a good 3 weeks between the day it was ordered and the day it was received. And the reason they gave for that is because the warranty covers any damage from shipping. Gateway uses UPS and FedEX. Both those companies cover all packages with insurance, as well as seperate insurance that is purchaseable.
My favorite part though was before she got off the phone, she told the claims guy that she had bought a Dell and that it had worked perfectly and was amazed with it. I bet that made them feel good
