GOLDSTN@MAINE.BITNET (Michael E. Goldstein) (04/07/90)
i'd like to be able to tell of my experience with Gateway computers, but I can only tell of my experience with their sales staff. I've had plenty of time to get friendly with one salesman in particular. He has been polite, friendly and helpful. However, he has been unable to provide me with a computer. I ordered the standard 386sx, color vga, 65megg drive, 2 meg ram, computer, 4 weeks ago and was told today that it will be another two weeks before I receive the computer. I hope its worth the wait. Michael Goldstein goldstn@maine.bitnet
yjkim@milton.acs.washington.edu (Yong Kim) (04/08/90)
> helpful. However, he has been unable to provide me with > a computer. I ordered the standard 386sx, color vga, 65megg > drive, 2 meg ram, computer, 4 weeks ago and was told today that it will > be another two weeks before I receive the computer. I hope its > worth the wait. The salesman I contacted (Oh, I tried to talk any of their salesmen, but after 5 phone calls, I yelled) was not that polite. I tried to reach him again later only to find that "He is off today" or "He is with another customer". From many promised callbacks, I got just only one from the supervisor of the salesman I talked to. Their salespeople do not seem to be great. But I can say that their computers are, as the numerous people in this net have said, good. Their quality control looks reasonable and most of their peripherals are well-known brand. My guess is that Gateway 2000 is overloaded but tries to keep their quality control tight, while it costs the customers' waiting time. For some who can endure this humiliating process, it's worth the wait. For others (with extra cash), they can go to other mail-order houses.
MHS108@psuvm.psu.edu (Mark Solsman) (04/09/90)
In article <2738@milton.acs.washington.edu>, yjkim@milton.acs.washington.edu (Yong Kim) says: >...There salespeople do not seem to be great. I must totally disagree! There salespeople are fantastic! I have been "put through" every time I called. Every time I call and no one is available, they call back. These guys(and gals) are not afraid of toll calls. I also have a super saleslady who not only gave me a good deal, but also called twice to let me know wow my order is going, AND to tell me that they have a bigger tape backup at a lower cost. How many places will honestly help you save money even after the sale? (not yet assembled) This is alot more than I could say about USA Flex!
webb@uhccux.uhcc.hawaii.edu (Thomas Webb) (04/11/90)
In article <90096.202211GOLDSTN@MAINE.BITNET> GOLDSTN@MAINE.BITNET (Michael E. Goldstein) writes: >i'd like to be able to tell of my experience with Gateway >computers, but I can only tell of my experience with their >sales staff. I've had plenty of time to get friendly with >one salesman in particular. He has been polite, friendly and >helpful. However, he has been unable to provide me with >a computer. I ordered the standard 386sx, color vga, 65megg >drive, 2 meg ram, computer, 4 weeks ago and was told today that it will >be another two weeks before I receive the computer. I hope its >worth the wait. > > >Michael Goldstein >goldstn@maine.bitnet Well, I ordered the same system five and a half weeks ago, and have been treated to a decreasing level of politeness. At first, I was very impressed. They returned my calls, quickly assigned me an account rep., and sent me a copy of their warentee and a personalised letter with an estimated ship date (March 26). Well, I've been buying computers on a fairly regular basis for the project here, and I'd never seen service like this before--very impressive. However, my account rep. called on the 26th to say the the computer would be one to two weeks delayed. This was dissapointing, but not beyond the pale, as Northgate had taken three weeks to ship us a computer in early March and they cost a bunch more. So, I gave my rep. a call on the 2nd of April to see what was happening. She was pretty short with me and said, essentially, that they had said that it would take one to two weeks more to ship and why was I wasting her time by calling after only one week? Well, anyone can have a bad day, so I waited a week and tried to call Yesterday. After four tries I finally got an answer, but my rep. was on another line. I wasn't in the office, so I didn't leave a message, but waited untill this morning to call again. Well, I've been calling all morning, at least a dozen times, and the line is ALWAYS busy. Anyway, I don't know what is going on at Gateway, but my feeling is that things are not good there; the service is getting worse, and as nearly as I can tell, they are not delivering computers at all. I see that I,ve run-on a bit, and I do apoligise, but I'm more then a little put out with Gateway right now. -tom -- =============================================================================== webb@uhccux.uhcc.Hawaii.edu "The first duty in life is to assume a pose. What the second is, no one has yet discovered." -Oscar Wilde
gerry@cive.ri.cmu.edu (Gerry Roston) (04/11/90)
Just to throw in my $0.02. My fiance needed a new computer for her work. After some looking around, we decided that the Gateway 200 386-20 machine a) fitted her needs and b) was the most price effective solution on the market. We placed an order and were told that we would have the machine in 2 weeks. Two weeks later I called and was told of delays, but the machine did arrive shortly there after (I have forgotten the exact details). Every time I called, I was treated courteously, although I did have a hard time getting through to my customer service rep on occasion (but she did return my call). I believe that due to their aggresive pricing, Gateway is having a hard time meeting demand. Also, since that are an OEM, they are at the mercy of their suppliers. They should probably be more realistic in their delivery quotes. We have had no problems with the machine. It is well built and uses good components. Two small gripes, however: 1) the version of the vga utilities installed on the hard disk and those supplied on the floppy disks were not the same, and 2) they supplied a nifty program (I forgot the name, but it is an online ms-dos manual), but for some reason, you can not install it using its install program. A last note: after all the talk about the latest version of the vga utilities software for the ATI card, I called Gateway to get a copy of these. My customer service rep didn't know what I was talking about, but she put me on hold for a minute and found out. She said they would send the disks to me. The next day they arrived by FedEx. That's service! -- gerry roston, field robotics center robotics institute, carnegie mellon university pittsburgh, pennsylvania, 15213 (412) 268-6557 gerry@cive.ri.cmu.edu
MHS108@psuvm.psu.edu (Mark Solsman) (04/12/90)
Well, it's me again - the same person who couldn't say enough good things about Gateway2000. I ordered My computer March 27 with an estimated shipping of Aprl 9. The 9th they called and said it would be out on Friday the 13. I called my rep and she "was on another line", so I left a message. I called the next day and talked to her. The first thing i asked was if she had gotten my message. She said alot of people call and leave messages. Anyway, I did a little more business and when I was done I asked her what was the week holdup. According to Gateway2000 they have received a batch of monitors which were not up to their specs. Shall I believe this?? I ended on the note of asking if my system will be shipped on Friday. She told me the monitors are expected Friday or Monday. I want the truth!! Has anyone else ordered a computer (real) lately? Oh, my service rep was Anita - if anyone else has her, please letme know! Any my sales rep way Shelly - I would recommend her to everyone! ----- Mark Solsman, Pennsylvania State University, Scranton, Pennsylvania, USA MHS108 @ PSUVM.BITNET MHS108 @ PSUVM.PSU.EDU
webb@uhccux.uhcc.hawaii.edu (Thomas Webb) (04/12/90)
In article <90101.134237MHS108@psuvm.psu.edu> MHS108@psuvm.psu.edu (Mark Solsman) writes: >Well, it's me again - the same person who couldn't say enough good things about >Gateway2000. I ordered My computer March 27 with an estimated shipping of Aprl > [grusome saga deleted :)] Well, I responded to this thread yesterday and said that I too was getting the run-around from Gateway and was having trouble getting through to them on the 'phone. However, this morning (Hawaii time) I got a call from my service rep. (Christy Jones) who said that my computer was shipped today. I know, "it's in the mail" is the oldest line in the book, but they did give me the UPS Blue tracking numbers and I'm particularly willing to believe them since they have been unusually careful, polite, and, I hope, honest over the 'phone in the past. Now, I'm not sure that all of this kindenss makes-up for the fact that it took them the best part of six weeks to get the box out the door, but it helps. Anyway, the bottom line seems to be that they are shipping computers. -tom -- =============================================================================== webb@uhccux.uhcc.Hawaii.edu "The first duty in life is to assume a pose. What the second is, no one has yet discovered." -Oscar Wilde
nts0302@dsacg3.dsac.dla.mil (Bob Fisher) (04/12/90)
Gateway is shipping more than just computers.... In yesterday's mail I got a diskette from them and a letter saying that many Gateway computers have been infected with viruses (no implication that the virus came with the machine). The diskette appears to have the program scanv61 that scans for viruses and a cleanup program to remove viruses from your system. I've only done a directory list and haven't executed any of the programs yet. This was unsolicited and sent FedEx. How many other vendors do this? -- Bob Fisher US Defense Logistics Agency Systems Automation Center DSAC-TSX, Box 1605, Columbus, OH 43216-5002 614-238-9071 (AV 850-9071) bfisher@dsac.dla.mil osu-cis!dsacg1!bfisher