I have a Gateway lap top computer that the hard drive went bad on it, Gateway is replacing the hard however the hard drive is now 4 days over due.

That is not really my beef with Gateway, it is the fact that Gateway refuses to sell me a replacement keyboard for this lap top.

One of the arrow keys came off due to my own fault. I want to order a new keyboard to fix this problem as one of the metal retainers is broken that holds the key face onto the keyboard.

Well I go on the Gateway web site I even find the part number for the keyboard I need, so I call Gateway and try to order the keyboard. I am wanting to pay for the darn thing.

Well the Gateway employee tells me that Gateway does not sell that item to the public, to bad so sad.

I am so mad with Gateway right now that if I had their CEO in front of me I would beat him half to death with his piece of crap lap top.

The sad part is the lap top has not been half bad, other then the hard drive failing without any warning and me losing all my data (yes I do have back ups but I still lost some new data that has to be redone) and keyboard key problem that is of my own doing.

I just don't understand why they refuse to sell a customer a part that they need, it is not like the keyboard is a hard to change item, hell you have to remove it just to add memory to the lap top.

I just wanted to forever warn everyone who is looking to buy a computer to watch out if you are buying a Gateway, as they are refusing to take care of me, and I even have 560 some odd days of extended warranty left, they don't even have you send them the product if something fails they mail you the parts and you have to fix it on your own any way.

OK my rant is off consider your self warned on Gateway products and their non support.

 

You think their bad........ get a Compaq and try them

Then go get yourself a Dell, you will be

 

Hewlett Packard isn't that great either. I had the cooling fan on my laptop go out. Called up to buy it, sorry sir we can't sell that to consumers.

 

I've had HP and COMPAQ. I will never own anything but DELL from now on. My DELL rocks, and customer service (phone/online) has been excellent!

 

I know car makers have to make replacement parts for at least 10 years, I wonder why makers of other products are not required to have a supply of parts available to the consumer to make repairs with as well, it may not have to be 10 years, but at least have the parts available.

I guess we are damned if we do and damned if we don't.

Computers and the companies that run them are nothing but a racket I tell ya!

 

My compaq laptop from work is about 6 years old and has enough frequent flier mile to go anywhere in the world.

Fell off the third shelf of a metal cabinet.
Three baths in gear oil.
Dropped twice in the mud at a job site.
Uncountable miles sliding around in the bed of my truck.
I keep asking for a ruggedized notebook and the company wont buy one since I cant seem to destroy this one...

Noticeable damage includes missing space bar, missing enter key, left touch pad button doesn't work, network card only works when you hold the cable just right, On button only works when you push down about two inches to the left, none of the LEDs, light up (unless you push about two inches to the left of the power button), and a serious crack in the plastic around the lcd screen.

Would I get another compaq? probably not, this one is a piece of crap...

 

We wont even touch a gateway anymore, they were so bad here the store shut down. Overpriced poo poo, but then our E machine hasent been worth a poo either.

 

I also had problems with Gateway in the past. I like Dell but since I bought my shiny new thinkpad, I'm never looking back. You'll probably have to take it to the shop and have them fix it, or a authorized service center. I think most of the computer manufacturers are that way though, not just GW.

 

I have built all of my own desk top machines and been smiling ever since. I am not able to compete with the lap tops, though, and consequently am scared to take the "proprietary" plunge....

 

Bad luck with the COW computers, Compaq and Hewlet Packard, hate their propritary parts, remember the old Compaq workstations where the bios was installed on the hard drive at the factory?. I have alot of them from when the poor owner tries to format their HD and then it won't even boot. IBM's are just as bad. All of them have to go back to the service department at about $95.00/hr.
I build my own computers, that way I can install what I want. I always stick with Intel CPU's and the high end motherboards, usually Intel. I am now running Intel D925XCV extreme series LGA775 hyper threading with liquid cooling it is the only way to go. I build myself a new computer about every 6 months or so and then I pass it on down the chain to my daughter and son. When it comes to laptops that is where you are stuck.
For a laptop I buy Fujitsu and then Sony (high end)
Jim.

 

Get the part number off of it and do a search on Ebay for it. I needed a key for my Toshiba so I searched for the keyboard and got a junk one which had a good key for next to nothing. Good luck.

Edwin

 

Personally, I like the line of Mac products..... With television work this makes life much easier. For PCs, I like sony. Great customer support, if you take the computer apart to fix something (which they let you do) you recognize the parts...

 

Jack, don't look now, Thinkpads are going CHINESE!

I can't complain about the Thinkpads work has provided me - I beat them up and have never had any problems. My current T23 is going on 4 years old but it still has a serial port (which my new T41 test mule does not) so I can keep talking to my older test equipment.

NEWS FLASH - next legacy connector to go is the parallel port - the space will be used for cooling flow for the new, hotter processors. "Industry direction" is the explanation I got. And not all serial-USB converters work correctly (don't ask how I know).