Pretty sure this is not what the guy I talked to looked like...
An Update Sept 14, 2009
I received a really nice letter from a guy who actually works tech support at Gateway this week. He even asked me how the machine was running and if he could do anything to help. God. The dude should just go work for Apple where he'd be appreciated.
Obviously, he wanted to keep his identity on the downlow, but said it was cool if I posted his rant. So here it is...
Hey Spencer, sorry to hear about your bad experience with gateway support. See, I work for Gateway. I'm on their Level 2 Tech Support. I wish I could offer you, like... something... to make up for the experience, but I can't. All I can do is apologize, and tell you that the ACTUAL Gateway, the people behind the Indian front-line tech support, all hate it just as much as you do. There was a time when all of our support came directly to our call center here in the US, directly employed by Acer (the now-owner of Gateway), and the support was pretty decent. Then they decided to outsource and I've watched our numbers get cut in half, and it's probably going to happen again. At the same time our level of support has taken a nose dive. See, India is supposed to escalate those types of issues to us to handle, because, you know, we actually can. Problem is they don't for some reason. So between the layoffs, the irate customers, and the incredibly amount of bullshit that goes on before he hear about & fix a problem, we hate them too. Quite a bit.
ANYWAY. So I read your story and I sympathized and I couldn't let it slide without at least giving you a real apology from a real gateway employee who actually gives a shit if your RAID setup works or not. I hope you eventually got it fixed, somehow.
Sorry again. I hate to see such shining examples of what should be a decent company going to shit because they tried to save some bucks moving the support overseas. What a fucking joke. Sorry again, again.
Oh, and I didn't just sit around searching for Gateway horror stories. I hit the story via StumbleUpon, something I'm sure you're about to become acquainted with, if you haven't already.
Thanks man.
RAID 0 Failure June 18, 2009
how not to run your customer relations
This morning, I had a bunch of errors pop up on my new Gateway Windows Vista64 box. RAID 0 failures.
A bunch of them.
Online I went to gateway support and found a "Chat With Experts" link which lead me to this:
Pretty sure this is not what the guy I talked to looked like...
"How cool" I thought to myself as I entered the chat with someone named jijo_GWSI839. Here's a transcript of my completely unfulfilling chat.
"RAID 0 failure " was submitted by spence lindsay to the problem analysis engine.
spence lindsay logged in.
Connected to the server via Web Chat
spence lindsay has been assigned to the Gateway Support queue.
spence lindsay was added to the incident named spence lindsay by Jijo_GWSI839
Jijo_GWSI839 created an incident named spence lindsay.
Jijo_GWSI839 says: Welcome to Gateway Chat. My name and badge number are Jijo_GWSI839. I am looking at your account and the information you submitted. I will begin troubleshooting with you in just a moment.
spence lindsay says: Hey Jijo
Jijo_GWSI839 says: Thank you for being online. I appreciate your patience.
Jijo_GWSI839 says: May I confirm the serial number of your computer is (Serial Number)
spence lindsay says: yes
Jijo_GWSI839 says: Thank you for confirmation.
Jijo_GWSI839 says: I can see that your computer is In Warranty; I will do my level best to assist you.
Jijo_GWSI839 says: Your computer is not yet registered.
Jijo_GWSI839 says: For continuing with further assistance, please give following details for registering the product:
spence lindsay says: O
Jijo_GWSI839 says: Name Street Address City State County name Zip Email id Telephone number Purchase location Date of purchase
spence lindsay says: I've already enered all of tht into the support page.
spence lindsay says: You still need it?
Jijo_GWSI839 says: Spence, it will take 48 hours to update in database.
spence lindsay says: Jijo?
Jijo_GWSI839 says: Please provide the information.
spence lindsay says: Ah. Well it was in there about two months ago. OK here goes:
<spence enters a bunch of data>
spence lindsay says: Good?
spence lindsay says: Jijo?
Jijo_GWSI839 says: Can I go ahead and register the computer with the information that you have provided?
spence lindsay says: Dude. All that info was at the top of this chat.
spence lindsay says: yes
spence lindsay says: please do.
Jijo_GWSI839 says: Thank you for being online. Your Gateway product has been registered successfully.
spence lindsay says: yay
Jijo_GWSI839 says: May I know about the issue in detail?
spence lindsay says: RAID 0 failure errors.
Jijo_GWSI839 says: May I know what is the error message?
Jijo_GWSI839 says: Are we connected?
spence lindsay says: yes
spence lindsay says: just looking it up.
spence lindsay says: got it
spence lindsay says: The Error source is "nvstor64"
spence lindsay says: the error is "A parity error was detected on \Device\RaidPort0"
spence lindsay says: The event ID is "5"
Jijo_GWSI839 says: Spence, may I place you on hold for about 2 minutes to look into this issue?
spence lindsay says: yup
Jijo_GWSI839 says: Thank you please be online.
Jijo_GWSI839 says: Thank you for being online.
spence lindsay says: your welcome
Jijo_GWSI839 says: Spencer, I suggest you to reinstall nForce Driver.
spence lindsay says: the driver can cause a hardware failure?
Jijo_GWSI839 says: It might be.
Jijo_GWSI839 says: As I am not very well trained for this particular issue it is better for you to contact our expertise department named Answers by Gateway, which is a paid support for resolving the issue. The phone number for contacting Answers by Gateway is: 1.800.229.1103
spence lindsay says: wait. I'm under warranty. And you want me to pay for tech support?
spence lindsay says: really?
Jijo_GWSI839 says: Spence, I see that this is out of scope issue.
Jijo_GWSI839 says: Gateway will not support for any third party hardware or software.,
spence lindsay says: I'm not sure what that means Jijo. Out of Scope Issue?
spence lindsay says: Um. Gate way INSTALLED the 3rd party hardware/software.
Jijo_GWSI839 says: I would not recommend you to open the tower and add any hardware as it will void warranty.
spence lindsay says: I bought the system from you guys pre-configured.
spence lindsay says: Jijo, I have used this box (un-opened) for three or four months. Now the hard drive seems to be failing. According to you, I'm under warranty. As a representative of Gateway Computers, what do you suggest I do?
Jijo_GWSI839 says: Spence, restart the computer .
spence lindsay says: I've done that.
spence lindsay says: Would you like me to restart it again?
Jijo_GWSI839 says: After the gateway logo appears please press ctrl + N and check for the RAID configuration.
Jijo_GWSI839 says: I suggest you to download and install new version of nForce Driver also.
spence lindsay says: OK
Jijo_GWSI839 says: For future reference, I have documented our chat in Service Request 1-4YBI4J. You can use this number when contacting us again.
spence lindsay says: So it's configured as RAID 0
spence lindsay says: now what?
spence lindsay says: hello?
spence lindsay says: Jijo?
Jijo_GWSI839 says: Please check configuration and check for any changes in in the configuration.
Jijo_GWSI839 says: It was a pleasure working with you. Thank you for using Gateway Live Chat. Feel free to chat again anytime and have a great day.
Execution of Chat complete.
spence lindsay says: hello?
spence lindsay says: hello?
spence lindsay says: dude?
This was followed by four phone calls to three different numbers and finally a manager who told me he was sorry about all this and would I be OK with sending my system into Gateway for repairs...
no-one had even diagnosed the problem...
My valued customer review of the service...
#fail
Live Automation
4:07 PM "I need Drivers for my DVD drive " was submitted by spence lindsay to the problem analysis engine.
4:07 PM Phone Number set to 831-###-####.
4:07 PM City set to santa cruz.
4:07 PM State set to CA.
4:07 PM ZIP set to 95060.
4:07 PM Country set to USA.
4:07 PM Date Purchased set to 4/13/2009.
4:07 PM spence lindsay logged in.
4:11 PM Connected to the server via Web Chat
4:11 PM spence lindsay has been assigned to the Gateway Support queue.
4:34 PM spence lindsay was added to the incident named spence lindsay by Rajith_GWSI371
4:34 PM Rajith_GWSI371 created an incident named spence lindsay.
4:42 PM Rajith_GWSI371 says: Welcome to Gateway Chat. My name and badge number are Rajith_GWSI371. I am looking at your account and the information you submitted. I will begin troubleshooting with you in just a moment.
5:08 PM spence lindsay says: excellent
6:01 PM Rajith_GWSI371 says: Thank you for being online.
6:31 PM spence lindsay says: No, thank YOU.
7:37 PM spence lindsay says: Hello?
7:54 PM Rajith_GWSI371 says: May I confirm your system serial number is #####################
7:59 PM spence lindsay says: yes you may.
8:12 PM Rajith_GWSI371 says: Thank you.
8:18 PM spence lindsay says: your welcome
8:28 PM Rajith_GWSI371 says: By validating the serial number I see that your computer is covered under warranty.
8:39 PM Rajith_GWSI371 says: Could you please brief the issue?
8:39 PM spence lindsay says: yes. yes it is.
9:40 PM Rajith_GWSI371 says: Could you please brief the issue?
9:41 PM spence lindsay says: Because of a hard drive failure, I need to re-install Windows Vista on a new hard drive. I wasn't given the OS or driver CD's with the system. How do I get them?
0:29 PM Rajith_GWSI371 says: Okay.
0:39 PM spence lindsay says: Okay.
0:44 PM Rajith_GWSI371 says: May I confirm taht you need the DVD drive, am I correct?
1:37 PM spence lindsay says: No. you are not. I need the DRIVERS for this system as well as the OS (windows Vista Home Premium) disks. I need software.
2:42 PM Rajith_GWSI371 says: Okay.
2:49 PM spence lindsay says: okay.
2:53 PM Rajith_GWSI371 says: I will sent the drivers to your email address.
3:06 PM spence lindsay says: um. And the entire OS?
3:46 PM spence lindsay says: I'm sorry. OS = Operating System.
4:02 PM Rajith_GWSI371 says: I will sent the drivers to your email address.
4:06 PM spence lindsay says: Or more plainly: Windows Vista Home Premium.
4:26 PM spence lindsay says: Can you send a double cheesburger and fries as well?
4:29 PM spence lindsay says: Oh.
4:32 PM spence lindsay says: And a shake.
4:37 PM spence lindsay says: A strawberry shake.
4:43 PM Rajith_GWSI371 says: For the operating system you can create the recovery CD from the recovery partition.
4:59 PM spence lindsay says: the Hard Drive is broken.
5:11 PM spence lindsay says: It has failed and will not boot.
5:40 PM Rajith_GWSI371 says: I will sent the steps of GWSCAN Please follow.
5:44 PM spence lindsay says: So I need all the software, including the "Operating System" in order to get it working.
6:01 PM spence lindsay says: Oooh. GWSCAN. Cool.
6:20 PM spence lindsay says: Um.
6:29 PM spence lindsay says: What does GWSCAN mean?
6:30 PM Rajith_GWSI371 says: I will provide the drivers, the steps to create the recovery CD and the GWSCAN to your email address.
6:59 PM Rajith_GWSI371 says: I will provide the steps of GWSCAN to your email address, please go through.
7:00 PM spence lindsay says: does GWSCAN require that my hard drive is working?
7:14 PM Rajith_GWSI371 says: GWSCAN is for hard drive.
7:28 PM spence lindsay says: Because, you know, that whole broken hard drive thing might make it kinda hard.
7:33 PM spence lindsay says: right.
7:47 PM spence lindsay says: does GWSCAN include an Operating System?
7:58 PM spence lindsay says: Like Windows Vista Home Pemium?
8:07 PM spence lindsay says: er "Premium"?
8:43 PM Rajith_GWSI371 says: The recovery CD contain the OS.
8:49 PM spence lindsay says: nice.
9:03 PM Rajith_GWSI371 says: GWSCAN is for hard drive.
9:04 PM spence lindsay says: so you're going to email the OS to me via email?
9:24 PM spence lindsay says: right. I got that part. GWSCAN is for the hard drive.
9:35 PM Rajith_GWSI371 says: Yes.
9:58 PM Rajith_GWSI371 says: May I confirm your email address is blah@blah.com?
0:17 PM spence lindsay says: I think the current build of Vista Home Premium is around 800Mb stripped down... Pretty sure that's not going to fit in my mail.
0:21 PM spence lindsay says: Yes.
0:27 PM spence lindsay says: You can send it there.
0:32 PM Rajith_GWSI371 says: Okay.
0:52 PM Rajith_GWSI371 says: May I confirm your operating system is vista, am I correct?
1:00 PM spence lindsay says: yes.
1:08 PM Rajith_GWSI371 says: Thank you.
1:29 PM spence lindsay says: Vista Home Premium ...
1:46 PM Rajith_GWSI371 says: May I place you on hold for a couple of minutes?
1:56 PM spence lindsay says: yes.
3:37 PM Rajith_GWSI371 says: Thank you.
5:29 PM Rajith_GWSI371 says: Thank you for your patience
5:31 PM Rajith_GWSI371 says: http://source/files_americas/customer_support/cs_techcbr/cbr/SOFTWARE/MICROSOF/Vista/7515418/7515418su529.shtml
5:47 PM Rajith_GWSI371 says: Please go through this link.
6:00 PM Rajith_GWSI371 says: It is for creating the recovery CD.
8:06 PM Rajith_GWSI371 says: I have provided the GWSCAN and steps to create the recovery CD to your email address.
8:50 PM Rajith_GWSI371 says: I have also provided the available drivers to your email address.
9:02 PM spence lindsay says: Um.
9:03 PM spence lindsay says: Dude.
9:11 PM spence lindsay says: That URL makes no sense.
9:17 PM spence lindsay says: http://source/files_americas/customer_support/cs_techcbr/cbr/SOFTWARE/MICROSOF/Vista/7515418
9:32 PM spence lindsay says: http://source/?
9:40 PM spence lindsay says: That's not a website.
0:18 PM Rajith_GWSI371 says: Not to worry, I will provided the steps to your email address, please check your inbox after sometime.
0:32 PM spence lindsay says: Wait.
0:36 PM Rajith_GWSI371 says: For future reference, I have documented our chat in Service Request 1-4YPINE. You can use this number when contacting us again.
0:38 PM spence lindsay says: Don't leave yet.
0:47 PM spence lindsay says: stop leaving
0:50 PM Rajith_GWSI371 says: You will recieve it shortly.
0:57 PM spence lindsay says: wait.
1:18 PM Rajith_GWSI371 says: Please go through the steps I have provided.
0:57 PM spence lindsay says: wait! We're not done!
1:30 PM Rajith_GWSI371 says: It was a pleasure working with you. Thank you for using Gateway Live Chat. Feel free to chat again anytime and have a great day.
1:34 PM Execution of Chat complete.