Gateway Internet Service

We purchased a new system from Gateway in April. Within 3 weeks we had to replace 3 motherboards. The first was bad, and the 2nd one was refurbished and did not work, the third one does work. 

We had a hard time getting the internet system up and running, only to find out that we are being charged $3.95 a minute on the number that we were dialing in on. Nowhere did it mention this charge when we signed up. This I feel could have been an error on our part, but installing refurbished parts in a new system should be illegal.

Mr. D. was very rude and unprofessional in every way. We wanted to send the system back, but were told that I would be charged $190 shipping charge. I only paid $90 to have it shipped, so I feel that I should to have only had to pay $90. They wanted to charge me almost double to return a system that had never worked from the beginning. I feel Gateway needs to be investigated for using used parts in new systems.

I wrote a letter to Cindy Kimpson. the Director of Marketing at 610 Gateway Drive in North Sioux City, South Dakota. She has had over 4 weeks to respond and has in no way tried to contact me by phone, e-mail, or letter.

I'm very dissatisfied with Gateway and want other consumers to know about their bad business practices. I did let them know that I would be contacting consumer affairs and they have yet to even acknowledge my complaint.

Any company that cannot trouble itself to respond to a consumer complaint should get into another line of business.  Internet-based companies are especially bad about this, which is the exact opposite of how the world ought to work.

Update from Beth:

Gateway has just taken out $800.00 from our checking account for the FREE internet service for one year plan. They claim the 1-888 we were dialing has a charge of $3.95. Their tech was the one who told us to use that number, because no other numbers in the directory were working and it took several hours on the phone with them just ot get up and running.

My advice to consumers it to not buy Gateway products of any kind. They use refurbished parts in new systems, and don't stand behind warranties, and charge you illegally for service that they our responsible for. I have still never heard from anyone at Gateway.

I purchased a Gateway computer in June, 1998 and have been very satisfied. I selected Gateway's Internet service based on the assumption that I would receive the same level of responsiveness.

The Internet service worked well until Gateway decided to upgrade. The quality of service, e-mail and customer response plummeted. There were lengthy waits on the phone and no follow-up to e-mail requests. Continuous error messages were received for e-mail. Were it not for the fact that I had lost my job and had resumes out there with my Gateway e-mail address, I would have dropped the service. Because of the problems, Gateway did offer one month of free service.

My real problem came when Gateway told users to reselect a provider location/area code. I selected "Pennsylvania" and "412" from a list that started at the letter "A" and progressed through the alphabet for the various states and selected the "412" area code from another list. Much to my dismay I discovered on my next phone bill that instead of dialing a local number, every time I dialed up it was dialing "Auburn, Alabama" and area code "334"

I then received a phone bill of $336.11 which of course since I had selected "Pennsylvania" and "412" I refused to pay. I wrote to Gateway in April 1999 about this. An individual named Rebecca called and said it was may fault. I of course disagreed but decided to think about the matter.

The more I thought about it the less convinced I was.(When signing up), we were asked to select from a list of states starting at "A". That would be one heck of a slip of the mouse to go from "Pennsylvania" all the way up to "Alabama" and then to make the second mistake of selecting "334" instead of "412". We are then asked to confirm the state and area code selection.  That would be a third mistake which seems pretty unlikely to me. Additionally when I first noticed this and called Gateway their technician did not seem surprised and said "it probably happened during server changes".

I got a letter in June 1999 from Gateway's Executive Response Representative Chris who said he tried to call me (I got one call on my answering machine with his phone number unintelligible) about my service complaint (made prior to the large phone bill I got). I responded to Chris in August but have not heard back.

In the meantime the phone company is threatening to shut off my service if the bill is not paid. Having not yet located full-time employment I cannot have that happen so I paid the bill.

I must continue to use Gateway's Internet until I secure employment as I have the Gateway e-mail address on my resumes.

I signed for a ISP service after purchasing a new Gateway computer in July of '98. The service was for unlimited access for 14.95 per month.With this particular selection I understood that I would be locked in for 6 months. There was also another plan available for 17.95 per mo. offering the same unlimited access but you were not locked in.

In other words when I chose the 14.95 option I was aware that if I chose to cancel Iwould still have to pay for the remaining time left on the contract. Shortly before the end of '98 their service began to suffer immeasurably and there were days when it was impossible to get online.

There were several updates made to their service. With each update it was necessary for me to have get on the phone in order to get my end of the system on track. Evidentally they were experiencing growing pains.

On Jan 29 of '99 I had to leave the country. I showed my 39 yr old son how to use the computer so that he would be able to send me e-mail and receive mail from me from overseas. During the first few weeks that I was away there were many instances when it was impossible to log on. Again they were experiencing diffulties.

On Mar. 4 1999 (this date may not be exact) a message appeared on the screen stating that the service contract would have to be renewed, also that it had to be done immediately or service would be terminated. My wife, who is completely computer illiterate, and fearing a loss of communication between my household and myself (I was in China) advised my son to tell the service provider to stay with the 14.95 option.I was informed of their actions both by e-mail and by telephone.

I found out only recently that at that time in March they were willing to restart the six month period. They were still offering a 17.95 option without being locked in. What they failed to mention was the fact that the unlimited access feature was no longer viable.

I learned a few days ago that both options were limited to 150 hours per month and at a cost of 1.50 per hour over the 150 hours. I returned to my home on April the 18 of this year and started using the computer and the Gateway.Net service.I admit that I stay online for long hours at a time. I never gave my long hours on line a second thought, secure in the knowledge that I had unlimited access. I realize now that the Gateway ISP was using a devious method of billing in order to dupe their customers. They are very prompt to bill my Visa account the first of each month in advance. No mention and no billing is sent for the time in excess of the allotted 150 hours. I received neither paper work nor computer notices that I was mounting up many hours of overtime.

Another facet of their deviousness is the fact that early on after first signing with them when you made your initial connection via modem a Gateway screen appeared. On this screen one could easily click on billing info to see where you stood at the hour. After the March fiascos this screen never appeared again.

I purchased six months of Internet service with my new Gateway computer. There were two months of a transition period with Gateway that I was unable to get on the Internet at all.

I called them to be credited for the two months service. My service was then supposed to be cancelled in March. Well, May comes along and still no sign of a credit to my checking account. Also, an unauthorized charge appeared in my checking account for Gateway Internet Service which caused my checking account to be overdrawn.

I called again wondering why my account was charged again and why I had not been credited for the previous events after waiting three months. They told me they would credit me for everything but had no idea how long that would take. Now it is a month later and still no sign of a credit to my checking account. It has been 5 months since my initial contact with them.

Over $72.00 in damages, which to a college student is a whole lot.

Never give anyone authority to debit your checking account electronically.  It is nothing but trouble.

I just wanted to know why we were never warned about the hidden charge of $1.50 hour on top of the monthly charge. We have only had our new Gateway since early March, and our bill is already $134.00. If Gateway allowed Compuserve to do this to their customers, then they should have to pay these hidden charges. With these outrageous internet bills our Mentally Disabled son may never have a chance to finish his education on the web.