Gateway's Horrible Customer Service for Plasma T.V.'s

I purchased a 42 inch Plasma t.v. from Gateway two years ago. Four
weeks ago the OSD (on-screen discplay menu) came on and hasn't come
off since. I contacted Gateway and despite the fact that I should
recieve out of warranty service to fix the t.v., they have told me
that they don't have the part and that it is on "backorder." I have
called ten or more times to complain (I have not been able to watch
the t.v. for a month), but all they say is that they "don't know when
the part will be in." Finally, today out of frustration, I contacted
a local t.v. repair shop. The company sent a rep with over 29 years
of experience to try to fix my set. When he called Gateway tech
support from my house while attmepting to fix the t.v., he was told
that they would not send him any parts because only Gateway reps can
repair the t.v.'s. I am ****ed. I believe that this is against the
law in the State of Michigan, and a violation of lemon laws,
especially given the fact that Gateway said a lot of their t.v.'s
have this problem and if I had a warranty, they would've sent me a
new one. Anyone else out there experienced this type of issue with
Gateway?

This is in no way an answer to your question, but can you determine who
actually manufactured the the t.v. (I don't think Gateway makes anything
these days)? If you can locate the actual manufacturer perhaps they will
provide some advice on how to get the parts you need. (Back in my dim and
distant past I used to repair t.v.'s as a sideline and I never went to the
distributor for repair parts - the marketplace always had an alternate
supplier.)

"bscott" wrote in message
news:8607d$426da741$455da0d2$9794@allthenewsgroups .com...
I purchased a 42 inch Plasma t.v. from Gateway two years ago. Four
weeks ago the OSD (on-screen discplay menu) came on and hasn't come
off since. I contacted Gateway and despite the fact that I should
recieve out of warranty service to fix the t.v., they have told me
that they don't have the part and that it is on "backorder." I have
called ten or more times to complain (I have not been able to watch
the t.v. for a month), but all they say is that they "don't know when
the part will be in." Finally, today out of frustration, I contacted
a local t.v. repair shop. The company sent a rep with over 29 years
of experience to try to fix my set. When he called Gateway tech
support from my house while attmepting to fix the t.v., he was told
that they would not send him any parts because only Gateway reps can
repair the t.v.'s. I am ****ed. I believe that this is against the
law in the State of Michigan, and a violation of lemon laws,
especially given the fact that Gateway said a lot of their t.v.'s
have this problem and if I had a warranty, they would've sent me a
new one. Anyone else out there experienced this type of issue with
Gateway?

The original Gateway Plasma 42" TV is a rebadged Sampo.

"Tom Clydesdale" wrote in message
...
This is in no way an answer to your question, but can you determine who
actually manufactured the the t.v. (I don't think Gateway makes anything
these days)? If you can locate the actual manufacturer perhaps they will
provide some advice on how to get the parts you need. (Back in my dim and
distant past I used to repair t.v.'s as a sideline and I never went to the
distributor for repair parts - the marketplace always had an alternate
supplier.)

"bscott" wrote in message
news:8607d$426da741$455da0d2$9794@allthenewsgroups .com...
I purchased a 42 inch Plasma t.v. from Gateway two years ago. Four
weeks ago the OSD (on-screen discplay menu) came on and hasn't come
off since. I contacted Gateway and despite the fact that I should
recieve out of warranty service to fix the t.v., they have told me
that they don't have the part and that it is on "backorder." I have
called ten or more times to complain (I have not been able to watch
the t.v. for a month), but all they say is that they "don't know when
the part will be in." Finally, today out of frustration, I contacted
a local t.v. repair shop. The company sent a rep with over 29 years
of experience to try to fix my set. When he called Gateway tech
support from my house while attmepting to fix the t.v., he was told
that they would not send him any parts because only Gateway reps can
repair the t.v.'s. I am ****ed. I believe that this is against the
law in the State of Michigan, and a violation of lemon laws,
especially given the fact that Gateway said a lot of their t.v.'s
have this problem and if I had a warranty, they would've sent me a
new one. Anyone else out there experienced this type of issue with
Gateway?

On Tue, 26 Apr 2005 17:40:02 GMT, "Tweek"
wrote:

Here is a SAMPO related link that may be of help

http://www.area450.com/usefulinfo/sampolinks.html

HTH


The original Gateway Plasma 42" TV is a rebadged Sampo.

"Tom Clydesdale" wrote in message
...
This is in no way an answer to your question, but can you determine who
actually manufactured the the t.v. (I don't think Gateway makes anything
these days)? If you can locate the actual manufacturer perhaps they will
provide some advice on how to get the parts you need. (Back in my dim and
distant past I used to repair t.v.'s as a sideline and I never went to the
distributor for repair parts - the marketplace always had an alternate
supplier.)

"bscott" wrote in message
news:8607d$426da741$455da0d2$9794@allthenewsgroups .com...
I purchased a 42 inch Plasma t.v. from Gateway two years ago. Four
weeks ago the OSD (on-screen discplay menu) came on and hasn't come
off since. I contacted Gateway and despite the fact that I should
recieve out of warranty service to fix the t.v., they have told me
that they don't have the part and that it is on "backorder." I have
called ten or more times to complain (I have not been able to watch
the t.v. for a month), but all they say is that they "don't know when
the part will be in." Finally, today out of frustration, I contacted
a local t.v. repair shop. The company sent a rep with over 29 years
of experience to try to fix my set. When he called Gateway tech
support from my house while attmepting to fix the t.v., he was told
that they would not send him any parts because only Gateway reps can
repair the t.v.'s. I am ****ed. I believe that this is against the
law in the State of Michigan, and a violation of lemon laws,
especially given the fact that Gateway said a lot of their t.v.'s
have this problem and if I had a warranty, they would've sent me a
new one. Anyone else out there experienced this type of issue with
Gateway?

I have a similar problem. Seems that the infrared reciever on the TV
has
Failed. I cannot switch any function at all from remote and there is
no way to do this from the set itself ( nice engineering huh?).
I spoke to Gatway CS and got the same "We dont have parts and dont
know when" runaround as you,
I now seek the elusive Sanpo infrared reciever thingie that seems to
be failing on many of their palsma TV's. They seemed awful familiar
with this routine
I pressed them on when they would recieve parts and would they inform
me but they were just lost on this. They even said there is a kink in
the supply chain due to the Tsunami and blah blah blah.

Well there you are, are some tea and sympathy from someone in the
same fix.
All I can really suggest is that we tell all we know to Never Buy
Gatway[/. they really have a bad attitude like...your on your own
budddy. Tough Luck

On Sat, 30 Apr 2005 17:30:39 +0000,
lid (wrex101) wrote:

All I can really suggest is that we tell all we know to Never Buy
Gatway[/. they really have a bad attitude like...your on your own
budddy. Tough Luck

Gateway's downward slide came about from years (starting around
1998-1999) of substandard technical support for the computer systems
they had thrown together in Taiwan but made the public think were
being built by Americans in America. They had to team up with
EMachines (you know the level of product there) and get into the TV
game to save Ted's and their upper echelon, high salary, positions.
However, Gateway being Gateway, never changed their attitude toward
the public or the substandard level of their support so.... the
downward slide continues and the consumers that still, for some reason
or another, continue to buy from them, get screwed as they always
have.

In other words, this is par for the course for this company. This is
what this company is synonymous with. This is what Gateway has grown
to be all about. This is classical Gateway. Why.... WHY does anyone
think that a company that screwed the public for years on computer
support would change their ways when they got into the TV game? Why
does anyone think that if their support was substandard for the
Taiwanese machines with GW stamped on them that it would be any better
for the Taiwanese machines with E-Machine stamped on them?

I am having the same problem with my gateway plasma tv.

I regret the day that I bought the TV. I guess I wanted so badly to
support an American product.

The problem started 2 months ago, after 2 years of owning the product,
the OSD came on and since then, remain stuck to the upper left corner
of the TV.
The OSD kept scrolling through the options automatically no matter
what button I press on the remote. I have exhusted my strength trying
to get gateway fix the TV without footing almost $800 of repair cost.

Anyone knows what the fix is?

On Mon, 02 May 2005 22:28:27 +0000,
lid (atlantacust2474) wrote:

I regret the day that I bought the TV. I guess I wanted so badly to
support an American product.

Believe me when I say that buying from Gateway is not buying American.
All you are doing is lining the pockets of an American that is selling
Taiwanese built junk with an American Registered Trade Name on it.
The only thing American about Gateway is the people they use in the TV
ads to make you think the whole enterprise is American.

With current PC manufacturers, there are no computers at all actually
manufactured in America. They might be assembled here, but the components in
them are all manufactured overseas. Hell, IBM sold it's PC business to a
Chinese company that is partially owned by the Chinese government.

"Shooter" fhasfdjh@AlkjdaF@com wrote in message
...
On Mon, 02 May 2005 22:28:27 +0000,
lid (atlantacust2474) wrote:

I regret the day that I bought the TV. I guess I wanted so badly to
support an American product.

Believe me when I say that buying from Gateway is not buying American.
All you are doing is lining the pockets of an American that is selling
Taiwanese built junk with an American Registered Trade Name on it.
The only thing American about Gateway is the people they use in the TV
ads to make you think the whole enterprise is American.

On Tue, 03 May 2005 18:11:25 GMT, "Tweek"
wrote:

With current PC manufacturers, there are no computers at all actually
manufactured in America. They might be assembled here, but the components in
them are all manufactured overseas.

We all know that the components are made out of country as we all know
the wording "manufactured in America" means assembled in America, thus
my meaning that Gateway does not make the computers it tries to make
the public believe it does.

However, one can buy a system made in America (made meaning assembled
as it does to most people). My last two systems were made in America
(assembled in America for those not understanding the meaning). Its
called white boxing and most cities have reputable white box builders
(assemblers to those not trying to complicate the issue). Those two
last systems have the same length of support "Claimed" by the
conglomerates but is actually given and is given not only by someone
in my own country, speaking my own language but living in the same
town I live in. Actually, my support comes from the actual person
that built my system (assembled to those that don't understand the
actual meaning of the topic).

Now, as far as laptops and TV's, there are no white box builders
(assemblers to those without a clue to the topic) in most towns if any
so one has no choice but to buy systems built (assembled for funnies)
out of country.

The only thing actually Built, Assembled, Manufactured, etc. in
America are the commercials made by these conglomerates which tries to
make the sheep think their products was actually built (assembled for
those trying to confuse the topic) in America. Gateway use to run an
Ad a couple of years back that showed an assembly line with Americans
on it with bright white smiling teeth grinning to beat all while
Building (assembling) systems for American consumption. Word had it
that they got busted for that ad and had to remove it from the air
because at that time, gateway was no longer doing anything in America
but running sales phone banks. That is when the infamous ad showing
herds of idiots running through fields of green delivering cow boxes
full of Taiwanese built (assembled for the challenged) systems came on
the scene. I hear that Dell is also coming under fire for that
commercial showing some idiot in bed calling Dell support and talking
to what is evidently an north American dialect speaking person that
looks an awful lot like a North American. Call Dell support and see
what you actually get.

If anyone wants a system built in America (no matter where the "Guts"
comes from), then support your local white box builder. You also get
local support from a person that actually has a clue as to how a
computer works that not only lives on your side of the world but
probably lives in your same town. My last two have been such and I
haven't regretted it since.