Trials and Tribulations with Gateway Technical Support
Recently, I upgraded one of our PCs to a Gateway 7330GZ. It's a very nice notebook, so much so that I use it as my main PC now. Unfortunately, I went through a bit of a nightmare in dealing with Gateway technical support trying to figure out what kind of expansion memory it takes (the 7330GZ comes with 512MB RAM by default; I wanted to upgrade it to 1.5GB).
Because it's "too new", there's virtually no technical documentation available for this notebook - the most technical details that came with it were on the side of the box! Anyway, the information on the box, the Gateway website, and the Best Buy website seemed to indicate that I needed the RAM to be PC4200. So, I place an order with the good folks at Newegg and order a PC4200 1GB SODIMM, along with a couple of other things. Two days later, the RAM arrives, and...
...it doesn't fit. The slot in the SODIMM is offset from the tab in the expansion bay.
After some investigation it appears that I may need a PC2700 SODIMM (a slightly older technology; "DDR" rather than "DDR2"). But the few specs I've seen contradict that. So, I contact Gateway technical support. And then the fun begins!
The first response is that the "73330GZ" (their incorrect spelling) doesn't exist, and I should contact them if I need further assistance. I respond by directing them to their webpage for their product to point out that it indeed does exist (OK, technically, it's probably not their product but the product of the American company that has outsourced their support to them, but they're still supposed to be representative of that company). And again I ask what the specs are for the memory expansion slot.
The response is to a page that shows you how to install more memory. Thanks, guys. In their defense, the page did mention in passing that notebooks in the 7000 series use 333 Mhz (PC2700) memory modules. This did seem to answer my question, so I replied asking for verification that that indeed was the case for my notebook - I wanted to make sure that I didn't order another SODIMM I was going to have to send back (and get hit with another restocking fee). I still wasn't comfortable with the fact that BB and Gateway were saying the memory was of one type but the expansion was of another.
The reply to this e-mail confirmed what I asked but when they mentioned my particular notebook, they got the details wrong - like saying it had 256MB internal RAM, not 512MB which was the case. This didn't fill me with confidence that we were talking about the same thing. It also didn't help that, while waiting for e-mail replies, I had spoken with a Gateway tech in a "livechat" and she told me that the 7330GZ would accept the faster, DDR2 RAM - though it would only work if I bought it from Gateway since only proprietary Gateway memory would work in their notebooks.
The response I then got from the e-mail support was "Sorry this issue is giving you trouble; please give us 48 hours to research this more fully. Don't contact us during this time as it will hamper our research." My (unwritten) response to this was "WTF?" All I wanted was some technical specifications for a particular model of computer that was currently being sold and this is going to take 48 hours?
After almost 72 hours and no reply I picked up the phone and called their support line. Finally, I was able to talk to someone that - regardless of whether they did or not - seemed to know what they were talking about and, more importantly, seemed to know what I was talking about. The tech (unfortunately, I don't recall her name) gave me the information I was looking for and I was able to order the RAM I wanted. The lesson - I should have done this in the first place! I also replied to the e-mail I had (since I'd given them the 48 hours they'd asked for), and the response was basically "Sorry, we don't have any information we can give you on that."
So...nice notebook but a nightmare for support. Of course, if I'd called first thing rather than pursue the other forms of support, I'd have no complaints...
(Side note: In case anyone's wondering, my messages to the support people were cordial and courteous, even when expressing frustration and dissatisfaction; I don't want people to think that my experience was my fault due to some sort of written yelling, screaming, and/or bitching. I'm fully aware that that's not a good tactic to use when dealing with people or companies).
Because it's "too new", there's virtually no technical documentation available for this notebook - the most technical details that came with it were on the side of the box! Anyway, the information on the box, the Gateway website, and the Best Buy website seemed to indicate that I needed the RAM to be PC4200. So, I place an order with the good folks at Newegg and order a PC4200 1GB SODIMM, along with a couple of other things. Two days later, the RAM arrives, and...
...it doesn't fit. The slot in the SODIMM is offset from the tab in the expansion bay.
After some investigation it appears that I may need a PC2700 SODIMM (a slightly older technology; "DDR" rather than "DDR2"). But the few specs I've seen contradict that. So, I contact Gateway technical support. And then the fun begins!
The first response is that the "73330GZ" (their incorrect spelling) doesn't exist, and I should contact them if I need further assistance. I respond by directing them to their webpage for their product to point out that it indeed does exist (OK, technically, it's probably not their product but the product of the American company that has outsourced their support to them, but they're still supposed to be representative of that company). And again I ask what the specs are for the memory expansion slot.
The response is to a page that shows you how to install more memory. Thanks, guys. In their defense, the page did mention in passing that notebooks in the 7000 series use 333 Mhz (PC2700) memory modules. This did seem to answer my question, so I replied asking for verification that that indeed was the case for my notebook - I wanted to make sure that I didn't order another SODIMM I was going to have to send back (and get hit with another restocking fee). I still wasn't comfortable with the fact that BB and Gateway were saying the memory was of one type but the expansion was of another.
The reply to this e-mail confirmed what I asked but when they mentioned my particular notebook, they got the details wrong - like saying it had 256MB internal RAM, not 512MB which was the case. This didn't fill me with confidence that we were talking about the same thing. It also didn't help that, while waiting for e-mail replies, I had spoken with a Gateway tech in a "livechat" and she told me that the 7330GZ would accept the faster, DDR2 RAM - though it would only work if I bought it from Gateway since only proprietary Gateway memory would work in their notebooks.
The response I then got from the e-mail support was "Sorry this issue is giving you trouble; please give us 48 hours to research this more fully. Don't contact us during this time as it will hamper our research." My (unwritten) response to this was "WTF?" All I wanted was some technical specifications for a particular model of computer that was currently being sold and this is going to take 48 hours?
After almost 72 hours and no reply I picked up the phone and called their support line. Finally, I was able to talk to someone that - regardless of whether they did or not - seemed to know what they were talking about and, more importantly, seemed to know what I was talking about. The tech (unfortunately, I don't recall her name) gave me the information I was looking for and I was able to order the RAM I wanted. The lesson - I should have done this in the first place! I also replied to the e-mail I had (since I'd given them the 48 hours they'd asked for), and the response was basically "Sorry, we don't have any information we can give you on that."
So...nice notebook but a nightmare for support. Of course, if I'd called first thing rather than pursue the other forms of support, I'd have no complaints...
(Side note: In case anyone's wondering, my messages to the support people were cordial and courteous, even when expressing frustration and dissatisfaction; I don't want people to think that my experience was my fault due to some sort of written yelling, screaming, and/or bitching. I'm fully aware that that's not a good tactic to use when dealing with people or companies).
posted by MythosaAkira | 1:49 AM
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