A little more than 2 years ago, I purchased my wife a Gateway 22" wide-screen LCD monitor for her birthday. It had a built-in powered 6 port usb 2.0 hub, and the display could rotate 90 degrees. I think I got it on sale for like $279 or something. At the time, it was a great purchase. It was replacing the 19" Dell CRT that came with a computer I had bought her back in probably 2003 or something.
Lately, the fancy schmanzy Gateway 22" wide-screen LCD monitor hadn't been acting right. When the computer would awaken from sleep mode, it just wouldn't power up. I would have to resort to unplugging it and re-plugging it in. This had been happening more and more frequently.
Well, it won't be doing it anymore, because finally it stopped coming on at all. I unplugged it, replugged it in, tried a different video-card connector (it supports 2 monitors), and even hooked it up to another computer. It's dead. The wife is back to the CRT (and unhappy about it, I might add).
A little while ago, I contacted Gateway to find out what it would cost to repair.
Apparently, it's real cheap; $0. Why so cheap? Because they refuse to repair "out of warranty items".
Yes, you read that right. They will not repair the monitor. If it was under warranty, they would simply replace it. But outside that, they will do nothing. I can't even pay them to fix it!
It's a bad place we consumers find ourselves in. After investing several hundred dollars into a device, who wants to be told it's a throw-away device, and if it breaks, buy a new one?
To me, $300 is not a throw-away device. That $49 printer is. But not my $300 monitor.
It's pretty ridiculous when I have to take a current model of something and seek help beyond the manufacturer.
To say I am disgusted would is too nice for the way I feel right now.
Lately, the fancy schmanzy Gateway 22" wide-screen LCD monitor hadn't been acting right. When the computer would awaken from sleep mode, it just wouldn't power up. I would have to resort to unplugging it and re-plugging it in. This had been happening more and more frequently.
Well, it won't be doing it anymore, because finally it stopped coming on at all. I unplugged it, replugged it in, tried a different video-card connector (it supports 2 monitors), and even hooked it up to another computer. It's dead. The wife is back to the CRT (and unhappy about it, I might add).
A little while ago, I contacted Gateway to find out what it would cost to repair.
Apparently, it's real cheap; $0. Why so cheap? Because they refuse to repair "out of warranty items".
Yes, you read that right. They will not repair the monitor. If it was under warranty, they would simply replace it. But outside that, they will do nothing. I can't even pay them to fix it!
It's a bad place we consumers find ourselves in. After investing several hundred dollars into a device, who wants to be told it's a throw-away device, and if it breaks, buy a new one?
To me, $300 is not a throw-away device. That $49 printer is. But not my $300 monitor.
It's pretty ridiculous when I have to take a current model of something and seek help beyond the manufacturer.
To say I am disgusted would is too nice for the way I feel right now.