Catch-22 from Gateway support on retail desktop warranty.

Go into any Best Buy, Frys or Circuit City and buy a new Gateway
desktop and you'll find advertised on the box PCI Express and PCI
slots. However once you get your new system home you'll find a foil
seal preventing you from opening the case to make ise of these slots.

Should you decide to break that seal and open the case for whatever
reason ("whatever" might simply include cleaning the case of potential
harmful dust) you'll find you've voided the manufacturers 1-year
limited warranty.

So this would be like Toyota pre-wiring all Civic models for GPS and
even putting a spot in the dash, advertising the GPS "port" as a
feature and then telling you the warranty on the car is void if you
use this feature.

Gateway's unreasonable and illogical terms on this make it so that the
consumer can not even test out these ports to make sure they work
properly, much less actually upgrade their system through them. Since
they are advertising features on the box of the product that can not
be used without voiding the warranty I see this as a catch-22 and
probably a violation of some law.

If that is true, Gateways policy has changed.
The seal is for the end customer to assure the customer nothing inside
has been tampered since the final inspection.
Breaking the seal does not void the warranty.

Where did you get that information?

--
Jupiter Jones
http://www3.telus.net/dandemar



"RMZ" <> wrote in message
news:0dd7c7f0-bffc-4d4c-89f0-...
> Go into any Best Buy, Frys or Circuit City and buy a new Gateway
> desktop and you'll find advertised on the box PCI Express and PCI
> slots. However once you get your new system home you'll find a foil
> seal preventing you from opening the case to make ise of these
> slots.
>
> Should you decide to break that seal and open the case for whatever
> reason ("whatever" might simply include cleaning the case of
> potential
> harmful dust) you'll find you've voided the manufacturers 1-year
> limited warranty.
>
> So this would be like Toyota pre-wiring all Civic models for GPS and
> even putting a spot in the dash, advertising the GPS "port" as a
> feature and then telling you the warranty on the car is void if you
> use this feature.
>
> Gateway's unreasonable and illogical terms on this make it so that
> the
> consumer can not even test out these ports to make sure they work
> properly, much less actually upgrade their system through them.
> Since
> they are advertising features on the box of the product that can not
> be used without voiding the warranty I see this as a catch-22 and
> probably a violation of some law.

I saw the same sticker on a PC I bought from PC Club. This was a while
back, before network adapters or modems were included on most models. I
took it back, explained that I needed some way to connect to the internet,
and was told I'd have to have their techs install anything and still keep
the warranty. Oh, and the tech was 'busy' staring at me, so couldn't spare
5 minutes to slap in a card, and they wouldn't let me do it under his
supervision.

I returned the PC on the spot, and that was the last time I went there.

As for Gateway, they were awesome in their day, but that day is long past.
Now they sell cheap junk, as does HP/Compaq.

Anyway, it's unlikely damaging a sticker is going to actually void a
warranty. In fact, Dell, and possibly others, have a program where they
send you a replacement for a defective part, say a CD drive, and you replace
it yourself, which would be kinda hard without cracking the case open. I
returned my PC because I didn't like their attitude.

As far as I can see, they aren't violating any law. They can advertise
anything that happens to be true, and they can also require you to use their
techs and parts for any upgrades.

If you can't return it, remove the label, do what you have to do, then, if
it becomes an issue, claim the label got caught in something while moving
the computer, then badger them until they relent. Or, suck it up and buy
the replacement part. Chances are you won't need any warranty work in a
year anyway.

CS


"RMZ" <> wrote in message
news:0dd7c7f0-bffc-4d4c-89f0-...
> Go into any Best Buy, Frys or Circuit City and buy a new Gateway
> desktop and you'll find advertised on the box PCI Express and PCI
> slots. However once you get your new system home you'll find a foil
> seal preventing you from opening the case to make ise of these slots.
>
> Should you decide to break that seal and open the case for whatever
> reason ("whatever" might simply include cleaning the case of potential
> harmful dust) you'll find you've voided the manufacturers 1-year
> limited warranty.
>
> So this would be like Toyota pre-wiring all Civic models for GPS and
> even putting a spot in the dash, advertising the GPS "port" as a
> feature and then telling you the warranty on the car is void if you
> use this feature.
>
> Gateway's unreasonable and illogical terms on this make it so that the
> consumer can not even test out these ports to make sure they work
> properly, much less actually upgrade their system through them. Since
> they are advertising features on the box of the product that can not
> be used without voiding the warranty I see this as a catch-22 and
> probably a violation of some law.
>
>
>

On Jan 4, 10:58 am, "Jupiter Jones" <jones_jupi...@hotnomail.com>
wrote:
> If that is true, Gateways policy has changed.
> The seal is for the end customer to assure the customer nothing inside
> has been tampered since the final inspection.
> Breaking the seal does not void the warranty.
>
> Where did you get that information?
>
> --
> Jupiter Joneshttp://www3.telus.net/dandemar
>
> "RMZ" <Jeremy.De...@gmail.com> wrote in message
>
> news:0dd7c7f0-bffc-4d4c-89f0-...
>
> > Go into any Best Buy, Frys or Circuit City and buy a new Gateway
> > desktop and you'll find advertised on the box PCI Express and PCI
> > slots. However once you get your new system home you'll find a foil
> > seal preventing you from opening the case to make ise of these
> > slots.
>
> > Should you decide to break that seal and open the case for whatever
> > reason ("whatever" might simply include cleaning the case of
> > potential
> > harmful dust) you'll find you've voided the manufacturers 1-year
> > limited warranty.
>
> > So this would be like Toyota pre-wiring all Civic models for GPS and
> > even putting a spot in the dash, advertising the GPS "port" as a
> > feature and then telling you the warranty on the car is void if you
> > use this feature.
>
> > Gateway's unreasonable and illogical terms on this make it so that
> > the
> > consumer can not even test out these ports to make sure they work
> > properly, much less actually upgrade their system through them.
> > Since
> > they are advertising features on the box of the product that can not
> > be used without voiding the warranty I see this as a catch-22 and
> > probably a violation of some law.

This information came from the support rep at Gateway

Call again and ask another rep
I think that rep is misinformed.
It would not be the first time.

Also check your warranty documentation.
EXACTLY what is written on the seal?

--
Jupiter Jones
http://www3.telus.net/dandemar


"RMZ" <> wrote in message
news:8ab1e73d-8628-41d0-adef-...
> This information came from the support rep at Gateway

On Jan 3, 9:59 pm, RMZ <Jeremy.De...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Go into any Best Buy, Frys or Circuit City and buy a new Gateway
> desktop and you'll find advertised on the box PCI Express and PCI
> slots. However once you get your new system home you'll find a foil
> seal preventing you from opening the case to make ise of these slots.
>
> Should you decide to break that seal and open the case for whatever
> reason ("whatever" might simply include cleaning the case of potential
> harmful dust) you'll find you've voided the manufacturers 1-year
> limited warranty.
>
> So this would be like Toyota pre-wiring all Civic models for GPS and
> even putting a spot in the dash, advertising the GPS "port" as a
> feature and then telling you the warranty on the car is void if you
> use this feature.
>
> Gateway's unreasonable and illogical terms on this make it so that the
> consumer can not even test out these ports to make sure they work
> properly, much less actually upgrade their system through them. Since
> they are advertising features on the box of the product that can not
> be used without voiding the warranty I see this as a catch-22 and
> probably a violation of some law.

Although I do not believe the stated Gateway policy on the seal is as
stated by the OP, an easy way around such nonsense is to call Gateway
service about your fictional problem with any installed card, cd or
dvd, or hard drive Check the rear of the computer for any card
installed: modem, sound, video...your service agent will have you open
the computer and re-seat the card, or check wiring to the other
device. Problem solved as seal broken by Gateway edict...