Gateway Is A Terrible Company Now | $120 laptop notebook

gateway cow logo Gateway Is A Terrible Company Now

Gateway Computers are not what you think. In fact, there is nothing left of the original Gateway company but the name & logo.

Gateway Is A Terrible Company Now

You see, what was once a powerhouse in the computer industry, known for their quality & support has been reduced to a Chinese company that is just rebranding their old cheap EVOO laptops as ‘Gateway’ ones.

What happened to me?

My troubles began last Christmas (2021) on Black Friday. I got a great deal on an ultra thin laptop, or so I thought. It was small, it was blue & it was only $120. Perfect present for my wife.

She opened it & loved it, until I read the box; “Free upgrade to Windows 11, when available.” Things were going great until about March when I did the Win 11 upgrade. At first everything seemed to be working okay, but I had never tried the webcam.

So, the webcam didn’t do anything. Crap! Then the Bluetooth quit working. Then the WiFi quit working. None of those things even showed up in the devices settings. I tried downloading a bios update, but Gateway.com didn’t have one. I tried restoring, that didn’t work. I tried to ‘roll back’ to Windows 10, but the system wouldn’t let me.

gateway computer walmart rollback Gateway Is A Terrible Company Now

Gateway Is A Terrible Company Now

What did I do?

So, I broke down & did something I NEVER do. I contacted customer support.

And so the game of never-ending emails began. I won’t give the specifics, but I emailed them for a little over a month. They wanted receipts: not that receipt, pictures: wrong pictures, serial numbers, pictures with dates & on and on…

Finally I got an RMA & sent the laptop in, at my expense ($26) It only took about 2 weeks to get my laptop back, hooray. The WiFi was working, the Bluetooth was working, the microphone was; NOT working. In fact neither was the camera.

They sent it back to me, without fixing it. I found some drivers on a non Gateway site & they fixed the microphone. Then everything quit; WiFi, Bluetooth, camera & microphone. All dead.

So, that’s where I am now. I have spent $150 on a laptop that doesn’t do anything. I tried a fresh Win 10 install, new Win 11 upgrade & even a few Linux distro’s, but nothing worked.

Gateway has completely ghosted me. I have emailed them many times asking for help, or even giving me a download link to drivers or a restore .ISO or anything. But they will not answer me.

This is not the Gateway I bought my first laptop from. I had an issue with it & they fixed it right away, even though I bought it used & told them that. They were a real company with pride in their products. Now they are just in it to make a buck.

I should have expected this from Walmart. I have a rule about not buying technology from Walmart, this is the first (and last) time I broke it.

Gateway Is A Terrible Company Now

What happened to Gateway?

1985
Gateway was founded way back in ’85 by Ted Waitt & Mike Hammond in Sioux City Iowa. The were know for having inexpensive computers shipped in black & white boxes that resembled a Holstein cow’s spots.

2001
At their peak Gateway had about 300 retail stores across the US called ‘Gateway Country’ & had a farm theme to them. It is believed that these stores inspired the ‘Apple Stores’ which launched shortly after. All of the stores were gone by 2004.

2003 – SEC fraud
As the new millennium rolled on, Gateway was not doing very well. The retail stores were closing all over the country as Gateway struggled to remain profitable. The founders & CFO were charged with fraud charges by the SEC, said to be inflating the health & profitability to investors. Two were found guilty & only the CEO was cleared.

2006 – build to order
After this, Gateway was in complete disarray & changed its business model from retail to a ‘build to order’ system. They set up a plant in Nashville employing almost 400 people. But in just one year they moved all of their manufacturing to China & Mexico.

2007 – gobbled up by Acer
In October of 2007 gateway was acquired by Acer. And not much happened after that. Until…

2020 – sold to China-Mart
In September of 2020 Acer gave the Gateway name & all of the branding rights to a Shenzhen based company called Bmorn Technologies. This new company made a deal with Walmart to sell their computers exclusively in their store. The new laptops are repackaged EVOO laptops made in China.

2022 – Still on sale at Walmart.
I looked at the new black Friday ad for Walmart & there is one on the front page. I wonder how many people will be disappointed with this new laptop this Christmas. I want to tell everybody, “NO! Do not buy this thing.” Spend a little more money & get something better.

Gateway Is A Terrible Company Now, do not give them your business.

Please for your own sake do not buy anything from this fraudulent, terrible, bad customer support, cheap built, low quality computer manufacture.


home | chris plays games | my retro sites | Buy me a coffee

Thanks for reading my article on why Gateway is a terrible company now. Now go out & by a decent computer.

Gateway Is A Terrible Company Now | $120 laptop notebook
Gateway Is A Terrible Company Now
Spread the love