Slashdot Mirror
Gateway Customer Sues to Get His PC Fixed
prostoalex writes "The Sacramento Bee tells the story of an El Dorado resident who had to go to small claims court to get his Gateway PC fixed: 'Right out of the box, he says, the computer displayed scattered graphics and wouldn't work properly. He says he called a Gateway salesman five times and sent him an e-mail to get an authorization number to send the computer back, but his phone calls and message were never returned. Then, over the course of months, Sheehan said he called Gateway technical support dozens of times.' Gateway insists that by clicking 'Accept' on a customer service EULA when the computer was first booted, Mr. Sheehan has waived his rights to sue the computer manufacturer in United States courts. The Gateway EULA states that conflicts must be resolved via private arbitrage. Sheehan, though, argues that he never saw the EULA, because of the broken graphics. As such, he's not held to that agreement." Some connections between this and a discussion about a Second Life case we had yesterday.
I live in Sacramento, and as someone in IT, and a Slashdot reader, I'm surprised I didn't see this article in the Bee, since it have only one remotely technical section and it's usually some one sending The Computer "Guru" dude a "How come my Outlook doesn't work" question ... good for a chuckle, better when his answers aren't right.
... no wonder he has "broken" graphics. Or maybe it was his fault for buying a Gateway...
I opened the article to see what area this dude was from. Grizzly Flats?? Do people have computers there? Or running water? He must be the only guy in the whole 'town' (population is 647) who has a computer....which explains why he bought a Gateway in the 1st place. Even if he got his PC to boot to see the clickwrap agreement, he would have had to download it at 14.4 on his rockin' new analog modem.
I suspect he's the smartest redneck of the bunch who's gonna take on The Man at Gateway. Don't bet your livestock on the deal, Homer.
He coulda saved himself the whole thing had he read the directions (or been able to read, much less) on how to plug in a DVI video cable rather then force the thing in
Be this a lesson to you....
1. Rednecks shouldn't own computers
2. Rednecks shouldn't pretend to be lawyers
3. Nobody should buy Gateway PCs (Buy a Dell, they pander to Windows and Ubuntu types...sort of)