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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.
He just posts here ... I don't think he reads the site much.
I never understood why someone would pay /. for the privilege of doing their work for them...
Slashdot gets worse every day... Pipedot: News for nerds, without the corporate slant
Saw this come from "the mysterious future" and I e-mailed the on-duty editor like it says. I guess that doesn't work so well.
It's because Zonk can't see what's on his screen and is just blindly clicking around. You should expect to be sued by him for the dupe soon.
This guy's the limit!
O, I am willing to moderate. It's just I accidentally cranked open a huge canister of -1 troll on the wrong post. Figured I didn't want to spoil the poor guy's karma.
GAAH! MY PRINTER IS ON FIRE!!! PUT IT OUT! PUT IT OUT!
It's not a dupe. It's a backup, to assure reliability. Here's a backup of my comment to the earlier story:
The big loser is Gateway. Would you buy a Gateway computer after reading the Slashdot article?
An appeal means that the case is no longer in small claims court. Both parties can then hire a lawyer. An appeal means that Gateway exposes itself to more attention.
The company is apparently unable to manage itself: Jury finds former Gateway execs manipulated earnings.
Okay, maybe the story is not a backup. Maybe Zonk is zonked.
I installed software once that had the best EULA ever. While it did have the "legal speak" version you had to agree to, it also had a recap in layman's terms. Made it very very easy to see what you were agreeing to.
Example (not a real example, but you get the idea) :
1.1 Installation and use. You may install, use, access, display and run one copy of the Software on a single computer, such as a workstation, terminal or other device ("Workstation Computer"). The Software may not be used by more than one processor at any one time on any single Workstation Computer.
Becomes
1.1 You get one copy for one computer.
I get my kids to click EULA's since contracts with minors are not valid.