Oh, my, the Gateway saga just gets sillier and sillier. The hard drive arrived today. That seems to be OK. It's been installed but we haven't turned it on yet because it's blank and we have to re-install Windows XP. The memory also came this morning. The hard drive was very easy to install. The memory was a problem. Anthony was on the phone with tech support for over a half hour before it was determined that the wrong memory cards were sent and that's why they wouldn't fit. They are too big for my computer. It's obvious when you look at the specs for our system what the memory cards should be. Whoever looked up the order didn't look at the specs and sent the wrong ones. We had two cards totaling 1 gig of memory. The cards came in one small box inside one envelope from Fed Ex. We are returning the memory cards BUT we have to return them separately. Even though the box in which they came is made to hold two memory cards we have to return each one separately in different envelopes. We have two separate return authorization numbers, one for each module. We will return them after I leave work this afternoon and then we will spend the evening reinstalling Windows. We are taking one more chance and have re-ordered the correct memory modules and they are scheduled to be here either tomorrow afternoon or sometime Saturday at no extra charge (just the exorbitant normal shipping charge). I wrote a stern letter to be placed in both return envelopes expressing my dismay at the level of incompetence on Gateway's part (not that it will do much good). I also said in the letter that if I receive the new memory cards and they are still the wrong ones or if the hard drive doesn't work I will call the Better Business Bureau, return the defective merchandise and end my relationship with Gateway.
I know I could have bought a new computer by this time but we decided to upgrade this one and take it out to LI for Anthony's mother. We still want to do that (once the computer is up and running it is not a problem, it's been a good system for 4 years) so before we buy a new one we want to make sure this one is running properly. I just never thought it would turn into such a headache!!!
End of story (for now - an Avenue Q reference).
