Gateway’s exploits in customer non-service have found their way onto our pages before, so it wasn’t all that surprising that Rafael wrote us to complain that the company left him out to dry when his monitor crapped out shortly after his warranty expired.

His story:

I attached a picture of what my monitor looks like now. I bought it on 1/31/2008 for $1800, and a year’s warranty was included. A few days after the warranty ran out, a single vertical green line appeared on the screen, and earlier this past week, that same line blossomed into the array of colors you see in the attached picture.

Gateway won’t lift a finger to help. When I opened a support ticket on their website, their only response was that my monitor was out of warranty, and that “any local technician” could help me. They didn’t respond to my questions about fee-based service or buying individual components.

I’ve seen lots of other posts about this issue elsewhere. People complaining because it’s been 13, 14 months since initial purchase, and kaboom. This isn’t an isolated incident. I could link you to them if you need them.

One example: Gateway’s own product page has some angry people with the same complaint that the monitor breaks after a year, and they’ve neglected to post the similar review I wrote some days ago.

I use a Gateway laptop to write my Consumerist posts, and received similar troubles when the power adapter crapped out shortly after the warranty was up. I fear Rafael will have to do what I did — suck it up and buy a replacement. Any readers out there with better ideas?

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