Stubborn ex-customer takes Gateway to court for defective PC
By Darren Murph 
posted Jun 8th 2007 3:23PM
posted Jun 8th 2007 3:23PM
"Me against the world" has taken on a whole new meaning for high school dropout Dennis Sheehan, who has taken Gateway to small claims court in a completely bizarre catch 22-laden case. Apparently, the now 46-year old Sheehan took his stubbornness out on the corporation who sent him a computer that "displayed scattered graphics" fresh out of the box. After the company purportedly refused to remedy the issue, the two have ended up in court where Gateway claimed that clicking through the EULA upon bootup eliminated his right to even sue; au contraire, claimed Sheehan, who explained that the malfunctioning PC wasn't even able to render the text and allow him the opportunity to read it. Interestingly enough, a tentative ruling on May 24th sided with the plantiff and maintained that the case would stay in small claims court, but it looks like finality is still a good ways off for the perturbed ex-customer.[Thanks, Mike]
You should've got a Mac, Dennis.
Just to let you know, when you click the link, the page tries to print. You might want to re-link it here: http://www.sacbee.com/101/story/209144.html
Remember in the early 90's when Gateway was making the baddest, hottest 486 and Pentium class boxes? Remember that?
This man may be a high school dropout, but in truth a genius!
The statement at the end shows the corporations attitude towards customer service..... If Sheehan continues to be successful in the trial court, Palefsky said, he can look forward to a protracted appeal process, with hundreds of pages of legal filings and years of delay.
At some point, he will likely be overwhelmed by the vast legal and financial resources of Gateway.
"This poor guy now faces daunting reality of having to litigate this on appeal against Gateway," Palefsky said. "By winning, he's lost."
Rusty, i know you are enthusiastic but you also give us mac users names like 'fanboy' with comments like that
Well Ill never buy a Gateway with that kind of attitude
why is he stubborn? just because he wanted to get the situation remedied because of Gateway's fault?
Most first year law students are familiar with Gateway... Back when they were GW2K, they were involved in multiple EULA-related cases that are now fodder for Contracts 101 cases nationwide. Upshot is that most jurisdictions have ruled against the concept of "you accept this contract if you don't return your computer in X days."
Unless, of course, Mr. Sheehan used the web to buy his computer. Because then he likely agreed to a "clickthru" contract, and the courts have been much friendlier to those arrangements.
He might have bought the pc to play games. It's not that uncommon to want to play games anymore you know.
What was the point in mentioning that he was a high school dropout? It has nothing to do with the rest of the article. I am sick of crappy, unprofessional journalism from blogs that pretend to be more that what they are. The news sucks, so people turn to blogs. Bloggers get giant egos, and they start sucking. Maybe I just won't keep up with current events anymore.
This is very professional blogging. Look at how successful it is!
If you're referring to the style, I'll let you in on a secret. The site is really called EnHyukHyukHyuk. When not glossing or utterly missing the relevant details of a gadget, they like to throw cheap shot pieces so the readers can try to outdo each other with corny, predictable, cynical comments. It makes the advertisers go nuts, no one can explain why.
Since when do companies have click through EULAs on bootup? What if you're like some people who reformat your PC before it ever actually boots the factory-loaded screen?
Yeah, I agree with you Mr. Rusty Trombone. lol!
That was the reason I got my first mac, back in 1995. Bought a new top of the line Packard Bell pc, and it did not work right out of the box, so I bought me a performa 6116 and could not have been happier. It was destiny. Since that performa, I've owned a PowerMac G4, a 12" iBook G4, and are currently using a eMac g4. Oh, and I use a 20" iMac G5 (isight) here at work. Never had any major problems with any of the previously mentioned machines. Macs are rock solid performers! You just cant go wrong. You get what you pay for.
The whole things sounds a little odd. Did they send him a replacement or not?
Either way, all this effort can't possibly be worth it when Gateway could send him a new machine for less than $500.
Anyone dumb enough to buy a Gateway deserves to get screwed like this.
1) The fact he's a high school dropout is irrelevant to the story.
2) Based entirely on the summary posted, I'd say Gateway was at fault. They sold defective merchandise and/or it was damaged in transit.
3) Does a (apx) 150 word summary justify so many goddamn ads? Seriously.
Gateway is garbage. But SO IS MAC! So get over it, jackasses. Macs are now PCs in prettier boxes with more expensive, less versatile (for the power user) operating systems.
Anyway, Dan's only half-right about Gateway's contracts. Judge Easterbrook ruled in favor of Gateway on several of those in-box contracts. The circuits are split. The only reason it doesn't come up so much anymore is because it's all either click-thru on purchase or on initial boot, and because Gateway's actually (supposedly? dunno, haven't researched thoroughly) changed the relevant clause in the contract.
The relevant clause, of course, is the arbitration clause. These are generally the most controversial in any contract. Used to be, Gateway's clause specified ICC arbitration, which meant the parties had to pay a non-refundable $2000 fee to the ICC in Paris (obviously worth significantly more than almost any Gateway computer) and appear before a panel in Chicago. In addition, Gateway got to choose 2 of 3 arbitrators. THOSE clauses have been almost universally rebuked. The question now is what exactly DOES the clause specify?!?
If there's a legal lesson to be learned, though, it's that American judges are much more likely to ignore or strike arbitration clauses in end-user consumer contracts than in business transactions. But like all law, nothing's clear or certain and there are no guarantees. Watch your asses (ever read a Mac contract, you sycophants? Steve Jobs owns your souls).
"less versatile (for the power user) operating systems." So Unix is less versatile? Most Unix tools have OS X equivalents.
I've recently purchased a Mac(Book Pro) and I'm going to have to say that the customer service with Apple is excellent. I noticed that the screen was discolored, took it in, they said they saw the discolorization and swapped it out with a new one on the spot.
My friend's iPod wouldn't get recognized by his PC anymore, they plugged it in, it didn't get recognized, so they checked the warranty and swapped it out for a new one in less than 15 minutes.
I'm not saying I am 100% converted to Apple, I still have two Windows PCs in my home (and Windows on my Mac :o), but I know that I can never get that kind of service with any of those other companies. And I don't just mean Gateway or Dell or other computer company. You tell someone their product doesn't work and they pretty much call you a liar. It doesn't matter if it is a computer or cars or clothes.
Do you know what the "core" of Apple's OS X is? It's UNIX. Do you know what that is?
"less versatile (for the power user) operating systems" Do you know what most of the Internet is served from and the reason for it?
Of course, count on the Mac fanboys to seize on one tossed-off sentence and ignore the POINT.
What was the POINT, you ask!? The point is that Apple's contracts generally contain potentially unenforceable arbitration clauses too. If you complained about your Apple product, and they were unresponsive (it DOES happen), you'd run into the same trouble as this poor bastard if you tried to sue them.
A couple stories about good customer service from Apple don't disprove a damn thing. Hell, I've heard stories about good service from Gateway. This story's about an arbitration clause in a contract of adhesion, which is WAY more important than your constant desire to fellate Steve Jobs. Count on you guys to miss the point; your eyes must have teared up when he pushed down on the back of your heads.
Yeah... I talked about the customer service they had as an example. Maybe not to you, but to me, Customer Service is important.
Maybe if I said that the local BMW dealership has excellent customer service and the local Audi dealership treats you like a liar and makes you question their quality control and your next purchase? Or would that make me a BMW fanboy because I was treated well at the BMW dealer?
And I don't think I would call me a Mac fanboy, maybe a UNIX or UNIX-like fanboy.
And if this got so far off topic, it's probably because you attacked something you knew nothing about.
You missed my point AGAIN. This is about arbitration clauses in contracts of adhesion. Clearly that's something YOU know nothing about. If you had a clue, you'd realize that it's much bigger than pissing contests about operating systems.
Your nonsensical, ungrammatical rant about customer service at car dealerships underscores this perfectly. The issue is not about which companies have better customer service, and how that affects the market. It's about what happens when customer service fails the customer, and what options the customer has. Just like with Gateway, the Apple customer is shit out of luck. Frankly it's almost a miracle the iPod battery plaintiffs were allowed to proceed as a class; the license agreements expressly prohibited class action, and Apple's lawyers filed thousands and thousands of pages of motions against it. They don't want to make the world a better place, jackass. They want your money, just like everybody else, and they've proven that they'll lie, cheat, and manipulate to get it.
Have you ever bothered to READ a EULA or a form contract before agreeing? I mean really read it, carefully, with attention to the interactions between the clauses. You might be shocked what you've agreed to. And just because it hasn't bitten you in the ass yet doesn't mean it won't. Then you'll come running to an attorney like me, begging for help, and s/he'll derive particular satisfaction from charging you $200/hr to help you out of the hole you dug by making foolish assumptions about the relationship between anecdotal customer service experiences and your legal rights.
Wow, KRH-ONE. Take a deep breath, step away from the caps lock key and... relax.
Seven caps-lock words in 3 messages, in a total of at least 3000 characters.
Sure, I need to relax.
Zoara, you have no idea what you're talking about either. You're apparently one more market whore among millions. Have YOU ever read a EULA carefully? One shouldn't need a legal education to realize that one is being anally raped with no vaseline virtually every time one clicks "I agree."
We can't afford to relax anymore. We can't afford to trust hardware or software manufacturers. The vast disconnect between corporate sellers and private consumers, at least in the technology realm, has led to a culture where all of us assume extraordinary liability without gaining any legal ownership rights. If you think I need to relax about this, then you're just not paying enough attention. Start with your critical reading skills. Then, once you've figured out what's really going on, feel free to attack me. Until then, worry about your own ass.
Ohhh paranoid lawyers, what a great source of comic relief. I just want to know one thing KRH-ONE, how much of a "power-user" can a lawyer be? Outside of "power-spreadsheets" and "power-word" documents, what kind of "power-use" do you need?
As an engineer currently doing research, I've found Apple machines to be a dream to work with. Your "less-flexible" claim is a crock, what's "less" flexible about a machine that is currently booting OSX, XP, Vista, and Ubuntu (no wintel can do that without some black magic to get OSX running)? Furthermore, for real "power-use" there is nothing holding back OSX in terms of speed or compatibility (I won't say it's superior to XP for what I do, but it's no worse. Vista on the other hand is total crap). The reason I choose OSX is that I don't have to reboot the machine several times a day, worry about when the machine will die, or have to re-image the drive every few months.
Before you rebut my post with your doomsday "you sold your soul!" legalese, I don't give a crap about what you say regarding their contracts. Every wintel mfr I've dealt with (MS, Dell, HP/Compaq, Micron, Sony) forced me to deal with some outsourced, brain-washed zombie that is trained to screw the customer, and where the issue of ridiculous contracts has become a problem. On the other hand, I can walk into an Apple store when I have a problem (I had a Powerbook with a discolored screen) and I can talk to someone that has a little customer-service training and they will actually help me. Truth is I've been screwed by every wintel mfr I've dealt with (except Sony), and I never owned more than two machines from one brand, while I've had no problems with Apple after owning three of their computers. Say what you will, with a 6/7 failure rate for wintel and 0/3 for Apple in my experience, I'll take an Apple anyday.
You see, I don't give a crap about legalese when the product is built well enough that I don't have warranty issues, and don't even try to argue with me on the technical capabilities of the platform, it's been a champ for doing everything from 3D CAD modeling/rapid prototype, to Virtual Reality software development, circuit modeling, compartmental models of drug diffusion, neuromuscular modeling, finite element analysis, inverse kinematic analysis, medical image processing...do you want me to keep going??? Ohh yeah, I can "power-Office" (and iWork) too!
I should have known better than to bring real world issues into a tech forum.
I renounce anything I said about the quality of one platform versus another. Happy now, douchebags? Will you FINALLY be able to see the point now?
Do I want you to keep going? No, for christ's sake. I want you to shut up for a minute and think about what you're actually dealing with. You, like the rest of the users of this forum, would apparently prefer "benevolent" dictatorship to real legal protection.
Learn something about law, economics, and practical transactional practice before you spout some bullshit anecdotal evidence like it's scripture. Hell, I've owned 5 PCs, and I've NEVER had an issue that wasn't user-created (I make mistakes all the time, and I'm not afraid to admit it). The fan on my notebook died last month and Acer repaired the unit for free within 10 business days, including shipping (from PA to TX and back). I've NEVER had to reboot either my notebook or my desktop in the middle of a project, for any reason whatsoever. I've been extremely happy with the customer service I've received all around. But I STILL make sure to send a arbitration- and forum-selection-clause-cancelling disclaimer to any software or hardware manufacturer I deal with. What does all that prove?
Not a damn thing, unless, apparently, you're one of these fools who's never bothered reading a contract....
I'm sure you're right about the contracts favoring the mfr, I'm not arguing with you there. I just took issue with you saying "Macs are now PCs in prettier boxes with more expensive, less versatile (for the power user) operating systems" when I don't see any evidence you actually know what you're talking about when it comes to the technical capabilities of the platform.
Legally speaking, I'm sure I would care about the contracts if I was a lawyer and cared about/understood every last term of the contract(though I've had a couple of biz law courses so I know enough contract law to get myself in trouble). My point is I don't buy a machine based on its contract, I make my purchases based on the quality and the performance of the product.
I have to say one more thing though, and that is that I completely agree with you on the fact that I do wish contracts were more in favor of the consumer. Just because the EULA has yet to cause any problems for me, it would be nice to know I am protected if problems do arise. While I don't think everything in the contracts would hold up in court, I do believe it's there to discourage anyone from pursuing legal action (as this Gateway customer has). I mean why would I waste my time and pay $200/hr (probably much more) for a lawyer when I can buy a new computer for $1500? Ideally I would be taken care of and none of those scenarios would be necessary.
Holy cow, CONSENSUS!!!
I was definitely lobbing cluster bombs when I should have been sniping; I DO believe that when you pay for a Mac you're paying for the "lifestyle brand" at least as much as the quality, but anything I can say about the technical aspects is repeated third-hand.
Contract law is in serious flux these days, and it's unclear how courts will treat certain of the provisions in question. A lot of it depends on what circuit you're in, because the Supreme Court has consistently denied cert. on these questions. I definitely stand by the "watch your ass" comment, because we ALL have a lot more to lose than the companies we're buying from.
Oh that last sentence explains a lot.
Thanks
In my opinion, all of this would have been avoided if he just turns of the power of the computer by pressing the power button(long press)when he noticed a problem with the display and called gateway about the problem. In that way the EULA wont be clicked and clearly he would have noticed that problem right away. Just my thoughts though