It is reminiscent of a 1950s advertisement: "We will continue to work towards ensuring that every single Gateway customer is a happy customer." Cue a set of pearly, smiling teeth. While it's a long way from 1955 to the present day, the principle is the same but promises can be difficult to keep.
Recently I purchased a Gateway computer package. It failed to arrive. Twice. I telephoned the company and they laid the blame at the feet of UPS, the delivery service. UPS, however, maintained that Gateway had not given them clearance.
I contacted Gateway again and was told that I would be telephoned shortly with a reply. This took more than an hour to establish, after which I did not receive the promised call. However, through a bizarre twist of fate, a UPS van parked opposite my house, the driver offered his assistance and returned the following day with the PC package.
The printer (an HP Deskjet 640) then failed to connect to the PC, so my sister rang Gateway's technical support and spoke to a representative. She was, however, cut off. Silently imploding, she joined a second queue and was told that she would have to download an installation programme from Hewlett Packard's website. The next day was spent installing a browser to do just that, but the problem persisted.
Then I rang technical support myself and spoke to a technician who said that there had been complaints about this printer. He told me to buy an LPG cable as the USB connection did not work. I rang customer service to query this, and the representative then rang technical support - who said what I had been told was ridiculous. I was then put through to yet another individual in technical support, who chewed gum, put me on hold four times - once to answer his mobile - and left me holding for 20 minutes when I asked to speak to a manager.
At this stage, I had been on the phone for two hours. I rang reception, explained the situation and asked to speak to a manager. The switchboard said they had no access to their managers, and put me on hold. I rang again and asked for the email address of a manager. More music. I rang again and said I was from The Irish Times. I was connected to the managing director's office, a technician was sent to my house to solve the problem, the bill was reduced and complimentary software promised.
Alec Maycock, vice-president of customer care at Gateway in Ireland, told me the company has "an escalation process where, if a call is not resolved by an agent, then it is referred to somebody more senior - but obviously that has fallen down in your case. Any one of our managers is available to our customers".
Another case illustrates the importance of customer care. Two years ago, Michael Kilroy, managing director of Royal Tara, endured a three-month problem with Digital, now Compaq, after he bought a home computer.
His work schedule meant he was unable to remedy the problem until 7 p.m. each night. Frequent telephone calls to Digital's customer support system were unable to rectify the problem. Finally he was obliged to contact the president of Compaq in the US, which immediately resolved the issue. The experience led to his recent choice of another computer company to install a £200,000 hardware and software system in his factory.
Dell, which won an award for call centre of the year in 1999, supplied the hardware and has been, he says, "probably the most responsive, the most friendly and the most professional that you could find".
Compaq was keen to point out that Michael Kilroy's negative experience occurred two years ago, and that the company has grown and is dedicated to its customers' "peace of mind". It also says it has a policy that 80 per cent of its calls are answered within 20 seconds.
Gateway, Dell and Compaq regularly assess the quality of their customer care through internal and independent surveys. All state their dedication to keeping an account of each customer's progress. Perhaps they know that a "happy customer" will tell one or two people of their experience. Those who are unhappy will inform up to 12 people. But customers - forewarned is always forearmed.