As mentioned in this thread, I've got a laptop with a dead harddrive. It's a Gateway machine under warranty. Gateway told us on September 1st that a new drive would go out and be received by us in about a week. After it didn't show up, we called back and they told us the drive was backordered until the 15th. During the same call, it then came out that the drive was really backordered until October 1st and there's a big waiting list.

Gateway refused to substitute a comparable drive (e.g. same size, different manufacturer) - they said they couldn't possibly do it, despite having them on hand.

It's been a whole nightmare, requiring several phone calls and hours of waiting on hold. And, best case, the replacement drive is going to come in 4-5 weeks after the problem was originally reported to Gateway

I feel like there isn't much recourse here on our part, except for not buying from them in the future. What a bunch of crap.