# Is Gigabyte Bull shitting me?



## suraswami (Jan 2, 2008)

I bought a Gigabyte K8N-SLI board.  That thing doesn't want to wake up from S3 state properly.  Also it sometimes resets the CPU freq to 100Mhz FSB when you re-start the board.  So I requested a RMA from Gigabyte.  I keyed in the proper Serial number printed on the Box and board.  They kept saying that the serial number was invalid.  I asked them if I can scan the serial number and send them.  This afternoon they just f..ng denied it.  I have the legitimate receipt from my local store.

I called the RMA number but nobody picks up the phone and it goes to voice mail.  Is there any other magic way to contact them and get a RMA?

Following are the email communications:

Dear Customer, 

We received your RMA request A45763 for your warranty service. Unfortunately, your request was declined. 
The most common reasons why it was declined are:

Out of warranty
Non GBT product (Wrong model name)
Incorrect Serial Number/Invoice Number
Duplicate request
Non North America return shipping address


For more specific details, please use the following link to inquire about your RMA:http://rma.gigabyte-usa.com/DirectRMA/EndUser_SearchRMA.asp

Remark section will display exact reason why your request was declined.


Thank you for your attention.

Sincerely yours, 
Gigabyte Inc. 
Customer Service Center

I wrote,

Dear Sir,

I have checked atleast 20 times (both myself and my wife), the numbers mentioned below are the numbers on the Motherboard box. 50C176 02834 - this was on the motherboard between the cpu socket and first pci-e slot.

The board is made in Taiwan.  I bought it at Micro Center store here at Tustin, California.  I can take a picture of the mobo box with the serial number and also send you copy of the original receipt.

Is there a local center where I can take the board and get a RMA?  Can the store I bought get me a RMA?

This machine is down for almost 10 days now and we need this machine badly.  

Your help is much appreciated.

Thanks




Gigabyte RMA <gbtrma@gigabyte-usa.com> wrote:
Dear customer,

Please double check the numbers in “(01)04719331831066(21)SN0639731412” they are incorrect since it shows as invalid serial number. Please check the numbers again. 


Best Regards,

Customer Service Center
GIGABYTE TECHNOLOGY
TEL:     1-626-854-9338 op. 4
FAX:     1-626-854-9326
EMAIL: services@gigabyte-usa.com
www.gigabyte-usa.com 




--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I wrote,

Sent: Thursday, December 27, 2007 10:15 PM
To: Gigabyte RMA
Subject: Re: RMA request A45763 Incorrect/Missing serial(model) number

Following is on the mobo
50C176 02834

Hopefully this is the right serial number

Thanks



Gigabyte RMA <rmausa@gigabyte-usa.com> wrote:
Dear Customer,

We have recently received your request for RMA online. However, the serial number which you provided is invalid. Please reply this email with correct serial number to process your request.

Model# :  Qty :  Invoice No. :  Problem : 

 GA-K8N-SLI   1      Suspend to Ram doesn't work. CPU freq reset when overclock and restart. Changed different brand ram and still the problem. Not Stable. Has the latest Bios.  
 Serial #:   (01)04719331831066(21)SN0639731412 INVALID SERIAL NUMBER 



Best Regards,


Customer Service Center
GIGABYTE TECHNOLOGY
TEL:     1-626-854-9338 op. 4
FAX:     1-626-854-9326
EMAIL: services@gigabyte-usa.com
www.gigabyte-usa.com


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## Hawk1 (Jan 2, 2008)

Hmm. That is strange. I would keep attempting to get a live person to speak with and explain it over the phone - may get better results that way than just the email.


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## suraswami (Jan 2, 2008)

hoo hoo finallly I got thru that number.  They said that this board should have been bought outside of US.  what the f..k.  I bought it at local store here.  Anyway they want me to take a picture and send it.

Is the local store smuggling things into US?


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## panchoman (Jan 2, 2008)

yeah, as hawk said, its best to talk to them personally.


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## tkpenalty (Jan 2, 2008)

suraswami said:


> hoo hoo finallly I got thru that number.  They said that this board should have been bought outside of US.  what the f..k.  I bought it at local store here.  Anyway they want me to take a picture and send it.
> 
> Is the local store smuggling things into US?



Talk to the store man, this sounds more like they were seriously smuggling goods...oh yeah try replacing your motherboard battery.


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## panchoman (Jan 2, 2008)

its possible that the shop might be importing motherboards from taiwan and stuff instead of using the us version supplied by gigabyte


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## suraswami (Jan 2, 2008)

ya that board is made in Taiwan.


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## panchoman (Jan 2, 2008)

if gigabyte deems that board as smuggled, then i think its lawsuit time!


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## suraswami (Jan 2, 2008)

I am suspecting this was a returned/used item and the store forgot to the label on it.  The guy who returned it changed the board and box may be for a good one.  And I got f..k up.

Saturday I went to the store and they said they can't do anything about it.  But tonight I am going to go once again and say that Gigabyte said that this board is not a US version.  Let them check the serial number from their history and they would know.


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## suraswami (Jan 2, 2008)

Damn, do they even smuggle motherboards?


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## philbrown23 (Jan 2, 2008)

suraswami said:


> I am suspecting this was a returned/used item and the store forgot to the label on it.  The guy who returned it changed the board and box may be for a good one.  And I got f..k up.
> 
> Saturday I went to the store and they said they can't do anything about it.  But tonight I am going to go once again and say that Gigabyte said that this board is not a US version.  Let them check the serial number from their history and they would know.



staight up tell them that gigabyte said it was smuggled and if they do not return it than you will open a lawsuit, I bet they return it.


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## panchoman (Jan 2, 2008)

philbrown23 said:


> staight up tell them that gigabyte said it was smuggled and if they do not return it than you will open a lawsuit, I bet they return it.



exactly my thoughts.


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## suraswami (Jan 2, 2008)

philbrown23 said:


> staight up tell them that gigabyte said it was smuggled and if they do not return it than you will open a lawsuit, I bet they return it.



I am long long time customer for that store and everybody know me well.  They have some cool stuff.  I don't want to strain the relationship there.  May be I will handle it little cool.

Home Minister says get over it.  Should I


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## AsRock (Jan 2, 2008)

A smuggled? mobo from the UK... Your kidding right it would not be worth doing as the UK is a ripp off.  More like they screwed up is more like it...


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## Frogger (Jan 2, 2008)

suraswami said:


> I am long long time customer for that store and everybody know me well.  They have some cool stuff.  I don't want to strain the relationship there.  May be I will handle it little cool.
> 
> Home Minister says get over it.  Should I



The store should take the bite on it ..if the store manager won't do the exchange the ask for his regional mgr name, number, email & give him the option to make good on it ...then if you still get no joy ...go back at gigabyte-me.


ps: mail is here


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## suraswami (Jan 3, 2008)

Its more than 2 months, so they don't want to honor it.


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## Dia01 (Jan 3, 2008)

suraswami said:


> I am long long time customer for that store and everybody know me well.  They have some cool stuff.  I don't want to strain the relationship there.  May be I will handle it little cool.
> 
> Home Minister says get over it.  Should I



I think you should still pursue the RMA, don't forget you are the customer with the cash.  There is still plenty of stores out there to provide willing people with their service!  They should by right give you a replacement straight up!


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## Frogger (Jan 3, 2008)

suraswami said:


> Its more than 2 months, so they don't want to honor it.



That it's over their 'direct' replacement time should be put on the wayside....reason??
Gigabyte has stated that the MB should not have been sold in US .....but you got it from their store ...that's why i say go over the store level manager's head...the area manager should do the replacement 'just' to keep it from getting out that 'they' are selling stock that's not certified for your market.


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## wiak (Jan 3, 2008)

get your local store to do it
dont RMA to the manufacturer they are to big and slow, faster do do with online or local stores etc


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## strick94u (Jan 3, 2008)

you know a few years ago I got a laptop from sams club 6 months after it started haveing a problem sent in a requst for rma I found out it had been regestered to someone else 6 months b4 and was out of basic warrenty. long story short they had resold a returned laptop. I wonder if this may have happened to you. Oh and sam's gave me a better laptop a 3 year warrenty and 250 bucks.


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## TechnicalFreak (Jan 3, 2008)

suraswami said:


> I am long long time customer for that store and everybody know me well.  They have some cool stuff.  I don't want to strain the relationship there.  May be I will handle it little cool.
> 
> Home Minister says get over it.  Should I



As most companies that sell "stuff" , may it be a car, a fridge or in this case a mobo mostly think of how much $$$ they can earn. Then when they screw things up, they sometimes try to come up with a great story..  Like this one place, it's called "Teknik-66:an" and the guys there are hilarious , they sell 2:nd hand stuff and when they sell something it goes like this:

-Customer : Hi, I would like to buy that mobo and that cpu.
-Salesman : Ok, would you like me to test it first?
-Customer : Sure.. Why not?
-Salesman : But then you have to pay "in advance".
-Customer :  Why? If it doesn't work, than I have bought a faulty mobo and/or cpu in that case..
-Salesman : True, but that's how WE do it.
-Customer : Isn't it smarter to test it yourself BEFORE selling it??
-Salesman : Do you want it or not?!
-Customer : No thanks....


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## ntdouglas (Jan 3, 2008)

Gigabytes tech and rma service totally suck. I had to rma 2 965-dq6 mobos. The second one they said I warped the board and voided my warranty. Bullshit! They don't back up there products. Write it off, take it in the ass, etc. and go buy an asus.


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## suraswami (Jan 3, 2008)

ntdouglas said:


> Gigabytes tech and rma service totally suck. I had to rma 2 965-dq6 mobos. The second one they said I warped the board and voided my warranty. Bullshit! They don't back up there products. Write it off, take it in the ass, etc. and go buy an asus.



Same command from my Home Minister.  Dump it.  More money granted.  Don't cry go get yourself a new set and be done with this shit.  So I didn't get a Asus, instead I got a ECS Nforce6MA+AMD X2 4800 combo from Frys with 2 years extended warranty.  Frys is far better at warranty replacement.  ECS does what it promised to do.  Knock on wood.  So far so good.  So I am happy.

But you know I can leave Gigabyte like that.  I have to see till the end right?


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## btarunr (Jan 3, 2008)

That's terrible. Did you check the bar-codes (if any) behind the board? Is it a ground-store you bought this board from? 

If you live around the Bay Area, CA., there's one particular Fry's store in Sunnyvale where I bought some parts from in my last visit. The video-card cooler was sort of dysfunctional. Would you believe I could RMA it sitting in India?

Besides don't you guys have Gigabyte service centers? I've had good experiences with Gigabyte and bad with ECS.

But yes, this is a problem at large with these Taiwanese vendors. Cheap comes at a price an that's this. You're probarbly going thru the same crap ECS put me thru. You can go to consumer courts but that's too much for just a motherboard with a faulty power-state.


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## xfire (Jan 3, 2008)

btarunr said:


> Would you believe I could RMA it sitting in India?


Can you tell me about it?
like did they charge for shipping etc.


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## btarunr (Jan 3, 2008)

There was this sales executive named Jack Rogers who worked for Fry's, Sunnyvale. He was great help. The Zerotherm cooler was faulty as in the fan blades would hit the rim to make an aweful sound. So I just sent it back over to their store by DHL (they're the only logistics that don't mind shipping electronics). I sent the applicable RMA processing and replacement shipping charges by PayPal, 40 days later I had the replacement.


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## xfire (Jan 3, 2008)

Though hardware is cheaper there those shipping charges for rmaing in case of faulty hardware makes up for the cost.
@suraswami call up Gigabyte again and tell them to rma it or you'll file a case that should get them to move.


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## btarunr (Jan 3, 2008)

^That's the price I pay for exotic components. At least I'm glad I wasn't backstabbed by an American storekeeper the way Indian storekeepers did, when my ECS board failed in two months.

Fry's FTW


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## xfire (Jan 3, 2008)

chicken fry


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## btarunr (Jan 3, 2008)

Changing? What are you changing?

No, logistics companies like FedEX, UPS, etc don't ship electronics to the US from India. It's their 'policies'.


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## xfire (Jan 3, 2008)

^^ forget you saw the old thing.My mistake.


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## Richieb0y (Jan 3, 2008)

damn too bad man but on my gigabyte mobo is no S/N only on the Box where u open it but i dont know if all mobo boxs are the same of mabye its im in europe


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## suraswami (Jan 5, 2008)

Finally after lots of email exchanges and phone calls I got hold of the same courteous guy and he confirmed that this board shouldn't have been sold in the US.  Anyway he override the Void request and gave me a RMA number. hoo hoo.

So I going to send it and hopefully receive a replacement in 2 weeks.

After it is back it is on Sale along with my X2 3800.  Don't need it anymore.


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## Monkeywoman (Jan 5, 2008)

ASUS. ROCK SOLID. HEAR TOUCHING.   i didnt knoe what they meant about heart touching until i had to RMA my board. i hope Gigabyte rmas ur mobo, cuz if they dont this would be bad for PR.


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## Cold Storm (Jan 5, 2008)

suraswami said:


> Finally after lots of email exchanges and phone calls I got hold of the same courteous guy and he confirmed that this board shouldn't have been sold in the US.  Anyway he override the Void request and gave me a RMA number. hoo hoo.
> 
> So I going to send it and hopefully receive a replacement in 2 weeks.
> 
> After it is back it is on Sale along with my X2 3800.  Don't need it anymore.



you know of the price yet???? and glad to see that they went with you on it!!!


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