Gigabyte RMA nightmare...

[voyager93]

I went through Gigabyte's RMA for 7970 and it was terrible. Took 3 returns, they kept shipping me back defective cards worse than the previous, the last one I didn't bother to test, I just sold it as something like "Untested, Gigabyte Refurbished, All Warranty Claims Must be Done Through Gigabyte" on eBay and that solved it for me. Whoever bought it, probably just wrote it off as part of their litecoin bs. I won't be buying Gigabyte ever again.

The returned cards all had poorly done solder repair jobs in various areas, each looked more botched then the last with bubbled pcb, flux everywhere, cold joints.

Edit: if you bought from Newegg, leave a bad review and see if the brand representative will reply, sometimes manufacturers can escalate cases that way.

Hey, thanks very much for sharing your experience, I appreciate your feedback. Unfortunately, I would not feel comfortable selling a piece of hardware that I know is faulty and is not working (on e-bay or anywhere else). I appreciate that you stated *your* item was "Untested, Gigabyte Refurbished, All Warranty Claims Must be Done Through Gigabyte", but I know for a fact that my hardware is not functional, so a little different from your situation. Thanks again for sharing!

Shit happens. Thats why you are being treated like this. You act like this happens to the majority or even many when chances are its a one off rare situation. I can google the same thing and return hits from every company.

I appreciate you sharing your experience, however.

Hey, thanks for your feedback. I can appreciate that my video card being faulty while under warranty is the exception rather than the rule and I'm sure that there are many, many people (perhaps most) who are satisfied Gigabyte customers out there. I know too that ALL manufacturers (without exception) suffer from hardware issues every now and then. I can even accept that my RMA experience may be an exception, but what I have a hard time accepting is essentially being called a liar by a cust. service rep when he tells me that "he can't accept my photographic evidence because the date stamp and geo-location markers could have been tampered with or forged"! I took pictures as a precaution *BEFORE* sending in the hardware and was told that my photos were essentially "no evidence at all"! I asked what customers should do to protect themselves when RMA-ing hardware and was told that "customers don't need to do anything". I also asked what constitutes valid and acceptable evidence customers can use in the event of a dispute and did not receive any answer.

 

[EarthDog]

It sucks.. no doubt.

 

[voyager93]

Honestly, if you are legit and did not damage the card yourself go to their facebook page and post all of this. They will take care of you within minutes guaranteed.

Hello and thanks for your feedback. My situation is absolutely legitimate and I have photographic evidence that the video card I sent to Gigabyte to RMA was in no way damaged in the slightest.

Please see some of the images I took (includes packaging images):
https://voyager93.imgbb.com/

I think I will take your advice (thanks) and post to facebook and see if it helps.
Appreciate your reply, thanks.

 

[Shou Miko]

I want to add that Gigabyte's esupport can be a little long haired I tried it a couple of time and it didn't get better, I also tried Asus', EVGA's, Intel's and MSI's support and those 3 are really nice and no problems at all even questions or RMA just works.

To add about Intel they even call u, did they to me and I was surprised.

 

[eidairaman1]

Wow! Just like that huh? No questions asked? Very surprising. Then why am *I* being treated like this? Do you know someone at the company?

no he doesn't know anyone at gigabyte but my question for you is what country do you reside in?

 

[jboydgolfer]

no he doesn't know anyone at gigabyte but my question for you is what country do you reside in?

I'm in Canada

 

[eidairaman1]

Heres the warranty site for them

http://ca.gigabyte.com/Support/Warranty/Graphics-Card

http://rma.gigabyte.us/, states they are not responsible for any shipping damages. To me it sounds like they want the end user to use 6-8 layers of bubblewrap over the anti static bag inside a pelican case with foam...

All I can say is post this stuff on the Gigabyte and Aorus Social media pages, and take this as a lesson to research a company before buying any merchandise.

To me you could very well have to eat crow on this and call this experience, I just know ranting and raving over it gets nothing done and actually just makes the situation worse.

 

[cdawall]

I ship in a usps flat rate box with some half ass padding.

 

[adulaamin]

Best RMA experience for me was from Intel and Sapphire. Worst would be ASUS. The item got replaced but I had to wait 6 months for it to arrive. I always keep original packaging with me as well just in case I need to send an item somewhere else. I put the part back in the packaging/box and add a layer of bubble wrap just in case. Shipping handlers here don't care what's inside your package even if it has the "FRAGILE" sticker.

 

[voyager93]

I ship in a usps flat rate box with some half ass padding.

Yeah, thanks. So, I did read the all of the shipping instructions and the warranty info completely. The cust. service rep said "we would have turned away the package if it was damaged", so no damage occurred during shipping. And you're right, I may have to "eat" this, but if nothing else, I want as many people as possible to learn from my experience so that they may be spared from suffering a similar fate in the future.

 

[Deleted member 67555]

My experiences with Gigabyte was 2 successful RMAs and one out of warranty question answered beyond my expectations... All with motherboards tho.

I'd have no issue buying their top end stuff but I will never buy their mid range or low end stuff.

 

[silkstone]

It sounds like we need to video evidence of the RMA now. Video would be next to impossible to fake/manipulate.

 

[jboydgolfer]

It sounds like we need to video evidence of the RMA now. Video would be next to impossible to fake/manipulate.

Either that ,or a notary public ,or some other type of official ....present during packaging and present at shipping

Or just avoid sh!t companies.

Either or.
I'm fairly certain a lot of it has to do with what consumer protection laws are in place in a persons country. I think New York State has some of the best consumer protection if I recall correctly. my states not terrible but it could be better

 

[silkstone]

In Europe, you can at least threaten to take them to the small claims court with the evidence you have. You would just claim that they damaged your card.

They wouldn't bother to pay for representation to show up in court and just replace the card.

 

[eidairaman1]

Either that ,or a notary public ,or some other type of official ....present during packaging and present at shipping

Or just avoid sh!t companies.

Either or.
I'm fairly certain a lot of it has to do with what consumer protection laws are in place in a persons country. I think New York State has some of the best consumer protection if I recall correctly. my states not terrible but it could be better

Make serveral photo copies, put a few in the package with the card with correct timestamp, send emails to them with pictures attached and hold on to all transcripts.

Call them up too.

 

[mastershake575]

Checked there North American facebook page and literally the first review I saw was someone mentioning that they sent in the motherboard and Gigabyte refused it claiming that there was damage to CPU socket. Crazy that this issue is happening to you

 

[Vario]

My guess is it might be a bad service manager at their RMA facility trying to keep repairs under a quota.

 

[Vayra86]

My guess is it might be a bad service manager at their RMA facility trying to keep repairs under a quota.

This.

 

[Tom.699]

I'm not trying to defend Gigabyte but for me two pictures in OP are not the same card.
Solder blobs on R107 are different, more to outside on GB picture, and outline of pin above right blob is more to the left on OP picture.
To OP, why you obstructed SN in RMA answer and left it on your picture of card?

 

[Vya Domus]

If you look closely you can actually see the blob in the second picture too in the exact same spot.

EDIT:

Honestly the people who handle RMA can pretty much quote any retarded reason to deny service. I heard all too often stories about people getting their warranty denied because the cards had some dust on them.

Most of the time it comes down what relationship there is between the service center and the manufacturer because ultimate they are the ones that have to pay up and provide parts/new items , not the center/retailer and if for some reason things don't go well between them , you get situations like these.

Not the case here it seems since GB directly handled this but otherwise that's usually what happens.

 

[eFinity]

Wow, I wish I researched about their RMA process before buying Gigabyte for anything. I just went through the RMA process and they claimed it got shipping damage. When they showed me the picture, the box was clearly intact and no inspection stickers were on it if it was opened at customs. They literally dropped the motherboard on the floor and claimed it as damaged. I wish I was joking about this but F Gigabyte.

 

[Jetster]

That suck

 

[sneekypeet]

Wow, I wish I researched about their RMA process before buying Gigabyte for anything. I just went through the RMA process and they claimed it got shipping damage. When they showed me the picture, the box was clearly intact and no inspection stickers were on it if it was opened at customs. They literally dropped the motherboard on the floor and claimed it as damaged. I wish I was joking about this but F Gigabyte.

With the amount of bubble wrap needed to securely ship that motherboard, that box is not sufficient. I could see that happening easily, considering how much is tossed about at shipping facilities or to get it on a plane. Rule of thumb for me when shipping anything. If it cannot sustain a drop from a single flight of stairs, it is not packed well enough!

 

[eFinity]

I had a static bag and peanuts packed in that box. Even if I didn't have enough packaging, the motherboard shouldn't look like it has been dropped on concrete floor on a single corner of the motherboard.

 

[AsRock]

Wow, I wish I researched about their RMA process before buying Gigabyte for anything. I just went through the RMA process and they claimed it got shipping damage. When they showed me the picture, the box was clearly intact and no inspection stickers were on it if it was opened at customs. They literally dropped the motherboard on the floor and claimed it as damaged. I wish I was joking about this but F Gigabyte.

That sounds more on customs and delivery service picked, this is why they recommend you to insure the contents. Most if not all will deny a claim if it got damaged in the mail.

Currently going though a XFX RMA hoping it all goes ok and my god i insured the crap out of it. They got it yesterday still waiting .

I had a powercolor 6950 & one of the fans began to give me trouble, and this thing was years out of warranty.

I just sent an email to one of their RMA department guys ,and he was just like "oh yeah we have a whole bunch of those shrouds laying around no problem man" he sent me three of them . Same thing with logitech ,except they just sent me a brand new mouse no proof of purchase or anything .

I've always tried to go about it in a way that I would converse with someone in person ,and it just seems to work out for me each time(mostly)

I bought a case from cougar, & the panel screws kept stripping on me. They sent me around 60 thumb screws, as well as 6 side panels (even ones that didnt come with my case, but still fit). i didnt even ask for the panels

I had some thing like this with Stealseries, although i had 2 mice before and the replacment lasted over the warranty i just boxed it and put it away. Then about 16 month later decided to ask them if they had the shell part as it was clearly worn and they sent me a Sensei wireless although neither other mice lasted over 8 months, although the Sensei wireless is still going strong even if the connecter on the base is cheaply made.