A little frustrated with Antec

[Johnbear007]

I purchased a 1080 AMG from newegg a few months back. The power supply was bad and had to be swapped, costing me about 17$ shipping. I thought, hey no big deal it happens.

Then, the other day, I open the case door that covers the drive bays and the thing snapes off at the top hinge. Totally under normal usage, no undo pressure etc. I thought, well that's a bummer but I am sure that Antec being the great company they are will replace it.

So, I shoot of an e-mail to Antec and I get a response from one of their CSR's telling me that while the PSU has a 3 year warranty, they case only has a 30 day warranty, but I can call and spend evn more money on a product that I recieved as defective and get a replacement.

This is only a big deal to me because I had such a high opinion of Antec. Everytime I build a system for someone I use one of their PSU's, I recommend one of their cases etc. I have seen people in this forum before talk about the cheap plastic Antec has been using for these doors, and I know that they have gotten replacements in the past, so why the inconsistency.

This is not something to terribly worked up over, but it has shaken my opinion of what I considered to be a really premium company. The thing that really upsets me is that this is due to a fault in the product, if I had been stupid and broken it myself I would be totally fine with buying a replacement, however all I did was open the door and it broke off, after only a few months of usage in which I rarely even open the door.

I just wanted to let everyone else know as well about the policy, you can decide for yourself how you feel about it. If they take care of it, i'll continue to use them.

 

[L00PY]

Call and escalate it. Be sure to be nice and extremely polite. Their warranty doesn't agree with what the CSR said. E-mails are probably the worst way to get your problem solved.

 

[Johnbear007]

Thanks for the opinion I will call. However with a company with Antec's reputation I expect to be able to resolve such simple things through e-mail. However I will call.

 

[Davegod]

seems silly really, whats the minimum they have to do to keep a customer happy? send a replacement door or something, that costs them a couple of dollars? they'd probably recoup that if they had to do it it five times for every occasion it led to another sale, and NOT doing it is more likely to cost them a sale for every occasion they dont.

 

[Gravity]

IMHO, they will bend over backwards for you.

I have 5 of their cases in my office, will make the next several Antec's also since they are very, cool and very quiet.

Try to bump it and let us know the results.

 

[Johnbear007]

Well, I sent them an e-mail back telling them that the response was inconsistent with their warranty as stated on the site. However I am annoyed that I would have to bicker with them. I am going to try calling them now.

 

[Johnbear007]

Alright, I just called and they asked me to send them an invoice through e-mail, which I am about to do. We will see what they do from there. I hope that this is just an isolated case by a poorly trained CSR... hey it happens. Still very annoying though.

The phone service was marginally friendly, however I am probably just being sensitive because i'm annoyed

I'm hoping to chalk this up to one isolated incident with a cunfused e-mail CSR.

 

[cheapgoose]

too bad you don't live around here. I would've just drove on over with the bad part and b1tched in person. anyway, I did the same thing to my door, except I got some glue and a small piece of plastic, and good as new.

 

[Johnbear007]

Well, here is the update:

After calling I was told to e-mail my invoice, which I did. A week later I get two e-mails back, one quoting me part of the warranty. Here is the e-mail :

Dear Zack,

Here is the relevant quote from our AQ3 warranty that applies to the door.

"It is important to note that our warranty is not an unconditional guarantee
for the 3-year length of the warranty. Antec Products are made from the
finest materials available under our exacting manufacturing standards. But,
like any other product, they are not indestructible. Therefore, our warranty
does not cover product damage that may result from abuse or mishandling of
the products, nor does it cover incidental or consequential damage.

As with any product, it should be expected that component parts, moving
parts, wheels, etc. will show wear with use over time, and eventually may
need to be refurbished or replaced. This type of normal wear and tear is
naturally not covered by our warranty, but we will always be happy to
provide you with prompt, high-quality repair service at a nominal cost."

How long have you owned the case?

At the same time I get this mail in my inbox:

Hi,
I will send you replacement door per our agreement.

The whole experience has been mildly unpleasent. I am getting my replacement, but I have had to argue over it, and was also told why the warranty should not apply. I have no problem with real wear and tear clauses, however this was not even near to a real wear and tear situation. The door was very very lightly used, and it broke because of the really cheap construction

Antec Products are made from the
finest materials available under our exacting manufacturing standards.

my butt. The fact that they would argue with me about this when I very politley explained to them that the door was very lightly used and broke without misuse, and was given the run around irritates me with a company that has the reputation of Antec. I bought an Antec, and paid the Antec price because I believed in the claims of higher quality standards for both support and the product itself. I did not buy it to get the run around about the warranty and have to argue, and then wait a week to finally get my part.

I may as well have saved myself the money and bought a chieftec case, which I will most assuredly do for the rest of my system builds, for myself, my friends and my clients.

With the number of systems I have to deal with I don't have the time to argue with CSR's and wait a week for replacement parts that should be sent out in a timely fashion, and with a good attitude. I only got this part because the CSR reluctantly agreed to send it, while still pointing out that the warranty clause states he really didn't have to. I don't expect to have to quibble over the warranty with a company like Antec, and in the future I won't be.

I wonder, is one door worth all of the business that they would have gotten from me, had they been friendly about this in the first place? I agree that this would be an overreaction if it were only about one case, however I don't have the time to constantly mess with this in the future.

There's the update, take from it what you will. Not looking to trash Antec here, they make some nice products however I think it's important to share our buying experiences to keep companies up to high standards. I'll post this on resseller ratings as well.

 

[xbassman]

One time I had a problem that needed an RMA.
I e-mailed them and pointed them to a thread I made here.

The problem was resolved immediately!

 

[Johnbear007]

Originally posted by: xbassman
One time I had a problem that needed an RMA.
I e-mailed them and pointed them to a thread I made here.

The problem was resolved immediately!

hehe... yeah, that seems like it would work. However the only reason I am upset about this is because it is Antec. I shouldn't have to cajole them.

 

[harrkev]

Does Antec actually make their own cases?? I just got THIS.

Compare this to the ChiefTec Hi-Fi Black DX-01BD-U found HERE.

The styling is almost identical (except for the window, which is optional). I have also seen other cases that look almost the same. I suspect that they all buy from some manufacturere in Asia.

If my guess is correct, then Antec is not even responsible for the quality of their cases, except the control that they have as a purchaser.

** EDITED FOR SPELLIN **

 

[Injury]

Originally posted by: harrkev
Does Antec actually make their own cases?? I just got THIS.

Compare this to the ChiefTec Hi-Fi Black DX-01BD-U found HERE.

The styling is almost identical (except for the window, which is optional). I have also seen other cases that look almost the same. I suspect that they all buy from some manufacturere in Asia.

If my guess is correct, then Antec is not even responsible for the quality of their cases, except the control that they have as a purchaser.

** EDITED FOR SPELLIN **

For that chassis style, Antec rebadged the case from cheming/cheiftech, as many other manufactuer's did. Antec added a few of their own features and threw in some of their PSUs. Which was a smart decision, because I don't think many people knew the Antec name before these cases became popular. The newer cases, such as the Sonata, LanBoy, etc. are Antec designs.

 

[Johnbear007]

Originally posted by: harrkev
Does Antec actually make their own cases?? I just got THIS.

Compare this to the ChiefTec Hi-Fi Black DX-01BD-U found HERE.

The styling is almost identical (except for the window, which is optional). I have also seen other cases that look almost the same. I suspect that they all buy from some manufacturere in Asia.

If my guess is correct, then Antec is not even responsible for the quality of their cases, except the control that they have as a purchaser.

** EDITED FOR SPELLIN **

Well, I disagree that they are the same, because I have a friend who has a chieftec and it sat next to my case all night last night at a lan party. His case was made of thinner steel, and the plastic front door was made of much thinner plastic.

 

[Zepper]

Antec doesn't actually manufacture much of anything - it's a marketing company. However their buying power is so large that they can have custom bezels, etc. But AFAIK, the only diff between Antec and Chieftec on many models are slight appearance differences. Now if you stand the aluminum and steel versions of the 1000 series case side by side, the aluminum one will seem flimsy relative to the steel one.
.bh.

 

[Johnbear007]

Originally posted by: Zepper
Antec doesn't actually manufacture much of anything - it's a marketing company. However their buying power is so large that they can have custom bezels, etc. But AFAIK, the only diff between Antec and Chieftec on many models are slight appearance differences. Now if you stand the aluminum and steel versions of the 1000 series case side by side, the aluminum one will seem flimsy relative to the steel one.
.bh.

I'm not talking about alum vs. steel. However that would still be irrelevant when comparing the plastic parts.

regardless that has nothing to do really with the topic. The problem is with their support.