EVGA claims minor rust as physical damage. What do you think ?

[Maxx_Power]

I'm posting this for one Tomshardware member here, who seems to be is being shafted by EVGA! It is not my problem, I usually just help others. In this case, I think "lpedraja2002" is being unfairly (screwed) treated by EVGA.

Original thread here:

http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/38...arged#t2874834

Others chipping in from HardForums here:

http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?p=1039420057&posted=1#post1039420057


BASICALLY:

"To make things short I sent my awesome EVGA 8800gt ... for an RMA... Well, after $25 in UPS charges for a small box ( I live in Puerto Rico) I received an email today saying that the card had physical damage Rust! The technician ...included the pictures in the email and I could see that the screws had a little rust on them and so did the bracket on the DVI ports. I was instructed to pay $69.99 to continue with the RMA but this is where I'm honestly confused. Is this even considered physical damage? I always took good care of this card and cleaned it with compressed air only so rust happening is not my fault, its what happens to metals that aren't treated, as far as I know.

The technician responded back saying that rust and corrosion is not normal wear and tear and that they have cards older than 5 years that look like new. I told him if there is any special consideration regarding the country in which the owner lives since I live in Puerto Rico and the tropical climate ranges from hot and humid to cool and humid with humidity reaching up to 80% or more. So given these living conditions can we assume it is a natural environment for rust to develop along the years?


EVENTUALLY.

He said he reduced the price to support me better from $69.99 to $39.99 I was quite disappointed that he didn't respond to my initial question about the climate I live in being the factor of the rust. Do all companies charge their costumers when RMAing on Lifetime Warranties?
"

WHAT DO YOU THINK ? Any EVGA reps out there ?

UPDATE IMAGES:

 

[nforce4max]

People need to reconsider if they are buying any of EVGA's products if this develops into a pattern rather than a single incident.

 

[Maxx_Power]

People need to reconsider if they are buying any of EVGA's products if this develops into a pattern rather than a single incident.

I hear you loud and clear. I was considering EVGA previously until I heard his and someone else's horror story (at HardOCP)...

 

[Smoblikat]

I certainly wont buy any EVGA products anymore. Rust is not physical damage, its poor product design.

 

[notty22]

Can we see the pictures. I'm bouncing around from thread to thread, it's confusing I'm seeing reposted a couple times. I don't really need to read all the various opinions, without seeing what we are talking about.

 

[Maxx_Power]

Can we see the pictures. I'm bouncing around from thread to thread, it's confusing I'm seeing reposted a couple times. I don't really need to read all the various opinions, without seeing what we are talking about.

I'm asking the OP on this now, hopefully we'll get some pictures. In the meanwhile, someone at HardForums has some pictures of his similar case.

 

[96Firebird]

I'm almost tempted to send him my EVGA 8800GT 512MB that is in my HTPC, crappy situation he is in. Sadly, I have no other video cards to use for that machine. Hopefully he gets it worked out before Christmas...

 

[notty22]

Here is a picture from thread from the H forum.
It's the other party that was also partially denied. There seems to be physical damage to this card. Which he might be alleging happened after he sent the card in ?
http://i204.photobucket.com/albums/bb183/not_so_hard/8800GTSDamaged.jpg

 

[ShintaiDK]

Picture is from 2011?

And the picture is not helping the guy at all to put it mildly.

 

[Maxx_Power]

Here is a picture from thread from the H forum.
It's the other party that was also partially denied. There seems to be physical damage to this card. Which he might be alleging happened after he sent the card in ?
http://i204.photobucket.com/albums/bb183/not_so_hard/8800GTSDamaged.jpg

That's NOT OP's picture. That's a picture from a SIMILAR story.

The resistors and capacitors were there before the card was sent in. The card owner EXPLICITLY TOOK PICTURES PRIOR TO SENDING THE RMA. After EVGA received that card, my understanding is that EVGA claimed possible shipment damage, without ANY PROOF from their part. The card owner escalated this to higher tier support and had his fees waived.

This is SIMILAR TO, but NOT THE SAME AS the rust case. I'm working on getting some pictures from the OP.

 

[nismotigerwvu]

Picture is from 2011?

And the picture is not helping the guy at all to put it mildly.

Did you bother clicking the link? That is the photo the user received from claims while the photo he took before shipping it off showed no damage. So most likely the card was damaged somewhere along the lines from when the fellow sent it off until it landed in the tech's hands (unless the tech was instructed to grab a box cutter and go to town which would be a really screwy thing to see happen but is still a faint possibility).

 

[Fallengod]

Well first off, having a junior member post from someone on another thread is kind of difficult to critique......

Also, the only thing I will say is, EVGA is one of the best if not the best when it comes to customer service and ease of RMA. No card should have "rust" on it. I am not going to speculate upon how rust got on it or whatever the issue is, the only thing I would say is I find it very hard to believe a stand up company like EVGA is going to screw someone over unless it was true.

I have done literally like 5 or 6 RMA's with EVGA, they even accepted RMA's for cards which were out of warranty and had no receipt for(which they arnt obligated to do). No company is perfect though, shit happens.

Obviously that video card is not worth $70. Newegg sells new 9800GT's for $30 after rebate....

 

[Fallengod]

errr opps.

 

[Leyawiin]

I had an unsatisfactory RMA situation with EVGA (received a replacement in much worse physical shape than the five month old card I sent in). Finally got hold of Joe Darwin (Marketing Director) and he made things right by sending me a new, sealed retail unit.

That said, I agree that rust (even in small amounts) shouldn't be happening on a card and living in Puerto Rico isn't an excuse. Many parts of the continental US are just as damp/humid.

 

[cmdrdredd]

I live in Florida and never once has any computer component I've owned had rust on it. That said, I have a humidity controlled house.

EVGA took care of me a couple times. Once a 680i motherboard burned up within 2 hours of ownership. I installed the hardware, started up and installed windows, restart and go to the bios and turn off things I wasn't going to use and on the next restart bam. Literally caught fire right near the front panel connectors. Apparently the boards were known to short out there when powering on and cause the issue. Was pretty scary and I didn't know if I'd be able to get another board or what. I mean, I didn't make it burn up but they could have denied my RMA. I posted on their forums and provided pictures and then emailed their RMA department and referenced my thread on their forums. 2 days later I had an RMA number and within a week had a brand new in the box motherboard.

 

[Fallengod]

Looking at those pictures, Id have to say, thats quite a lot of rust for a video card, wtf....

I kind of see EVGA's side of this. Its not their fault if a card dies because you live in a humid or excessively moist place where parts inside of a computer are actually rusted.....

 

[kache]

Wtf are they doing. They were the best company to buy GPU from, just 2 years ago...

 

[Maxx_Power]

Looking at those pictures, Id have to say, thats quite a lot of rust for a video card, wtf....

I kind of see EVGA's side of this. Its not their fault if a card dies because you live in a humid or excessively moist place where parts inside of a computer are actually rusted.....

But then they DESIGNED this card TO work there, then marketed it with the warranty and sold it knowingly... I find it perplexing.

 

[Fallengod]

Wtf are they doing. They were the best company to buy GPU from, just 2 years ago...

Did someone say they arnt still? Dont misinterpret one issue thread with some generalized opinion.... Some people are dumb and dont understand that no company is perfect, but Evga is one with the best records for sure.... If people hold companies to some perfect ideal, they are going to be extremely disappointed. You might as well start making your own video cards because no company out there is "perfect".

But then they DESIGNED this card TO work there, then marketed it with the warranty and sold it knowingly... I find it perplexing.

Market it there? They probably market it everywhere..... You think they do geographical weather studies in every location they sell products? I luld...

Ive owned 2 8800gt's and 1 9800gt which I had from the first date it was released until about 2 years ago. None of my cards got rusted.....

 

[kache]

Did someone say they arnt still? Dont misinterpret one issue thread with some generalized opinion.... Some people are dumb and dont understand that no company is perfect, but Evga is one with the best records for sure.... If people hold companies to some perfect ideal, they are going to be extremely disappointed. You might as well start making your own video cards because no company out there is "perfect".

It ain't just this. I've been reading horror stories for months now.
And Logitech is nearly perfect in their customer support.

 

[Fallengod]

It ain't just this. I've been reading horror stories for months now.
And Logitech is nearly perfect in their customer support.

Ok, but reading "stories" online is not necessarily a truly accurate depiction of the picture.

Ive owned probably 12 or so EVGA video cards over the years. Ive done at least 6 RMA's with them. All very good service and fairly pleasant RMA processes. One time they even allowed an RMA of an 8800GT which I had no receipt for and was out of warranty.

I guess I cant contest to anything in the past year as I no longer run an EVGA video card but....

And logitech has always been one of the top tier customer service companies....

 

[SunnyD]

EVGA's customer support practices leave something to be desired, period. I mean just look at how they support their motherboards - Z68 motherboards have no problems supporting Ivy Bridge CPU's. Hell, P67 boards can support Ivy Bridge. Yet EVGA outright LIES and says those chipsets do not support Ivy Bridge as per Intel, so there will never be a bios update for those boards.

Why? Because they want you to go out and spend $150 on a brand new Z77 motherboard from them instead of downloading a free bios update like every other motherboard company is happy to give you.

Just sayin.

 

[pcslookout]

I hate EVGA.

 

[ArchAngel777]

eVGA's customer service is pretty good, but their RMA service is the worst I have ever experienced. I think it took me three cards to get one that finally worked from them. Obviously they don't actually test the cards and recycle the junk that comes in by giving it to another consumer as their replacement part.

Lets put it this way, their warranty has no influence or pull towards me buying from them again. I see them right in line with everyone else at this point, except their marketing is better. 'life time warranty!' yah! provided your are not denied.

BTW - Zotac has been my best RMA experience. I listed every step that I took and they approved the RMA with no further questions. It was quick, hassle free and I actually recieved a card that worked! - the first time.

 

[Fallengod]

eVGA's customer service is pretty good, but their RMA service is the worst I have ever experienced. I think it took me three cards to get one that finally worked from them. Obviously they don't actually test the cards and recycle the junk that comes in by giving it to another consumer as their replacement part.

Lets put it this way, their warranty has no influence or pull towards me buying from them again. I see them right in line with everyone else at this point, except their marketing is better. 'life time warranty!' yah! provided your are not denied.

BTW - Zotac has been my best RMA experience. I listed every step that I took and they approved the RMA with no further questions. It was quick, hassle free and I actually recieved a card that worked! - the first time.

It just depends I guess. Its strange I see peoples experiences drastically different from my own but, I guess thats life. Ive done 6 RMA's with EVGA and every time I got a card that has worked fine.... So im skeptical when a person does only 1 rma and has an issue when ive done 6 over 10 or so years and not had an issue.

And Ive had great dealings with Zotac too. Some people hate on their rebates but ive actually received all mine very fast from them. Never had to RMA with them though.