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.
I don't blame you for being skeptical, but you need to get your head out of the sand if you are going to discount people who have different results. Their own forums had people complaining of the exact same issue that I was. Their 280 GTX's that were getting replaced by the RMA Department had the same PSOD.
In fact, you can probably find the the threads to this day. Same handle on their forums. Do a search! I was also the guy who would have gotten 'two' replacements because of their screw up. I notified them of this and they intercepted the other package.
Their RMA Department as of 1 (edit**, this was actually 2.5 years ago, time flies) year ago was aboslutely horrid. Can things change? Sure, of course that can. Is it possible I just had bad luck? Doubtful, because I received two bad cards over a 3 weeks period. How does that happen? And if it was my system, why did my 3rd card work? Why did my first two replacement cards fail in different two different rigs? Some things you need to consider.
Besides, as noted before, there were at least 5 people in the forums with the same issue I had. They kept receiving cards with the same problem. So we all just jokingly said that we kept getting each others cards. I call this the 280 GTX debacle.
Additional note: I took pictures of the final card that I received. The sticker on the fan was dangling (it was missing adhesive on like 80% of the sticker) and would have likely fallen off and got stuckin in the fan if I did not remove it. Addtionally, the main plate was crooked and not lined up properly with the card. I took pictures and forwarded them to eVGA and told him that had I been real picky, I'd have sent this card back too and made a stink. Who knows, maybe someone who worked there around 2.5 years ago was a horrible employee and they cleaned house. I suppose he/she could have worked on my RMA twice in a row before someone competitent worked on mine. I have no idea.