getting screwed

[ZippyDan]

ok, heres going to be the story. and im going to name names.

the summary:
-sent a Geforce 4 Ti 4200 128MB 8x AGP video card in for RMA
-received a Geforce FX 5600XT 128MB with 64mbit memory bus
-FYI: GF4 Ti4200 ~= GFFX 5600Ultra > GFFX 5600 > GFFX 5600XT > GFFX 5600XT with 64mbit memory bus

-the vendor doesnt stock any faster cards, so it seems they cant help me
-the manufacturer seems to be claiming that the card i was sent is a better card, and wont help me

what do i do?

the details:
in February of this year, i bought two Inno3d Geforce4 Ti4200 64MB AGP 4x cards from Amamax.com. normally, i wouldnt go for no-name brands like Inno3d, but I had 2x Geforce2 MX400 and 1x Kyro2 that I had picked up from them for budget computers, so I decided to give them a chance on these relatively higher end cards. similarly, i had never shopped from Amamax before, but they had the cheapest price.

the cards worked fine for a while, but eventually a problem cropped up on BOTH of them, where i would get really nasty wavy horizontal line going down the screen (i actually posted about this way back when http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview.cfm?catid=31&threadid=989839&FTVAR_MSGDBTABLE=arc). i thought i had solved the problem, but it resurfaced, and I RMA'ed both the cards. This was probably around July or August.

Amamax has a 1 year warranty on the cards, and although it took them a while to send back the replacements, the process was pretty painless as they took the cards back without question and sent me out two brand new ones. Even better, they sent me Geforce4 Ti4200 128MB 8x versions... so i got an extra 64MB per card and faster memory to boot (apparently they ran out of my version). I was happy.

A month ago, one of the cards suddenly dies. Well it doesnt completely quit, but i get all kinds of weird graphical artifacts. Colors on the screen seem randomly transposed. ok, time for another RMA.

Again, Amamax RMA was painless... theyd even automated it so my RMA was never questioned. Unfortunately what arrived was a Geforce FX 5600XT 128MB (with 64bit memory bus). Where Amamax DOES suck is trying to get a hold of a real person via the phone. After several days of trying, I finally reached someone. This individual confirmed what I feared from browsing their website. They were all sold out of Geforce4s, nVidia has stopped producing the Geforce4 chip (a fact Inno3d later confirms), and they dont stock any Geforce FXs faster than what they sent me. I cant fault Amamax for that: how can they give me anything better if they dont stock it? Further, I'd bet they figured they were giving me an upgrade: GFFX is better than GF4 and 5600 is better than 4200, right?

Just for your FYI at this point:
the 5600 Ultra barely manages to stay neck and neck with the 4200 in most benchmarks
the 5600 is a good 25% slower than the Ultra
the 5600XT is an underclocked 5600 (probably around 25% underclocked)
throw in the 64bit neutered memory bus (compared to 128bit on standard 5600XT and above) and youll see why im getting screwed

So my only option now is to get the manufacturer to honor their warranty, right?

Well lets just say that Inno3D customer service sucks for one major reason: can't find a phone number to call ANYWHERE on the web (www.inno3d.com). you have to email them. past experience with Inno3D's tech support ranged from amazingly fast responses, to 5 days with no response. I sent them an email last thursday and hadnt received a response up to today. I sent another email today and received a response today. Here's their response to my situation:

--------------------

Dear Sir,

Obviously , Amamax have been doing extra value of services to you. The 5600xt is a direct x 9 Geforce fx architecture design. It cannot be comparable to ti4200 which is older design and not a directx 9 compliant. Our studies show that Ti4200 has a poor overclock ability and less compatible to many new video games.
Innovision do not produce ti4200 any more since this chips was stopped production from nvidia.

Our selling price to Amamax for 5600xt is 30% higher than Ti4200. It means that Amamax already lost 30% in this business with you. We advise you contact Amamax again to find out a solution in this matter as Innovision do not deal with enduser warranty.
Please contact Amamax.


Thank you

--------------------
this is basically a followup to this thread:

http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview.cfm?catid=31&threadid=1197702&FTVAR_MSGDBTABLE=

i felt this deserved its own thread because the previous thread was simply me wondering if i had been screwed. this is the thread to decide what to do about it

~Zippy!

 

[modedepe]

Have you asked about getting some sort of a refund? Is there a warranty provided by Inno3d also, or only Amamax.com?

 

[ZippyDan]

Inno3D says that its 1-year warranty is provided via its vendors

Amamax refuses to give a refund after 30 days

and on another note, i called their Hong Kong office to try and get a phone number in USA to call. the guy i talked to in Hong Kong said he would email me the phone number. we'll see.

~Zippy!

 

[Corporate Thug]

i know you dont want to hear this, but you can always sell of the card and buy a new 4200. you'll prolly end of paying nothing out of packet (or very little)

 

[dud]

Zippy, after reading your story I have to disagree with you. You have been VERY fortunate. You bought from a vendor that replaced your board(s) not once but twice no questions asked. You have gotten the use of the boards for almost a year. It's not hard to find stories of people who were actually screwed by not actually being able to RMA defective equipment, thereby having to eat it. In your case the solution is clear. You are unhappy but not screwed. Take your card(s) to ebay and sell them and go buy the card(s) you really want and stop yelling fire where there is none. Sorry, but after reading so many sob stories I have little sympathy ...

 

[Krynis]

hey zippy long time no see never did i think i would see a SS player here

intresting problem but i would have to agree with dud for the most part by the way did u mention to the rep from inno3d that it was a "64bit neutered" version of the card?

 

[modedepe]

Originally posted by: dud
Zippy, after reading your story I have to disagree with you. You have been VERY fortunate. You bought from a vendor that replaced your board(s) not once but twice no questions asked. You have gotten the use of the boards for almost a year. It's not hard to find stories of people who were actually screwed by not actually being able to RMA defective equipment, thereby having to eat it. In your case the solution is clear. You are unhappy but not screwed. Take your card(s) to ebay and sell them and go buy the card(s) you really want and stop yelling fire where there is none. Sorry, but after reading so many sob stories I have little sympathy ...

I agree that he was fortunate originally when he got an upgrade to a 128mb card, but the rest has been bs. If they're going to offer a warranty on the card they should replace it. And, if they don't have the same card they should replace it with something at least as good as his. That's the whole point of a warranty, isn't it? Many people buy retail instead of oem just so they can get a warranty, but why should they if they'll be treated like this guy? During my experiences rmaing parts I've had virtually no problems.

 

[ZippyDan]

er. so what u r saying is that because some companies dont honor their warranties at all, that i should feel satisfied because my warranty was handled unfairly? k. as mode says, whats the point of warranties then?

my warranty is for a year from purchase. the card is guaranteed to work, at the level of performance i paid for for a period of one year. i still have two more months left. that mentioned, theres probably been a month of down time (either card was not functioning or was in rma process) where i didnt even get any use out of the card

kryn. who are you. and yes i did mention everything i mentioned here to the Inno3d people, including the 64bit memory bus.

~Zippy!

 

[Krynis]

Lol im just an SS player dude and try to keep cool

 

[high]

So you bought gf2's originally, and now u have 5600XT's, what's the problem?? Did you pay for the TI4200's?