Gigabyte RMA

[ghost recon88]

Anyone have a link to the website that works for a USA RMA? All the sites I've tried have always timed out, and I can never get anywhere. I have their phone number that I'm gonna try, but I figured a lot of the RMA took place online?

Update: Just to quick update this thread, I sent the mobo in on 4/21 and received it back yesterday (5/7). Pretty fast compared to the 3 month waits some people are experiencing. I also got a brand new board instead of a repaired RMA one.

 

[Special K]

I am building a new i7 rig soon and am having trouble deciding which X58 motherboard to pick (see my original i7 thread here: link). Here are the two I am stuck on:

Gigabyte GA-EX58-UD4P
EVGA X58 SLI (model #132-BL-E758-A1)

If I were choosing a motherboard based on features alone, I would definitely go with the UD4P. There really aren't any technical features on the X58 SLI that would justify an extra $40 to me. The X58 SLI currently costs $280 after MIR, and the UD4P currently costs $240 after MIR.

What I am worried about is the level of support and RMA service offered by the two companies. I've never built a PC before, so I don't have any basis for comparison. I did a search on here, but couldn't find a thread specifically dealing with Gigabyte support experiences, so I thought I'd make one.

I spent some time browsing Gigabyte's website, and was unable to even find the terms of their warranty, RMA service, etc. Their "USA Customer Care" link has been down all day. Overall, I was not very impressed with the support section of their website. On the other hand, I had no problem browsing EVGA's support website and learning about the terms of their warranty, RMA and advance RMA service, support forums, etc.

Gigabyte boards seem to be regarded as pretty high quality overall based on my research, so maybe I would never need to worry about their level of support and/or RMA service. Nevertheless, the poor layout of their website and lack of information has me worried.

To summarize my thread, here are my two questions:

1. Does anyone here have experience dealing with Gigabyte support and/or RMA service? If so, how is it?

2. Is the EVGA board above worth a $40+ premium ($40 for the board, plus more if I want to pay for EVGA's advance RMA service) over the UD4P just for EVGA's level of support? Again, I wouldn't pay an extra $40 for any of the X58 SLI's features - this is just a question of the level of support from Gigabyte vs. EVGA.

Obviously everyone on here would probably laugh at Dell's multi-hundred dollar support policies that include house calls, accident protection, etc. but I'm wondering if EVGA's well-regarded support is worth an extra $40+ in this case.

Thoughts?

• Topic merged to a pre-existing thread.
  
  Motherboard Forum Moderator
  lopri

 

[lopri]

I haven't had an experience with Gigabyte RMA or CS so I can't speak for it. Generally speaking (very, very generally), the companies headquartered outside the states aren't known for their customer services. Some companies try to communicate with users via various forums and in my opinion it's a good start, but when it comes to RMA.. I don't know, I haven't heard much about.

The thing with motherboards is that you really should get it right at first. It's not like HDD or video card your system can run without. (assuming you have something to hold you over) So turn-around time is critical and an RMA process can take 2~4 weeks. Personally it'd be very difficult for me to handle such a situation. It's much better to make sure things are working correctly when purchased, then deal with retailers (like NewEgg) while they cover the initial 1-month return/refund.

EVGA's Advanced RMA is indeed worth what they charge for, at least for high-end stuff that you plan to keep for long term. You do a little troubleshooting with a tech (in my case I just had to fill out a form) and they will send you a new board before you send your old one. So there is very little downtime. They have different levels of RMA process (usually related to shipping costs), and you can choose what suits you best.

Now, whether the $40 difference between EVGA X58 and Gigabyte X58 is worthwhile is a question that I can't answer.

 

[Flipped Gazelle]

I've had to use Gigabyte RMA on 3 occasions. It is horrible. Twice they replaced motherboards with used, damaged ones, and requiring me to pay shipping. Never again.

If you look thru various tech-related forums, you'll find many issues with Gigabyte, although that may be, in part, because they have mobos popular with the enthusiast community.

 

[Special K]

Originally posted by: Flipped Gazelle
I've had to use Gigabyte RMA on 3 occasions. It is horrible. Twice they replaced motherboards with used, damaged ones, and requiring me to pay shipping. Never again.

If you look thru various tech-related forums, you'll find many issues with Gigabyte, although that may be, in part, because they have mobos popular with the enthusiast community.

Do you mean you had to pay to ship the defective motherboard back, AND pay them to ship the replacement to you? Don't all hardware companies cover the cost of shipping the replacement board out?

 

[sxdev]

I RMA-ed a board about a month ago and the process was very easy and clear documented. This was before the RMA site died. Their main contact page does get replies back within a day (thou no help with items already in RMA) so that maybe the route to go.

They cover cost of shipping the board back to you.

Since then I've learned that, besides successful USB-based BIOS flashes killing a lot of other people's Gigabyte Dual/Quad BIOS boards just like mine, is that the RMA process can take 10 days to 5 months. And odds of getting unsatisfactory results is high, so I have given up and looking for a non-Gigabyte brand OSX friendly board to buy instead.

One comment about EVGA mentioned above. My previous main board was a free nForce motherboard they were giving away with their graphics cards. It was made in China by some company with I think the word JET in its name thou the board says eVGA on it. I used it heavily and still use that board now and again, beat up, two capacitors with popped top, laying outside of a case for years, and it runs beautifully. Dealing with them back then for special offer mail ins was surprisingly good too.

 

[ghost recon88]

Well after calling them I found their RMA site is rma.gigabyteusa.com. I applied for an RMA number last night around 7PM EST and am still awaiting a confirmation e-mail...

 

[Special K]

Originally posted by: ghost recon88
Well after calling them I found their RMA site is rma.gigabyteusa.com. I applied for an RMA number last night around 7PM EST and am still awaiting a confirmation e-mail...

When I visit that site, I get:

"Server Error in '/' Application."

along with a bunch of debug text. This is encouraging :roll:

UPDATE: maybe this was a problem with my OS/browser (Redhat Linux and FF2). I can access the site fine from IE7.

 

[Flipped Gazelle]

Originally posted by: Special K

Originally posted by: Flipped Gazelle
I've had to use Gigabyte RMA on 3 occasions. It is horrible. Twice they replaced motherboards with used, damaged ones, and requiring me to pay shipping. Never again.

If you look thru various tech-related forums, you'll find many issues with Gigabyte, although that may be, in part, because they have mobos popular with the enthusiast community.

Do you mean you had to pay to ship the defective motherboard back, AND pay them to ship the replacement to you? Don't all hardware companies cover the cost of shipping the replacement board out?

No, they pay return shipping.

However, they refused to acknowledge they had sent me defective mobos, and I had to pay to ship the crap they had sent me, which were supposed to be working replacements.

You'll probably get an RMA authorization within 24 hours, and the turn around time was about 2 weeks, which seems pretty standard for the industry. Hope you have better luck than I did!

 

[sxdev]

I take back what I said this morning as my replacement arrived today.

Used, same model & revision. Latest BIOS and works just fine. Paperwork indicates 30 days or original warranty, whichever is longer. And that it was i transit for a week giving them about 2 weeks.

It also looks like their new RMA site is up and working but my emails at least have non-working links (to print RMA, track, etc) to rma.gigabyte-usa.com instead of working rma.gigabyteusa.com. Removing the - fixes it.

 

[LOUISSSSS]

had 2 experiences with Gigabyte RMA:

first: i paid my own shipping $10 to ship MB back to them for repair. (problem was random freezing under idle)
got it back and the same problem comes up. bad things was: i called before i even got it back and they said they updated the bios on it. i got it back and it was the same bios.

second: i had the same problem from before above and they try to blame my other parts. they gave me a pre-paid, but thats slow as hell and its taking 10 days to get to gigabyte. its been shipped out the 2nd and its still not there yet. then i still need to wait for it to get back. almost 2 months without a motherboard.

 

[Special K]

Originally posted by: LOUISSSSS
had 2 experiences with Gigabyte RMA:

first: i paid my own shipping $10 to ship MB back to them for repair. (problem was random freezing under idle)
got it back and the same problem comes up. bad things was: i called before i even got it back and they said they updated the bios on it. i got it back and it was the same bios.

second: i had the same problem from before above and they try to blame my other parts. they gave me a pre-paid, but thats slow as hell and its taking 10 days to get to gigabyte. its been shipped out the 2nd and its still not there yet. then i still need to wait for it to get back. almost 2 months without a motherboard.

Wow. Maybe it's worth a few extra $ for the peace of mind of EVGA's support and RMA service.

And this problem occurred after the 30 day window had passed to qualify for a replacement from wherever you bought the mobo from?

 

[sxdev]

And this problem occurred after the 30 day window had passed to qualify for a replacement from wherever you bought the mobo from?

Yesterday until I got my board back I was looking around on newegg. Most of 1 and 2 star comments seemed to be from folks who got their board, cut the UPC code for a rebate, and then had to deal with manufacturer RMA hell when the board died. So in many cases there isn't even that 30 day cushion.

 

[ghost recon88]

Got my RMA confirmed last night, man I'm sure hoping I can sail through this smoothly

 

[ghost recon88]

Just to quick update this thread, I sent the mobo in on 4/21 and received it back yesterday (5/7). Pretty fast compared to the 3 month waits some people are experiencing. I also got a brand new board instead of a repaired RMA one.

 

[ComputerWizKid]

I sent a GigaByte board back in January and I got the same board (The onboard Lan Died, GA-G31M-S2L) in Late February took about 25 Days I like their board but the RMA Process leaves a bit to be Desired