Help/Recommendation on PNY "lifetime" warranty

[CptCrunch]

Alright, as the story goes, I bought a PNY graphics card form BestBuy in November 2002. I bought the card cause it was a decent card for the time, GeForce 4 ti4200 4x agp 64mb, AND cause it had a lifetime warranty. I thought, well a lifetime warranty would help me keep this card for a long time, especially in a server/backup system. Well, apparently their "lifetime" warranty isn't good for a lifetime. According to their website's fine print, their "lifetime" warranty only covers products that are still in production. Well of course a ti4200 isn't going to be in production, it's way too old. But no where did it say on their box that "lifetime" meant "lifetime of card in production." So now I have a decent graphics card (still runs all of my games at 10x7 or 12x9 just fine) with a dead fan (causing over heating/artifacts/etc) and they wont even honor their own warranty.
On the box, it never said how their lifetime warranty played out, which is very poor business practices. I call their CSR to get a replacement, and he rudely told me that the card was no longer valid for a warranty. I told him that it had a lifetime warranty on it, and he said it was only for the lifetime of the card in production, not for the lifetime of the card in my possession. I asked him what I should do now with a still decent graphics card and he told me "throw it in the trash and buy a new one." What nerve. So I asked to speak to his supervisor, and before he switched me over, he said "well, you're not going to get anywhere with him." I said, thats fine, but I still want to talk to him. I get transfered to his voicemail box, NOT HIM, which royally pissed me off, and have not heard back from him since (called on Wednesday). What to do now?
I know you can say go buy a new card, it's out dated, but thats not the point. The point is that PNY has a lifetime guarantee on their cards and will not honor them. The card will still play every game fine, so it's still worth it to me to keep it. What can I do now? I'm going to call back tomorrow and speak to a supervisor, but who in corporate offices can I talk to? Emails? Faxes? FTC?

Sorry for the rant, but I hate to let you guys know of hte situation. Thanks guys

 

[CptCrunch]

bump

 

[Matthias99]

Originally posted by: CptCrunch
Alright, as the story goes, I bought a PNY graphics card form BestBuy in November 2002. I bought the card cause it was a decent card for the time, GeForce 4 ti4200 4x agp 64mb, AND cause it had a lifetime warranty. I thought, well a lifetime warranty would help me keep this card for a long time, especially in a server/backup system. Well, apparently their "lifetime" warranty isn't good for a lifetime. According to their website's fine print, their "lifetime" warranty only covers products that are still in production. Well of course a ti4200 isn't going to be in production, it's way too old. But no where did it say on their box that "lifetime" meant "lifetime of card in production." So now I have a decent graphics card (still runs all of my games at 10x7 or 12x9 just fine) with a dead fan (causing over heating/artifacts/etc) and they wont even honor their own warranty.
On the box, it never said how their lifetime warranty played out, which is very poor business practices. I call their CSR to get a replacement, and he rudely told me that the card was no longer valid for a warranty. I told him that it had a lifetime warranty on it, and he said it was only for the lifetime of the card in production, not for the lifetime of the card in my possession. I asked him what I should do now with a still decent graphics card and he told me "throw it in the trash and buy a new one." What nerve. So I asked to speak to his supervisor, and before he switched me over, he said "well, you're not going to get anywhere with him." I said, thats fine, but I still want to talk to him. I get transfered to his voicemail box, NOT HIM, which royally pissed me off, and have not heard back from him since (called on Wednesday). What to do now?
I know you can say go buy a new card, it's out dated, but thats not the point. The point is that PNY has a lifetime guarantee on their cards and will not honor them. The card will still play every game fine, so it's still worth it to me to keep it. What can I do now? I'm going to call back tomorrow and speak to a supervisor, but who in corporate offices can I talk to? Emails? Faxes? FTC?

Sorry for the rant, but I hate to let you guys know of hte situation. Thanks guys

First: paragraphs are your friend.

Second: this is not new news, and you should maybe have read the warranty when you bought the card. I thought they did have a disclaimer on the box, but I've never actually bought a PNY video card myself. Feel free to complain to the BBB and/or FTC, but I doubt it will do much; the warranty terms are clearly spelled out if you actually read the warranty.

Third: the CSR was pretty lame. I would attempt (again) to get ahold of a supervisor over there and tell them the guy was rude to you (I hope you got his name or employee ID number or something). But the card is out of warranty. Maybe they can do something for you, but I wouldn't count on it.

Fourth: You can easily get a replacement fan and/or heatsink for the card, if that's your concern.

 

[Ryland]

I would say just get a small fan from you local computer shop and swap it out. You probably won't get far dealing with PNY (which is why I never buy anything from them, unless its free).

 

[Killrose]

There are actually problems with some Ti4200 64mb cards with a certain PCB revision, but that problem affects Capacitors and Mosfets. You are lucky it is just your fan and not that particular problem because your video would be corrupted and the card unusable.

The PNY lifetime warranty is a joke and if they are not willing to substitute a card of equal value, they have absolutely no right to put out such a claim.

 

[Lowboy]

Same card , same RMA problem.

Guess along with "PNY Technologies offers a lifetime replacement warranty"
on the box. They should also put "Check our web site for full warranty details" .

Sounds like a cool warranty! Helped me make the decision to buy.

I still have the box.

We are screwed

 

[orangat]

Too bad dude. Production cycle of a single model are so short nowadays the warranty means ziltch.
Your experience merely confirms PNY is a second rate manufaturer anyway. There was someone who said his PNY card had fallen off components rattling at the bottom of the box.

 

[T9D]

that ticks me off that companies do underhanded tactics like that. I dont know how they can get away with wording it as a "life time" warranty even. That has scam written all over it. I hope people start sueing over stuff like this. Or complaining to some agency or something. I've heard of plenty of instances where a lawyer sued in behalf of the public and all the people who lost on their poor business practices. Got millions of dollars on it too. Paypal was one of them. Anyone who had an account within a certain period was entitled to some of that money.

 

[dvpatel]

Originally posted by: Matthias99
Fourth: You can easily get a replacement fan and/or heatsink for the card, if that's your concern.

Where do I purchase a replacement fan for my PNY FX5200 Ultra?

Thanks

 

[dvpatel]

Originally posted by: dvpatel

Originally posted by: Matthias99
Fourth: You can easily get a replacement fan and/or heatsink for the card, if that's your concern.

Where do I purchase a replacement fan for my PNY FX5200 Ultra?

Thanks

Can some one please help?