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HOT?? ECS Nforce4 Ultra $78.99 Shipped!!

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Let's say Newegg bought the motherboards from ECS on March 1st, 2005. You then make the purchase from Newegg on April 10th, 2005. The one year warranty ends on March 1st, 2006 of Newegg's invoice and not your April 10th one. I found this out earlier this year so I thought it would be best to tell others. So for the end user, it's not even a one year warranty. It's more like a 10-11 month warranty.
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I find this more than a little difficult to swallow. And, it actually depends upon how "Purchaser" is defined. What I would believe is that if an independent system builder or any non-authorized distribution channel purchased these from Newegg or other ECS distributor, then the warranty policy would begin from that date because from ECS's perspective, that is the purchaser. The situation you described just doesn't make sense for Newegg or whoever sells the boards. I would think ECS would have a tough time building up a distribution channel because the retailer wouldn't want the grief of trying to explain it to their customers if there were problems. Furthermore, it would just be impractical from ECS's point of view. It would mean tracking by serial number from the time it left their factory.

Besides from a more practical side, all I want from a warranty is that the board doesn't fail within 4-6 months after purchase. If it is almost a year old, I would probably replace it with something newer and faster anyway. After my experience with MSI, switch brands, too.
 
Originally posted by: RMSistight
You guys better watch out with ECS. If you are not aware, ECS only provides 1 year warranty on their motherboards. BUT, here is the catch: the so-called "one year" starts on the invoice of the purchaser and NOT the invoice of the end user.
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So what?
http://209.220.161.220/ecsusa/

"ECS Motherboard RETURN (RMA) POLICY
* ECS Warranty is offered to direct customers with valid ECS invoice only."

You would RMA the motherboard through Newegg, Fry's or whoever sold you the bpard. Do you really think newegg is going to tell you "tough luck" within 1 year?

That's the problem when users like you make up something and try to present it as fact. At least try to look at the available information before inventing some crazy theory that isn't even true.
 
I also went to ECS's website and RMSistight raises a valid question.
* ECS Warranty is offered to direct customers with valid ECS invoice only."
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That's an interesting statement. So much so, that I just sent an email to ECS asking for clarification and will post the response (if I receive one) to this thread. Doubt if it will be before Tues or Wed next week because ECS's website says they are closed on the weekends.
 
Found this is an old AnandTech review of the ECS 755-A2 (Link):
The ECS RMA policy is clear and easy to follow, but ECS' RMA policy is pretty restrictive compared to other motherboard manufacturers. Basically, ECS only offers Warranty Repair to the Company that purchased the board from ECS, since an original ECS invoice is required. While this is often the method preferred by other motherboard manufacturers, there are usually exceptions for direct RMA replacement by the manufacturer. Keep in mind, it is the only acceptable method for ECS, and you will have to return your board to the vendor from where you bought it for warranty service. Since you are only allowed to RMA a board if you purchase directly from ECS, you need to be careful to ask the vendor who sells you the ECS board how they handle warranty repairs and replacement.

All-in-all, the ECS RMA procedure is much less friendly to the end-user than the excellent Technical Support from ECS. The moral is this: be sure to ask about warranty and return policies when buying an ECS board. While the RMA form asks for the usual information, such as personal info, system specifications, etc., only the direct ECS customer can receive warranty service, at least in the US.
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In my experience, ECS boards are decent boards so long as you receive one that is not DOA. If they work when you get them, they're likely to continue to work for a long time. I just gave a friend of mine an old K7S5A. He went home and built a system with it - no problem. They may not be glamorous, but they work ok if you're looking to build cheaply.
 
Originally posted by: pxc
"ECS Motherboard RETURN (RMA) POLICY
* ECS Warranty is offered to direct customers with valid ECS invoice only."
You would RMA the motherboard through Newegg, Fry's or whoever sold you the bpard. Do you really think newegg is going to tell you "tough luck" within 1 year?
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That makes sense, some companies that mfg things that tend to sell primarily in qty to OEMs, in the interest of cutting costs, may not want to deal with end-user warranty issues. But by the same token, didn't NewEgg recently change their RMA/return terms WRT mobos? In that they want you to deal with the mfg instead? Sounds like a chicken-and-egg problem then if you purchase an ECS mobo from NewEgg, because neither one will want to talk to you. Hopefully NewEgg will realized the foolishness of that policy as it applies to mfgs that don't accept end-user RMAs, and will RMA to the mfg on your behalf.
 
Originally posted by: pxc
Originally posted by: RMSistight
You guys better watch out with ECS. If you are not aware, ECS only provides 1 year warranty on their motherboards. BUT, here is the catch: the so-called "one year" starts on the invoice of the purchaser and NOT the invoice of the end user.
Click to expand...
So what?
http://209.220.161.220/ecsusa/

"ECS Motherboard RETURN (RMA) POLICY
* ECS Warranty is offered to direct customers with valid ECS invoice only."

You would RMA the motherboard through Newegg, Fry's or whoever sold you the bpard. Do you really think newegg is going to tell you "tough luck" within 1 year?

That's the problem when users like you make up something and try to present it as fact. At least try to look at the available information before inventing some crazy theory that isn't even true.
Click to expand...

You think I'm making this up? I JUST RMAed my N2U400-A board myself! I bought a motherboard/CPU combo from Fry's Electronics on April 27, 2004. Something went wrong with my board so I RMAed it to ECS. You CANNOT RMA it to Fry's because they only give you 30 days. I don't know Newegg's RMA policy so I can't comment on that. This is strictly Fry's Electronics.

I talked to the RMA department at ECS and they emailed me that my warranty period started on February 27th, 2004. This was FRY'S INVOICE date with ECS. According to ECS, the warranty starts ON the invoice date with the retailer where you purchased it. If you don't believe me yourself, you can go right on ahead and ask them. They will tell you the SAME thing. They even hassled me for a serial number when it wasn't even my fault that Fry's didn't put it on the damn receipt.


Futhermore, here is the email THEY sent me:

-----Original Message-----
From: rmaservice [mailto:rmaservice@ecsusa.com]
Sent: Monday, February 07, 2005 4:59 PM
To: XXXXXXXXXXXXX
Subject: Fry's MB RMA request BEING PROCESSED. Need SN on receipt in the future. Warranty expiration date is based on ECS invoice date.


Even though your Fry's receipt did not show the complete serial# being
claimed, we will make an exception this time to offer service. For future
Fry's purchases, please make sure complete serial# is printed on their
receipt at the cash register.

RMA request being processed. You should receive a RMA# via email from
mailto:RMA@ecsusa.com within two working days. Packages arrived at ECS
without a valid ECS RMA# visible on the outside will be rejected.

Please keep in mind that "ECS's manufacturer warranty is one year based on
our invoice date to Fry's." Your warranty will expire on 2/27/2005.
Motherboards serviced by ECS during the warranty period does not extend the
original warranty expiration date in any way.

I know what I'm talking about because I experienced it. Don't go making accusations when you don't know all the facts. You know what? GO email ECS and ask them. You will find out that what I'm saying is true.

And another thing. ECS is going to take 15 business days to inspect my board! I have a Gigabyte motherboard and it only took them HALF of the time. 15 business days will probably tell you they have a sh!tload of faulty motherboards.
 
RMSistight,

I was doubtful at first but I believe you. Sure puts ECS in a different light with me. As I posted earlier, I haven't had any problems with their boards but now consider myself lucky. The warranty terms can only be interpreted as hostile to the consumer, with the intended purpose of limiting ECS's responsibility to repairing defective merchandise.
 
Originally posted by: Mac
RMSistight,

I was doubtful at first but I believe you. Sure puts ECS in a different light with me. As I posted earlier, I haven't had any problems with their boards but now consider myself lucky. The warranty terms can only be interpreted as hostile to the consumer, with the intended purpose of limiting ECS's responsibility to repairing defective merchandise.
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The last sentence you wrote pretty much summed up what I wanted to say. I just wanted to let everyone know what's up. Now since you know you better watch out. The next time you make an ECS motherboard purchase, better find out what the REAL warranty expiration date is.
 
The shortened warranty period is one concern. But for me, the bigger issue is the policy that ECS has put into place to deliberatly thwart and deny legitimate warranty requests by requiring the end user go through the "direct customers with valid ECS invoice only". If the retailer, Newegg, Outpost, Fry's, whoever, doesn't want to cooperate or cannot find the invoice, ECS doesn't have to do anything, according to the warranty. After all, the normal buying public cannot be "direct customers" to ECS. ECS doesn't sell end-user to my knowledge. How convenient for ECS. This is pretty underhanded for a manufacturer doing business in the US.
 
Originally posted by: Mac
The shortened warranty period is one concern. But for me, the bigger issue is the policy that ECS has put into place to deliberatly thwart and deny legitimate warranty requests by requiring the end user go through the "direct customers with valid ECS invoice only". If the retailer, Newegg, Outpost, Fry's, whoever, doesn't want to cooperate or cannot find the invoice, ECS doesn't have to do anything, according to the warranty. After all, the normal buying public cannot be "direct customers" to ECS. ECS doesn't sell end-user to my knowledge. How convenient for ECS. This is pretty underhanded for a manufacturer doing business in the US.
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It's pretty standard among a certain subset of mfgs, generally the ones that do the bulk of their business in the lower-cost/OEM/bulk space. It's cheaper for them that way, and they compete primarily based on price. So in a way, foregoing the ability to do a direct end-user warranty claim, is what allows you to buy an ECS motherboard for the (relatively) low price that you do. After all, "you get what you pay for", and in this case, you're not paying for the ability to execute an RMA yourself with the mfg.

As much as I have disparaged ECS, that's actually in no way "underhanded". In fact, some mfgs of goods sold in qty., don't even extend the priviledge of executing an RMA to their distributors/dealers either! Instead of dealing with RMAs, they simply include additional units along with the purchased units, to cover any possible failures. For goods that cost less to mfg than to re-work, that's often the most cost-effective route. I've heard that Acer is another company that tends to do things that way, they don't actually repair items sent to them to RMA, they just junk them, and send you another unit, since they are mfg so cheaply. (I don't know if that's the case for their entire product line, but I've heard that mentioned anecdotally in the past about some of their products.)
 
Who cares about the warrenty, doesnt suprise me either......

Ive had hundreds of boards pass through my hands over the years and only a couple doa and none dead within the warrenty period. That is boards p3/athalon era or older, now boards in the earlyier years were horrible.

If its doa newegg will handle it.
 
This may be the board that makes me go PCI-E.

I really want to see a review first though. Hopefully, ECS has increased the HTT range to at least 300.
 
As follow up on the previous posts regarding ECS warranty, I received this response from Newegg. It is mostly good news but read and interpret for yourself because there is a nuance in the response regarding "original invoice date". Which one? My invoice or theirs from ECS. I suspect the latter.

No response yet from ECS.

I am considering purchasing: "ECS NVIDIA nForce4 Ultra Chipset Motherboard For AMD Socket 939 CPU, Model "NFORCE4-A939 (1.0)" -RETAIL" Item # N82E16813135177.

After looking at ECS's website, it appears that I would have to return the motherboard to you if it needed repairs during the warranty period. Is that correct?

Also, does the 12 month warranty period begin when I purchase the motherboard from you or does it start when Newegg purchases from ECS?

Newegg's reply

Dear Mac,
Thank you for your interest in Newegg. Regarding your questions, please kindly note that this motherboard is warranted through the manufacturer only, which means the manufacturer will cover the replacement warranty. However, if they fail to serve you, we will always be willing to help you. For most general items, we have 30 days refund and 1 year replacement warranty from the original invoice date.
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