Question Let's say this happened to you: Dead GPU

[AnitaPeterson]

Not naming the company - at least not yet! - for maximum objectivity (and to avoid fanboyism).
Just trying to see how others would react.

Imagine this scenario.

You buy a video card, but you don't open the box right away. You keep it on a shelf in reserve, until you need it.
Then COVID comes, and there's a worldwide GPU crisis.

One day you build a new computer and you need a video card to put it all together.
You take the spare card from the box for the first time, put it in the computer, turn it on and start installing Windows.
Mid-way through the installation, the screen goes dark.
The GPU has simply stopped functioning, none of the outputs work (it's a silent model, so no moving parts either).

The manufacturer's warranty terms are as follows:
"36 months from the date the product was first purchased by an end-customer (“Date of Purchase”). If proof of purchase cannot be provided, the manufacture date will be deemed to be the start of the Warranty Period. "

You bought the card in 2019, so you assume you're covered. You have the original receipt from the store and you send a scan/picture of it to the manufacturer, as proof of purchase.

You contact the manufacturer. The online RMA form asks for details, including the serial number.
They inform you that the serial number shows a manufacturing date of 2014, so as far as they're concerned, the card's warranty has expired.
You ask for clarifications and point out the terms of the warranty (36 months from purchase).
Your case is escalated to Tier 2 customer support.
The company's response is that the retailer sold you an older model, already out of manufacturer's warranty in 2019, so the retailer you purchased it from became responsible for the product's warranty.

Of course, the retailers' warranty was only good for a year, and the store has closed (like many others during the pandemic).

Bottom line: Repairing or replacing the card will cost you, either way.

Do you accept the manufacturer's response?

 

[GrumpyMan]

Just bought an IPhone 13 for my daughter for a Christmas present and am worried about the same thing. What if when I turn it on and finally give it to her on Christmas, it doesn't work well or at all? I don't want to open and take off the plastic wrap.

Well, if Apple or in this case T-Mobile would say something like, "Sorry dude 30 day warranty is up." (I know this is not the case and I do have insurance on it). But I would bitch until the sun don't shine for sure even though I would have to eat it in the end. Sorry to hear about your deal, or no deal I should say. Keep on bitching! Tell them you post in the most important internet site in the world, maybe they would fear bad press?

 

[AnitaPeterson]

[...] Tell them you post in the most important internet site in the world, maybe they would fear bad press?

Loved that part in particular, but I got a feeling they don't care...

 

[Leeea]

Do you accept the manufacturer's response?

Yes.

Why? Because your lawsuit is going to cost far more $, and likely yield the same outcome.

I guess you could try civil disobedience, but chaining yourself to their entry doors is also unlikely to yield a alternative outcome.

You could however hold a grudge. Post a negative comment anywhere their products are reviewed for the next 10 years. While this is very unlikely to effect anything at all, it is mildly satisfying 10 years later when you crap on a review.

I speak from experience:

ASRock Z590 Steel Legend WiFi 6E Review: Z590 On A Budget

www.anandtech.com

(check the comments)

 

[GodisanAtheist]

Just bought an IPhone 13 for my daughter for a Christmas present and am worried about the same thing. What if when I turn it on and finally give it to her on Christmas, it doesn't work well or at all? I don't want to open and take off the plastic wrap.

Well, if Apple or in this case T-Mobile would say something like, "Sorry dude 30 day warranty is up." (I know this is not the case and I do have insurance on it). But I would bitch until the sun don't shine for sure even though I would have to eat it in the end. Sorry to hear about your deal, or no deal I should say. Keep on bitching! Tell them you post in the most important internet site in the world, maybe they would fear bad press?

- Nearly the exact same thing happened to me with a Pixel 3a phone I purchased for my wife's birthday.

Bought it a month in advance from the retailer. She opens it up, loves it, goes to go through the set-up... dead screen. Retailer says its outside of the two week in store return policy, so now I have to go through Google. Luckily they authorize a repair on the phone from a local repair shop, but it now has a 90 day refurb warranty, not the 1 year new manufacturer warranty.

Granted the phone has worked for over a year at this point without issue, but this whole incident reminded me why I actually like buying used parts: they're confirmed working and you tend to actually get more buyer protections through something like e-bay and paypal than you do buying something new through a retailer.

Can read my saga here: https://forums.anandtech.com/threads/pixel-4-for-499-or-pixel-3a-for-399.2580078/

 

[Mopetar]

Threatening the low level grunt dealing with you won't do any good. If it's worth more than your time just waste enough of their's and keep trying to escalate to someone who actually has any authority in the matter and you might get something.

The low-level grunt is just following a script. They don't know the law, so if you do a little bit of research and throw something at them that might suggest you have a case (doesn't even matter if it's equally dubious legal opinion) they won't know what to do with it and will have to hand it off to someone higher up.

No matter what just keep wasting their time long enough and some bean counter will realize it's less expensive for the company to give you a replacement than it is for them pay for people to keep dealing with you.

You can play far more dirty with the company if you want, but the low level service grunt's job is to spend as little time with you as possible. They probably get unceremoniously shot if a phone call goes on for more than five minutes so it's hard to fault them.

If the time wasting isn't working after long enough then you can threaten to go scorched earth, but you'd better be actually willing to do it because they know that most people just like to complain and won't do anything about it.

 

[imported_tajmahal]

I wouldn't just accept it, but would continue to try to follow it up and i wouldn't be shy about using State / local consumer affairs people. Sometimes just a letter from a government office can make a difference.

 

[DooKey]

IF that card was at official EOL per the manufacture when it was sold by the retailer then I understand where they are coming from. I suspect this is the case. Retailer warranty terms apply at that point. Sounds like you just have to eat it.

 

[SteveGrabowski]

Well, if Apple or in this case T-Mobile would say something like, "Sorry dude 30 day warranty is up." (I know this is not the case and I do have insurance on it). But I would bitch until the sun don't shine for sure even though I would have to eat it in the end. Sorry to hear about your deal, or no deal I should say. Keep on bitching! Tell them you post in the most important internet site in the world, maybe they would fear bad press?

Why would they care if op posts on pornhub?

 

[LouPoir]

Sorry to say, I would accept this outcome and move on.

IMHO.

 

[Justinus]

The manufacturer's warranty terms are as follows:
"36 months from the date the product was first purchased by an end-customer (“Date of Purchase”). If proof of purchase cannot be provided, the manufacture date will be deemed to be the start of the Warranty Period. "

You bought the card in 2019, so you assume you're covered.

You seem to have left out whether or not you have valid proof of purchase (invoice, receipt, etc) that you have provided the manufacturer.

 

[AnitaPeterson]

You seem to have left out whether or not you have valid proof of purchase (invoice, receipt, etc) that you have provided the manufacturer.

The receipt exists, of course, and it's been sent to the manufacturer twice as proof of purchase.
Edited original post to make it clear.

 

[Justinus]

The receipt exists, of course, and it's been sent to the manufacturer twice as proof of purchase.
Edited original post to make it clear.

Assuming the retailer was an "authorized retailer", you're definitely getting screwed here and the manufacturer is in the wrong.

You can try harder to convince them they are responsible for it, because their warranty clearly states it is warrantied from date of purchase.

You may still lose this battle, so I don't know what else to tell you. There's not a lot you can do legally without suing them, and trying to post bad reviews on various watchdogs like BBB may not prove fruitful in any way. (It never has worked for me.)

I am really curious what manufacturer this is. Personally I'd probably be writing it off if it was less than $300 or so, and refusing to ever support the manufacturer again (and making sure none of my friends and acquaintances do, either).

 

[Arkaign]

Twitter is best for publicly making your case in situations like this (if the company has a Twitter presence and cares about their reputation). I have my issues with social media, but this is the kind of thing this is useful for.

 

[AnitaPeterson]

Assuming the retailer was an "authorized retailer", you're definitely getting screwed here and the manufacturer is in the wrong.
[...]

I am really curious what manufacturer this is. Personally I'd probably be writing it off if it was less than $300 or so, and refusing to ever support the manufacturer again (and making sure none of my friends and acquaintances do, either).

It's Asus.
Which really sucks.

 

[Justinus]

It's Asus.
Which really sucks.

That does really suck. You could try tweeting at Asus North America on Twitter.

If they don't relent, this will go up in the "redacted Asus warranty experiences" hall of fame.


esquared
Anandtech Forum Director

 

[CP5670]

Granted the phone has worked for over a year at this point without issue, but this whole incident reminded me why I actually like buying used parts: they're confirmed working and you tend to actually get more buyer protections through something like e-bay and paypal than you do buying something new through a retailer.

Yes I find that if you buy something faulty, it's obvious pretty quickly when you start using it. If it has been used for a while with no issues, it's less likely to fail. That's what happened with all the 2xxx space invaders and 3xxx boost/capacitor crashes.

 

[GodisanAtheist]

Yes I find that if you buy something faulty, it's obvious pretty quickly when you start using it. If it has been used for a while with no issues, it's less likely to fail. That's what happened with all the 2xxx space invaders and 3xxx boost/capacitor crashes.

- Yup, basically leveraging survivorship bias in your favor...

Used parts are more durable because the less durable parts already broke and got thrown away...

 

[mindless1]

^ I wouldn't go that far, video cards have a finite lifespan whether due to heat or (can be related) fan failure. I'd much rather a new card with a warranty the manufacturer will honor, though I've been known to take the heatsink fan off some cards to immediately install something quieter and longer lasting if not so valuable a card that voiding the warranty matters to me (already been stress tested).

As far as warranty denial, I wouldn't "accept" it, in that I'd try to contact someone else at Asus to see if it can still be resolved, but besides venting on social media and not buying any more Asus products, I wouldn't have much hopes of further energy being put towards it, being worth the bother unless it's more a matter of principle.

 

[DAPUNISHER]

It's Asus.
Which really sucks.

RIP

Have you tried the card since the initial install attempt? You are an old schooler, so I am presuming you already eliminated overheating because of heatsink separation due to dried up t.i.m. But it never hurts to ask. If it were a compatibility issue it should not have made it to install, but rather, not wanted to boot. I'd still try it in another slot or another system just because.

You could try the heat gun method before consigning it to tech recycling or whatever.

 

[AnitaPeterson]

RIP

Have you tried the card since the initial install attempt? You are an old schooler, so I am presuming you already eliminated overheating because of heatsink separation due to dried up t.i.m. But it never hurts to ask. If it were a compatibility issue it should not have made it to install, but rather, not wanted to boot. I'd still try it in another slot or another system just because.

You could try the heat gun method before consigning it to tech recycling or whatever.

Bingo!
Even though it was sealed, most likely the card was so old, the thermal paste dried up.
And of course I didn't check for it - I just needed to a GPU for a quick Windows install.
(Come to think about it, detaching the heatsink and replacing the thermal paste voids the warranty, too...)
And now it's dead, Jim...

In the end, it's not worth pursuing. It's a low-end GPU, which can even today be bought for about $40.

 

[DAPUNISHER]

Bingo!
Even though it was sealed, most likely the card was so old, the thermal paste dried up.
And of course I didn't check for it - I just needed to a GPU for a quick Windows install.
(Come to think about it, detaching the heatsink and replacing the thermal paste voids the warranty, too...)
And now it's dead, Jim...

In the end, it's not worth pursuing. It's a low-end GPU, which can even today be bought for about $40.

That's how I treat Asus products. Once the retailer return window closes, I consider myself on my own. I have not had an issue with one of their products in long time, fortunately.

 

[brennok]

I would file an FTC complaint. https://www.consumer.ftc.gov/articles/warranties

 

[DeathReborn]

Luckily in the UK consumer protections are a bit tighter and the manufacturer would be required to honour the warranty from date of purchase as stated. That is what happened when Sapphire tried to screw me on a broken 5700 (less than 1 year old, 3 year warranty) and as soon as I got my lawyer to contact them they sent a full refund.

 

[AnitaPeterson]

I would file an FTC complaint. https://www.consumer.ftc.gov/articles/warranties

I'm in Canada, so unfortunately that avenue is not available...