MSI = worst support ever. Avoid them like the plague.

[Acanthus]

Originally posted by: SgtZulu

Originally posted by: Pauli
It always amazes me to find complaints on this board like "Company XXX support sucks - I'll never buy from them again", yet nobody is willing to buy products that cost more but have superior technical support. I'm old enough to remember that the early PC software and hardware companies (early-mid 80's) spent a fortune on having tech support. Most of them went out of business. We (the consumers) just don't want to pay for tech support. We want low cost products. It costs ALOT of money to keep a staff of people answering phones, especially people who are skilled enough to handle tech support.

I'm going to just come right out and say it: "I don't want or need telephone tech support!"

It's much simpler and easier to RMA defective products with the seller and/or come to internet support sites and get answers to specific problems. I don't want to have to pay more for products just to have better telephone tech support.

All of you folks that become outraged because you don't get a live person on the telephone to answer your specific question are out of line. This business just does not work that way anymore. I mean, geez, I just bought an nForce2 based MB that has just about everything integrated for $90! I cannot expect someone to spend 15 minutes on the phone for that price. The overhead for that single phone call is probably about $60 per hour. If 1 of every 20 customers calls in for tech support, their slim profit is gone, not to mention all of the other costs associated with running a business.

Just deal with it. I doubt you'll get any better treatment from any other MB manufacturer. If you do, you probably paid alot more for their product.

Agreed- people should realise you get what you pay for. With the price of components what they are these days , you're better off pitching it in the trash than come to an online forum and whine about poor customer service. There's a wonderful invention called "Google" , learn it live it.

So you would think, if a company doesnt want to do tech support, they would properly test thier hardware, rather than send out 2 boards with obviously bad BIOSes.

And the forum idea is all fine and dandy, as long as the forums help. No mods have answered my question on the MSI forums.

 

[sandorski]

At least you got a reply. My previous experience with mobo manufacturers and tech support never even got that much. Go to a Forum and ask for help there/here, the Support from Users is much better.

 

[Aquaman]

No problem with my MSI MB

I'm pretty happy with it.

Cheers,
Aquaman

 

[Pauli]

So you would think, if a company doesnt want to do tech support, they would properly test thier hardware, rather than send out 2 boards with obviously bad BIOSes.

MSI manufactures thousands upon thousands of mainboards, the vast majority of which work just fine out of the box. If their products were inferior, they would already be out of business. Your sample of two bad mainboards does not qualify you to judge that they do not properly test their hardware. Now, if complaints about MSI boards started pouring in by the hundreds or thousands, THAT would qualify as a hit on their quality control.

And the forum idea is all fine and dandy, as long as the forums help. No mods have answered my question on the MSI forums.

What makes you think "mods" are inclined to answer your question? Mods only serve to facilitate a smooth running message board. It's up to individuals like you and me to answer each other's questions. Please adjust your attitude. I'm sure every one of us has been frustrated by a defective computer component at what time or another. Your pissy-ness only causes those that want to help you to not want to help you solve your problem.

 

[Acanthus]

ahh i get it, so their support is based on unpaid users with no expertise on the matter.

Im not bitching about MSI, im bitching about the motherboard industry in general.

You cant name a mobo company with decent support, there isnt one.

 

[novice]

You cant name a mobo company with decent support, there isnt one.

Maybe so, I know Soyo never responded at all to a very simple question I sent them about one of their boards. And that was several years ago, when some companies still actually tried to support their products. As for MSI, I have now built or upgraded 6 different systems using 3 different models of their boards, 3 MSI 6309's, a K7T Turbo, and most recently 2 KT3 Ultra2's. ALL of them have been rock solid out of the box. Any problems I encountered were my own. While this doesn't make MSI perfect, it ranks them far ahead of the few other makers I have tried. (Intel, Biostar, Tyan and Soyo. I still look to MSI first when I am considering another board. I haven't tried an Asus, Epox, Gigabyte or Albatron yet, but have heard good reports on all of them. I have also read rants similar to yours on all of them. I tend to agree with the other posters that say to RMA if you have problems. Expecting the manufacturer to spend 20 minutes on the phone probably isn't reasonable given the current pricing/profit structure in the industry. The only other comment I would make is that all the MSI boards I have purchased have been somewhat older models. In other words, they were all available for some time before I purchased mine. This means that they tend to be a) cheaper and b) well tested in the field and usually have had all the bugs worked out on the "final Beta Testers", you know, guys like Acanthus who like to get the latest technology and are then annoyed when it doesn't work quite like it is supposed to. I have only had occasion to buy less than a dozen different MSI products, and also been well pleased with them. I would think that the original poster might consider cutting MSI a little slack, given his previous "40 products purchased without a problem over the past two years". I still consider MSI to be the best mainboard manufacturer for the $. And my next board will most likely be an MSI. I hope acanthus gets his board to work or gets one that does. And as for the "worst support ever", shouldn't that title be reserved for the myriad of companies that managed to take your money, and then fail before you have a chance to RMA?

 

[Acanthus]

Originally posted by: novice

You cant name a mobo company with decent support, there isnt one.

Maybe so, I know Soyo never responded at all to a very simple question I sent them about one of their boards. And that was several years ago, when some companies still actually tried to support their products. As for MSI, I have now built or upgraded 6 different systems using 3 different models of their boards, 3 MSI 6309's, a K7T Turbo, and most recently 2 KT3 Ultra2's. ALL of them have been rock solid out of the box. Any problems I encountered were my own. While this doesn't make MSI perfect, it ranks them far ahead of the few other makers I have tried. (Intel, Biostar, Tyan and Soyo. I still look to MSI first when I am considering another board. I haven't tried an Asus, Epox, Gigabyte or Albatron yet, but have heard good reports on all of them. I have also read rants similar to yours on all of them. I tend to agree with the other posters that say to RMA if you have problems. Expecting the manufacturer to spend 20 minutes on the phone probably isn't reasonable given the current pricing/profit structure in the industry. The only other comment I would make is that all the MSI boards I have purchased have been somewhat older models. In other words, they were all available for some time before I purchased mine. This means that they tend to be a) cheaper and b) well tested in the field and usually have had all the bugs worked out on the "final Beta Testers", you know, guys like Acanthus who like to get the latest technology and are then annoyed when it doesn't work quite like it is supposed to. I have only had occasion to buy less than a dozen different MSI products, and also been well pleased with them. I would think that the original poster might consider cutting MSI a little slack, given his previous "40 products purchased without a problem over the past two years". I still consider MSI to be the best mainboard manufacturer for the $. And my next board will most likely be an MSI. I hope acanthus gets his board to work or gets one that does. And as for the "worst support ever", shouldn't that title be reserved for the myriad of companies that managed to take your money, and then fail before you have a chance to RMA?

Its not really an issue with the board being new... Because i have an identical system, with the exact same hardware, working now.

Im RMAing them all a second time now, an enormous waste of money. Calling Newegg to see if they will cross ship me new ones if they pre approve my visa. These 2 pcs have been down for 2 and a half weeks now... id rather not wait another 6-8 days.

Edit: i guess my specific complaint with MSI is painting with a broad brush. But im still very unhappy with them as Asus and Abit both at least give me decent Email support... My complaint isnt really about MSIs reliability either... So because your mobos and video cards run great... that doesnt mean anything about their support.