- Jun 9, 2001
- 1,529
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Hi folks,
Wow. I told myself I'd post an update once this situation was all resolved. That was five months ago...
Since I'm in no mood to document the entire process, here's a summary.
- Buy ECS GTX 275 from Newegg on December 30th. No other GTX 275s available at the time, while the ECS is cheeeeeeap and comes with a monster Arctic Cooler included.
- Card starts to artifact under load, and dies 6 weeks later (even the BIOS VGA-mode was completely garbled). Can't RMA to Newegg as 1 month has passed.
- Contact ECS support, send in screenshots, send in card, wait for replacement.
- Receive replacement, on arrival heatsink is misaligned. Right after installation the card displayed some weird rippling artifacts and locked up occasionally when under load. RMAed the second card, ECS stress-tests and confirms card is faulty, and agree to ship a third.
- ECS is out of stock, so they buy back a card from Newegg so ECS can send it to me.
- I do some thinking. Since it's been 5 months since I made the original purchase, I decide that a 275 is a waste of money and I should just get a 5870. I ask Newegg if I can send the unopened GTX 275 I'm about to receive back to them. They tell me no, and no store credit... because this new 275, which ECS got from Newegg, doesn't have the same serial number as the original card that I RMAed back to ECS in February... They want me to get THAT card back... from ECS... THEN RMA it to Newegg.
- I spend a few minutes, with blood pouring out of my eats, attempting to understand why Newegg wants me to get a card from ECS to send to them so they can send it back to ECS and I can buy a new card from Newegg.
- Take a deep breath and call back 5 minutes later, ask for a supervisor. She understands my annoyance, and agrees to give me full store credit once I return the third GTX 275 from ECS.
It was a good thing I still had my 8800 GT... It's a little disappointing that I had to speak to a Newegg supervisor. Their customer service has always impressed me and I expected them to make it right immediately, without my having to ask for a supervisor. If a customer purchases something in December, and it still isn't functioning by May... you make it right to them.
It should be noted that ECS Support / RMA was as helpful as they could be (while lower echelon Newegg CS really disappointed me). Send in screenshot of the problem to ECS, send in card, wait for replacement - all as it should be. My RMA dude and I emailed each other back and forth directly, and he really tried hard on my behalf, without my having to put any pressure on him. He actually called my cell to confirm my shipping address so he could send out my 3rd RMA card ASAP.
I suppose the moral of the story is: RMAs can take a long time. Deep, I know!
Wow. I told myself I'd post an update once this situation was all resolved. That was five months ago...
Since I'm in no mood to document the entire process, here's a summary.
- Buy ECS GTX 275 from Newegg on December 30th. No other GTX 275s available at the time, while the ECS is cheeeeeeap and comes with a monster Arctic Cooler included.
- Card starts to artifact under load, and dies 6 weeks later (even the BIOS VGA-mode was completely garbled). Can't RMA to Newegg as 1 month has passed.
- Contact ECS support, send in screenshots, send in card, wait for replacement.
- Receive replacement, on arrival heatsink is misaligned. Right after installation the card displayed some weird rippling artifacts and locked up occasionally when under load. RMAed the second card, ECS stress-tests and confirms card is faulty, and agree to ship a third.
- ECS is out of stock, so they buy back a card from Newegg so ECS can send it to me.
- I do some thinking. Since it's been 5 months since I made the original purchase, I decide that a 275 is a waste of money and I should just get a 5870. I ask Newegg if I can send the unopened GTX 275 I'm about to receive back to them. They tell me no, and no store credit... because this new 275, which ECS got from Newegg, doesn't have the same serial number as the original card that I RMAed back to ECS in February... They want me to get THAT card back... from ECS... THEN RMA it to Newegg.
- I spend a few minutes, with blood pouring out of my eats, attempting to understand why Newegg wants me to get a card from ECS to send to them so they can send it back to ECS and I can buy a new card from Newegg.
- Take a deep breath and call back 5 minutes later, ask for a supervisor. She understands my annoyance, and agrees to give me full store credit once I return the third GTX 275 from ECS.
It was a good thing I still had my 8800 GT... It's a little disappointing that I had to speak to a Newegg supervisor. Their customer service has always impressed me and I expected them to make it right immediately, without my having to ask for a supervisor. If a customer purchases something in December, and it still isn't functioning by May... you make it right to them.
It should be noted that ECS Support / RMA was as helpful as they could be (while lower echelon Newegg CS really disappointed me). Send in screenshot of the problem to ECS, send in card, wait for replacement - all as it should be. My RMA dude and I emailed each other back and forth directly, and he really tried hard on my behalf, without my having to put any pressure on him. He actually called my cell to confirm my shipping address so he could send out my 3rd RMA card ASAP.
I suppose the moral of the story is: RMAs can take a long time. Deep, I know!
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