PNY RMA process/Support?

[Fallengod]

Just wondering....

I am considering going with a PNY 550ti for the lifetime warranty since almost nobody offers lifetime warranty anymore. Does anyone have any experience with them? How is the ease of RMAing and support?

Lifetime warranty is great and all but, if their process and support is horrid, whats the point.

Any input is great thanks.

 

[toyota]

they did a fantastic job handling 2 RMAs for me. I had a 6600 that the Nvidia reference fan would start getting noisy on me after 15-18 months or so. both times this happened I called to do an RMA and someone answered the phone quickly and had an RMA label sent to my email before hanging up. also in both cases I received another card back in about a week from sending mine out. on the second RMA they even sent me a factory oced card back. so in my experience they were great to deal with it.

 

[Meghan54]

Just wondering....

I am considering going with a PNY 550ti for the lifetime warranty since almost nobody offers lifetime warranty anymore. Does anyone have any experience with them? How is the ease of RMAing and support?

Lifetime warranty is great and all but, if their process and support is horrid, whats the point.

Any input is great thanks.

Read PNY's lifetime warranty fine print. That lifetime is calculated by PNY as the lifetime the card has on the market for sale. Once the card is discontinued, its lifetime is over, as is its lifetime warranty. PNY's definition of lifetime is not what most people would think.

 

[nanaki333]

Read PNY's lifetime warranty fine print. That lifetime is calculated by PNY as the lifetime the card has on the market for sale. Once the card is discontinued, its lifetime is over, as is its lifetime warranty. PNY's definition of lifetime is not what most people would think.

that's messed up if someone buys a card a couple months before they stop manufacturing it. isn't there something else in the fine print saying they support it a minimum of x years regardless?

 

[Meghan54]

Lifetime replacement warranty does not cover items out of production if the company no longer stocks them. (Lifetime is defined as the lifetime of the product on the market. Outdated technology is not covered by lifetime warranty if the item is no longer available on the common market as a new product.)

Straight from PNY's own website defining what lifetime is and how long a lifetime warranty extends:

http://www.pny.com/support/warranty/?prod=flash


Nowhere does PNY state they'll cover anything for years after production ceases. PNY uses the production cessation as their marker to end a warranty.

 

[nanaki333]

holy crap.. so if an uninformed buyer buys a card that is just overstock at microcenter or something and no longer made, they essentially have no warranty at all if it breaks after the 30 day return window. that's the most shady, skeevy shit i've seen out of any company.

 

[Fallengod]

Wow... Ok. Well thanks for the info. I figured lifetime meant the same as evga and xfx did. That is kinda messed up.

What happened to all the lifetime warranty cards out there heh. Evga only has a few models that have it and other than that it is just xfx.

I can definitely say that most cards would be out of production after a year or two so essentially their lifetime warranty is more equal to like two or three years anyways......damn. That is pretty shady.

 

[toyota]

Meghan54 you are wrong here. the video card lifetime warranty does not end when they stop making the product. that was changed around 2 years ago. if for example you get a gtx570 and it stops working 3 years from now they will replace it with an equivalent card from at that time. just make sure you register the card in 90 days and keep the receipt. if you doubt me give them a call and you will see for yourself.


http://www3.pny.com/support/media//F...9-01-09_v1.pdf

 

[happy medium]

Meghan54 you are wrong here. the video card lifetime warranty does not end when they stop making the product. that was changed around 2 years ago. if for example you get a gtx570 and it stops working 3 years from now they will replace it with an equivalent card from at that time. just make sure you register the card in 90 days and keep the receipt. if you doubt me give them a call and you will see for yourself.


http://www3.pny.com/support/media//F...9-01-09_v1.pdf

:thumbsup: Toyota is correct.

Thats the same thing that EVGA does.

 

[Meghan54]

Meghan54 you are wrong here. the video card lifetime warranty does not end when they stop making the product. that was changed around 2 years ago. if for example you get a gtx570 and it stops working 3 years from now they will replace it with an equivalent card from at that time. just make sure you register the card in 90 days and keep the receipt. if you doubt me give them a call and you will see for yourself.


http://www3.pny.com/support/media//F...9-01-09_v1.pdf

Sorry, but your "documentation" fails to show I'm wrong. On the other hand, I, among others, have personally experienced PNY's "lifetime" warranty firsthand and their exclusions when the product becomes out-of-production, namely no warranty at all.


Here's my proof.....found TODAY, not over 2 years ago.....under their graphics cards section.

http://www3.pny.com/support/media/F...21-bae0-e0a276b6b9f0/Lifetime Warrenty_v1.pdf


Notice how it still states this:

This warranty is for replacement for like items only. Lifetime replacement warranty does not cover items out of production if the company no longer stocks them. (Lifetime is defined as the lifetime of the product on the market. Outdated technology is not covered by lifetime warranty if the item is no longer available on the common market as a new product.)

 

[toyota]

Sorry, but your "documentation" fails to show I'm wrong. On the other hand, I, among others, have personally experienced PNY's "lifetime" warranty firsthand and their exclusions when the product becomes out-of-production, namely no warranty at all.

think whatever you want but please stop spreading misinformation. again if you doubt me call the phone listed right there and they will tell you the same thing I just said. they will explain to you what they mean by outdated technology because its NOT what you are thinking.

 

[Fallengod]

I might have to call them to verify this issue then. I am not really interested in a lifetime warranty that could essentially end up being only 2 years or so. I am seeing two different warranty pdf's here.

 

[thilanliyan]

I would be untrusting of a company that you have to call to get the exact warranty terms from. Why don't they write down exactly what toyota is stating?

The statement Meghan posted seems to imply that they won't honour the warranty once the product is EOL.

 

[toyota]

I would be untrusting of a company that you have to call to get the exact warranty terms from. Why don't they write down exactly what toyota is stating?

The statement Meghan posted seems to imply that they won't honour the warranty once the product is EOL.

I agree they should be more clear because their wording can give the wrong impression.

 

[bryanW1995]

I would go by what they have written rather than what some dude says over the phone. Are they going to give you a new gtx 570 if you buy it and it fails 3 months later? Regardless of it's availability "new", you would almost definitely get a new gtx 570 or equivalent card in that situation. What about in 3 years? or 4? The farther out you get, the more apt you are to have them hold you to the letter of the agreement rather than what "Dan on the 800 number" told you.

Generally speaking with lifetime warranties, you have EVGA, then major board partners (XFX, Sapphire, ASUS, GB, MSI, PNY, etc), then everybody else. If I'm buying nvidia I always try to get EVGA if the price is close, if not I'd go with PNY or one of the others listed certainly, but if nobody other than some no-name offered the card I wanted I'd look at a different card or AMD at that point.

edit: often EVGA will be price-competitive with their KR brand but charge extra for AR or, obviously, the sc, ssc, ftw, etc brands. It's often less expensive to grab the KR card, then pay $15 or so to upgrade the warranty to the true lifetime when you register the card.

 

[toyota]

some of you just like to argue about anything. I have done 2 RMAs with PNY so I know exactly what they are like to deal with. and AGAIN if you call them they will explain what they mean about that warranty. they are not telling you something different over the phone but they simply explain what the warranty means. again if some of you want to be stubborn then fine but don't spread misinformation about something when you have no clue what you are talking about.

 

[bryanW1995]

How can you possibly misinterpret this??

This warranty is for replacement for like items only. Lifetime replacement warranty does not cover items out of production if the company no longer stocks them. (Lifetime is defined as the lifetime of the product on the market. Outdated technology is not covered by lifetime warranty if the item is no longer available on the common market as a new product.)

If the help desk clerk or his/her supervisor wants to make an exception for you then that's great. Heck, even if they will automatically do it as long as you ask for it that's likewise awesome. But what happens in 4 or 5 years when PNY stops selling video cards? You'd be screwed, that's what, because then they would follow their written warranty policy. I'm not saying that they're lying to you right now b/c they're not, I'm just saying that EVGA's written policy is better than PNY's. I'd still rank PNY very high with NV right now, as mentioned I think that they're a strong 2nd tier comparable to GB, asus, msi, etc, all of whom have a warranty policy that is no better than PNY, and in many cases, worse than PNY. I just think that it's foolish to think that some dude's comment on the phone is going to supercede a written warranty policy. If the person's word is good, then you will be able to get him to put it in writing and sign it for you.

 

[toyota]

if ANY company stops making video cards altogether then what good the warranty be? again their lifetime policy is basically the same thing as EVGA's as in they give you an equivalent card. when I did my last 6600 RMA they were not making 6600 cards anymore. . they were not going to refuse my warranty just because they no longer made 6600 cards. if they would not have happened to had a 6600 there then I would have gotten a 7 series gpu

 

[thilanliyan]

I just think that it's foolish to think that some dude's comment on the phone is going to supercede a written warranty policy. If the person's word is good, then you will be able to get him to put it in writing and sign it for you.

Exactly.

 

[happy medium]

if ANY company stops making video cards altogether then what good the warranty be? again their lifetime policy is basically the same thing as EVGA's as in they give you an equivalent card. when I did my last 6600 RMA they were not making 6600 cards anymore. . they were not going to refuse my warranty just because they no longer made 6600 cards. if they would not have happened to had a 6600 there then I would have gotten a 7 series gpu

You been here 10 years and had 2 rma's with PNY, but yet you word means nothing. If they are gonna call you a liar , just let them.

 

[shredz]

PNY does indeed has a lifetime (of the orignal purchaser) warranty. Here is the policy:

PNY Graphic Card Warranty
*One year (will be extended for the lifetime of the original purchaser upon completion of a registration form on PNY's website)

This applies to all XLR8 geforce gtx cards. You can see for yourself here: http://www3.pny.com/support/support_...SectionID=1113

Look under Lifetime Warranty for XLR8 Geforce GTX cards.

 

[bryanW1995]

You been here 10 years and had 2 rma's with PNY, but yet you word means nothing. If they are gonna call you a liar , just let them.

I'm not calling anybody a liar. In fact, I have every reason to believe that toyota is telling the absolute truth. However, that doesn't mean that it is guaranteed to happen if their written policy states something different. I'm trying to figure out how some dude on the 800 number is more correct than a company's written warranty policy. Even though, at least here, an oral agreement CAN supercede a written one, good luck proving that unless you have an audio transcript of the phone call and are somehow able to entice/coerce the person who told you that to testify on your behalf down the road.

Looking at the last post, if the warranty policy that we saw in this thread is not correct then we could both end up being right.

 

[Zap]

IMO written policy > all.

Not to be confused with going out of business > written policy.

 

[OCGuy]

Guys, both sides are right in this. Their standtard lifetime warranty sucks, but their XLR8 products that specifically say "lifetime warranty" are a true lifetime warranty. At least from what I am reading.

 

[soccerballtux]

Guys, both sides are right in this. Their standtard lifetime warranty sucks, but their XLR8 products that specifically say "lifetime warranty" are a true lifetime warranty. At least from what I am reading.

nope. https://www.pny.com/File Library/Support/PNY Products/Warranties/Memory/Memory-Warranty_v1.pdf

I'm about to RMA my fourth stick of RAM from them.