Question on what YOU think should be done about a buy I made through Anandtech

Brutuskend

Lifer
Apr 2, 2001
26,558
4
0
Several months back I bought a DFI Lanpart UT NF3 250 from someone on the FS/FT board and when I received it it refused to post. The CPU I was originally trying was one I bought from Ebay. It was a A64 3000+ Mobile which I later found out wasn't (officially) supported by DFI and after asking around on DFI street it was suggested that it was possibly a BIOS issue that was keeping it from posting, so I bought a new BIOS chip flashed with the newest (Best) BIOS. The board still wouldn't post, so I bought a A64 3200+ and tried that but still no luck. Finally I had a friend try both the memory and BOTH CPU's in his board. The memory tested fine and his board would post with either of my CPU's. In the end I took out the DFI board and replaced it with a K8V se Deluxe (The board I originally bought and later decided to "Upgrade" with the DFI. It posted just fine using ALL the parts I had been trying with the DFI board. SO, obviously the DFI board was DOA when I got it.

The seller said the board should be able to be RMA'ed,but apparently he thinks I should go through all the steps to get the thing RMA'ed. I told him that most places I was aware of would only RMA to the original buyer. He then offered to take it back less his shipping costs to send me the board.

To me this seems a bit unreasonable, since after sending it back I would be out not only HIS shipping costs but MINE as well. Not to mention all the time and trouble I've spent trying to sort out the post problem. Not to mention thew cost of the second CPU I bought "Just to make sure".

What do you all think should be done in this situation?
 

cherrytwist

Diamond Member
Apr 11, 2000
6,019
25
86
My only question is why did it take you several months to test the board?

IMO if you'd have tested it within a reasonable amount of time (30 days max) then you would be entitled to a full refund.

The seller has no idea what has happened to the board in the amount of time you've had it.

(I'm playing devil's advocate here, I know you are a well respected trader on the forums. I do not know the history of the person you bought the board from.)
 

Brutuskend

Lifer
Apr 2, 2001
26,558
4
0
I installed it as soon as I got it. It took several months of trying EVERYTHING to finally determine with out a doubt that the board was the problem and NOT some other component or combination of components that was causing the problem.
 

DainBramaged

Lifer
Jun 19, 2003
23,454
41
91
I'm not very good at the serious stuff, but here is my opinion.

I would expect the seller to refund the entire amount that I paid to him (including shipping). However, as a sort of compromise, I would probably pay to ship it back to him. Thats just how I usually operate.