Quick question: Videocard RMA, receipt with previous owners name?

[wand3r3r]

Is it possible to RMA directly to you when the previous owners name is clearly on the receipt?

Talking about potentially the 79xx series, which according to this:
http://www.evga.com/forums/tm.aspx?m=1418072&mpage=1&print=true

Only MSI goes off the serial number.
In this case I'm curious about a saphire card.

Edit, I assume it's not possible and if the warranty can't go through an original purchaser you'd be sol.

 

[Fallengod]

Honestly, its probably a crapshoot. As you said, some dont care about receipt and just go off serial number(msi, asus I believe, etc). I am not that familiar with saphire, except to say I know I would never buy one of their products....

Anyways, the only way you will find out is if you try really. My advice is, just dont tell them you are not the original owner and give them the receipt if they ask. Let them figure it out and make issue with it if it comes to that. Receipts do not always have persons names on them anyways so....

I will say, technically, most warranties for all products are usually only for the original owner....

 

[wand3r3r]

Yeah... Sapphire states this on their site.

Sapphire VGA products carry a 2 year warranty with all enquires carried out through your initial place of purchase. This can only be carried out by the original purchaser Please contact your Dealer/Reseller for Warranty / RMA service. They will require proof of purchase which includes the original invoice/documentation.

I guess that's pretty cut and dry, unless anyone has any experience (with sapphire in particular)?

 

[nitromullet]

Gigabyte does 3 years based on serial number manufacture date.

http://rma.gigabyte.us/DirectRMA/EndUser_Main.asp

Warranty Effective On Date of Manufacture

GIGABYTE determines warranty based on the manufacture date. The manufacture date can be verified by the serial number found on the product. The first four digits after "SN" determine the year and week of manufacturing date. For example:

"4719331822101 SN082540084966" represents the 25th week of 2008

Graphic Accelerator Cards (VGA)

o All graphic cards carry a 3 year warranty.

There does not appear to be any mention of first ownership confirmation.

 

[Grooveriding]

AFAIK with Gigabyte, MSI and Asus you can RMA so long as the serial number still shows as under warranty. Having the receipt can extend the warranty period beyond date of manufacturer and define it by date of purchase.

I believe almost every other vendor now at this point requires you to register the product to get your warranty. I am planning on selling my 480s at some point shortly and was curious about this as well. One of them is an EVGA card that I have no coverage on, I bought it used. My two Zotac models I bought myself and registered for the lifetime warranty.

Not sure if it is a no-no for me to sell them and tell the buyer I will take care of an RMA for them if anything goes wrong. What if we define the sale as a 100 year rental, not a transfer of ownership ?

 

[Binky]

Just out of curiosity...if you submit an RMA as Kermit the Frog, how do they know you're not Kermit? They don't check your ID.

 

[96Firebird]

What if we define the sale as a 100 year rental, not a transfer of ownership ?

But then, after the 100 year rental is up, you will have to go after them waving your cane to get it back. ^_^

 

[nitromullet]

Just out of curiosity...if you submit an RMA as Kermit the Frog, how do they know you're not Kermit? They don't check your ID.

It's not really your identity, it's account the card is registered to. Most companies require you to register your card to an account with them within a certain time period to qualify for their extended warranty. Any RMA requests /support tickets are submitted through your account.

 

[nitromullet]

AFAIK with Gigabyte, MSI and Asus you can RMA so long as the serial number still shows as under warranty. Having the receipt can extend the warranty period beyond date of manufacturer and define it by date of purchase.

I believe almost every other vendor now at this point requires you to register the product to get your warranty. I am planning on selling my 480s at some point shortly and was curious about this as well. One of them is an EVGA card that I have no coverage on, I bought it used. My two Zotac models I bought myself and registered for the lifetime warranty.

Not sure if it is a no-no for me to sell them and tell the buyer I will take care of an RMA for them if anything goes wrong. What if we define the sale as a 100 year rental, not a transfer of ownership ?

You usually have to sell cards with a non-transferable warranty for less. There is always someone willing to "risk it" for the right price. Then again, GTX 480s are most likely only going to sell to bargain hunters at this point anyway. Nobody is going to pay top dollar for a GTX 480 anymore.

As much as I do like EVGA's service/support and step-up option, I'm beginning to take a new look at other brands such as MSI, Gigabyte, and Asus because of their warranty. EVGA's warranty is not only non-transferable in any way, but they've also made their terms overly complex with different suffixes on the cards. I realize they are in the business to make money, but at some point a company just needs to stand behind their product. A shorter warranty with simpler terms would be better than a lifetime warranty riddled with caveats IMO.

 

[Grooveriding]

Yeah, I'm not expecting much for them. I'll probably wind up keeping one and selling two. If they can pay for the two waterblocks for my new cards and a few fans I'll be happy. I expect to get maybe $175 each or so.

EVGA is not impressive to me with the lifetime warranty anymore, you only need 3 years imo anyways, after that the card is ancient and worth hardly anything. EVGA and XFX both seem to be scaling back their warranty options, probably is getting too expensive. What I do care about is the ease of the RMA process and good communication through out.

 

[nitromullet]

Yeah, I'm not expecting much for them. I'll probably wind up keeping one and selling two. If they can pay for the two waterblocks for my new cards and a few fans I'll be happy. I expect to get maybe $175 each or so.

Sounds about right IMO, and at that price I wouldn't bend over backwards to try and finagle a warranty out of Zotac or EVGA by offering to RMA on the buyer's behalf. I'd do a BIN for that price, guarantee not DOA, but "as is - no warranty".

EVGA is not impressive to me with the lifetime warranty anymore, you only need 3 years imo anyways, after that the card is ancient and worth hardly anything. EVGA and XFX both seem to be scaling back their warranty options, probably is getting too expensive. What I do care about is the ease of the RMA process and good communication through out.

Agreed, although I have RMA'ed cards with EVGA as well as stepped up a few, and they really do have top notch customer service. Everything is timely and communication is excellent.

 

[Ieat]

Not sure if it is a no-no for me to sell them and tell the buyer I will take care of an RMA for them if anything goes wrong. What if we define the sale as a 100 year rental, not a transfer of ownership ?

A lot of people offer rma assistance on F/S forums when they sell their video cards.

 

[Ieat]

As much as I do like EVGA's service/support and step-up option, I'm beginning to take a new look at other brands such as MSI, Gigabyte, and Asus because of their warranty. EVGA's warranty is not only non-transferable in any way, but they've also made their terms overly complex with different suffixes on the cards. I realize they are in the business to make money, but at some point a company just needs to stand behind their product. A shorter warranty with simpler terms would be better than a lifetime warranty riddled with caveats IMO.

Yep I pretty much stay away from EVGA these days. I change video cards way too often to bother with registering and non-transferrable warranties etc. The fact that most of their cards besides the top ones only carry a 2 or 3 year warranty now makes them actually worse then most other 1st and 2nd tier companies.

 

[wand3r3r]

While offering to assist with any RMAs is ok, it's still a pain if you need to have it returned to the original owner and have them pass it on to you... I assume they will only ship it back to the "original purchaser". That could also potentially be an issue if you don't personally know them, there's no guarantee they will forward the card to you etc. (most likely most people who sell you the card and sent it in the first place are trustworthy etc, but it's still a risk).