refurbished or retail..?? how can i tell..??

[rojkai]

hi,
i've just received my turtle beach santa cruz that i ordered from dell a couple of weeks ago..the odd thing is, its not in its retail box..everthing came in a smaller dell box..the card was in the silver static bag and the instructions/driver disk was wrapped together(looks like it was wrapped from manufacturer..or it can be dell's doing)..anyhow, how can i tell if i got a retail version or a refurbished version..?? i havent installed it yet because if its refurbished, i rather return it instead..thanks in advance..

-=rojkai=-

 

[sohcrates]

well, a "retail" version would be in a box, just like you'd seen it in a store

an "oem" version would look like what you got...basically a new card but w/out all the extra wrapping

a refurb is tough...it would probably look very similar to an OEM.

it should have clearly stated what you were ordering from dell, though...no?

 

[BubbleHead]

Refurbished HDD's have a sticker stating the HDD is refurbished... don't know if it's the same for sound cards...

 

[rojkai]

doh..i guess i should of read the product details more carefully..it stated: "This Turtle Beach audio card has been tested and validated for your Dell Optiplex desktop and is fully supported by Dell Tech Support. This product includes the following parts: Processor, heatsink, clip, BIOS disk, software, instructions and 1 year limited warranty. " oh well..guess ill just keep it anyways since its my fault and $52 for the card isnt too bad...thanks for ur comments..

-=rojkai=-

 

[BrunoPuntzJones]

probably too late now, but you could have looked at the contacts. if they are all scratched up it's been in something. then again they could always claim it was "tested" before it was sent out.

 

[Jhhnn]

I've never had a problem with Dell, they seem to be honest. I tend to believe whatever they say about a particular product- It's extremely unlikely that what you have is a refurb, probably just what they said, OEM, just not in so many words.... for most products, it's the same as retail, just lacking the box and factory warranty.

Lots of refurbs aren't actually refurbished at all- they're just customer returns that the customer didn't want or couldn't configure to work for one reason or another. The vendor's techs check it out, make sure it works, sell it as refurb since it's not actually new....