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RMA for fun and profit!

Zap

Zap

Elite Member
People love to complain when they think they've received bad service from manufacturers. With the abundance of internet forums, this can actually be a public relations nightmare.

Well, there's another side to this.

If customers can "out" companies that they are upset at, why can't companies "out" bad customers?

I wish.

I am unable to name names, but in the meantime enjoy the pictures. Oh yeah, the standard disclaimer of "don't try this at home" applies. Doing this is defrauding merchants and a crime.

What are batteries doing inside a video card box?

Closeup of batteries.

Microsoft keyboard?

... with our part number on it.

Here's a good one:

Someone RMA'd a BFG GTX 280...

... that uses two 6 pin?

... and missing a memory chip?

"Not for EMC testing"

OMG, it is really a GTX 260 engineering sample!!!

Saved the best for last:

Is that a bag of screws, or is your Vesa Local Bus video card happy to see me?

Guys, don't do this stuff, m'kay? Just don't.

EDIT: A good one came in today.

Looks like a normal GTX 260

What's with the extra screw holes?

Closeup

OMG, it's really a 9800 GTX

03/23/09 EDIT: A couple more.

The SATA ports on some motherboards get blocked by dual-slot cards. I know, let's mod the fan shrouds so they fit! Who cares that blowers expel air around their whole circumference and need that shroud to channel air to the right place (through the heatsink).

06/04/09 EDIT: A doozy

Looks like a GTX 280... with a green PCB?!?!

Heh, must be the new "green" version of the GTX 280 that doesn't need PCIe power

I didn't know NVIDIA dropped SLI support from these things

OMG with the heatsink/fan removed... it isn't a GTX 280 after all!

PCB was shaved down to fit

Components were removed and extra holes drilled

Wow, it is a Quadro that probably was originally worth more than the GTX 280

Note the extra bit of PCB on the "hook" part that prevents it from being clipped in. This indicates that it was probably an engineering or review sample. This makes it the THIRD time this year that people have returned samples to us, masquerading them as retail BFG cards. :|
 
Originally posted by: Zap
Someone RMA'd a BFG GTX 280...

... that uses two 6 pin?

... and missing a memory chip?

"Not for EMC testing"

OMG, it is really a GTX 260 engineering sample!!!
Click to expand...

Wait, so someone tried to real-life photochop a GTX260 ES board by clipping on a retail air-conduit cover with GTX280 label and then sending it back thinking you guys would be like "dang, how'd we screwup and ship out an ES in a retail GTX280 box, let's send this guy back a full-fledged GTX280 and $500 to make up for his lost gaming time!"?

Thats simply fraud, isn't it?
 
Originally posted by: Denithor
Can they be charged with anything in those cases?
Click to expand...

Their warranties would probably just be voided would be my guess on their real cards.


It is kind of funny. Kind of reminds me when I bought a PC game and instead of the game in the box their was a pack of door stoppers.... 😉
 
Not sure how someone would get away with this. You have to pass inspection before a refund is credited. That is how do process RMA's. We actually test the hardware, examine it for physical damage and verify model and serial numbers along with the part number. If the product is found to be tampered with or changed in any way, the customer pays for the item, and the return shipping, or we send it back the customer when he gives us credit card information to ship it back out to him. People try this stuff all over the place - just have to have thorough employees to catch it.
 
stupid crooks.

There is a way to profit from merchandise returns, not sure about the legality... but suppose you're from CA, buy something from a store in Oregon. Oregon has zero sales tax, CA has about 8.25%. When you return the merchandise you get the sales tax back.

This was an accidental discovery by my mother, it was not intended to actually be done for profit. And you'd have to buy a whole lot of crap to make the trip worthwhile, at which point it would start looking highly suspicious.

The verdict is... don't try this for real kiddies.
 
this might work if they tried returning the product to a retail location, but not an RMA process. if you swapped the serial number stickers on both cards you could, in theory, scam one card for another. the issue is these stickers are designed to be extremely easy to tear if they are ever removed from the product, so you would have a hell of a lot of work cut out for you making it look like nothing was changed. however, if done right, you might be able to get away with something like say, swapping a 9800GTX for a GTX260, or something similar. however, the consequences of getting caught doing something like this would be pretty suck, so i wouldnt bother unless you want an SLI setup and plan on moving out of the country soon
 
I heard of PSing the reciept date to extend a warranty of a bad item but I could never bring myself to do that even when I justed missed the warranty cutoff date..

And I guess God knew what I had thought and Maxtor RMAed my one month out of date drive anyway...

I cant believe those pics you listed, they must think they just chuck the returns in the trash and never open the boxes..

On most ever woodworking fourm most think it's wrong to haggle with a manager about an item with a miss marked price..
 
My brother bought the original xbox from walmart when it came out (shortly after). It was supposed to be a new item, but it had a madden2007 disc in the thing when we took it out of the sealed box? LOL.

we traced the numbers and found out it was a refurb from MS being sold as new on the shelf at walmart.... go figure.
 
I used to work in the RMA department at AST Computers (any one remember them?) as a tech. you wouldn't believe some of the thing poeple tried to pull. gluing ceramic tiles inplace of cpus, mobos from other makers and different versions (486 mobo inplace of a Pentium.


atleast i got some CDs from dead drives on some of them.
 
Call me unsurprised, but then again, I used to work in the claims dept. of an auto insurance company 😀

Originally posted by: dawp
I used to work in the RMA department at AST Computers (any one remember them?)
Click to expand...

Yes 😱
 
I noticed the first two items were returned through Genco. Basically therein lies the problem... Genco supplies Dell accessories. RMA's go through Dell. Dell doesn't care what's in the box when they get a return back... they just ship it back to Genco and send out a replacement from their parts and/or accessories department to the end user. Genco is the one that gets to deal with the crap from there. 3 levels of obscurity between the manufacturer and the customer.
 
Originally posted by: Zap
People love to complain when they think they've received bad service from manufacturers. With the abundance of internet forums, this can actually be a public relations nightmare.

Well, there's another side to this.

If customers can "out" companies that they are upset at, why can't companies "out" bad customers?

I wish.

I am unable to name names, but in the meantime enjoy the pictures. Oh yeah, the standard disclaimer of "don't try this at home" applies. Doing this is defrauding merchants and a crime.

What are batteries doing inside a video card box?

Closeup of batteries.

Microsoft keyboard?

... with our part number on it.

Here's a good one:

Someone RMA'd a BFG GTX 280...

... that uses two 6 pin?

... and missing a memory chip?

"Not for EMC testing"

OMG, it is really a GTX 260 engineering sample!!!

Saved the best for last:

Is that a bag of screws, or is your Vesa Local Bus video card happy to see me?

Guys, don't do this stuff, m'kay? Just don't.
Click to expand...

OK, ArchAngel explained the way they catch fraud - they return the product to the customer at their expense.

i imagine the company you work for does the same thing. if you are thorough, you will not be defrauded. Heck, i let things go the other way; i could not bring myself to jump thu hoops for the $30 i lost on a BFG GTX280 rebate and i do not blame them for their choice of rebate company.

i am not sure what "outing" bad customers will do. There are many people who are just thieves and have a immoral warped sense of entitlement
rose.gif
 
Pretty crazy, although I wonder how many of those were returned to a B&M first (before BFG) and people actually got away with it. If you've ever had to return something at Best Buy around the holidays you know what I mean. There's literal mountains of crap and returned hardware sitting there. I've noticed BB employees have gotten better at examining returned products, but you'll still see similar with people trying to pull garbage like this by returning different product for refund/exchange.
 
Thanks for sharing this Zap, it is interesting.

It reminds me of the days when the 9700 pro was king. I found a great deal on a 9700 Pro at a local store that was marked down since it was open-box. Fortunately, I inspected it before I bought it at the counter. Someone had swapped it with a Voodoo3. I notified the employees, but they probably just put it back on the shelf.

 
Originally posted by: Schadenfroh
Thanks for sharing this Zap, it is interesting.

It reminds me of the days when the 9700 pro was king. I found a great deal on a 9700 Pro at a local store that was marked down since it was open-box. Fortunately, I inspected it before I bought it at the counter. Someone had swapped it with a Voodoo3. I notified the employees, but they probably just put it back on the shelf.
Click to expand...
Yep that was really common back then, although you could quickly see OEMs react by having a cut-out showing the card + serial number along with a printed sticker on the box with huge letters stating:

DO NOT BUY IF THESE NUMBERS DO NOT MATCH

When I bought my 9700pro from the local BB I actually opened it in front of the door check-out security guy to make sure there weren't any switch problems.
 
Originally posted by: chizow
Originally posted by: Schadenfroh
Thanks for sharing this Zap, it is interesting.

It reminds me of the days when the 9700 pro was king. I found a great deal on a 9700 Pro at a local store that was marked down since it was open-box. Fortunately, I inspected it before I bought it at the counter. Someone had swapped it with a Voodoo3. I notified the employees, but they probably just put it back on the shelf.
Click to expand...
Yep that was really common back then, although you could quickly see OEMs react by having a cut-out showing the card + serial number along with a printed sticker on the box with huge letters stating:

DO NOT BUY IF THESE NUMBERS DO NOT MATCH

When I bought my 9700pro from the local BB I actually opened it in front of the door check-out security guy to make sure there weren't any switch problems.
Click to expand...

Best Buy was known to accept rocks in boxes for RMA and just put them back on the shelf; The unsuspecting good customer would get screwed and Best Buy would call THEM thieves - they had lawsuits filed over it. i remember opening expensive HW packages inside their store also - before i walked out the door. i was not alone; right alongside other customers - just before we left the store in front of the guard.
 
This type of stuff is BS. What's worse though is when employees actually encourage this type of stuff. I'm not sure if anyone else remembers Comp-USA's guaranteed replacement warranty..?

Well, basically for like 10% or something of the purchase price, you could guarantee replacement of anything for pretty much any reason... I used to actually buy quite a few video cards at Comp, and the sales guys would always up sell the warranty.They would state that I could just buy the video card, and when a new card came out wait until my current card was EOL and just return my card for an almost free upgrade. You could even purchase the Guaranteed Replacement on the new card as well.
 
Originally posted by: nitromullet
This type of stuff is BS. What's worse though is when employees actually encourage this type of stuff. I'm not sure if anyone else remembers Comp-USA's guaranteed replacement warranty..?

Well, basically for like 10% or something of the purchase price, you could guarantee replacement of anything for pretty much any reason... I used to actually buy quite a few video cards at Comp, and the sales guys would always up sell the warranty.They would state that I could just buy the video card, and when a new card came out wait until my current card was EOL and just return my card for an almost free upgrade. You could even purchase the Guaranteed Replacement on the new card as well.
Click to expand...

That's standard "stuffing" sales tactic, the business/accounting logic behind it is the exact same as MIR. They count on a certain percentage of customers never exercising their right to a replacement warranty even though they bought it.

If they get the numbers right they make out on the stuffing campaign even if a relatively minor percentage of customers such as yourself take full advantage of the rights you procured.

Being told you could take advantage of it is standard sales tactic to get the customer to feel like they can't lose from taking the deal. Sales 101, and you can bet it was sanctioned from the top, they train the floor guys on these tactics for a reason. These guys don't dream it up overnight before showing up to work at $12/hr.
 
I've been on the short end of the stick many times.

First fews times were mainly at Best Buy. Open Box Items put back on shelves. Many were DOA.

The funniest was at Walmart, and if it wasn't for striking a conversation with the camera counter sales clerk at 2 AM (24 hr Walmarts are awesome) and finding out it was his birthday, my friend would've been out of $150. I was driving. My friend bought a cheap-ish digital camera and when we brought it out of the store and opened it... no camera in box. We brought it back to the camera guy. He remembered the box at the same weight and said it felt a little light. He said some employee must've jacked it so he gave us another box, opened it on the counter for us, and then sent us on our way. Who said Walmart employees are all disgruntled.
 
there is always the possibility that they bought it from someplace like frys, which accepted a fraudulent return, reshrinkwrapped it, and sold it as new. Or was even honest and sold it as open box.
 
Originally posted by: Idontcare
Originally posted by: nitromullet
This type of stuff is BS. What's worse though is when employees actually encourage this type of stuff. I'm not sure if anyone else remembers Comp-USA's guaranteed replacement warranty..?

Well, basically for like 10% or something of the purchase price, you could guarantee replacement of anything for pretty much any reason... I used to actually buy quite a few video cards at Comp, and the sales guys would always up sell the warranty.They would state that I could just buy the video card, and when a new card came out wait until my current card was EOL and just return my card for an almost free upgrade. You could even purchase the Guaranteed Replacement on the new card as well.
Click to expand...

That's standard "stuffing" sales tactic, the business/accounting logic behind it is the exact same as MIR. They count on a certain percentage of customers never exercising their right to a replacement warranty even though they bought it.

If they get the numbers right they make out on the stuffing campaign even if a relatively minor percentage of customers such as yourself take full advantage of the rights you procured.

Being told you could take advantage of it is standard sales tactic to get the customer to feel like they can't lose from taking the deal. Sales 101, and you can bet it was sanctioned from the top, they train the floor guys on these tactics for a reason. These guys don't dream it up overnight before showing up to work at $12/hr.
Click to expand...

I'm sure you're right. IIRC, the warranty was actually through a third party so it wouldn't cost Comp-USA anything anyway, which makes it even worse IMO. I guess the point is really more about the fact that shady practices are not really frowned upon even by retailers that breeds the sense of entitlement that makes people do the stuff as seen in this thread.
 
Originally posted by: nitromullet
I guess the point is really more about the fact that shady practices are not really frowned upon even by retailers that breeds the sense of entitlement that makes people do the stuff as seen in this thread.
Click to expand...

:thumbsup: Proverbial nail has been hit on proverbial head, er mullet, er thumb? 😛

It definitely becomes the breeding ground for a cultural attribute that I think ALL of us despise. I don't like it either, I may comprehend the logic behind it, but that doesn't make it any less despicable.
 
Originally posted by: Idontcare
Originally posted by: Zap
Someone RMA'd a BFG GTX 280...

... that uses two 6 pin?

... and missing a memory chip?

"Not for EMC testing"

OMG, it is really a GTX 260 engineering sample!!!
Click to expand...

Wait, so someone tried to real-life photochop a GTX260 ES board by clipping on a retail air-conduit cover with GTX280 label and then sending it back thinking you guys would be like "dang, how'd we screwup and ship out an ES in a retail GTX280 box, let's send this guy back a full-fledged GTX280 and $500 to make up for his lost gaming time!"?

Thats simply fraud, isn't it?
Click to expand...

It's probably simpler than that... Someone probably bought a BFG GTX 280 at a retail store, picked up a cheap or free (maybe even broken) GTX 260 ES, swapped the HSF, and returned the "GTX 280" to the retailer for a refund.

Zap... can't NV track where/who they sent engineering samples too, or are there just too many to make it feasible?
 
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