The RMA thread

[draggoon01]

i thought it would be useful to have a thread describing RMA experiences with various hardware companies. it's a strong factor i consider in purchases, but seems there's not much info on. contirbute if you can.


PALM:
-RMA'd a palm V few years ago because it went totally on the fritz, eventually stopped booting
-they pay shipping both ways
-receipt not required
-can advance RMA if you give credit card number
-excellent service

 

[minendo]

Maxtor
Advanced RMA of 20gb HD
No receipt required
CC# Required
No charge if drive return specs met
5 day turnaround

AMD
RMAd XP1700+
Receipt Required with Stock HSF
10 day turn around time, received XP1800+ in return

 

[Ionizer86]

Newegg:
RMA'd Geforce 2 Pro.
Contacted them, got a #, sent it back. S
tock out, $ refunded. I paid shipping back.
Easy to do, quick and painless.

Maxtor:
40GB died.
Called them, told them it wouldn't spin up.
Arranged advanced RMA.
They emailed me mailing labels, they mailed me box and packaging.
Used their packaging to send dead drive back.
Easy to do, no receipt needed (only problem was labels needed formatting)

ExcaliberPC
XP1700+ causing stability issues.
Got RMA, told them the problem.
Packed and sent processor.
About 2 wks later, they got me a new 1700+
(They stated that I'd pay shipping back, but they paid it).

Axiontech:
Received dead EPoX 8KHA+.
Called tech support a lot.
Had some issues because board was supposedly pretested.
Finally got RMA going, sent board back.
1 1/2 wks later they got me a new 8RDA+ (UPS 3 day).
(Annoying RMA since they supposedly pretest, but my board was still dead).

Just did another warranty today:

HP:
Photosmart 120 camera wouldn't turn on, switch seemed loose.
Called, directed to India (not too surprising because it's a weekend right now).
Told person I tried new batteries and rechargables.
He suggested trying AC adapter. I told him it's an optional accessory.
I told him I'd tried 2 types of batteries.
He says also try energizers. I try energizers right on the call.
Put them in, no go, emphasize the switch feels bad.
Finally he stops recommending the optional AC adapter and gets me an RMA.
They charge me $5 for ~7 day service. I think they're trying to pull a bit of $.
He tells me they ship me a camera first, and the shipment includes return box and paid label, which is fair.

(HP tries to push an optional accessory, but I get past that. Though they charge for warranty service, shipping is paid both ways).

 

[RaymondY]

Abit
RMAd IS7 motherboard
Reciept required, used Abit's online RMA process (A+)
21 day turnaround due to the transit time
- Excellent service and followed my RMA online.

 

[Redviffer]

HP

HP Omnibook 6100 battery: working for a little over a year, then just dies one night (while on a trip mind you).

I didn't think they would RMA this, so I ended up looking and buying 2 others on eBay, but then spoke to others who had this same issue and sure enough, they cover this laptop for 3 yrs (special deal, don't know if they do this for all laptops). They sent out a replacement battery via 2 day fedex, no reciept, no return.

Sucks, one of the batteries that I got off eBay was DOA (got refund from that), the other was a good one.

 

[boyRacer]

Maxtor
6GB died
2 months turn around time

Abit
Leaking capacitors
10 day turn around time

Newegg
Wrong color case panel
Wrong RAM
Other RAM would not run
All taken cared off within a week

Mwave
RMAd board for refund
Refund took about 3 weeks.

 

[SKORPI0]

RMA

Maxtor 100GB ATA/100(Hotdeal from CompUSA). Not even a year old. Drive not detected at all. Tried the freezer trick, no luck. :|


1. Entered RMA request form on-line w/ serial number. Drive had a 3 year warranty. Used advanced replacement w/ CC number.
2. Got instruction via e-mail w/ RMA# and how to package the 100GB HDD.
3. Received a new 160GB ATA/133 HDD in about a week, in plain brown packaging. Shipped back defective 100GB drive via UPS. Had to pay for shipping.

Also RMA'd a Compaq V910 19" CRT and a Xerox C11 printer a few years ago. Received items in less than a week with shipping paid for. Used the same boxes items came in.

Bad experience.

Ordered a refurb 300W PSU from Newegg, cost $15. DOA. Had to pay shipping back via UPS ($13). Never got credited back even when CSR to that I would get money back. :disgust:

 

[ROcHE]

Kingston Valuram memory (lifetime warranty)

They paid the shipping both ways, fedex air, shipped my defective and got my replacement back in 5 days (I live in eastern canada, it's like 10000km away from california where Kingston is based)

So a big thumb up for Kingston.

 

[Black88GTA]

Abit
RMAd KT7-RAID board in mid September with leaking capacitors
Board would have been 3 years old in December (2 years, 8 months old at time of RMA), Abit waived the $25 out of warranty fee cause of the capacitor problem - their decision, I didn't even ask about it :Q
Turnaround time about 2 weeks
My total out of pocket cost = $5.49 for one way shipping MI to CA.
Abit rocks!

DV Century
pending - don't know how I'm gonna rate this one yet. Not looking good though.

 

[BZeto]

RMA Antec 430 Watt True power supply.

Got RMA number almost instantley through email, no questions asked.
Returned it and was a sent a brand new (even updated version) Antec 430 True PSU.
Total time was about a week. Very pleased.

 

[modedepe]

Msi

Rma'd a ti4200 (3 year warranty)

Applied for rma number online, got it the following day. Shipped the card to them (I payed this, about $4). Within about 9 days I got an email back with the tracking number for the replacement. The process was painless and pretty fast.

 

[spidey]

Abit: Did the online RMA thing for an NF7-S, two week turnaround, no problems.

Corsair: Posted on their support board, received an RMA# within 24 hours, turnaround about a week.

Asus: E-mail request, received an RMA# within 48 hours, turnaround 2 weeks, received a mobo that was more defective than the original. The second RMA took the same amount of time, but I haven't tested the board yet.

 

[mbackof]

Diamond VLB Viper 2MB Card. Had to give CC# cross shipped a replacement. I sent the original back to them. This was a long time ago, I'm not still using this machine.

Crucial 256MB SDRAM DIMM. Posted at 128MB instead of 256MB. Had to send back original before getting a replacement. Replacement does the same thing. Must be an incompatibility with my motherboard. Replacement was sent out 2 day shipping and total I was out the memory for 1 1/2 weeks.

APC Back UPS BX1500VA. It took 3 days to get a replacement from them. Cross Shipped me a new one without asking for a CC#. They are paying for return shipping for the unit, I just have to drop it off at a UPS location.

 

[WobbleWobble]

ATI

Took about 3 business days for me to send my RMA request to get a authorization.

From the time they recieved it till I got it back was another 3 days, they shipped using next day.

I had to pay shipping there, they paid shipping back.

No reciept required.

 

[buckmasterson]

Antec
Bought an Antec case at Newegg, bad 350 smartpower power supply. RMA'ed the power supply to Antec, they had a new one at my door in a week.

Newegg
Two bad motherboards in 3 years. RMA'ed and as we all know, Newegg is the greatest!!!

Soyo
Totally unstable KT333 Dragon Lite. RMA'ed and sent another one that wouldn't even boot. RMA'ed it and sent another totally unstable board. Tried again and Soyo never responded. I'll never buy Soyo again.

 

[sharkeeper]

I don't RMA anything. If it's bad it goes in the trash and another one gets ordered. Seriously, hardware is too cheap to have to mess with this!

Cheers!

 

[ArmchairAthlete]

Haven't had to RMA yet (fingers crossed). Then again, I haven't ordered more than two dozen pieces of hardware.

 

[John]

Originally posted by: shuttleteam
I don't RMA anything. If it's bad it goes in the trash and another one gets ordered. Seriously, hardware is too cheap to have to mess with this!

Cheers!

It's nice to see that some people have money to burn. You obviously use cheap equipment, get it for free, or want to brang and moan. I'd wager on the third one.

 

[orion7144]

I've had many RMA's for WD and Maxtor and they went all ok except one where WD said they recieved my package with no drive in it. Submited a claim through UPS and all is good there.

My best experience however is with OCZ. I bought two seperate sticks of PC3500EL memory and I could not get them to run at rated speed on the 865 chipset. Sent them an email and I had replacements in 2 days. The best part is they sent me a Dual channel kit not two seperate sticks.

 

[BZeto]

Forgot one.

NEC 1760V LCD

Had a few dead pixels, annoying red ones, two right next to each other so it looked bigger.
I explained the problem to customer service, after a while they agreed to RMA. They sent me a brand new monitor, when I got it I tested it and it was great, then I sent back my old one. They paid for shipping both ways. EXCELLENT service!

 

[TheCorm]

RELISYS:

A 19" Relisys monitor died on a friend
I called them up on a friday, they were quick and helpful, said monday
Low and behold monday a new one turned up and they took the old one away in a flight case!

The damn monitor went wrong again....and the service was almost as good....they called weds and relisys turned up friday.

 

[kitkit201]

bump.. anyone had experiences with ECS??

I had a RMA experience before...

Maxtor
30 gig HD back in 1999, had a bad cracking sound every now and then, called up Maxtor and they sent me a new one in 3 days, swapped my data from old ones into the new one and shipped it back.. shipping was on them both ways and also got a 40 gig Liquid quiet drive too ! can't beat that..!!

 

[Black88GTA]

I have more.....

DV century
Awful. Tried to RMA a stick of ram that lasted all of 3 months then a resistor fell off. They won't do it. When I try to fit the resistor that fell off back into the socket on the stick, it's angled abnormally - wish I had noticed that right when I got it .

Antec
Awesome. I thought my True430 was out of warranty, so I took it apart so I could use the fans and grilles. Then I read the warranty card, and it was still covered....so I emailed them, told them the situation, and they did the RMA no questions asked . They even sent me an updated model with an external connector!

Albatron
Meh. The fan went bad on my Geforce4 4200ti. I emailed them asking if they could just send a new fan, but they wouldn't do it. So, rather than send me a new fan in the mail, they made me RMA the whole card just to get the stupid fan replaced. Like I couldn't figure out how to replace it myself. It's two freakin screws. I got the same card back, with a new fan on it.

Leadtek
Excellent. This was a long time ago, but I remembered it cause the same thing happened with my Albatron card - the fan went bad on my old Leadtek Geforce 2 GTS. They were cool about it, I emailed them the problem, and they sent me a new fan and heatsink in the mail. It was at my house 4 days after I emailed them about it. I didn't have to send the whole card out at my expense just to have the fan replaced!

 

[jamison]

Newegg

50 RMA's over the last three years. All very excellent overall - some cross ships, some RMA Refunds without restocking fee, and a whole lot of RMA Replacements. I order a lot from them for various business and personal purposes, but it is still probably a higher than normal RMA rate. I guess I just have some bad luck with bezel scratches, bad memory, and the occasional bad hard drive/video card.


Googlegear

One was basically a nightmare, the other very good (with an RMA extension time since I sent it out late by mistake). The first one was horrible, they claimed the memory was working fine but I had a whole lot of Memtest86 errors and instability to say otherwise - new memory worked fine, so it wasn't the motherboard.


Micro-Pro

Nearly three weeks before the refund came through. I recently placed a $450 order with them and the order was simply never processed. To this day, it reports waiting for authorization. I have sent 5 customer support emails and left two voice messages (no live person answers) - yet they have failed to contact me once. I started all of the emails and voice messages after over a week of no movement on my order which was for an in stock item. Absolutely horrible service.


Sundial Micro

Had to return a case for a refund. 15% restocking fee and I pay return shipping, but that is expected for a non damaged/defective case. Good service overall.


Neutron Express

Not bad, not spectacular. Two week turnaround, a bit of hesitance issuing RMA.


Axiontech

Average at best concerning RMA - major hesitance and the questioning of my ability to setup and connect a drive properly.


ASUS

Pretty decent, about two week turn around time. I paid shipping, they paid return shipping, motherboard received back worked.


SOYO

Took at least four phone calls and use of the proper wording and contact person to have them issue me an RMA - absolutely frustrating, especially on a $25 item that was no longer needed and unopened.


Jazz Technology

Two Pioneer DVD slot loading drives defective on arrival - due to bad packaging. One even ate a Windows XP CD. RMA wasn't so bad, but not as smooth as Newegg for example.


Crucial

A small mix up concerning the name on the order at the time of the RMA request, but it was solved and Crucial provides quick service.


Klipsch

Absolutely great service from Amy at Klipsch. I was one of the first 300 to purchase a Klipsch Promedia 5.1 setup and after 8 months I was on my second defective set. After some frustration of getting the huge box, unpacking everything, connecting everything, having them go defective, disconnecting everything, and re-packing everything twice - Amy offered a full refund on the speakers.


IBM

I got several Deathstar 75GXP drives and they were all replaced within a reasonable amount of time. But that whole issue will lead me to boycott IBM/Hitachi drives forever.