EVGA RMA woes (anyone else?)

[CrazyRob]

I'm a long time fan/retailer of EVGA products, but I feel like I've recently been receiving the short end of the stick when it comes to support. I'm curious if others are running into similar situations as mine, or if this is just a random string of bad luck.

Back in Feb of this year, one of my two evga 7800gt's (both the fastest clocked 517 AX models) started going bad on me, causing bsod's in 3d apps. I thoroughly tested it in several machines and isolated the card as the defective component causing the problems. I was the original owner of the card, and I had registered it on their website previously. The RMA transaction went smooth enough, performed online. I tracked it through evga's websight, and saw that they shipped out a replacement within 24 hours of receiving my defective unit. It was shipped and packed as expected in a very timely fashion. The card I received did not appear to be damaged in transit, however the card was very obviously used. I was expecting a refurbished/repaired unit, however this one arrived with a heatsink that was full of dust, indicating it was likely not inspected.

Giving them the benefit of the doubt, I installed the card and was greeted with artifacts on screen within a few seconds. Didn't even have a chance to get into a 3d mode, artifacting both during post and windows desktop. Again I tested it in independant systems; the card they had shipped me was definitely defective.
This time I called EVGA's support line instead of filing online. Their representatives were on the line rapidly and were very courteous and seemed surprised that I received a defective unit. They offered to RMA this unit and this time they emailed me a prepaid shipping label to cover the return shipping. That upcoming weekend I was scheduled to attend a rather large LAN event hosted by Intel and asked about alternative solutions to get my computer back to a competative condition. They refused any cross shipping option, saying that it would just slow down the process, and also would not offer any credit toward the purchase of a newer product.

I purchased another card for the Lan elsewhere, and got around to returning the card at a later date (in no hurry because of my replacement).

Now I have received a second replacement, upgraded to a 7900gs (which is ok, no longer running sli). This card appeared in better shape than the last, with the clear contact tape still in place protecting the decals on the heatsink. However this card was entirely DOA. No display output whatsoever from either dvi port, tested both with dvi and dvi to vga adapters in 3 independant systems. I even went so far as to test it as a secondary display device in a system, Windows did not even recognize the card was there at all.
I called again October 29th and talked to two more polite representatives, this time cross shipping was offered and they agreed to cover the return shipping on this unit with another prepaid label. I was advised that i would receive an email requesting credit card information and a $1 charge would be placed and then refunded at the time of receiving the card, (standard cross shipping procedure). After a few minutes, I did receive the standard non paid shipping label and rma confirmation, but never received any info regarding the prepaid label or credit card submission form for the cross shipment process.

At this point, I am getting fairly frustrated with EVGA's inability to repair or replace their defective product. I in no way blame the representatives on the phone, they all seemed to be very polite and willing to help. However whatever is going on behind the scenes appears to be breaking down. This may be a string of bad luck, but it sure seems like they're just sending equipment back out without any sort of testing/repair.
Tomorrow will be the first chance I've had to call them AGAIN and discuss this further, but I'm down to my last straw if they don't make this right. I've always valued evga for their competative prices and their lifetime warranty, but what good is that warranty if they can't make good on it? I will update this to the results, but in the meantime, I would greatly appreciate feedback from others that have RMA'd before I decide to give up on the company as a whole.

 

[kush]

Sorry to hear about your problems.. Everyone has their bad moments.

My suggestion - check out the EVGA forums and e-mail Jacob Freeman and/or Joe Darwin. Both of them helped me out quite well back w/ the 7900GT 'issues' (twice). Either of them (or another of the 'bigger' guys over there) should be able to make this right. Personally, I think after sending you an obviously used card (not refurb'd) and a DOA card, I think they need to cross-ship you a new/refurb card, pre-paid return with an upgrade for your troubles. Come to think of it, try PM'ing RussianHaxor here - not an EVGA employee, but an [H] member who some time ago was made a Mod in their forums.

 

[Ravynmagi]

I've had two RMA experiences with EVGA.

The first one was when I bought my 7900GT KO. This was with the first revision of the card that ended up with some sort of faulty design. I did an RMA, got a brand new 7900GT KO which had the same problems. I started reading their forums and seeing people doing multiple RMAs and still not getting a working product. Long story short, Nvidia had to revise the cards, and I kept my eyes on the EVGA forums waited for news on when EVGA received the new cards from Nvidia. And once they did, I sent my second defective card back to them and they sent me a newly revised 7900GT KO.

While the situation was frustrating. It wasn't just EVGA, all manufactures were running into this with the early 7900GTs. And I really loved that EVGA has their own message forums and they have reps that participate in them and were providing us with information and help during that time. Also as you noted, EVGA doesn't normally do cross-shipping, but they were doing it for everyone during that time as well. Which helped alot.


My second EVGA RMA ended up being on that 7900GT KO card again. But this was probably almost a year later and I don't believe the was related to the original issue at all. I did the RMA, got approved, I mailed in my card, they shipped me out another. I received a brand new, still in sealed box, 7950GT.

 

[kush]

You were lucky - all they're required to do is give you a refurb card..Hell, by the terms I think they can ship a used card (but I think they just don't [except when someone screws up; bad form as they say]), ie: the OPs first, but it's just crappy that they didn't seem to even check the card, nor put a new/clean heatsink on it.

On the cross-shipping thing. Yep, they don't except for the Advance RMA 'subscribers' (started w/ the 8 series?). But they did it for me, something like 3+ months AFTER they officially ended providing cross-ships on the 7900 issues - pretty cool IMHO. I wasn't lucky enough to get a 7950 in return, but oh well.

 

[CrazyRob]

thanks for the advice Kush, i've been PM'ing with RussianHaxor (awesome) and we're workin on getting this sorted out.

I'll keep this updated as to how things play out.