Need some motherboard RMA/returns advice


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I bought a motherboard from a well-respected online computer retailer in mid-September 2010.

There were issues with it recently (it would not correctly detect the hard drive completely) but luckily, it was a few weeks before the 3-year warranty ended.

I sent it back to the retail who received it and rejected the RMA stating "damaged socket".

I asked for more information and received:

"The motherboard has been received in a physically damaged condition, the CPU socket is damaged and the damage was immediately notice during the initial inspection of the motherboard. Due to the damage present we would be unable to offer a replacement motherboard."

The CPU socket was in perfect condition when I sent it and even if the board came loose in the box (shouldn't happen, it was well packaged), the I/O "boxes" would have stopped the CPU socket hitting the top of the box.

 

Since the motherboard went wrong a few weeks before the warranty ended, I get the feeling they're not to respect it.

Should I take this further? (Small Claims Court, perhaps?)

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Forgive the question, but did you attach the plastic socket protection piece? It's often forgotten, neglected...

Fair question.

 

No, but I haven't had that in years.

 

To be fair, the board was well packaged and nothing was loose that could move and damage it.

 

They didn't reject it due to that piece being missing, they specifically said it was damaged, which I fail to believe that is possible between when I sent it and it getting there.

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I would, but before proceeding, are you completely sure that it wasn't damaged before sending?

Damaged in transit?

Did you by any chance take any pics before sending?

 

You may have to kick up a little stink to force them to make a decision

And if you have the time to go to court, I guess you could do, I see no reason not too,

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Three words, 'small claims court'.

Make this your first promise to them, then by some miracle you might hear good news.

If you do turn out to court, they probably won't turn up.

You will win as they never contested the case.

They still refuse to give you what you are owed, then get the bailiffs out.

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I would, but before proceeding, are you completely sure that it wasn't damaged before sending?

Damaged in transit?

Did you by any chance take any pics before sending?

 

You may have to kick up a little stink to force them to make a decision

And if you have the time to go to court, I guess you could do, I see no reason not too,

I am positive the CPU socket was not damaged. As you can see in the topic I linked to in the first post, the system worked fine apart from the HDD port issue.

I can't see the CPU socket being damaged in transit as even if the motherboard came loose in the box (shouldn't happen, it was well packaged), the I/O "boxes" would have stopped the CPU socket hitting the top of the box.

I did not take photos, unfortunately.

 

Three words, 'small claims court'.

Make this your first promise to them, then by some miracle you might hear good news.

If you do turn out to court, they probably won't turn up.

You will win as they never contested the case.

They still refuse to give you what you are owed, then get the bailiffs out.

Unfortunately, I have already e-mailed them back. I did not use the words "Small claims court" but I simply stated I would take it further:

"The CPU socket was in perfect condition when it was sent worked flawlessly, and it would not have broken in the packaging as it was sufficiently packaged and the socket is the in the centre of the board and would not have been able to touch the top or bottom of the box  in order to break, even if the board was loose.

Please send this item back and if I'm unhappy with the condition once received, I'll be taking it further."

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I can see why a dishonest service would seek such an excuse. It's H55, nearly impossible to replace or even find similar board. After nearly three years they will have to issue a refund, which is always an unpleaseant thing for any retailer - it takes about a month to get a refund from distributor, more than that if from manufacturer directly. I'm not defending them, but I'd expect them to be rather stingy about it.

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I can see why a dishonest service would seek such an excuse. It's H55, nearly impossible to replace or even find similar board. After nearly three years they will have to issue a refund, which is always an unpleaseant thing for any retailer - it takes about a month to get a refund from distributor, more than that if from manufacturer directly. I'm not defending them, but I'd expect them to be rather stingy about it.

I understand why they would be too, I wouldn't be too chuft if I was in their position. But I'm within my rights :(

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To be frank, you have to put the plastic protection in place and technically they can deny you an RMA if you don't. This is usually stated explicitely on the piece which you have to remove to install your CPU.

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As you didn't acquire any proof before you sent the item away, and didn't keep any records I would imagine that you might have a hard time proving your case. These days companies will do anything they can to weasel their way out of honouring warranties. While it is possible your claim in court may be uncontested, it's also possible that it could end up costing you more than the board is worth as it's basically your word against theirs. Personally I'd just cut my losses and make sure you don't make the same mistake if you ever RMA something again.

 

I wish you luck, but in the future learn the lesson from this episode, and document thoroughly (with photos) the condition of the product before you send it back.

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It was impossible for the CPU socket to have been damaged during transit, I can promise you that. If it comes back to me damaged, it will be their doing and I'll be very angry.

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It arrived back today. There are around six bent pins that were NOT there when I sent it and it's impossible for that to happen in the packaging, even without the "plate" included.

 

This is such bullcrap.

 

And to make things worse, they included a 47-page Asus product guide!

 

They ruined my motherboard (that just needed a simple RMA).

 

It seems I'm having to go through the small claims court...

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Problem is, you can't prove the board wasn't damaged before you sent it.  To go through small claims court costs money, which you get back if you win, but you have to prove it to win it.

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Problem is, you can't prove the board wasn't damaged before you sent it.  To go through small claims court costs money, which you get back if you win, but you have to prove it to win it.

I wouldn't have sent a motherboard with clearly damaged CPU pins to be RMA'd.

 

All I would have to prove to the small claims court is that it's impossible for the pins to be damaged in transit, even if there was no CPU plate used. Even if the motherboard was rattling around freely inside (which is absolutely was not), the pins wouldn't have been damaged.

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I wouldn't have sent a motherboard with clearly damaged CPU pins to be RMA'd.

 

All I would have to prove to the small claims court is that it's impossible for the pins to be damaged in transit, even if there was no CPU plate used. Even if the motherboard was rattling around freely inside (which is absolutely was not), the pins wouldn't have been damaged.

But you would have to prove that they weren't bent before you sent it in, surely.  They would say that it arrived like that, you say it wasn't sent like that = stalemate.

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Personally, just threaten them with small claims court. Send them a pre-court letter, and file online. I bet you any money when they get the letter realising your serious they'll pay up.

 

You can also take to social media. I've had wonders with certain companies by hitting every one of their twitter/facebook etc accounts at the same time. They don't like bad publicity ;).

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This is such a frustrating situation.

 

The CPU pins were perfect when I sent it (I posted here only a few days before, trying to troubleshoot the HDD issue!) and it was impossible to be damaged in transit, even if the packaging was poor (which it was not).

 

Therefore I can't help but feel this was sabotage because they knew the 3-year warranty was very nearly over :/

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do you have any pictures proving it was good when you sent it? thats why i always snap a ton of photos before dealing with warranty

No, but I never thought I'd need to take photos of everything :( It should have been a simple RMA.

 

I've definitely learned my lesson.

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its a shame honestly, warranty claims are a pain in the butt when they shouldnt. companies should stand by their product not throw us consumers through tons of loops. I remember back in the day RMAs were so easy, now too many users physically damage boards, over clock too far, extreme cool and try to RMA which is why i think companies make it so hard now

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its a shame honestly, warranty claims are a pain in the butt when they shouldnt. companies should stand by their product not through us consumers through tons of loops. I remember back in the day RMAs were so easy, now too many users physically damage boards, over clock too far, extreme cool and try to RMA which is why i think companies make it so hard now

Yeah, I understand that completely. Overclocking-wise, this was an SI model, it's locked down. There were no overclocking features. But yeh, I see your point.

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No, but I never thought I'd need to take photos of everything :( It should have been a simple RMA.

 

I've definitely learned my lesson.

I had a similar problem a few years back, although on a smaller scale.  I returned an Airflo Mouse that had a noisy fan.  When they got it and tested it, they said there was nothing wrong even though you could quite clearly hear the noise from it.  I just left it at that as it was only about ?5.

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just tell them you took pictures before you sent it in, and believe warranty fraud has occured,and that you will be contacting an attorney and the relevant authorities to take this matter further. make sure to make it a point that you have all the proof in the world that there was damaged caused on their end. kinda rub it in, like "you're ######ed"

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