Corsair rant, my advice, avoid them.

[PrincessFrosty]

Just a quick rant about my continuing experience with corsairs "support" for their peripherals, just give you guys a "buyer beware" heads up.

*edit* here's my new video describing my process with Corsair, it contains the most detail - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pUhRpIJThWY

I bought the Corsair K70 keyboard in the UK, it comes at a £120 premium ($192 USD), it has individually lit LED keys which it turns out can just individually die, and it seems like this is quite a common problem judging by both the number of complaints their tech support forums have and the number of individuals who are on their 2nd or 3rd RMA to get a working product.

So I open an RMA thinking, Corsair are good right? They have a reputation, they'll deal with this swiftly and fairly. Nope.

11 days in and I've FINALLY managed to get an RMA address, what do I find. I have to ship the defective keyboard back internationally to the Netherlands! On my dime. WHAT THE HELL CORSAIR ?!

Yep on top of a £120 premium for a keyboard, it's going to cost me god knows how much to ship their defective product back to them overseas before they'll ship me a new one. Pushing the cost of a £120 keyboard up to something even more ridiculous.

My advice is to avoid them, I've been building systems for over 18 years now and never had such bad support for premium products like this, what a total slap in the face. Maybe if they couriered it back to their RMA department on their dime they'd actually have an incentive to make a product that lasts more than a few weeks.

 

[Kindjal]

I has a similar experience with my silver K70. The left arrow LED failed on my KB. After placing my initial RMA, I did not get the timely response I expected. Corsair cancelled my initial express RMA because the silver K70s would not arrive from HK for several weeks. Corsair recommended placing an RMA on the date of the K70s expected arrival in the U.S.

Fortunately, I received a working, perfectly lit (for now) K70 about 4 weeks after my initial RMA. It cost me $20 to ship the defective KB back to California. This is my first experience with a defective product from Corsair. I own a lot of Corsair hardware, so I hope this is an isolated event.

 

[videogames101]

I purchase my peripherals based on customer service reputation of the company, because most gaming keyboards/mice seem the same to me.

I'll be wary of corsair in the future, thanks OP.

 

[alanwest09872]

look to see if they have a twitter or facebook page and publicly place your "rant" just do it professionally. Companies hate being called out where masses can read.

 

[PrincessFrosty]

Hi fellow honest forum members, Glad to read that my incident is not isolated.

I has a similar experience with my silver K70. The left arrow LED failed on my KB. After placing my initial RMA, I did not get the timely response I expected. Corsair cancelled my initial express RMA because the silver K70s would not arrive from HK for several weeks. Corsair recommended placing an RMA on the date of the K70s expected arrival in the U.S.

Fortunately, I received a working, perfectly lit (for now) K70 about 4 weeks after my initial RMA. It cost me $20 to ship the defective KB back to California. This is my first experience with a defective product from Corsair. I own a lot of Corsair hardware, so I hope this is an isolated event.

Thank yourself lucky that in the US the returns department is local, in the UK we're expected to ship products internationally for RMAs.

I purchase my peripherals based on customer service reputation of the company, because most gaming keyboards/mice seem the same to me.

I'll be wary of corsair in the future, thanks OP.

No problem. For what it's worth I've purchased both RAM and PSU's off Corsair in the past and never had issues with both, despite using them for a multitude of computers, however this is my first experience with their RMA department and it seems like they're not willing to act like reasonable human beings, they will place the blame of their faulty products on you as the consumer and expect you to ship their products back to them, sometimes overseas including the customs and tax included with doing that.

Furthermore my research in to their products has revealed that many of their keyboards, including but not limited to the K70 and the K90 range commonly come with defective keys, meaning if you want a correctly operating piece of hardware you're forced to go through their RMA procedure.

look to see if they have a twitter or facebook page and publicly place your "rant" just do it professionally. Companies hate being called out where masses can read.

I have already posted several news updates to my gaming site here:

http://www.pcgamingstandards.com/News.aspx#80

You can follow my progress there, or feel free to contact me via the site with your own issues and I will forward them along side my own to Corsair HQ with my official letter of complaint.

So far the moderators of their forums prefer to ban and lock posts which contain complaints addressing their dishonestly regarding the RMA process.

Anyone who wants to report these issues please get in touch with me through my site or alternatively at princess_frosty@hotmail.com, thank you for your time.

 

[chimaxi83]

Strange. There are quite a few forum posts out there detailing stellar customer service by Corsair.

I had a pair of HS1A headphones that developed static on the mic. No questions asked RMA, and I received a Vengeance 1500 as a replacement. After about a year, the right ear cup stopped working. Another no questions asked RMA, and I received a new Vengeance 1500 V2 as a replacement.

They will continue to get my money.

 

[bononos]

Strange. There are quite a few forum posts out there detailing stellar customer service by Corsair.

I had a pair of HS1A headphones that developed static on the mic. No questions asked RMA, and I received a Vengeance 1500 as a replacement. After about a year, the right ear cup stopped working. Another no questions asked RMA, and I received a new Vengeance 1500 V2 as a replacement.

They will continue to get my money.

Yeah but Corsair have also hopped onto the mechanical keyboard bandwagon and churned out defective products.
And if Corsair are locking and deleting threads on their forum because they can't stand hearing about their own shoddy products or screwed up rma procedure then it reflects badly on the company.

 

[PrincessFrosty]

OK I've been pissed off for a while with all this bullshit, so I've decided to post a video regarding this rubbish, it's just my feeling on the matter as a long term customer of Corsair, judge this however you will.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pUhRpIJThWY

 

[etrigan420]

I wonder if Corsair might have gotten a little too big for their britches...

The only RMA experience I have with them was untold years ago on a matched set of DDR. I wasn't even sure it was the RAM that was the problem, but posted a message on their message board. Next think I know I receive an email with an RMA number and a pre-paid shipping label. Since then I've bought Corsair RAM exclusively.

Sorry to hear about your keyboard issues...nobody deserves that kind of treatment. :\

Random question: How do you deal with that backlight? My god that looks bright (and, therefore, annoying) as all hell...

 

[PrincessFrosty]

It's worth noting that after posting this video to the Cosair forums, detailing how their customer service made me feel as a long standing customer, they removed the video, because they didn't want to look bad.

Is anyone else surprised at this despicable tactic?

 

[Sheep221]

Can't speak of corsair as I don't really ever buy any premium hardware as it is not doing anything special than other hardware.

But shipping from UK to netherlands is nothing that is international, you ship from one state to another just like forum member from US did, that's all, he even shipped across more states probably. In fact you can throw a rock from UK to NL, they are that close.

As a protection to this if I have to buy anything that expensive beyond simply throwing it away when it fails. I never buy such a stuff online to avoid return shipping and negotiations if I need to RMA.

 

[PrincessFrosty]

I've not calculated exact costs but others have said on their forums £40 shipping fee. The UK and NL are different nations, shipping between them is international shipping.

Some people have paid this multiple times because the replacements have had the same issues, in fact I went through the the first page of their peripheral forums and tallied up people who had not just got dead LEDs but were on their 2nd or more replacements (so basically were shipped a defective product after spending £40)

Here - http://forum.corsair.com/forums/showpost.php?p=670319&postcount=5
Here - http://forum.corsair.com/forums/showpost.php?p=674729&postcount=23
Here - http://forum.corsair.com/forums/showpost.php?p=680287&postcount=29
Here - http://forum.corsair.com/forums/showpost.php?p=680385&postcount=31
Here - http://forum.corsair.com/forums/showpost.php?p=680270&postcount=23
Here - http://forum.corsair.com/forums/showpost.php?p=678955&postcount=1
Here - http://forum.corsair.com/forums/showpost.php?p=677585&postcount=1
Here - http://forum.corsair.com/forums/showpost.php?p=677629&postcount=3
Here - http://forum.corsair.com/forums/showpost.php?p=678050&postcount=9
Here - http://forum.corsair.com/forums/showpost.php?p=678837&postcount=12

I think one of them is on his 5th replacement.

I decided it's too much of a risk as I might just get a worse one, I have no confidence in their products any more, not willing to be inconvenienced or burdened financially any further when I could end up with a worse one. Closed my RMA with them, their staff are extremely unhelpful.

Being scammed out of £120 really stings I have to say, but had my rant now, got it out my system, lesson learned I now know who to avoid in future. Sometimes you just have to learn this stuff first hand.

On the bright side, Payday, woohoo! Happy days On the hunt for a new mechanical keyboard, preferably one that works for more than 4 weeks

Taking suggestions (not Corsair obviously, lol)

 

[BrightCandle]

I haven't ever bought a Corsair peripheral but I have ended up returning quite a lot of their RAM. They seem to ship a lot of units that don't meet spec right out of the box. But in all cases I didn't have to rely on the manufacturers warranty because it was an immediate problem so Sales of Goods Act return to the company I bought it from. Even outside of the initially period its well worth talking to the company you bought it from as they may very well deal with the warranty side for you.

 

[Yellowbeard]

The aforementioned video was deleted. I deleted it because the speaker drops the "F bomb" every few seconds. We try to maintain a family atmosphere in our support forum so we cannot allow this video to stand as is.

 

[Yellowbeard]

I've not calculated exact costs but others have said on their forums £40 shipping fee. The UK and NL are different nations, shipping between them is international shipping.

All you need to do is complete your ticket and your situation is resolved.

http://forum.corsair.com/forums/showpost.php?p=680823&postcount=16

Hi Princess. We apologize you had a problem with your Corsair K70. While we do our best to ensure everyone has a problem-free experience, there will always be some that get through our stringent QC process and result in an experience that is most undesirable. We of course acknowledge this reality and this is why all of our components come with at least a two year warranty so when and if it does happen, we will always ensure to replace the product for you with one that provides a better experience.

Standard RMA policy has always been that the customer ships the product back to us, and we would pay to ship it back to you. This is why if the retailer can process it locally for you, we recommend that as the quickest course of action. If they cannot help you, then we will always step in to do so. In this case, if the LED's died within 30 days of purchase (or if you spoke with customer service and explain to them your situation), we would be more than happy to assist with the return postage given the issue you are experiencing. I would not recommend returning this to us at your cost until you get the label as we would not be able to refund any postage costs.

In this case, given the difficulties you already have experienced, go ahead and give me your RMA number and I will personally request a label be sent to you, and have our RMA team process you a new keyboard ASAP.

As you can see most of our threads, we will always do what is right to make the customer happy. We're not here to scam anyone and any assumption of us to do so is purely subjective based on your frustration. We can go on about how angry you feel, but I rather us spend our effort on correcting the situation to resolve your problem to ensure your keyboard lives up the quality our brand is known for.

Thanks.

 

[PrincessFrosty]

Unfortunately Corsairs RMA department was unable to provide a satisfactory solution to this problem in the end.

I've agreed with their customer reps to simply close the tickets and abandon the RMA process, the amount of time, stress, and proposed inconvenience and further cost to myself is no longer worth the hassle, their process has unfortunately made the fastest and most convenient course of action to simply cut my losses and buy a new keyboard from another more reliable manufacturer.

I've spent some time doing research leading up to buying a mechanical keyboard and Ducky keyboards were my next choice, so after some shopping around I've made an order to buy one, hopefully be with me by Tuesday, then I can throw this broken one in the bin.

I've decided against the use of overclockers for further purchases, while they had no hand in the behaviour of Corsairs RMA process and customer reps, I'm a little bit sad to see that my review of the purchase I made through their site regarding this keyboard was not published, which simply stated that after a month LEDs were dying, I made sure to keep anything controverisal out of the review so there was no excuse not to publish it, oh well, I guess that's how these things work they're artificially letting only some reviews in, I can't say for sure but I no longer have complete trust there, so I've made sure to order else where.

Thanks to those who tried to help me and those who sent me messages with advice for Ducky keyboards, it's appreciated.

 

[BrightCandle]

Overclockers has dreadful RMA procedures as well, they are definitely one to avoid in the future. Resellerratings says it all, there are 10's of thousands of complaints about this company around faulty products and cherry picking positive reviews.

 

[PrincessFrosty]

Overclockers has dreadful RMA procedures as well, they are definitely one to avoid in the future. Resellerratings says it all, there are 10's of thousands of complaints about this company around faulty products and cherry picking positive reviews.

That's interesting, I didn't know about that site. They have a terrible score. I've added my fairly mediocre review of them detailing my issues, thanks for the heads up. PC community needs to watch out for each other and make sure all this stuff gets reported.

 

[styrafoam]

So many hardware companies are getting in on the gaming mouse and keyboard business these days its almost a joke. I think that if you find something while shopping and think to yourself "They make keyboards too? huh." its probably best just to keep looking.

 

[Destiny]

So many hardware companies are getting in on the gaming mouse and keyboard business these days its almost a joke. I think that if you find something while shopping and think to yourself "They make keyboards too? huh." its probably best just to keep looking.

They go where the money is flowing or to expand their product line... in regards to RMA Warranty stuff... the best thing to do is to see if the brand/company have an Office for RMA/Warranty service in your country = otherwise expensive RMA process...

I bought a few Corsair products, been working fine so far... once in awhile we do encounter bad luck... like my Turtle Beach cans breaking on me 3 times in 6 months...

 

[PrincessFrosty]

So many hardware companies are getting in on the gaming mouse and keyboard business these days its almost a joke. I think that if you find something while shopping and think to yourself "They make keyboards too? huh." its probably best just to keep looking.

I know, I should have known better really, I'm normally quite savvy shopper, this is what you get when you get relaxed about it all.

Someone claimed on the OCUK forums that they had a 1% failure rate, I did the math on the probability that someone would get a failed keyboard RMA'd to them 5 times in a row (you can find these people on their forums, I linked to a bunch in my prior post).

It's one in 10,000,000,000,000. 1 in 10 billion!!

So clearly the failure rate is not down at 1% like a lot of products, statistically speaking it has to be significantly higher, there's multiple people that are on their 3rd replacement even that's a one in a million, and that's happening constantly.

Corsair have not made/sold 10 billion of these keyboards.

Their reps will not speak to the frequency of the failures, expect to constantly point out that every product has failures (sure they do, that's fine) but they're trying to equate the failure rate of their products with other more reliable manufacturers to simply downplay the issue.

Now if their standard operating procedure was to offer to pay to ship back the product for customers (and it's not, you only get this when you have the sheer gall to complain) then they'd not be able to make a profit with this product range, it would cost them too much.

This is why I call them scammers, they KNOW people are getting shipped 5x in a row and still getting failures, yet they continue to sell the products. In my mind, that's a scammer, it's premeditated, they're aware of their own failure rates and they're aware that going through their RMA process is painful enough to dissuade its use. What happens if I buy a £20 product from Cosair and they expect me to spend £40 to RMA it, who would do that? You'd just buy a new one...it's just happenstance my product is expensive and the RMA cost is a fraction of the cost and not twice the cost.

Anyway, that's the math, you can do it yourself, I've linked to the people who have had multiple failures in my prior posts, feel free to visit those links, see I'm not lying, do the math based on those kind of repeated failure rates, to work it out it's just the failure rate as ratio from 0 to 1, in this case 1% is 0.01, multiplied by itself the number of failures in a row, so 0.01 ^ n where n is the number of failures.

I worked it out backwards and gave them a generous batch limit of 100,000, I don't think they're making anywhere near this may, it's a premium product afterall. You'd need to have roughly a 10% failure rate for it to be statistically likely that someone gets 5x dead in a row. Around the 10,000 batch limit its 15% ish.

Someone completely separate to me, prior to my problem, on their forums, said he read through the amazon reviews and said roughly 10% of reviews listed dead keys, so that's 2 good pieces of evidence that failure rate is at LEAST 10%

I'd say somewhere between 10-15%, I wonder just how close that is, will the customer reps be willing to find out and then chime in? I'm betting not. Hey reps, how dastardly close is this calculation to reality? I bet you're sitting their looking at the real number, saying to yourself, god damn that's pretty close. LOL

Anyway keep on selling them, scam away, why not.

 

[BrightCandle]

These "make lots of things" companies tend not to produce anything of high quality. Peripheral reviews are kind of broken (mice especially but keyboards as well) and so because the reviewers aren't doing their job we don't have a lot to go on. So instead of choosing from relatively new brands to such peripherals it is safer to choose a long standing supplier of these products or a specialist that only makes keyboards.

 

[PrincessFrosty]

I agree completely.

Most of the stuff I've bought from Corsair so far has been RAM, and I'll be fair, in the 18 years of hand building computers both personally and professionally I've never had a stick of RAM die, I always handle mine while grounded.

Problem with reviewers of things like keyboards is they review them, for a short while so issues like this where things die after 4-5 weeks don't get into the review.

I'm going to avoid the "Jack of all trades, master of none" companies from now on and focus on manufacturers that excel at making a specific line of products to a high quality. Part of my decision to go with a Ducky keyboard. This is good advice, thanks.

 

[corkyg]

All comments noted and appreciated. I will stick with Logitech - never had a problem with them.

 

[Destiny]

I used to work in the tech industry and the allowed defective rate is actually 5% or less - anymore thing more it either affects the net profit or need the whole production line to be recalled... but in california consumer product laws such as the lemon law = if there is an RMA/Warranty performed 3 times for the same issue = full refund...