EVGA's "lifetime" warranty

[TemjinGold]

My bro and I both bought EVGA 7800GTs at the end of 2005 (December.) I was a BFG customer before that and decided to give EVGA a shot because they also had a Lifetime Warranty and their cards were clocked a bit higher.

Fast forward ~2 years to present day. My bro's 7800GT is now acting up at high resolutions (plays fine until res is at 19X12, then random crashes and graphical glitches.) When he tried to contact their customer service, the lady rudely informed him that "lifetime warranty" meant they would take the card back and repair it but if the purchase had been for more than 1 year, he would have to pay for the repairs. He registered online within the 30 days (I did too), he has his receipt, and has not done anything to void his warranty. Yet he was rudely refused service.

I can see things breaking as nothing is perfect. I can see unreasonable demands refused. But there is no excuse for **** customer "service." Previously, I had been ticked off by evga's forum moderators' juvenile mannerisms and unprofessional attitudes (their own employees!) I will not stand for such fraud. This is the last EVGA product I ever buy. I'm going back to BFG. Their clocks weren't as high but their customer service is LIGHT YEARS ahead.

 

[ManWithNoName]

You should just direct them to their own warranty page and it doesn't look like you needed to register within 30 days until November 2006. Also what is your cards part number?

http://www.evga.com/support/lifetime/

For our retail Graphics Card and Mainboard products purchased on or after June 22, 2005, EVGA will provide a limited lifetime warranty to the original purchaser of each retail product that the product will not suffer, in material or workmanship, from any defect that adversely affects the performance of the product. This limited lifetime warranty is valid for the life of the retail product, so long as the original purchaser owns the product, based upon the following conditions:

All EVGA Products purchased ON or AFTER November 1, 2006 MUST be registered within 30 days from ORIGINAL DATE OF PURCHASE to receive limited lifetime warranty. (All products not registered within 30 days will ONLY receive a 1 year limited warranty.)
Removal and or Defacing of Serial/Part number sticker(s) on ANY EVGA products WILL void ALL warranties.
ALL Defective products sent in for RMA replacement MUST INCLUDE A COPY OF THE ORIGINAL INVOICE / RECEIPT. (Products NOT including invoice/receipt will be returned to the customer at customer?s expense.)
Limited Lifetime Warranty is for all retail Graphics Card and Mainboard products ending in the part numbers A1, A3, AR, AX, BR*, BX*, DR, DX, FR, FX, SG, SL, or S2.
* [Replacement products are shipped out as ?BR or ?BX and will carry the same limited lifetime warranty that your original purchase had based on your registration.]
All retail Graphics Card and Mainboard products ending in the part number K1 receive a limited 3 year warranty when registered within 30 days from ORIGINAL DATE OF PURCHASE.
There is no physical damage to the PCB, GPU/chipset, or components that are caused by: Damage due to improper installation, damage during modification of any kind, damage during any type of Aftermarket cooling installation, and water damage of any kind.
EVGA will cover all return shipping back to the customer for the RMA replacement with free ground shipping through UPS in the United States and free FedEX Ground shipping to Canadian Customers.*
*Shipping into Canada is sent through FedEX Ground as Standard shipping. All RMA replacements to Canada will state ?Warranty Replacement? on the package to Canada to assist in avoiding any Brokerage Fee?s through Canadian customs. EVGA is NOT responsible for any fees charged by the Canadian government or brokers due to brokerage fees.

We will repair or replace the defective parts free of charge (no refunds).

EVGA reserves the right to claim for shipping fees along with a service charge* from the customer for any incomplete or modified product that is returned and requires repair or replacement, or when the customer is not entitled to any coverage under this limited lifetime warranty. EVGA provides this same limited lifetime warranty to any graphics card and mainboard repaired or replaced pursuant this limited lifetime warranty. All replacement products shipped will have ?BX or ?BR at the end of the part number and carry the same warranty as original product. EVGA limited lifetime warranty is for North America, Latin America, and Canada only.

 

[TemjinGold]

Part number ends in AX. I did read that carefully. Having my bro call again with that page.

 

[TMoney468]

It might be helpful to post on the eVGA forums...there are moderators who are extremely helpful and should be able to start you along the process of an RMA...perhaps you just got a pissy CSR.

 

[PCTC2]

I RMA'd my eVGA 680i fine. The first time, it got 'timed' out because I think I entered the wrong receipt, but I got it within 3 days after I called, and then sent the old one back (the Advanced Cross-shipping RMA). Also RMA'd my eVGA 7950GT KO SC fine, and Step-upped my 8600GT to 8800GTS fine as well.

 

[nitromullet]

If you registered your card with EVGA within 30 days of purchase it won't be difficult to prove this and get your warranty. Just log into your EVGA account, and click on "View/Edit My Products". This page shows you all the products you have registered, the date purchased, and the date registered. EVGA has every card I've ever registered with them under my profile.

That being said, I will agree with you that EVGA's customer service interaction isn't quite what it used to be. I recently was denied a second copy of Quake Wars:Enemy Territory when I purchased my most recent 8800GTX. I'm pretty sure that they denied it because I had already gotten a copy from purchasing a different card, but when I asked them to confirm this I never got a response. I wasn't expecting a lengthy email, but I was curious as to what the specific reason the request was denied. My past experiences with EVGA had all been tremendously positive. Their communication was always quick, courteous, and generally helpful.

 

[TemjinGold]

Thanks for all the help, guys. I'll keep you guys posted on how this turns out.

 

[deadken]

It could be worse. I bought a PNY Video card with a 'Lifetime Warranty' only to find out later that PNY was talking about 'product lifetime' and not my lifetime. Basically they said when they stop manufacturing a product, they stop warrantying it.

That was with my 6800GT, so perhaps things have changed by now, but even if they have changed their policy, I will still NEVER buy another PNY Video card.

BTW: I won't buy another stick of PNY Memory either, no matter HOW good the A.M.I.R. price is. In order to get a RMA you need to furnish a copy of the purchase reciept. Luckily I still had a copy in my 'rebate' folder. When they sent me a replacement stick, it didn't work. I RMA'd that one and got a working stick, which I promtly sold.

Best of luck and please do post back to tell us how everything worked out.

 

[Extelleron]

Bit off topic, but does anyone else think that eVGA's requirement for your to register your card within 30 days to get the lifetime warranty is an act of fraud, or at least deceptive advertising? eVGA clearly advertises their cards as having a "LIFETIME WARRANTY" and makes no mention of any requirement to register the card within a certain amount of time or any other conditions when they state this. It is not legal to advertise a lifetime warranty and then only give it to people who meet special, unadvertised conditions.

 

[dderolph]

Originally posted by: ExtelleronIt is not legal to advertise a lifetime warranty and then only give it to people who meet special, unadvertised conditions.

I have some doubt about that. I believe everyone needs to read the fine print to be sure they're complying with any requirements for warranty coverage.

 

[dderolph]

Originally posted by: deadken... PNY Video card. In order to get a RMA you need to furnish a copy of the purchase reciept.

You're complaining about the requirement of proof of purchase? Man, that's surely a common requirement. And, it's just common sense.

This discussion indicates different people have different experiences with different vendors. I had a positive experience with PNY when I RMA'd a flash drive.

 

[deadken]

Originally posted by: dderolph

Originally posted by: deadken... PNY Video card. In order to get a RMA you need to furnish a copy of the purchase reciept.

You're complaining about the requirement of proof of purchase? Man, that's surely a common requirement. And, it's just common sense.....

Not at all... PLENTY of memory manufacturers DO NOT require a copy of a reciept to RMA a stick of memory. Corsair, Crucial, Patriot, etc... I'd bet even Kingston Value Ram doesn't need a copy of the reciept. As long as the stick of memory has their sticker on it, IT IS COVERED by their lifetime warranty. I think you quite a bit off in what I was saying. I stated that after I did send the stick in, I got back a bad stick. It wasn't just that it had errors, but that it didn't work. I had to AGAIN send back the (new) stick and then got a good stick.

I really don't wanna take this any further off topic. I was trying to point out that there was/is another company out there that says it has a 'lifetime' warranty on their video cards, but in reality they don't. Once they stop producing them (let's face it, in the world of graphics cards the turnover rate is HIGH), you are out of luck. I only added the BTW part to say that I won't buy much of anything from PNY anymore no matter how good the price seems.


(edited for type-o)

 

[vhx]

stupid double posts.

 

[vhx]

Rudely refused service? Could you describe how the call went? If you have the receipt and the card, you will get it replaced. You don't even have to talk to them on the phone, you can do it all online.

I smell BS, though. EVGA doesn't even offer a charged repair service at all. They either accept it or they don't, based on the warranty.

Also EVGA's moderators are not all employees

Bit off topic, but does anyone else think that eVGA's requirement for your to register your card within 30 days to get the lifetime warranty is an act of fraud, or at least deceptive advertising? eVGA clearly advertises their cards as having a "LIFETIME WARRANTY" and makes no mention of any requirement to register the card within a certain amount of time or any other conditions when they state this. It is not legal to advertise a lifetime warranty and then only give it to people who meet special, unadvertised conditions.

No. They label it as a Limited Lifetime Warranty (http://www.evga.com/support/lifetime/default.asp). And they include a slip in the box saying you need to register within 30 days to receive the lifetime warranty. If you just toss it aside/forget you have no one to blame but yourself. And all of the conditions are labeled on their website.

Is taking the 5 minutes to register to get a Lifetime warranty really that difficult?

 

[Extelleron]

Originally posted by: vhx
Rudely refused service? Could you describe how the call went? If you have the receipt and the card, you will get it replaced. You don't even have to talk to them on the phone, you can do it all online.

I smell BS, though. EVGA doesn't even offer a charged repair service at all. They either accept it or they don't, based on the warranty.

Also EVGA's moderators are not all employees

Bit off topic, but does anyone else think that eVGA's requirement for your to register your card within 30 days to get the lifetime warranty is an act of fraud, or at least deceptive advertising? eVGA clearly advertises their cards as having a "LIFETIME WARRANTY" and makes no mention of any requirement to register the card within a certain amount of time or any other conditions when they state this. It is not legal to advertise a lifetime warranty and then only give it to people who meet special, unadvertised conditions.

No. They label it as a Limited Lifetime Warranty (http://www.evga.com/support/lifetime/default.asp). And they include a slip in the box saying you need to register within 30 days to receive the lifetime warranty. If you just toss it aside/forget, that is not their problem, you have no one to blame but yourself. And all of the conditions are labeled on their website.

Is taking the 5 minutes to register to get a Lifetime warranty really that difficult?

I'm not saying that it is difficult at all, that's not relevant. The thing that matter is, when you purchased the product, it was clearly advertised as having a Lifetime warranty, when this is not true. The card comes with a 1-year warranty, and a lifetime warranty is only available if you meet requirements that were not advertised at the time of purchase.

It's really just a clever way of cheating people out of a lifetime warranty, much like rebates are a way of making a product's price appear better - the company hopes you won't send the rebate in and they'll keep the extra money. Here, eVGA hopes you won't register within 30 days so they can only give you a 1-year warranty.

The difference, though, is that Mail-in-rebates are clearly advertised as such. eVGA's lifetime warranty is not. I see no mention of these terms when looking on retailer's websites.

I'm not saying it's a big deal; registering is not a problem. However, it is false advertising to claim a lifetime warranty for a product without disclosing that it is only available under special conditions. If eVGA made this clear to consumers before they purchased the product, I would have no trouble with their practice.

 

[vhx]

They do. On the BOX it says, "This EVGA graphics card comes with a limited lifetime warranty upon product registration." and even gives a link to the lifetime warranty page. What more do you want?

 

[Extelleron]

Originally posted by: vhx
They do. On the BOX it says, "This EVGA graphics card comes with a limited lifetime warranty upon product registration." and even gives a link to the lifetime warranty page. What more do you want?

True, but that does not reveal the time-sensitive nature of the registration that is required. Reading that, I would assume that I could register the card a year from now and still get the lifetime warranty.

That doesn't really mean much, anyway. Many warranties require the product to be registered with the company. However, I've never before heard of one that required registration within a certain time period.

 

[Obsoleet]

This is what happens when a program is popular, most of us are able to follow and read the fine print successfully...

and theres always some who fall through the cracks.
I've never had a problem with Evga or BFG support, both are excellent and I only buy from those 2.

If you want a more freestyle approach go BFG, they seem to be more lax on the rules and standards. Evga deals with more hooligans I believe so they have to be more stringent.

 

[Deinonych]

Originally posted by: vhx
They do. On the BOX it says, "This EVGA graphics card comes with a limited lifetime warranty upon product registration." and even gives a link to the lifetime warranty page. What more do you want?

In this case, the point is moot. The OP purchased his card before the 30-day registration policy went into effect.

 

[Puffnstuff]

Originally posted by: deadken

Originally posted by: dderolph

Originally posted by: deadken... PNY Video card. In order to get a RMA you need to furnish a copy of the purchase reciept.

You're complaining about the requirement of proof of purchase? Man, that's surely a common requirement. And, it's just common sense.....

Not at all... PLENTY of memory manufacturers DO NOT require a copy of a reciept to RMA a stick of memory. Corsair, Crucial, Patriot, etc... I'd bet even Kingston Value Ram doesn't need a copy of the reciept. As long as the stick of memory has their sticker on it, IT IS COVERED by their lifetime warranty. I think you quite a bit off in what I was saying. I stated that after I did send the stick in, I got back a bad stick. It wasn't just that it had errors, but that it didn't work. I had to AGAIN send back the (new) stick and then got a good stick.

I really don't wanna take this any further off topic. I was trying to point out that there was/is another company out there that says it has a 'lifetime' warranty on their video cards, but in reality they don't. Once they stop producing them (let's face it, in the world of graphics cards the turnover rate is HIGH), you are out of luck. I only added the BTW part to say that I won't buy much of anything from PNY anymore no matter how good the price seems.


(edited for type-o)

Well having gone through the rma process recently with corsair I can assure you that the receipt is required. I fortunately had mine stored in hard and electronic form which aided in achieving a satisfactory resolution since they couldn't or wouldn't replace my defective ram with an equivalent. Without producing the receipt I would've been forced to accept what they originally wanted to offer. With the receipt I got a full refund and was able to go out and replace my high end memory. Maintaining your receipts is a responsible act that can save your bacon.

 

[aigomoria]

Ouch I have never had any probs with EVGA (mostly had MB issues not Vid cards though).. hope they come through..

 

[sarentack]

I know this topic is old.

but how did things go?

I was a BFG guy myself until it seems most of their products are being replaced on sites and shelves with PNY and EVGA products, got a 8800GTS through EVGA and I got numerous emails trying to RMA that, only to be told the warranty surpassed 1 year. It life time limited warranty, got the box and all, no receipt though. The emails I saved from these guys are quite amusing.

it seems people have numerous problems with EVGA, the problems with video card products, the majority is not human error, its Nvidia and companies releasing drivers that totally screw up the cards, theirs numerous people including myself who has had their cards destroyed from over heating due to Nvidias latest 190.xx drivers, which is an issue flying greatly under the radar, which reduces the fan speed on the cards thus over heating the larger cards. I was told by someone that by law companies have to honor at least a 1 year warranty on products, not sure on if such a law exist though, nor what the circumstances are with that if its all companies or what.

But yeah.....I dont like EVGA.

 

[AlgaeEater]

Nice thread necromancy Saretack! LOL.

I guess we could use some closure on this too, even though the topic is 1 1/2 years old. I can only assume you were wronged by EVGA recently and had to post this after doing some Google searches? (Not trying to be rude honestly; just wanted to know why you brought the topic back to life I guess)

If misery loves company; I had a few bad apples with EVGA myself. Their customer service was excellent in handling the issue; it's their products I had a beef with. Too many RMA's for my liking, and they tend to push their cards to the extreme (literally) for their OC versions where they inevitability fail after a year or so. But I got the cards warranted without issue.

 

[sarentack]

Mostly for information, something I dont really find much on when it comes to RMAs despite I done a few with BFG flawlessly.

I even hear EVGA RMA replacements are used, then I hear some people get upgraded items through their RMA also, it seems like one of those companies that chooses favorites.

after requesting for an RMA on my product about 20 times straight, I went to the BBB and filed a complaint, low and behold they approved an RMA, hope they dont want a receipt, it says they require it, but so does BFG and i have gotten flawless RMAs done through them without any paper work.

I think EVGA is one of these companies out to save a penny when and where they can (illegally), its scratch their back and they scratch yours.

I mean EVGA has gone through the trouble to search the product numbers to see where the product is shipped to, where I live, how long ago it was shipped, quite thrilling they look this up to try to avoid RMA an item, the item was bought new from ebay, the problem with these RMAs is they say they cant honor a warranty on 3rd party products, the problem with that is they dont know who is a 3rd party seller, some of these freaking cards are NEVER seen on websites, but are seen on ebay.

 

[zerogear]

I had no problems either. I always do AdvancedRMA and they sent me the replacement video card before I sent it to them. Not sure why you got a bum deal on it, but I would call their Customer rep manager and leave him a message.