RMA for fun and profit!

[Tweakin]

I always wondered if people did shit like that...burn up a chip from OC'g the living hell out of it, and then RMA it back...The video cards were actually funny in the sense that they thought they were being creative...It's a sad...sad...world!

 

[Idontcare]

Originally posted by: Zap
The SATA ports on some motherboards get blocked by dual-slot cards. I know, let's mod the fan shrouds so they fit! Who cares that blowers expel air around their whole circumference and need that shroud to channel air to the right place (through the heatsink).

That's just full of all kinds of fail. Sad to see what some folks consider to be a natural part of the DIY methodology.

 

[WT]

Hahaa, that fan shroud 'mod' reminds me of the thread from the guy that modded his PCIe video card to fit in his AGP slot by hacksawing the 'extra' length off of the card to get it to fit. It seemed to be clearly a parody thread, but who knows what levels of stupidity you will see when you work on a users PC these days.

 

[imported_Redmist]

this goes both ways, customers try to get freebies by doing this or that but those same customers also buy products that are dead out of the box, or they dont work like their supposed, over heating... etc.. then you have to go through the hassle of a customer service rep/technical support person telling you YOUR computer is what is the problem, having you do this and do that then call back when your done, wasting time and so on. then once you get through that hassle you have to wait on shipping and get another DOA product and have to start all over.

look at game companies that release games with all this protection and require people to unplug drives to install or play
games that come out that just don't work with certain peoples computer until they go onilne and download a patch

I say if you can get away with getting something for free than do it, the company being ripped probably deserves it one way or another.

 

[Idontcare]

Originally posted by: Redmist
I say if you can get away with getting something for free than do it, the company being ripped probably deserves it one way or another.

Ah yes, the old "two wrongs don't make a right, unless I'm the one doing it, then it's OK, in fact the its behavior that other's should model themselves after".

No one deserves to be ripped off. Not the customer who buys a dysfunctional game and not the shareholder or employee of the company you espouse defrauding.

Fraud is fraud, and two wrongs don't make a right. It just makes the world a nastier place for the rest of us to live in.

 

[aigomorla]

Zap i have a 98.... errr i mean GTX 295 that needs RMA done...

I need to mod the sink.. err i mean resit the sink because i got a waterblock on it.

<sarcasm incase someone is seriously thinkning this is real>

Seriously tho, u guys need to show this kind of stuff off more. Make the people seriously think twice before RMAing.

 

[taltamir]

Originally posted by: Idontcare

Originally posted by: Redmist
I say if you can get away with getting something for free than do it, the company being ripped probably deserves it one way or another.

Ah yes, the old "two wrongs don't make a right, unless I'm the one doing it, then it's OK, in fact the its behavior that other's should model themselves after".

No one deserves to be ripped off. Not the customer who buys a dysfunctional game and not the shareholder or employee of the company you espouse defrauding.

Fraud is fraud, and two wrongs don't make a right. It just makes the world a nastier place for the rest of us to live in.

Some might make the argument for rare cases of poetic justice; steal from a theif and all that...

but what he is saying is orders of magnitude worse. he is saying they PROBABLY Deserve it... he doesn't KNOW, he doesn't name names of companies that are "ok to defraud"... he just ASSUMES that if he defrauds someone, that someone automatically deserves it because that someone is PROBABLY a fraud as well...

 

[v8envy]

In a standard distribution of population you get all kinds. Which means if you deal with enough people you will run across serious scum.

As an ex small business owner and friend of several people who still run small businesses in this economy I could tell you stories that'd leave your jaw hanging. Some people really do believe they're god's gift to the world, and the rest of us owe them simply for continuing to exist. "The customer is always right" taken to a criminal level, just like the fraud you see here.

Aw heck, time for an anecdote. A friend owns an auto repair shop specializing in Mercedes. Had a customer recently come in for a dead alternator. That customer then tried to get all sorts of free service for a broken motor mount. Claimed the engine got hoisted up wrong on a lift. Two problems: you don't lift the car to replace an alternator, and if you did it certainly wouldn't be by raising the car by the engine. End result is a scene in front of other customers. Just to rip a guy he didn't know off.

 

[Zap]

Only one thing came in of note, a suspicious GTX 295. Hmmm, maybe I'll ask jonnyGURU if he still has those PSU pictures... crazy stuff like high end PSUs coming back with the guts of low end crap stuffed in there.

Originally posted by: aigomorla
Zap i have a 98.... errr i mean GTX 295 that needs RMA done...

:| Don't get me started on suspicious GTX 295 cards.

Originally posted by: v8envy
As an ex small business owner and friend of several people who still run small businesses in this economy I could tell you stories that'd leave your jaw hanging. Some people really do believe they're god's gift to the world, and the rest of us owe them simply for continuing to exist. "The customer is always right" taken to a criminal level, just like the fraud you see here.

OMG I used to own my own mom & pop computer repair shop, and the crap people would try... For some reason for a while (maybe word got out) people would always be bringing in their computer for something really benign ("oh can you blow out the dust and scan for viruses?") and there would be something wrong with the system ("but it wasn't like that when I brought it to you!"). We probably did a few free repairs until we started testing every system for basic functionality (booting into Windows) in front of the customer before they left. Had a couple "oh, no, you don't need to boot it up right now because I gotta go" to some "uh, uh, uh..."

We also used to do free estimates, but found people would come in for the free estimate ""It will cost $$$ to replace the faulty widget part XYZ") and then go "oh I can fix that myself" and pick up the system. Well, no they couldn't... until we diagnosed the problem for them. We started charging a $25 diagnostics fee with a $25 credit towards the recommended repair.

Don't even get me started on the selective hearing customers:
tech: It will be ready tomorrow.
customer: So I can pick it up in an hour?

 

[soccerballtux]

Wow, screwholes through the 9800GTX. LMAO.

 

[james1701]

So, anything funny lately?

 

[Zap]

Always odd stuffs happening in RMA, but nothing as overtly "OMG."

 

[nitromullet]

/sigh... I guess that's good for BFG, but I really do enjoy seeing your pics.

You know, I bet you could make a pretty good coffee table book or website based on this concept if you could get enough companies to share their stories/pics.

 

[Zap]

06/04/09 EDIT: A doozy

Looks like a GTX 280... with a green PCB?!?!

Heh, must be the new "green" version of the GTX 280 that doesn't need PCIe power

I didn't know NVIDIA dropped SLI support from these things

OMG with the heatsink/fan removed... it isn't a GTX 280 after all!

PCB was shaved down to fit

Components were removed and extra holes drilled

Wow, it is a Quadro that probably was originally worth more than the GTX 280

Note the extra bit of PCB on the "hook" part that prevents it from being clipped in. This indicates that it was probably an engineering or review sample. This makes it the THIRD time this year that people have returned samples to us, masquerading them as retail BFG cards. :|

 

[error8]

So he did that to that card and sent it asking in return for a new gtx 280? And he thought that nobody would notice? What the hell? How can someone that retarded even remembers how to breathe on its own?

 

[nitromullet]

Originally posted by: Zap
06/04/09 EDIT: A doozy

Looks like a GTX 280... with a green PCB?!?!

Heh, must be the new "green" version of the GTX 280 that doesn't need PCIe power

I didn't know NVIDIA dropped SLI support from these things

OMG with the heatsink/fan removed... it isn't a GTX 280 after all!

PCB was shaved down to fit

Components were removed and extra holes drilled

Wow, it is a Quadro that probably was originally worth more than the GTX 280

Note the extra bit of PCB on the "hook" part that prevents it from being clipped in. This indicates that it was probably an engineering or review sample. This makes it the THIRD time this year that people have returned samples to us, masquerading them as retail BFG cards. :|

Wow. It's been a while, but worth the wait. Sorry to see that, but thanks for sharing.

That is odd about the engineering sample. I've always thought that if I ever got an ES anything I'd hang on to just because it's an ES, especially if I got it prior to retail launch. ...alas, I am not a focus group member or beta tester so it's retail only for me.

 

[Idontcare]

Originally posted by: Zap
06/04/09 EDIT: A doozy

So what are your (BFG's) options in a situation like this? You tell them to fob off, pursue them for fraud in small claims, send them a request to send the GPU and claim all you received was a box full of packing peanuts?

 

[SunnyD]

Originally posted by: Idontcare

Originally posted by: Zap
06/04/09 EDIT: A doozy

So what are your (BFG's) options in a situation like this? You tell them to fob off, pursue them for fraud in small claims, send them a request to send the GPU and claim all you received was a box full of packing peanuts?

I believe that they send the original card back.

 

[CoinOperatedBoy]

Originally posted by: Idontcare

Originally posted by: Zap
06/04/09 EDIT: A doozy

So what are your (BFG's) options in a situation like this? You tell them to fob off, pursue them for fraud in small claims, send them a request to send the GPU and claim all you received was a box full of packing peanuts?

I highly recommend BFG return the Quadro (maybe with a few more drill holes) disguised with a defective GTX 295 hsf. This person will be overjoyed.

 

[BladeVenom]

Isn't fraud a crime? Turn them in.

 

[error8]

Originally posted by: CoinOperatedBoy


I highly recommend BFG return the Quadro (maybe with a few more drill holes) disguised with a defective GTX 295 hsf. This person will be overjoyed.

Yeah, send him in a GTX 295 with the GPUs taken off. :laugh:

 

[Idontcare]

Originally posted by: BladeVenom
Isn't fraud a crime? Turn them in.

Might be tough to prove "who" actually committed the fraud specifically. The card passes thru a lot of hands in the supply chain to the customer and then back again to the RMA dept. The burden of proving no one but the person doing the RMA actually commited fraud is upon the accuser (BFG in this case) so it might just be impractical.

That said, it would be equally so impractical for the person doing the RMA to likewise prove BFG did something untowards with their purported GPU, so I like the idea of shoving the original fubar'ed ES quadro into a GTX295 shroud and telling them they "got a free upgrade and sorry for the troubles you had with your GTX285", hugs and kisses yours truly, BFG...:laugh:

 

[Zap]

Originally posted by: Idontcare
So what are your (BFG's) options in a situation like this?

Actually all the ones listed so far came from retail stores. Basically people are fooling customer service into accepting the return. Contrary to public opinion stores don't just re-shrink it and put it back on their shelf (unless the store name begins with Fry... and ends in ...ics). They send all the returns (for whatever reason) back to the manufacturer for credit. When we get these, we turn around and send them back to the retail store and do not give them credit. They need to train their CSRs better. :|

This doesn't mean we don't get these RMA'd directly to us, but it is not as common and not as obvious. Most of the people we have should be able to spot crap like this, and what we do is to just return it explaining why the RMA was refused.

There are some trickier ones though, that get through. Usually the card is being processed for repair or something and someone notices something amiss (like a broken RAM chip held on by hot glue or an engineering sample with a retail card's fansink and S/N sticker). However, by that time the card may no longer have the serial number sticker on it and may have passed through a number of hands, and so it becomes impossible to trace. At that point it becomes a write-off for the company.

 

[apoppin]

At that point it becomes a write-off for the company.

so do you recycle or does it go into the trash?

 

[Blazer7]

Originally posted by: Zap

There are some trickier ones though, that get through. Usually the card is being processed for repair or something and someone notices something amiss (like a broken RAM chip held on by hot glue or an engineering sample with a retail card's fansink and S/N sticker). However, by that time the card may no longer have the serial number sticker on it and may have passed through a number of hands, and so it becomes impossible to trace. At that point it becomes a write-off for the company.

So you are telling us that some of these guys get away with it ?!?

Oh men I don't believe this!! Have you people ever tried to go legal against any of them? I know that this will cost you far more than giving them free cards but you need to set an example. Make everyone know that crime doesn't pay, because that's what this is.

If you let even a single one of those smart asses get away with it I bet that that guy will tell some other guys that you people cannot distinguish your own $!# !! This will eventually result in some other dumass sending you his trash and this will never end. As long as there 're no consequences such behavior will continue.

And what about those engineering samples? Forgive my ignorance on this but isn't there a way for you to track down who received them in the first place? I mean, somebody receives a free card and then tries to work his way through to exchange it with a retail at your cost? Come on!!