XFX RMA Horror Story

[ymetushe]

Hey guys, I have a little bit of a problem here, and would appreciate ANY help and suggestions. Thanks.

My XFX 4890 XT was making high pitched noise under load that was really annoying, even more so when I added the card to my WC loop and my system was generally quiet. So I decided to RMA it to XFX while I was gone over the winter break. The card was:

Dec 28 - Delivered by USPS
Dec 29 - XFX Acknowledged receipt
Jan 6 - XFX tested the card and determined it to be faulty
Jan 12 - I contacted XFX and they told me the card was being pulled and should ship shortly. Nothing happened.
I then contacted XFX about 7-8 more times between January 18th and 28th before they admitted to not having any 4890 XTs in stock, and telling me they have no idea when any will appear. In other words, I was out of luck.

After more calls, XFX finally offered me 3 choices:
1. Wait for 4890 XT to come in. May take en eternity.
2. Have them ship me a stock 4890 and then 4890XT if it ever arrives. Since I'm on WC-ing, this would mean me having to drain my loop multiple times to swap the cards in and out. No-oh. More importantly, no guarantee an overclocked version would ever arrive.
3. Pay $130 to trade up to 5850. This option would be great for $100, but $130 is way too much. I mean, MSRP difference b/w stock 4890 and 5850 is $100, so difference b/w OC-ed 4890 and stock 5850 should be even less, not more.

I finally called and asked for a refund, which they refused; I proceeded to leave a voice-mail for their manager, Ryan, but my call was never returned...

It is now FEBRUARY already!

Anybody know of any consumer rights protection agency that might be able to help me out? I filed a claim with BBB yesterday. Thank you all.

[Serpentarius]

pay it up and get a new one?

well at least you'll get a new one, considering it as an upgrade

[ymetushe]

pay it up and get a new one?

well at least you'll get a new one, considering it as an upgrade

I was initially very excited about the possibility of a paid upgrade ... until they offered me a price of $130, which is, in my opinion, absolutely out of line. I pressed XFX CSRs to either justify the steep upgrade price or offer me a reasonable one, but they wouldn't budge. So I had to pass on the offer.

Just to put it in perspective: Newegg currently has a HIS 5850 on sale for $270. $130 is almost half that price, and they wanted me to pay this amount for an upgrade, considering that I have already had to wait for over a month.

That is just terrible customer service, in my opinion.

[Mescalamba]

Hm, can you get just money from them? It would be easier for you.. I would get that HIS instead (man, thats cheap.. it cost $420 here, I envy you americans).

[zsamz_]

xfx sukin bad in the past 6 months
i woulda paid the 130 already
you gonna end up sellin it for 150 so 150+130=280 kinda suks but you get a card now
ask for the 5870 instead + 130

[Mescalamba]

Yea if he cant get money, changing it for better model would be probably more suitable. And never buy another from them.. I guess that I wont buy XFX after reading this forum.. They ripped me of a bit on my HD 4770 (cause its non-reference and ergo almost non-overclockable model). Bleh. And that "fan" on that only looks good.

[BeepBeep2]

they wouldnt let me RMA my motherboard because I didnt have the non-existant CPU-Socket cover to protect the LGA pins on my AM2 board.
then I convinced them it didnt exist and well, i eventually gave up because I couldnt ship it without an anti-static bag.

they told me if it was dead due to static when it got there I wouldnt even get my broken board back.
horrible customer service...

this was after I told them I only owned one PC so I could not communicate

[Afrodisiac]

Never buying XFX again after they started cheaping out on their ATI card PCBs (I think their Nvidia line is still solid). My reference 4890 got 9k 3DMark Vantage points compared to my friend's Sapphire which got 12k. After fighting them tooth-and-claw for a month, they allowed me to send it in for RMA. Also, my caps were squealing under load and my fan was making a horrible screechy noise.

They received the card 2 days ago and I hope I get the results soon, but no more XFX for me. I'm actually crossing my fingers for them to offer me a 5770 side-grade. But they butchered the 5770 PCBs as well. Hopefully they offer me a 5770 XT/XXX :p

[WARDOZER9]

pay it up and get a new one?

well at least you'll get a new one, considering it as an upgrade

Like he said, from what he paid for what the 5850 is going for the difference is only $100 not $130. XFX should have met him at $100 for the upgrade instead of telling him the delays which were not his fault were not good enough for them to give him a fair deal.

I understand that sometimes sheet just happens and unless it's real bad I wouldn't swear off a company but I probably would have taken the reg HD 4890 but only if they were willing to refund the difference between the reg 4890 and the XT.

The fact that they do not have an XT is not his fault and for a company that usually does so well with support they need to do everything they can to keep that image because this kind of thing if constantly repeated does get arround and will hurt a company. Telling 100 customer they are SOL will cost them probably 1000 potential customers that will go elsewhere after they read stuff like this. Not worth it imho for them to not help a now probably ex-customer.

[To(V)bo Co(V)bo]

I was initially very excited about the possibility of a paid upgrade ... until they offered me a price of $130, which is, in my opinion, absolutely out of line. I pressed XFX CSRs to either justify the steep upgrade price or offer me a reasonable one, but they wouldn't budge. So I had to pass on the offer.

Just to put it in perspective: Newegg currently has a HIS 5850 on sale for $270. $130 is almost hald that price, and they wanted me to pay this amount for an upgrade, considering that I have already had to wait for over a month.

That is just terrible customer service, in my opinion.

Actually you need to look at it this way. If you consider all the usage you have got out of the card, $30 aint really much. You cant consider the price of a used product worth as much as a new one. I would get the 5850 myself, its even cheaper than if you were to use evga step up program. Evga and BFG step up program is a joke. If you step up you have to pay FULL retail price which is considerably more than just buying it off da egg.

Might not be great, but is better than nothing.

[zanzabar]

contact the BBB, and your local tv station that dose consumer protection (typically abc)

[Ket]

I would of taken the stock 4890 and just OCd it. Overall though, XFX suck and have for many years. The only reason I have XFX 4830s is because they were the only manufacturer that sold it in a black PCB.

[ymetushe]

I would of taken the stock 4890 and just OCd it. Overall though, XFX suck and have for many years. The only reason I have XFX 4830s is because they were the only manufacturer that sold it in a black PCB.

Well, one of the main reasons I insisted on having an OC'ed version is because I knew that OC'ed versions were much higher quality reference design cards, as opposed to cheaped-out rev. 2 stock versions XFX now sells.

XFX ended up screwing me over once again and sent me a cheap stock version with XT BIOS. Card's memory was 100C under load, and the card didn't OC past 915MHz and no voltage control, whereas I could OC the ref card to 950.

I hope anybody considering buying an XFX card finds this thread and changes their minds BEFORE they get screwed by XFX like I did.

[TheGreenFoX]

They received the card 2 days ago and I hope I get the results soon, but no more XFX for me. I'm actually crossing my fingers for them to offer me a 5770 side-grade. But they butchered the 5770 PCBs as well. Hopefully they offer me a 5770 XT/XXX :p

5770 XXX is non ref btw (only matter for FC WC, but now you know it)

[DerekT]

Is there actual XFX support here? I don't see any.

[zanzabar]

Is there actual XFX support here? I don't see any.

i dont think so but the forum is still here, same with the foxconn, i think we have a foxconn guy here but mostly its just saaya who used to work for them

[AmiJIm]

I thought XFX was a small company much more versatile on RMA matters .Pay the 130 difference and upgrade.Downgrade would always feel like a burden.

[Jacka]

I thought XFX was a small company much more versatile on RMA matters .Pay the 130 difference and upgrade.Downgrade would always feel like a burden.

You know this thread was started nearly 6 months ago?