Whelp, I'm not buying Arctic garbage again

[aisle9]

I ordered the Arctic Alpine 12 for my G3258, and here's what came out of the box:

 

Misaligned, detached fan assembly

 

Bent pushpins

 

Bent fins on aluminum block

 

Something that bad has to be shipping damage, right? Well, here's the box it came in. Note the excellent condition.

 

This was not shipping damage. This was completely, totally missed in Arctic's QA process. A bent fin, or a slightly bent pushpin, sure, that's forgivable, but for a mangled heatsink, a misaligned fan mounting and three unusable pushpins (out of four total) to make it through QA without being flagged is completely, ridiculously unacceptable. It speaks to a lack of shits given about QA.

 

I'm not buying any more Arctic coolers, and I will be switching my thermal paste to NT-H1 and/or IC Diamond. This is ridiculous and hugely disappointing to see from a company as big and well-regarded as Arctic. I've never even had a $3 eBay Chinese crap cooler come out looking like this.

[jiyeon]

2 minutes ago, aisle9 said:

A bent fin, or a slightly bent pushpin, sure, that's forgivable, but for a mangled heatsink, a misaligned fan mounting and three unusable pushpins (out of four total) to make it through QA without being flagged is completely, ridiculously unacceptable. It speaks to a lack of shits given about QA.

 

I'm not buying any more Arctic coolers, and I will be switching my thermal paste to NT-H1 and/or IC Diamond. This is ridiculous and hugely disappointing to see from a company as big and well-regarded as Arctic. I've never even had a $3 eBay Chinese crap cooler come out looking like this.

Sorry to hear that. That is truly disappointing, but I'm also wondering on how often this happens, not to play devil's advocate but this could be 1 in 1000 and you got the short end of the stick.

 

Additionally, that's childish to boycott and entire company based on a single product that made its way to you in admittedly unacceptable condition, even to go as far as switch thermal compound.

 

You still have that 6 year warranty, so contact Arctic and get a new one sent over.

[Streetguru]

5 minutes ago, aisle9 said:

 

Probably just got an open box or previously returned unit, your retailer is going to replace it immediately anyways...

[Fasauceome]

Arctic is known for selling pretty cheap crap, although DOA isn't part of that.

 

Here's the big question: how many arctic products have you bought?

If it's only this one, you have to realize that sometimes a product will arrive DOA and things slip though the cracks, even among the best manufacturers. If you got a Noctua cooler in this condition, would you assume Noctua was awful? You just have to RMA this with the retailer and get a replacement.

If this product is the most recent of several Arctic products you've bought, you should know by now that this isn't how the vast majority of their products arrive.

[Bananasplit_00]

ahh yes, the old "im mad that i managed to get the one DOA that came out of company X this month so all their products are GARBAGE!!!!". Im sure you are upset but just contact them and get it replaced, every company has DOAs

[jiyeon]

4 minutes ago, fasauceome said:

Arctic is known for selling pretty cheap crap, although DOA isn't part of that.

You mean budget cooling solutions, not necessarily cheap crap.

[Fasauceome]

Just now, seoz said:

You mean budget cooling solutions, not necessarily cheap crap.

well yeah not total crap, but certainly cheap af. I bought an alpine 11 and it's comparable to the intel stock cooler, which I call crap, so it wouldn't be fair to not call the baseline coolers crap too. But their graphics card heat sinks are pretty neat, and at least you get what you pay for with Arctic.

[jiyeon]

7 minutes ago, fasauceome said:

well yeah not total crap, but certainly cheap af. I bought an alpine 11 and it's comparable to the intel stock cooler, which I call crap, so it wouldn't be fair to not call the baseline coolers crap too. But their graphics card heat sinks are pretty neat, and at least you get what you pay for with Arctic.

If I remember correctly, the Alpine 11 was released in the early 2010's so it was almost certainly just a replacement for Intel stock, and the price conveys it.

Arctic's lowest-end products tend to be held the lowest in regards to performance as least from what I've seen on the internet, which is why I see products like the Alpine 11 and indeed the above Alpine 12 putting Arctic's reputation as average.

 

Agreed, the Accelero lineup is neat, one of Arctic's finest products. You get what you pay for and then some.

[aisle9]

13 minutes ago, fasauceome said:

Arctic is known for selling pretty cheap crap, although DOA isn't part of that.

 

Here's the big question: how many arctic products have you bought?

If it's only this one, you have to realize that sometimes a product will arrive DOA and things slip though the cracks, even among the best manufacturers. If you got a Noctua cooler in this condition, would you assume Noctua was awful? You just have to RMA this with the retailer and get a replacement.

If this product is the most recent of several Arctic products you've bought, you should know by now that this isn't how the vast majority of their products arrive.

You're right, it's probably not fair to react this strongly. It's not the first Arctic product I've owned or seen, and almost all have been fine. It's irritating that this was sold as new, and if it was just Amazon reselling old stock as new then screw them, but seeing something in such terrible shape making it into a box and to a paying customer is nuts.

[Razor Blade]

10 minutes ago, aisle9 said:

You're right, it's probably not fair to react this strongly. It's not the first Arctic product I've owned or seen, and almost all have been fine. It's irritating that this was sold as new, and if it was just Amazon reselling old stock as new then screw them, but seeing something in such terrible shape making it into a box and to a paying customer is nuts.

Does that mean it was bought on Amazon?

 

I've had many times where "new" products came to me obviously used when bought on Amazon. Hell I had a SanDisk flash drive I bought that was not only opened but had "BAD" written in sharpie on the packaging! Amazon is always quick to resolve said issues though. I received a prepaid postage label and they offered to schedule pickup (which wasn't necessary).

 

I have bought a few Arctic products and their quality is acceptable. The pictured item (as said above) was likely a product someone went full ape on trying to install it then returned it. It is just a theory...the world may never know what that poor cooler went through before it got to you.

[Bcat00]

Really, couldn't you have chosen something better than that?

I think even intel's stock cooler is better than that isn't it?

[LogicalDrm]

Welcome to club. While they have come up from the ditch they were in some 4-5 years back (just like AsRock), I'm still hesitant to buy their products. Though I might not have full ban about them. So they are tad higher on my list than Antec which is under full ban. So joining Corsair and Seagate. I can recommend if they are best available thing, but wouldn't buy myself.

 

On 3/10/2019 at 8:09 PM, seoz said:

Additionally, that's childish to boycott and entire company based on a single product that made its way to you in admittedly unacceptable condition, even to go as far as switch thermal compound.

 

Its not childish. Its decision based on personal experience. It would be childish to go on to bash them publicly at any possible moment. By destroying product made by them that one owns etc. Just like being full-on fanboy of something is very childish.

[aisle9]

On 3/10/2019 at 2:09 PM, seoz said:

Additionally, that's childish to boycott and entire company based on a single product that made its way to you in admittedly unacceptable condition, even to go as far as switch thermal compound.

 

On 3/10/2019 at 2:09 PM, Streetguru said:

Probably just got an open box or previously returned unit, your retailer is going to replace it immediately anyways...

 

On 3/10/2019 at 2:09 PM, fasauceome said:

Here's the big question: how many arctic products have you bought?

If it's only this one, you have to realize that sometimes a product will arrive DOA and things slip though the cracks, even among the best manufacturers. If you got a Noctua cooler in this condition, would you assume Noctua was awful? You just have to RMA this with the retailer and get a replacement.

If this product is the most recent of several Arctic products you've bought, you should know by now that this isn't how the vast majority of their products arrive.

 

On 3/10/2019 at 2:13 PM, Bananasplit_00 said:

ahh yes, the old "im mad that i managed to get the one DOA that came out of company X this month so all their products are GARBAGE!!!!". Im sure you are upset but just contact them and get it replaced, every company has DOAs

So here's the thing: the thermal paste on this cooler was untouched. This is not a return that someone mangled while trying to install. This is damage that came off the production line and made it into a package and to me. I can't think of any other explanation for it arriving in that state with the thermal paste untouched. Yes, I am going to "boycott" Arctic's coolers, and if comparable thermal paste is available at a comparable price the next time I need some, I won't be buying MX-4 either.

[Fasauceome]

2 minutes ago, aisle9 said:

 

So here's the thing: the thermal paste on this cooler was untouched. This is not a return that someone mangled while trying to install. This is damage that came off the production line and made it into a package and to me. I can't think of any other explanation for it arriving in that state with the thermal paste untouched. Yes, I am going to "boycott" Arctic's coolers, and if comparable thermal paste is available at a comparable price the next time I need some, I won't be buying MX-4 either.

How can you be so certain this wasn't damage during stocking? I know the box looks perfect but still, it's impossible to be sure. Surely you don't expect to have the same experience after you RMA the product.

[Bananasplit_00]

9 minutes ago, aisle9 said:

 

 

 

So here's the thing: the thermal paste on this cooler was untouched. This is not a return that someone mangled while trying to install. This is damage that came off the production line and made it into a package and to me. I can't think of any other explanation for it arriving in that state with the thermal paste untouched. Yes, I am going to "boycott" Arctic's coolers, and if comparable thermal paste is available at a comparable price the next time I need some, I won't be buying MX-4 either.

you could solve this but you really just seem to want to be mad

[aisle9]

11 minutes ago, Bananasplit_00 said:

you could solve this but you really just seem to want to be mad

I don't appreciate receiving factory-sealed shit. If it's a dead fan, an artifacting GPU or something that's difficult to tell in a quick visual inspection, then I'll RMA it and give the company a second chance (or a third, or a fourth in some cases). If the whole fucking heatsink is mangled and misaligned and it still makes it into a factory sealed box that gets to me in excellent shape, not looking like something that had been damaged in transit or stocking at all, yes, I'm pissed. If any QA had been done, any, this would have been caught. It's not a subtle thing, it's not a mechanical thing that couldn't reasonably be noticed, it's a whole heatsink mangled and placed in a box. That's lazy, and I don't put up with lazy companies when I have an alternative. Fortunately, there are roughly a million companies that make CPU coolers.

 

It's solved, btw. I sent that piece of crap right back where it came from.

[LogicalDrm]

On 3/11/2019 at 8:54 PM, fasauceome said:

How can you be so certain this wasn't damage during stocking? I know the box looks perfect but still, it's impossible to be sure. Surely you don't expect to have the same experience after you RMA the product.

LOL. This is what I call being bs about something. You are so hard trying to keep Arctic in good light when its obviously is issue at their quality control/packaging end. Bent fin place where it is and everything else isn't something that would be left if packaging is fixed after some issue. ANYONE who takes quality seriously would check contents when switching package. The fin damage would mean that box needs to get big hit.

 

RMA is a thing. But having to do it is enough to degrade company's trust, in my eyes at least. Also, issues from factory are a thing also. You could have used that as argument. But rather than doing that, you are making excuses and trying to find another reason. Every company makes mistakes. But their fans are usually blind to those mistakes.

[Fasauceome]

1 hour ago, LoGiCalDrm said:

LOL. This is what I call being bs about something. You are so hard trying to keep Arctic in good light when its obviously is issue at their quality control/packaging end. Bent fin place where it is and everything else isn't something that would be left if packaging is fixed after some issue. ANYONE who takes quality seriously would check contents when switching package. The fin damage would mean that box needs to get big hit.

 

RMA is a thing. But having to do it is enough to degrade company's trust, in my eyes at least. Also, issues from factory are a thing also. You could have used that as argument. But rather than doing that, you are making excuses and trying to find another reason. Every company makes mistakes. But their fans are usually blind to those mistakes.

I am by no means an Arctic fanboy, trying to keep their angelic image intact. I said earlier they mostly sell cheap crap and I meant it, but like I also said earlier, that doesn't mean DOA.

 

Don't misrepresent what I mean by my post. I don't mean that Arctic is perfect, I mean that they don't sell broken products, and the very least you can expect when you order is to get something that functions.

[Tristerin]

The carte blanche "no more Arctic" (imho) is pretty harsh unless you contacted them and they told you to get in the same shape as that Cooler.

 

If that was the case then F em.

 

Ive bought 2 different Arctic products over the last 45 days.  I am fully impressed with them and the prices I paid. 

[Fasauceome]

2 hours ago, Tristerin said:

unless you contacted them and they told you to get in the same shape as that Cooler.

Gonna have to remember this one

[jiyeon]

3 hours ago, Tristerin said:

The carte blanche "no more Arctic" (imho) is pretty harsh unless you contacted them and they told you to get in the same shape as that Cooler.

If Arctic told me that, I'd throw away my Freezer 33 eSports One and go back to the Cooler Master Hyper 212 which is saying a lot.

[aezakmi]

That box and cooler look heavily used

[aisle9]

7 minutes ago, aezakmi said:

That box and cooler look heavily used

Why is the thermal paste untouched? If someone from Arctic repasted an RMA and shipped it back out like that, that's so, so much worse.

[aezakmi]

45 minutes ago, aisle9 said:

Why is the thermal paste untouched? If someone from Arctic repasted an RMA and shipped it back out like that, that's so, so much worse.

it's easy to make it look like that, you can do it with something as simple as a bottle cap

[aisle9]

1 hour ago, aezakmi said:

it's easy to make it look like that, you can do it with something as simple as a bottle cap

So the original buyer trashed the heatsink trying to install it, then decided to clean up the thermal paste and nothing else?