Corsair Pros and Cons

[Mathew Lang]

I wanted to share a recent experience with the community.

 

About 3 weeks ago I took the leap and went full RGB with Corsair picking up their K95 Keyboard, Dark Pro SE Mouse, RGB Mousepad and even the headset stand. It all started with a 10% off coupon I got from them by signing up for their txt marketing. I mean, I get the unwanted trash txt marketing from other people, why not get 10% off for getting stuff I would actually like to know from Corsair.

 

Con - Ordering

 

The ordering experience was bloody awful but.... it is hard for any company right now, especially a company based in California. Even though I was still annoyed by their lack of warning about their current struggles with order processing and fulfillment. They knew they were having issues but as far as their website was concerned it was business as usual. I did not expect to wait 2 weeks to get my product. I was getting products through Amazon in 2-3 days.

 

Con - Shipping

 

When I got the product the box was damaged because they did not pack it correctly. They only had about 1/4 the air bags they should have had in the box and it collapsed on the corner that was not protected. This damaged some of their packaging for their products inside but did not appear to damage the products themselves.

 

Pro - Product Sync

 

This was a chance to experience the full and complete Corsair Experience and I will say that all of the products synced up as advertised. While I personally have some issues with the products, those issues are purely based on my preference and so I wont give them a Con because of how I alone prefer something to look. The fact is that they said the products would all work with each other and they did. They achieved their goal and deserve the Pro.

 

Pro - Return Process

 

So, even though I gave them the Pro for their Product I was ultimately not happy with my individual purchase. I was not sure about how it would be to return over $400 worth of opened product which I used for a week. Now I do resell my equipment because it keeps my yearly spending in check if I ebay my stuff when I upgrade. That being said this is why I am very careful about keeping boxes in good condition and not losing any parts as they resell for the highest price if you have everything original even though its used. This allowed me to pack everything back up. I was happy to be offered a full refund even though in my mind I was ready to except having to ebay the product. They followed up with me every step of the return process and really repaired their reputation with me after the horrible ordering process.

 

Final Thought

 

Overall I am walking away from this experience a fan of Corsair the company. I am still a big fan of their cases and memory which I use but right now I am not a fan of their Peripheral products. I gave them my detailed notes of why they did not fit my personal taste but those who will enjoy their approach will get good products from a company that will give good support even if your not happy with the products like I was.

 

 

 

 

[DailyProcrastinator]

No offense but this is exactly the issue with the modern day consumer. I'd say this is on you for buying $400 worth of peripherals without knowing that it was what you actually wanted, and then when you realized you did not like it you were given a full refund.... I mean good on Corsair for the customer service but this costs them money, half the time these products get returned and if not sold as open box end it will end up as e-waste. Be a more informed buyer in the future. In my opinion they should not have issued a refund but lucky you I guess. 

 

Also Amazon really is to blame for this, they made the return process to easy and as they bear the cost on the seller they do not care. but more than anything half these products get trashed in the end because it is more "efficient" than going through the packaging and product to resell it as an open box item. Also people lie to get free return shipping all the time. I could go on...

[Mathew Lang]

1 - I researched all of these products since Christmas before choosing them over others. I watched videos and read reviews. I made this choice being as best informed as I could be. 

 

2 - I did not expect a full refund and was prepared to resell my Open Box Used Item on ebay

 

So lets discuss the e-retailer environment that Corsair chose to be a part of. In this environment if your choosing to sell physical products which are used daily by someone and which then have a "Personal Comfort" factor associated with the purchase choice then its good to have some type of return policy for customers. Some e-retailers even send out sample kits where you only keep the single version you like. Linus Media recently did a video about this where they were sent a mouse sample box for consumers who wanted to choose the mouse which felt best to them.

 

Those e-retailers who do not wish to deal with this can open brick & mortar locations where customers can come in and test out the physical product before making that final choice. I could have purchased these corsair products at Microcenter. But in this case Corsair has chosen to skip that step because they feel like the costs of returns is less then the cost of sharing profits with Microcenter (though I do shop and buy there too). Remember, it was Corsair who gave me the initial discount to try to get me to buy online in the first place without having the ability to test the comfort level of products which I would have daily physical interaction with.

 

You made some assumptions about returns which could be wrong. I worked in retail and actually processed returns for Nordstrom. They had a robust return process which I was very impressed by. They did not let anything go to waste. We sent all returns from the store to a central facility where they were monetized in many different ways. Thats one reason why Nordstrom has been able to survive more then other retailers. They dont let profit slip into the landfill. I have no idea what Corsair does but I believe that most profitable companies out there are profitable because they know how to monetize returns better then the less profitable companies. Just remember that Hashbrowns are just a waste product of the french fry cutting machine

 

I could go on....