EK 360 AIO - Maybe the worst exchange experience ever?

[HoneyBadger84]

I really don't even know.

 

The original EK AIO 360 I got in did not perform correctly, ran hotter than the previous 280mm I had from Thermaltake.  The EK AIO is supposed to be "the best there is" thermally for an AIO on CPUs... so I decided after remounting it several times & still having the issue (being sure on the last one that I had a good mount, which it was after I removed it, paste was nice & thin & evenly spread), that I would return it, and because I got it as a packaged deal from Amazon with 3 extra "free" fans (via EK being the direct seller, listed on Amazon) to do a return for an exchange, then I planned to resell just the AIO to a friend, and keep the extra 3 fans for later use on my build...

So I sent the defective one back, EK was nice enough to mail out a new one before even receiving the returned one (which coincidentally, also arrived to them today), and it arrived today...

 

[See pictures attached]

 

Yeah.  The outer UPS box is completely undamaged. So someone packaged it like that... That is a DEEP hole by the way, see the second picture, so there's no way something isn't damaged, and I'm not going to open it just to find out until they get back to me on it.

 

At this point, I'm not even sure I want to continue this process rather than just get a refund.  I sent a message in to EK again, I'm asking them to give me a return label that's paid this time (yes, I had to pay for the first return, which in of itself is kind of BS), if they don't do that, they will be giving me a complete refund for sure.  If they provide a prepaid return label, I might go through one more exchange.

Their customer service itself has been good & friendly, but someone seriously packaged it up in that condition and sent it? That's insane to me.

 

Thought I'd post about this and see if anyone else has had a similarly bad experience?

[Letgomyleghoe.]

Generally from what I hear Ek has good customer service. I just think you are very unlucky and whoever dealt with the package before ups must've had a bad day or just stepped on it. 

[HoneyBadger84]

1 minute ago, Gundar said:

Generally from what I hear Ek has good customer service. I just think you are very unlucky and whoever dealt with the package before ups must've had a bad day or just stepped on it. 

Yeah the Customer Service people via email/communication have been great so far.  Like I said, they even sent out a new unit before the old one arrived to them... but whoever packaged that just... why? lol 

There's no way you wouldn't notice something like that, and it definitely didn't happen during shipping.  It looks like the box got rammed by a forklift or something, to be honest, the hole is pretty sharp & only damaged the "plastic" the box is wrapped in slightly around the area of impact, that to me says it was something that hit it hard & sudden.

Hopefully they continue to be nice & give me the prepaid return label this time.  I really don't want to be out of $80 worth of "free" fans because of them shipping me a damaged item the second time after giving me a defective one the first time. lol

[Stahlmann]

I've ordered a lot from EK lately, but never received any defective or damaged product. It seems like you had a streak of bad luck here.

[Guest]

Daauuumn. Hope they pay shipping. Quality control down the tubes there a little. Should've never happened. 

[HoneyBadger84]

56 minutes ago, Stahlmann said:

I've ordered a lot from EK lately, but never received any defective or damaged product. It seems like you had a streak of bad luck here.

It's either EK's US warehouse branch is terrible, or I'm having bad luck indeed.  We'll see how they handle this time around.

[HoneyBadger84]

EK got back to me this morning, they immediately said they'd send a new one out again and that they have no idea how it would even be shipped in that condition & they're looking in to it.  They also offered a partial refund in the amount of the shipping costs associated with the returns.  So that's cool.

 

They asked me to open it & see if the AIO itself was damaged, as if it were not I could just keep it & take the refund on the shipping return of the first return, but unfortunately:

 

 

I'm amazed it somehow did not leak.  That is a DEEP hit, the frame of the AIO radiator itself is bent quite a bit on that side.

[HoneyBadger84]

Figured I'd post back with an update:

 

EK refunded me for the return shipping on the first return, they haven't on the second yet but they have said they will.  Received a new, undamaged (thank goodness) AIO this time and everything seems to have been corrected thus far.

 

Overall their customer service was very good, unfortunate they shipped out a damaged unit, but I suppose it happens... I don't understand HOW but at least they made it right lol