ZOTAC how badly they do warranty repairs...

[MrEpi]

Hello, I am going to put this here, I don't know where to turn anymore... So, this is the situation, I got kinda scammed off of ebay year and a half ago when I bought my Zotac 2070 amp extreme, my GPU Broke for some reason(you'll se why bellow), I get artifacts and glitches in esports titles, and AAA games crash couple of seconds after launching. After trying to get warranty seller told me that my GPU was bought used (I do not recall it ever saying it was used, and I am pretty sure it was not labeled that it doesn't have warranty anymore), and warranty was used before I even bought my card.

So okay, after being frustrated for a couple of weeks, because it took him 3 weeks to get me my card back, I figured I try to fix card somehow myself. I opened it up, and I saw why my GPU was not working, I'll attach photos where you can clearly see how thermal pad didn't sit correctly causing chips to fry.

I know I have no hope, but I still want to type somewhere how sad and mad I was after seeing that my GPU actually fried because someone didn't do his job correctly. on photos you can see how chips imprinted on thermal pad... After getting a picture of it I put them how they are supposed to be in hope it will do some good, but I still get artifacts and crashes in all of my games. No more Zotac for me. Thanks for reading, and if you have any suggestions I would like to read them...

I tried to contact zotac, but after I told them my whole story, they just said that warranty is voided if cooler is taken off by unauthorized people, and when I told them that I just wanted to tell them how badly they have done their repair they just ignored my message...

[CommanderAlex]

Welcome to the forums!!!

 

 

7 minutes ago, MrEpi said:

After trying to get warranty seller told me that my GPU was bought used (I do not recall it ever saying it was used, and I am pretty sure it was not labeled that it doesn't have warranty anymore), and warranty was used before I even bought my card.

So okay, after being frustrated for a couple of weeks, because it took him 3 weeks to get me my card back, I figured I try to fix card somehow myself.

Check back on your eBay account for when you purchased the card, to see whether or not it listed the condition of the item when you bought it. At the bolded portion, sounds like he (the seller) opened the card and did stuff to it, but when you purchased the card was there any "Warranty Void if Removed" stickers that were not disturbed on the card?? If so, the card was tampered with/opened up by an end user so who knows what they did with the card before it fell in your hands. 

 

If it's a used product, how is this directed at ZOTAC, when you contacted the seller on eBay and they don't officially sell cards on eBay??? 

Edited May 5, 2021 by SpiderMan
Clarification on "he"

[doomsriker]

The seller almost definitely “fixed” the card with the oven method prior to sending it to you. This method is a notorious bandaid fix that quickly breaks down under load. You were straight up scammed with a shotily repaired card; Zotac is not the one to blame here. 

[doomsriker]

3 minutes ago, SpiderMan said:

 

If it's a used product, how is this directed at ZOTAC, when you contacted the seller on eBay and they don't officially sell cards on eBay??? 

Agreed, blaming ZOTAC for this is like blaming Ford for the repair issues on a used car you bought from somebody. Absolutely no reason to assume that ZOTAC was the one who did the fix with the limited info you have available. 

[Blue4130]

11 minutes ago, MrEpi said:

Hello, I am going to put this here, I don't know where to turn anymore... So, this is the situation, I got kinda scammed off of ebay year and a half ago when I bought my Zotac 2070 amp extreme, my GPU Broke for some reason(you'll se why bellow), I get artifacts and glitches in esports titles, and AAA games crash couple of seconds after launching. After trying to get warranty seller told me that my GPU was bought used (I do not recall it ever saying it was used, and I am pretty sure it was not labeled that it doesn't have warranty anymore), and warranty was used before I even bought my card.

So okay, after being frustrated for a couple of weeks, because it took him 3 weeks to get me my card back, I figured I try to fix card somehow myself. I opened it up, and I saw why my GPU was not working, I'll attach photos where you can clearly see how thermal pad didn't sit correctly causing chips to fry.

I know I have no hope, but I still want to type somewhere how sad and mad I was after seeing that my GPU actually fried because someone didn't do his job correctly. on photos you can see how chips imprinted on thermal pad... After getting a picture of it I put them how they are supposed to be in hope it will do some good, but I still get artifacts and crashes in all of my games. No more Zotac for me. Thanks for reading, and if you have any suggestions I would like to read them...

I tried to contact zotac, but after I told them my whole story, they just said that warranty is voided if cooler is taken off by unauthorized people, and when I told them that I just wanted to tell them how badly they have done their repair they just ignored my message...

 

 

 

None of this is zotac's fault. You bought a used card (whether you knew or not) and the previous seller is the only one to blame. 

[SPARTAN VI]

Quote

warranty is voided if cooler is taken off by unauthorized people, and when I told them that I just wanted to tell them how badly they have done their repair they just ignored my message...

It's really not. If you're in the US, the Magnusson-Moss Warranty Act has some consumer protections for this. If they're outright denying your warranty on the basis that the tamper sticker was removed, that's objectively illegal in the US.

[CommanderAlex]

Just now, doomsriker said:

Agreed, blaming ZOTAC for this is like blaming Ford for the repair issues on a used car you bought from somebody. Absolutely no reason to assume that ZOTAC was the one who did the fix with the limited info you have available. 

Yup. Should be directing the blame at the seller, not ZOTAC. 

[doomsriker]

2 minutes ago, SPARTAN VI said:

It's really not. If you're in the US, the Magnusson-Moss Warranty Act has some consumer protections for this. If they're outright denying your warranty on the basis that the tamper sticker was removed, that's objectively illegal in the US.

This is true, LTT did a whole video on it. 
 

 

[doomsriker]

The OP right about now: 👁👁

[Jurrunio]

The thermal pad placement and size designs are bad but many cards do this with still in spec temperatures. It could play a part but most likely the card would have failed with good thermal pad placement anyways.

 

That is, if VRAM even is the cause of the artifacts. Just because it's a common cause doesnt mean it's the case here, the only way you could find out is by replacing them and you've clearly not done that yet.

 

1 hour ago, doomsriker said:

The seller almost definitely “fixed” the card with the oven method prior to sending it to you. This method is a notorious bandaid fix that quickly breaks down under load. You were straight up scammed with a shotily repaired card

what evidence do you have to support this claim? These pictures show no sign of that, which is normal even if it has been done.

[doomsriker]

46 minutes ago, Jurrunio said:

what evidence do you have to support this claim

I have heard the above issues occurring with others who have also purchased similarly repaired GPUs on eBay and it is by far the most common quick fix for eBay sellers looking to get the most money for an otherwise faulty GPU. I’m just going with occam's razor and assuming the most probable result based on the fact that he purchased a card on EBay that shortly after started malfunctioning. I assume it is possible that the original seller RMAed the card somehow but I highly doubt this is what happened.