Frustrated with warranty claim (Gigabyte / Aorus) > GPU bought pre price increase > RMA after price increase

[AdriaanFourie]

Hi All

 

Im a long time lurker but first time poster but would like to ask for help / opinion and probably blow off a little steam as I`m extremely frustrated so I apologise upfront if this post has some venting included.

 

My story starts with the purchase of an Aorus 3080 Master around November last year.

After having tried to get a 3080 anywhere near to MSRP after its release  , i finally caved in and bought an Aorus 3080 Master around November last year.

The price at the time of the purchase was already inflated to almost 1400 USD from a retailer .

Unfortunately in the country that i reside in , there is no real option to buy from a brick and mortar other than this retailer.

Newegg and Amazon is normally my avenues for sourcing PC hardware but due to the non existent stock online I caved and paid the inflated price as it was the only way to get the GPU.

I saved up for this purchase as i dont upgrade frequently so when i do upgrade , i try to buy the best performing product that I can reasonably afford.

The moment I upgraded , my old GPU (an EVGA 1080 Hybrid as well as online purchases i made for CPU , Mobo , Power supply, Ram and case ) was sent to my brother as a birthday present in my home country so that we could game together. (I currently work in a different country)

We have since gamed togethere on a semi regular basis as time zone difference and our schedules allowed but even if we dont game together my brother has been thouroughly gaming and enjoying the experience as he never had the opertunity to have a decent pc to play on . (Upgraded from a Celeron Dell laptop from around 2014).

 

Anyways , about a month ago my Aorus card starts showing artifacts after extended periods of gaming and I send it back to the retailer for a warranty claim / RMA .

Today after a month of not having any feedback other than " Still waiting on feedback from Gigabyte/ Aorus " , I decide to phone the retailer .

The retailer tells me that they are still waiting on feedback but I will probably end up with one two outcomes :

 

> I get a credit note for the amount paid for the card

> I will get a replacement card from Gigabyte / Aorus but they cant tell me when  

 

 

This leaves me so frustrated as Im now sitting with a desktop that cant game (I have put an ancient GPU in so I can atleast use the PC but certainly cant think of really playing any games with my brother).

 

So now what do I do ?

 

Credit note would be to the value of 1300 USD (original purchase price at retailer ) with the retailer but that retailer is now charging 2600 USD for 3080 GPUS so I would be getting only 50% as a credit note of what the card is worth so wouldnt even be able to buy another 3080 from the retailer if i get a full refund.

OR 

Wait indefinate for Aorus to provide a replacement card with no ETA and might up end witha credit note anyways .

 

Is there anyone representative from Gigabyte or Aorus that can maybe look at this and assist with this ?

 

Any other advise or feedback would also be appreciated from anyone that has gone through something similar as I would think that Im not the only one that bought a GPU prior to the massive increases took place and has had to RMA now recently after the increases took affect ?

 

Thanks for reading.

I hope someone can help and if if there is anyone else going through the same pain , just know you are not alone .

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Moonzy]

i've seen people get credit and not received a card more often than not

but i heard EVGA does return a card instead of credit

 

i believe this is the reason:

25 minutes ago, AdriaanFourie said:

Credit note would be to the value of 1300 USD (original purchase price at retailer ) with the retailer but that retailer is now charging 2600 USD for 3080 GPUS

why give you a product worth $2600 when they can just give you $1300?

[AdriaanFourie]

On 5/30/2021 at 5:52 PM, Moonzy said:

i've seen people get credit and not received a card more often than not

but i heard EVGA does return a card instead of credit

 

i believe this is the reason:

why give you a product worth $2600 when they can just give you $1300?

How can this unethical behaviour be allowed?

Surely there should be something in place to prevent this ?

 

Do brands like Gigabyte / Aorus not care that their brand gets tarnished like this by retailers that do this ?

[Mark Kaine]

Well, in short, you are only entitled to the amount you paid for during warranty, however youre also entitled to an exchange product of equal quality and performance. Now if the retailer says they "do not have a product of equal quality and performance and thus can only financially compensate you" all you have to do is prove that this is false (if it is) then youre (most likely ) entitled  to a proper replacement, regardless of current  market price (as that is irrelevant to your contract)

 

 

On 5/30/2021 at 3:52 PM, Moonzy said:

why give you a product worth $2600 when they can just give you $1300?

Why…? Depends on the contract and applicable laws, usually a "warranty" is about the "product" and only im rare cases about compensation (product is "unavailabe", not "oh product costs more now, too bad")

[Moonzy]

1 hour ago, AdriaanFourie said:

How can this unethical behaviour be allowed?

Surely there should be something in place to prevent this ?

 

Do brands like Gigabyte / Aorus not care that their brand gets tarnished like this by retailers that do this ?

Check up on your local laws

 

I'm not surprised if they're doing this themselves

No one is really caring because they're not really taking the blame and there's no proof of this actually happening, if it's happening at all, mostly speculation on my part

 

46 minutes ago, Mark Kaine said:

Why…? Depends on the contract and applicable laws, usually a "warranty" is about the "product" and only im rare cases about compensation (product is "unavailabe", not "oh product costs more now, too bad")

I would wager that there's no law that doesn't allow full compensation for what you paid for, which is lower than what the item actually cost now

We're sort of in a weird situation so idk

[Mark Kaine]

39 minutes ago, Moonzy said:

I would wager that there's no law that doesn't allow full compensation for what you paid for, which is lower than what the item actually cost now

We're sort of in a weird situation so idk

yeap, i was just saying im pretty sure i read something like this, it basically assumes if you buy something - you "need" it and therefore a compensation is only ok in certain circumstances, but Im not sure either, Id definitely like to know though… and then of course this will vary from country to country.