NZXT RMA is just creating more e-waste

[sombralb]

I contacted technical support about a faulty pump on my AIO and overall, it was not a good experience. Very complicated procedure, too long to respond, not a clear response until I pushed a little. Overall, bad.

Bu the worst part? Because I live in Europe, their warehouse or whatever here seems to be underutilized and their response is to create more (preventable, I might add) e-waste!
They asked for me to pay a new unit in advance and after I receive it, to destroy my old one! I wouldn't be bothered to pay a small fee to ship it (as is the case with Corsair defective products) and they could do with it as they pleased. Refurbish, dump or I don't know what.
But having customers destroy products with hammers and scissors, doesn't seem like a great plan to me...

[Needfuldoer]

How is you shipping it to them so they can throw it away less wasteful than you throwing it away yourself?

[matt0725]

So you'd rather pay to ship it back for them to toss it in the trash rather than you do it?

 

its defective, and already e-waste, which is unfortunate, but it is what it is at this point. They (hopefully) won't have enough defective units to justify regional repair services (europa, asia, north america, etc.) The fuel used in shipping the defective unit back and forth an extra few times is probably more damaging than tossing the product.

The radiator could be recycled if you pull the tubing off, and the pump/cooling plate could be recycled as those are pretty solid chunks of metal, so you could pull it apart and do that on your own if you'd like.

 

edit: a video of destruction is weird for a product of this size/price, but requiring evidence is pretty normal. Anker (i know, i know security) cables require a photo of them cut in half if you make a warranty claim, and I know heavy equipment mechanics who have to provide videos of them destroying parts of equipment when warrantied. 

[BiotechBen]

11 minutes ago, sombralb said:

I contacted technical support about a faulty pump on my AIO and overall, it was not a good experience. Very complicated procedure, too long to respond, not a clear response until I pushed a little. Overall, bad.

Bu the worst part? Because I live in Europe, their warehouse or whatever here seems to be underutilized and their response is to create more (preventable, I might add) e-waste!
They asked for me to pay a new unit in advance and after I receive it, to destroy my old one! I wouldn't be bothered to pay a small fee to ship it (as is the case with Corsair defective products) and they could do with it as they pleased. Refurbish, dump or I don't know what.
But having customers destroy products with hammers and scissors, doesn't seem like a great plan to me...

Unfortunately for AIO's, they're a sealed system and refurbing them just isn't economical in many cases because either the pump breaks or the fluid is contaminated. Plus, most people aren't going to feel super comfortable with a refurb unit. 

 

The rage room type destruction video though is a bit much. They could at least have a partnership with a recycler and have you take it there.

[sombralb]

@matt0725 I do not have the resources or knowledge to reuse them in the capacity that a company could.

Totally agree about the shipping cost with you and @Needfuldoer, not being something that makes more sense but I don't feel like using a hammer on anything newer than 20 year old equipment as sensible either.

[Needfuldoer]

Just now, sombralb said:

I don't feel like using a hammer on anything newer than 20 year old equipment as sensible either.

They require proof of destruction so people don't get free stuff by abusing the RMA process.

[sombralb]

@BiotechBen on a consumer level, there are no recycling companies for tech in Greece. Not sure if there is a bigger scale company or organisation that I don't know of, but yes, having such a partnership would make sense for tech companies in Europe.

 

[sombralb]

Just now, Needfuldoer said:

They require proof of destruction so people don't get free stuff by abusing the RMA process.

I do understand that. Come on though...
Really? A hammer and scissors? Am I the only one feeling weird about it?

[matt0725]

3 minutes ago, sombralb said:

I do understand that. Come on though...
Really? A hammer and scissors? Am I the only one feeling weird about it?

its fairly normal. You can thank scammers who abuse warranties and make it more difficult for the rest of us. I added to my above post but anker makes you cut their cables in half, and due to the cables being fairly high quality, i had to use actual side cutters rather than a pair of scissors. If i wasnt a construction worker, i have no idea how i would have cut the cable. maybe my scissors are crap but it was still a weird moment lol

[Needfuldoer]

10 minutes ago, sombralb said:

I do understand that. Come on though...
Really? A hammer and scissors? Am I the only one feeling weird about it?

What else could they ask you to use to prove the unit is destroyed beyond repair, that most people would have access to?

[sombralb]

4 minutes ago, Needfuldoer said:

What else could they ask you to use to prove the unit is destroyed beyond repair, that most people would have access to?

As I said before, could have shipped it somewhere to be recycled, by them or a partner of them. Some parts such as the radiator and the screen could be reused too. 

Could be that I am just trying to think of something different that what usually happens and from I what I understand, that is the norm for some companies, that I actually find non viable anymore.

 

[matt0725]

14 minutes ago, sombralb said:

As I said before, could have shipped it somewhere to be recycled, by them or a partner of them. Some parts such as the radiator and the screen could be reused too. 

Could be that I am just trying to think of something different that what usually happens and from I what I understand, that is the norm for some companies, that I actually find non viable anymore.

 

Do you want to pay more for the AIO? NZXT creating a recycling program for a small percentage of defective units will cost money. Shipping is the most risk of damage to the product, so you getting it defective, shipping it back, them fixing it, shipping it back again, increases odds of more issues occurring. You can choose to recycle the parts than can be on your own once you cut the tubing. I think you said above that your country doesn't have recycling programs, which is your countries issue, not NZXT's. Your radiator is of no concern compared to a nation with no recycling anyway, toss the thing and move on. It's also not really ewaste when the device is made of rubber tubing and aluminum and copper. there is very few 'electronic' components compared to phones and full computers and the like.

[seanondemand]

Happens all the time. We had a bassinet that rocks your baby break on us - they had us write "TRASH" on the front and send them a picture and then sent us a replacement. Some products you can refurbish and sell, some you can't.

[AlwaysFSX]

2 hours ago, Needfuldoer said:

They require proof of destruction so people don't get free stuff by abusing the RMA process.

I imagine they want proof of destruction now because of how OP pushed them previously not shown.

[Lurking]

In times of AI, couldn't you just create a fake destruction video? Maybe have the Terminator or an Alien destroy that piece?

[Mark Kaine]

23 hours ago, Needfuldoer said:

They require proof of destruction so people don't get free stuff by abusing the RMA process.

IF THEY ARE TOO LAZY TO CHECK then costumer should be free to do with their crap whatever they want (keep for spare parts for example) and this practice should be highly *illegal* because its lazy and irresponsibly af

 

ps: btw in eu this is illegal, sellers or manufacturers have to take their e-trash back

[Erioch]

20 hours ago, sombralb said:

I do understand that. Come on though...
Really? A hammer and scissors? Am I the only one feeling weird about it?

There was some other company that did that with an appliance (insta pot maybe?).  You had to send them a picture of the cut power cord.  It's not unheard of.

[Rex Hite]

It was e-waste when it was made. After that it's just waiting to be e-waste in a different place.

[Needfuldoer]

12 hours ago, Mark Kaine said:

IF THEY ARE TOO LAZY TO CHECK then costumer should be free to do with their crap whatever they want (keep for spare parts for example) and this practice should be highly *illegal* because its lazy and irresponsibly af

How are they supposed to check, exactly?

 

You bought and paid for one product. They're not going to give you a second one for free just because you ask for one. 

[sombralb]

1 hour ago, Needfuldoer said:

How are they supposed to check, exactly?

 

You bought and paid for one product. They're not going to give you a second one for free just because you ask for one. 

They already have video evidence of the failing pump. Destroying the product instead of recycling it is not a solution.

[Needfuldoer]

19 minutes ago, sombralb said:

They already have video evidence of the failing pump. Destroying the product instead of recycling it is not a solution.

Photos of physically destroyed goods are harder to fake than a video of a failure that's not visually apparent. 

 

They're also not going to take the time to individually scrutinize every single case they get, because that costs money. This is them saying "your AIO failed? We'll replace it for free if you can prove it's beyond repair."

 

[Alex Atkin UK]

15 hours ago, Mark Kaine said:

btw in eu this is illegal, sellers or manufacturers have to take their e-trash back

They do, but they do not have to cover the shipping for that return annoyingly.

 

When my Antec PSUs failed under a known recall, they still wanted me to pay for shipping to them.  It was only when I pushed back that it would cost more than their value that they too offered the "cut all the cables off then send us the photos" option.  This was many years ago.

[Mark Kaine]

1 hour ago, Needfuldoer said:

your AIO failed? We'll replace it for free if you can prove it's beyond repair.

thats what you don't understand, they aren't entitled to that. They either need to repair or replace,  and guess what? both costs money so repairing would probably be cheaper and surely more environmentally responsible.  Basically this is *looks up notes* NZXT being A lazy and B saying fuck the environment.  Its just not a good look and depending on laws not even legal.

 

Like yes, you can have that opinion,  but its not a fact and its not sensible to support or have such practices. 

 

i mean nzxt makes such low quality throwaway garbage that yes , this isnt unsurprising,  but again,  in EU at least this is not legal, and for good reason  - they *have to* recycle their garbage,  not the consumer. 

[Mark Kaine]

42 minutes ago, Alex Atkin UK said:

They do, but they do not have to cover the shipping for that return annoyingly.

thats correct to my knowledge,  but may have changed recently not sure 

[Lurking]

So they sent a free replacement, and you did not have to pay to ship the old unit back. And you are still complaining? 

 

Each company will have a standard procedure to "witness" destruction of the old unit. They can't create a new process for every customer. 

 

I think they treated you fairly and not worse than other companies would. 

 

Bring the radiator to a metal recycling facility. The rest doesn't get recycled anyway (whether they say they do or don't). So you shipping it back and them landfilling it wouldn't improve things. it would add truck traffic to the environmental balance.