My garbo RMA experience with MSI

[bill52600]

Note: Sorry if this is the wrong forum, couldn't decide between General Discussion and the actual motherboard section.

 

This is the story of little bill and his quest through... the MSI RMA service of doom.

 

Our story begins on June 1st or 2nd, 2016 (forgot exact day). bill got bored one night and decided to try overclocking his EVGA GTX 750 Ti FTW for the first time. In fact, it's his first time overclocking anything. But he got an OC wrong and ended up having his GPU get stuck around 400Mhz. He then restarts his computer and instantly gets violent flashbacks about his PC's past issues. Namely, the "Stuck on A2 at boot" issue that is common with MSI motherboards. He has encountered this issue anywhere between 4-8 times in the past year alone, and it gets worse each time. The last solution he tried was to clear the CMOS, which surprisingly worked. This time, it wasn't so simple. After days of trying, ordering new SATA cables, unplugging and replugging, etc., he declared that the motherboard was dead. On June 5, 2016, he filed an RMA request with MSI. The pain was only beginning.

 

He mailed his [presumably] dead motherboard to MSI's RMA center in California on June 9th. An attempt to deliver it was made June 11th, but failed due to it being a Saturday. It was successfully delivered to an individual the next Monday, June 13th. The wait began. It took until June 17th, 4 days after it had arrived, to finally be scanned in. Miraculously, it jumped over the 'Arrived' stage and was instead set to 'Replacement'. "Yes," he exclaimed, "my repaired motherboard shall soon be mine!" However, the hunger had already started to settle in by now. And so, the next Tuesday, June 21st, something odd happened: the RMA status was moved back a step to 'Arrived'. Multiple calls and emails only left a non-reassuring "it says they're working on it" from MSI support. And so, on June 26th, 2016, the following email was sent to MSI:

 

"Here is a timeline of events to give some insight on my RMA's progress: June 5, 2016 (Sun): RMA approved June 9, 2016 (Thurs): RMA shipped out from Chicagoland area to RMA center in California June 11, 2016 (Sat): RMA shipment delivery attempt made, failed due to business being closed June 13, 2016 (Mon): RMA shipment successfully delivered to individual at RMA center June 17, 2016 (Fri): RMA status set to "Replacement" June 21, 2016 (Tues): RMA status set to "Arrived" I've encountered some inconvenient yet understandable issues during the course of this timeline. They include the lengthy amount of time that my RMA took to be scanned in, the RMA status page crapping up for a day, and now the status being moved back a step. I fear that my RMA is going to be denied or something. There is only one event in the RMA log, that being the approval of the RMA itself on June 5th. I'm usually patient with these things and all, but I'm kind of dying over here being stuck on a Mac with a desktop w/o a mobo. I respect and thank MSI for warranty coverage and RMA service they provide but would like to request further information regarding the status of my board. I sincerely hope it being moved back a step isn't a big deal and is usual. Thank you."

 

Two days later:

 

"Dear **** I have requested a rma status update for your rma as soon as they respond back to me I will give you more information. please not it can take 5-15 business days from the time we receive it."

 

Two hours later:

 

"Dear **** my rma department has informed me that they are still working of this unit but should contact you shortly with more information via email."

 

And so he waited. And waited. And then sent another email:

 

"I have yet to receive any email. I'm really, really, really trying to remain patient, but it's now been over a month since I've been on my desktop due to my issue. I have about a week before I just go out and buy a whole new motherboard, and there's quite honestly a minuscule chance it'll be from MSI. I apologize if I sound impatient, but I simply don't want to spend the rest of my summer on a Macbook Air. Thank you."

 

3 days later:

 

"I have been told they have emailed you yesterday check your junk/spam folder for that email."

 

And so I checked. And so there was an email there, but it wasn't the one he was hoping for.

 

"Dear customer,

 

Same model replacement is not available. To not further delay, can we process below refund?"

 

A mad dash to reply handed MSI this:

 

"Yes. What steps do I need to take to process said refund, and for how much will it be?"

 

And the magic number is...?

 

$47.20

 

 

 

BUT HE DIDN'T GIVE UP!

 

 

 

He replied to their lousy settlement with a half-cringey email:

 

"Can the refund amount be raised to $75? I purchased the product for $149.99 retail. Obviously it's been 2 years and the value has degraded a little, but $47.20 simply isn't enough to cover for a brand new motherboard of the same quality."

 

And so they finally replied with a defeated response:

 

"We will compromise with $75.00"

 

The RMA nightmare was over. But little bill still got his $75, about half of what he had paid for the motherboard originally.

 

So, what went wrong, you ask?

 

The long wait-times.

 

The broken status system (that only had one event in it, that being it being approved on June 5th).

 

The attempt to payout exactly $47.20.

 

The worst part about it? I had even included this handcrafted letter for the MSI technicians specifically. :(((

 

And so, little bill will not be buying MSI for his next motherboard. Your mileage may vary, as will it with any other motherboard maker. Whether or not you take this into consideration is up to you. But make no mistake, my experience cannot go unheard.

 

And thank you to all who read the whole thing through. Let us celebrate:

 

 

[Murasaki]

At least you got some dosh back. You going for Asus now /

[bill52600]

6 minutes ago, ModuleLFS said:

At least you got some dosh back. You going for Asus now /

Unfortunately there are only 3 in the criteria I am looking for.

[Bleedingyamato]

1 hour ago, bill52600 said:

Unfortunately there are only 3 in the criteria I am looking for.

What criteria are you looking for?

 

Have you looked at Gigabyte?  Idk how they compare to ASUS but I've got a Z170X Gaming 7 in my main desktop and a B85 Gigabyte board in my secondary and both work fine as far as I can tell.  I especially really like the look of my Gaming 7 board.  

 

Good luck with whatever new mb you decide to get.  I'd go nuts without my main desktop working for so long so hopefully you'll be able to get it working again soon.