GPU RMA FAIL BS!!!

[Thavion Hawk]

So I have to ask if anyone here has had this level of BS come up at any time in their tech lives:

 

So I work at a small computer store and through the past few months with the GPU Shortages we have had maybe 6 GTX1060's in store to sell. One of the 1060's was sold to a guy that came back the next day saying it was DOA. We tested it and what do you know it was. No I told my manager that the Customer should do the RMA himself, but the Manager wanted to see if we could do it via our Wholesaler and not threw ASUS. This was around the time that news of the big box stores Stopping In Store RMA/Exchanges because of Lack of Stock mind you. So against my recommendations we took the card back in and after almost a MONTH!!! It comes back "FIXED"(I don't know the details of the RMA whether it was done via ASUS or our Wholesaler mind you). We give it back to the customer and all is well for a time...

 

Fast forwared to Today "4/5/18" the guy came in with the card because it started failing AGAIN. This time he says the card ramps up its fans and the screen goes black. At some point along the lines two FAN Blades had Snapped Off and he brought them in with the card expecting US to do the RMA for him again. Again I told my Manager that The Customer should do the RMA himself, and again my Manager said we would take it in. This time I was so mad I got up and walked away and made him take it in. I got a dressing down for this fact, but I have had it with this BS. This GPU has been RMA'd once before, it's got a Broken Fan and the guy thinks We can get it Replaced?

 

I feel bad for the guy, he paid the $350 for the card and I've never had a GPU fail like this before but this time the card has Physical Damage. How are we meant to RMA it? I can't even trust to test it because the Fan's our out of balance....

 

Well that's my rant all. Hope your day is going better then mine. At least I got to build my first Mini-ITX system today. Check out my Instagram if you want to see it.

[AngryBeaver]

6 minutes ago, Thavion Hawk said:

So I have to ask if anyone here has had this level of BS come up at any time in their tech lives:

 

So I work at a small computer store and through the past few months with the GPU Shortages we have had maybe 6 GTX1060's in store to sell. One of the 1060's was sold to a guy that came back the next day saying it was DOA. We tested it and what do you know it was. No I told my manager that the Customer should do the RMA himself, but the Manager wanted to see if we could do it via our Wholesaler and not threw ASUS. This was around the time that news of the big box stores Stopping In Store RMA/Exchanges because of Lack of Stock mind you. So against my recommendations we took the card back in and after almost a MONTH!!! It comes back "FIXED"(I don't know the details of the RMA whether it was done via ASUS or our Wholesaler mind you). We give it back to the customer and all is well for a time...

 

Fast forwared to Today "4/5/18" the guy came in with the card because it started failing AGAIN. This time he says the card ramps up its fans and the screen goes black. At some point along the lines two FAN Blades had Snapped Off and he brought them in with the card expecting US to do the RMA for him again. Again I told my Manager that The Customer should do the RMA himself, and again my Manager said we would take it in. This time I was so mad I got up and walked away and made him take it in. I got a dressing down for this fact, but I have had it with this BS. This GPU has been RMA'd once before, it's got a Broken Fan and the guy thinks We can get it Replaced?

 

I feel bad for the guy, he paid the $350 for the card and I've never had a GPU fail like this before but this time the card has Physical Damage. How are we meant to RMA it? I can't even trust to test it because the Fan's our out of balance....

 

Well that's my rant all. Hope your day is going better then mine. At least I got to build my first Mini-ITX system today. Check out my Instagram if you want to see it.

If I was your boss I would have let you go on the spot.

 

The fact is sometimes customer service > a small monetary loss. When you do these favors for a customer you make life long customers, but when you turn him away like you did then you not only cost yourself his business, but likely that of 2-3 other customers as well due to word of mouth.

 

The fact of the matter is there is very little downside for doing this and you are taking everything too personal when it is outside of your pay range. Hopefully you will learn from this and in the event that doesn't happen maybe your boss will find someone that is a better fit for this position.

[Razor Blade]

A lot of stores will help a customer if their problem happens in the past x number of days of purchase. Might or might not be policy but to send the customer away and tell him to RMA it with the manufacturer after one day would be a great way to lose that customer.

 

I know what you mean about  being frustrated about the physical damage...when that happens I still RMA it and let the manufacturer duke it out with management and let management duke it out with the customer. If you're just a tech or in customer service, it isn't your problem anymore.

[Bcat00]

If i was the boss I would fire you on the spot.

Yep, i'll take a small beating for maybe a couple hundred dollar and might earn a lifetime customer, or maybe he will even call his friends over and I make even more.

Not very hard to do the math there bro

[Morgan Everett]

You know he has a legal right to require you to do something about it, right? At least, that's how it works here: when you buy something, your contract is with the entity you bought it from, not the manufacturer.

[asand1]

Here I thought you were going to gripe about poor service, instead you want to give shit service to a customer. Simply put, you suck.

[dizmo]

Haha, you care too much. If there's a manager, it's not that small of a store. It's his decision, not yours, and it's not your company. Just let them do what they want, and follow; you know, what you're paid to do.

You seem to have a lot to learn about customer retention.

 

Though, I do agree with you on the second return. Fans don't just break. I'd have told him he's on his own since there's physical damage.

2 hours ago, Morgan Everett said:

You know he has a legal right to require you to do something about it, right? At least, that's how it works here: when you buy something, your contract is with the entity you bought it from, not the manufacturer.

That's very much not how it works in North America. After sale support is through the manufacturer, not the retailer.

[MANDINGO]

9 hours ago, Thavion Hawk said:

So I have to ask if anyone here has had this level of BS come up at any time in their tech lives:

 

So I work at a small computer store and through the past few months with the GPU Shortages we have had maybe 6 GTX1060's in store to sell. One of the 1060's was sold to a guy that came back the next day saying it was DOA. We tested it and what do you know it was. No I told my manager that the Customer should do the RMA himself, but the Manager wanted to see if we could do it via our Wholesaler and not threw ASUS. This was around the time that news of the big box stores Stopping In Store RMA/Exchanges because of Lack of Stock mind you. So against my recommendations we took the card back in and after almost a MONTH!!! It comes back "FIXED"(I don't know the details of the RMA whether it was done via ASUS or our Wholesaler mind you). We give it back to the customer and all is well for a time...

 

Fast forwared to Today "4/5/18" the guy came in with the card because it started failing AGAIN. This time he says the card ramps up its fans and the screen goes black. At some point along the lines two FAN Blades had Snapped Off and he brought them in with the card expecting US to do the RMA for him again. Again I told my Manager that The Customer should do the RMA himself, and again my Manager said we would take it in. This time I was so mad I got up and walked away and made him take it in. I got a dressing down for this fact, but I have had it with this BS. This GPU has been RMA'd once before, it's got a Broken Fan and the guy thinks We can get it Replaced?

 

I feel bad for the guy, he paid the $350 for the card and I've never had a GPU fail like this before but this time the card has Physical Damage. How are we meant to RMA it? I can't even trust to test it because the Fan's our out of balance....

 

Well that's my rant all. Hope your day is going better then mine. At least I got to build my first Mini-ITX system today. Check out my Instagram if you want to see it.

I would've fired you on the spot. You are acting as if it's your store and as if you yourself is taking the few hundred dollar loss. You are a cashier not a owner or a partner. Just do whatever YOUR BOSS tells you to do

[alphaproject]

Why do you care so much about this 1 GPU/Customer? Wasting a lot of energy thinking about it is nonsense. Let your boss do what he wants.

[Morgan Everett]

9 hours ago, dizmo said:

.That's very much not how it works in North America. After sale support is through the manufacturer, not the retailer.

I wasn't referring to after sale support, though.

[dizmo]

2 hours ago, Morgan Everett said:

I wasn't referring to after sale support, though.

Yes, you are. Warranty, RMA, returns are all after sale support. Because it occurs after the sale of the item. 

[AngryBeaver]

In the states you can return a warranty item to a store, but generally only within their policy period. Most are 30 days, some are only 15, but bottom line it is dependent on their policy and isn't something they HAVE to do.

 

When a store doesn't offer this or you are outside of their policy window then you are forced to go through the manufacturer for the warranty.

 

That being said some stores will gladly go outside of that policy to keep particular customers happy. Microcenter is one of those companies that comes to mind. Once upon a time I purchase 7-8 7700k's and even told them my intention was to personally bin them and then return 5 of the lowest performers. I had to speak with the manager on this, since it was more than they offer for a single sale... I was forced to pay a restocking fee on 2 of the chips and they waived the other 3. Then just resold the chips as open box which sold them fast, but with my paying the restock on 2 basically allowed them to break even or make a small profit, plus got people in to pick them up and purchase other parts for a build.

 

Bottom line is a lot of this depends on the store and their discretion. It however, isn't up to some random person like the OP to make up the rules as he goes and/or ignore the wishes of his manager/boss. Judging by his lack of showing back up in this thread he was looking to gain more support on his choice and apparently missed the bigger picture.

[Thavion Hawk]

You take a graphics card that has two broken fan blades to a computer store and expect them to be able to handle RMA'ing it? You expect them to just magic up a graphics card to replace it when they are basically Vaporware at this point? I posted this here because I was frustrated by a Customer that is unable to sit at a computer and REGISTER THE CARD AND RMA IT HIMSELF!!! I did not expect to get slammed for being a bad salesmen. I understand the LAW regarding customer service for products sold and as I don't work for ASUS or a Contractor at an RMA facility, it is not my problem that this graphics card is broken Months after it was first sold.

 

The fact that we did the first RMA for the customer was shocking to me but I was happy the customer got his card back and it worked when he got it. At this point however I have no faith that the card can be RMA'ed because it has physical damage.

 

I'm damn good at my job and this is such a crazy outlier situation that I'd hope you all could take it for what it is and not pass such harsh judgment on me so quickly.

 

P.S. The store owner just informed me that he can not handle the RMA and the manager just called the customer to inform him of the fact. The Manager has conceded to my point that it was not within our power to deal with. My wish to refuse the taking in of the card may have been poor customer service, but my reasoning was valid.

[Morgan Everett]

9 hours ago, dizmo said:

Yes, you are. Warranty, RMA, returns are all after sale support. Because it occurs after the sale of the item. 

Rather, I understood the term "after sale support" differently to you.

 

Now we've cleared that up, I'm not sure I believe you. I expect US law is the same or similar to British law on this score.

 

 

[aisle9]

3 hours ago, Thavion Hawk said:

P.S. The store owner just informed me that he can not handle the RMA and the manager just called the customer to inform him of the fact. The Manager has conceded to my point that it was not within our power to deal with. My wish to refuse the taking in of the card may have been poor customer service, but my reasoning was valid.

I wouldn't fire you on the spot unless you generally sucked at life anyway. Getting bent over backwards, intentionally or not, is an infuriating situation, and when you seem to be the only one who sees what's happening, yeah, it wears thin. Don't lay into your boss over it, though. There are a very few circumstances in which laying into a superior is warranted...a very few. The manager and/or owner being willing to risk a small (in the grand scheme of things) financial loss in order to satisfy a customer is not one of them. That guy's either a miner or a gamer if he's buying a 1060, and if he feels like he's been screwed, he's going to tell all his miner and gamer friends. Keeping the business is worth a few hundred bucks.

 

Besides, there are idiots on eBay who will pay $200+ for a broken 1060 right now because they think they can get it to work again, or because they intend to bake and resell it for $350 to some poor sap. The monetary risk is low compared to the reputational risk of telling the customer that it's his problem.

 

How would I have handled it? Glad you didn't ask. The first RMA is on us, but there's no refund on the table. Assuming there are no obvious signs of abuse, I'd do the RMA at my cost, with the understanding that if your wholesaler and/or ASUS said the card was a loss and couldn't say with 100% certainty that it was the customer's fault, that customer now has the amount he originally spent on the 1060 in store credit, to be used within 30 days. If the card comes back repaired or replaced, it goes back to the customer.

 

The second RMA is a little tougher. You mentioned broken fan blades, which are the sort of thing that happens because a card is dropped, mishandled, or maybe, maybe defective. Regardless, because there's physical damage to the card, I would at that point tell the customer that they'd have to RMA the card themselves.

 

I'd also have put a return policy on the thing in the first place. X amount of days replacement or store credit unless the card has been abused, manufacturer's warranty applies afterwards.

[dizmo]

2 hours ago, Morgan Everett said:

Rather, I understood the term "after sale support" differently to you.

 

Now we've cleared that up, I'm not sure I believe you. I expect US law is the same or similar to British law on this score. 

I don't know what to say other than you're wrong. I've managed a store in North America. Have you? 

[SpaceGhostC2C]

On 4/6/2018 at 1:05 AM, Morgan Everett said:

You know he has a legal right to require you to do something about it, right? At least, that's how it works here: when you buy something, your contract is with the entity you bought it from, not the manufacturer.

 

On 4/6/2018 at 3:56 AM, dizmo said:

 

That's very much not how it works in North America. After sale support is through the manufacturer, not the retailer.

 

When you contact a manufacturer directly, most of the times you get a "within X time of purchase, return to the retailer". If you tell them the retailer won't have it, then they start asking about the details (like where you bought it in the first place).

 

I never managed a store but I've encountered enough within-warranty defects, and it always starts with "go to your retailer", unless X amount of time has passed (X varies)  

[dizmo]

1 minute ago, SpaceGhostC2C said:

When you contact a manufacturer directly, most of the times you get a "within X time of purchase, return to the retailer". If you tell them the retailer won't have it, then they start asking about the details (like where you bought it in the first place).

 

I never managed a store but I've encountered enough within-warranty defects, and it always starts with "go to your retailer", unless X amount of time has passed (X varies)  

It depends largely on the product and the return system they choose to implement. A lot of the time if it's something small or cheap to manufacture, you return it to the store where it's destroyed and you're given a new one because it doesn't make sense to return it to the company. Or, the company doesn't have facilities in your country and returning it overseas is cost prohibitive.

[Morgan Everett]

9 hours ago, dizmo said:

I don't know what to say other than you're wrong.

You could cite a relevant source. Your say-so isn't going to be enough, I'm afraid.

[dizmo]

1 hour ago, Morgan Everett said:

You could cite a relevant source. Your say-so isn't going to be enough, I'm afraid.

I could, but I don't care enough go waste time doing that. 

[TechyBen]

On 06/04/2018 at 12:03 AM, Bcat00 said:

If i was the boss I would fire you on the spot.

Yep, i'll take a small beating for maybe a couple hundred dollar and might earn a lifetime customer, or maybe he will even call his friends over and I make even more.

Not very hard to do the math there bro

You've obviously never had a customer try it on then? Bringing in something that has a fist shaped hole in it, saying "it just exploded of it's own accord" when the thing has nothing in it that can explode?

 

In the UK you can insist the store deal with it. However, as above, physical damage can get more tricky. We would normally do an internal RMA for the first instance. The second we may... but after that point insist the customer goes direct (so if they are trying to con, the manufacture notices 5 applications through 1 person, instead of 1 person trying it on in 5 different branded stores and we never know they are up to something).

[Razor Blade]

9 minutes ago, TechyBen said:

trying it on in 5 different branded stores and we never know they are up to something).

Typically (at least in the US) only the originating retailer is going to be willing to help you. So if I for example bought a TV from the retail store Best Buy I can't return or RMA it with Fry's electronics.

[Nena Trinity]

Sad story mate.

[Morgan Everett]

2 hours ago, dizmo said:

I could, but I don't care enough go waste time doing that. 

It probably wouldn't be a waste of time, since you might learn something: having done a little bit of research myself, it seems with respect to Canada that the legal situation is very similar to the situation here, as I expected. This is likewise the case in California, I see, though perhaps to a lesser extent.

[Bcat00]

2 hours ago, TechyBen said:

You've obviously never had a customer try it on then? Bringing in something that has a fist shaped hole in it, saying "it just exploded of it's own accord" when the thing has nothing in it that can explode?

 

In the UK you can insist the store deal with it. However, as above, physical damage can get more tricky. We would normally do an internal RMA for the first instance. The second we may... but after that point insist the customer goes direct (so if they are trying to con, the manufacture notices 5 applications through 1 person, instead of 1 person trying it on in 5 different branded stores and we never know they are up to something).

You are thinking from the employees point of view, but I'm looking at it from the bosses view because I've ran small time businesses before. Number rule when you run a business, name and reputation is everything.

 

If the price is a couple of hundred dollar, then ill take that beating, its the cost of doing business if you are intent on making it succeed and grow.