(resolved)Another 30 DAYS???

[Cuda]

I bought a Saphirre 9500np from ExCaliberpc back in mid October. When I installed it, everything was fine for a day or two, then one morning, when I booted up, I got a rapid beeping and an error message on the monitor that said the power cable was not plugged in to the video card. I checked it, and it was plugged in. I tried another cable and the same thing happened. I found that if I wiggled the connector it would sometimes work. I RMA'd the card to Excaliburpc and waited.
Over a month went by and by mid November, I got tired of waiting and emailed them. The next day, they sent me a replacement. Unfortunately, this happened:

(quote form an email I sent to ATI tech support)
If Windows installs it's own drivers (6.14.10.6387) I get serious artifacting and numerous tiny verticle lines on many desktop icons. When I run 3dmark03, I get very blocky graphics and severe artifacting.

I tried several ati drivers including 3.7, 3.8 and 3.9. With all of those drivers, I get the following messages:

"VPU Recover has reset your graphics accelerator as it was no longer responding to graphics driver commands."

Then,

"VPU Recover was unable to fully recover from a hardware deadlock, and has switched to software rendering. To restore hardware rendering, you must restart your computer."

If I restart, I get the same messages.

I have tried everything I know, including redownloading directx 9.0b and reinstalling it. I also ran the cat uninstaller and tried again.
(end quote)

Tech support sent me the following:

(quote)

Sounds like a defective card please contact your vendor for RMA service.

Tech

(end quote)

So I did, and got another RMA# and shipped out the card again.

Now it has been over two weeks. I emailed them and got no response, so I emailed them again. In frustration, I called them. The person I spoke with said they had returned the card to the vendor and that there was at least a 30 day turn-around before they could send a replacement. That means it will be mid January before I get a card I paid for in October! :eek: :mad:

Is this normal? Fortunately, this is the first RMA I have ever had to do, maybe I'm lucky, but is it always like this?

[wanna_b_rich_13]

It shouldnt be but can happen. I have seen times where a card need to be replaced that the manufacutrer did not have in stock in the US base and had to ship back the their original location which is in another country.

If that is the case then two weeks to ship to the manufacturer and two for them to ship to where you purchased and then for them to ship to you could very easily reach 1 month.

[Cuda]

Yeah, I can see that. Just sour grapes on my part I guess. I'm in the middle of my second month of waiting. I forget what BF1942 was like!

[gruvin2]

I have had similar experiences with RMA's and video cards. After enough haggling with Reps i asked to talk to the Manager. I asked if they had my card in stock.......yes he replies. I say then once you received my card for RMA why couldn't you send me a replacement?.....Long pause ................we will shipo it out today sir.
Now understand this was already a couple weeks w/o reply once i checked to see that my RMA card was indeed received. I predominately deal with NewEgg for online orders. I have found that there Customer Support is bar-none.

Cuda - personally i would leave a response at resellerratings.com for them so others can read of your personal experience.

[Silversinksam]

If it takes more than 30 days I will make some calls :mad:

[Cuda]

I just received the replacement card a couple of days ago. I had to send a nasty email in which I mentioned reselleratings and numerous un-named forums. My card shipped two days later. I finally have a working card. It's a shame to have to go through all that, but with so many unscrupulous RMA's these days, it's no wonder. I think it will only get worse.