Anybody deal with Sapphire warranties recently on a GPU?

[Bobnova]

My 4830 locks up after a long sustained load, and upon reboot the bios gives me POST beeps for "no GPU here, yo". As such, i'm thinking it may be RMA time.
Reading threads about peoples past Sapphire RMA experiences, this looks like a nightmare that i actually have to pay for. Have any of you dealt with sapphire RMA recently that can advise me?

 

[dylskee]

Yes I have and it was literally the worst experience I have ever had with a vendor. It took months and was finally resolved thanks to the BBB. They blatantly lied and made up stories to avoid replacing a $100.00 video card. I am always very courteous and understanding when it comes to RMAs and I feel they took complete advantage of my good nature. So give them hell and threaten to call the BBB and you might get better results! I really hope you have better luck than I did. Good luck and report back when (IF) you have this resolved.

EDIT: Oh I forgot to mention that they also charge a $15.00 processing fee for all RMAs!

 

[Bobnova]

Great.
Sounds like i should avoid GPGPU stuff and replace this thing as soon as i can. I read your thread from about a year ago, it sounded terrible!

Now of course i know better then to buy from a company i haven't checked out RMA wise.

 

[petteyg359]

I did for a 5850 that died, and had no problems. Sapphire does not do direct warranty support. Rather than being worried about Sapphire, be worried about the place you buy it from. An RMA for a Sapphire board should be obtained from the place of purchase. The PoP should send you a new card, and then they deal with the RMA to Sapphire. I had bought the card from fxvideocards.com.

See this page.

If anybody has attempted to demand warranty work from or send a card to Sapphire directly and had problems, it's their own damn fault for not bothering to read. Sapphire only deals with distributors and retailers, NOT end users.

 

[madhatter256]

I have once, and had no problems. Sapphire does not do direct warranty support. Rather than being worried about Sapphire, be worried about the place you buy it from. An RMA for a Sapphire board should be obtained from the place of purchase. The PoP should send you a new card, and then they deal with the RMA to Sapphire.

See this page.

Sapphire treats PoPs just like end users...

Look at it this way.. Newegg has a 30day return policy on all video cards (at least the one I purchased)... so they don't honor the full 2 year manufacturer's warranty from Sapphire, and they'll tell you to go to Sapphire, yet Sapphire makes it seem like you should only deal with newegg... which they want you to think you're SOL and go out and buy another card...

They are a pain in the butt, even for distributors/resellers.

Gotta have invoices.... oh wait, the card was made in 2008, even though it sold in 2009.... too bad, it's out of warranty... thats what they tried to pull on us.

I know I own a Sapphire 4850 but it was on sale.... *knock on wood*

 

[Rattle]

sapphire warranty rules

heres what i do

call this number 1-909-594-3128

go to rma dept. talk to the tech, find out what they have in stock and what you can get if they dont have the same card. They ask for SN and PN and if you have an invoice. They send u an email, fill it out, a jpeg of the invoice is cool by them.

Send the card in. Use tracking, when it gets there wait 24 hours CALL THE TECH GUY back. They will update you.

My turnaround is usually 10 days from NH to CALI, last time i sent in a reference 4890 and got back a vapor X 4890.

Don't listen to the war stories. They do not charge $15 for all rma's, I have rma'd with them 3 times and only paid once, since they have me on record they wave them for ME apparently. They dont ask me if I bought the card from anywhere infact all 3 rma's were cards I acquired second hand WITH THE INVOICE, I even tell them that LOL.

i dont know where people get their infos, your dealing with athlon micro out of fremont.
[email protected]

 

[petteyg359]

So you complain to NewEgg support here on the forum that they are not fulfilling their end of the deal. Or, buy from a retailer that does what they're supposed to, like fxvideocards.com. Complaining about Sapphire following their own policy is stupid. Complain about the retailer not doing their job, instead.

 

[Bobnova]

I talked to newegg, they said this:

Thank you for holding. Unfortunately, we do not carry this item any more. In this case, we recommend you to call SAPPHIRE at 1-909-594-3128 again to explain this issue to them. They will assist you for it. If they still fail, please contact us again and we will be able to contact them on your behalf. I apologize for the inconvenience.

I'll PM the newegg rep. here and see what he has to say.


EDIT: Sapphire of course says thusly:

Sapphire VGA products carry a 2 year warranty with all enquires carried out through your initial place of purchase. This can only be carried out by the original purchaser Please contact your Dealer/Reseller for Warranty / RMA service. They will require proof of purchase which includes the original invoice/documentation.

2.EDIT:
Can't PM the newegg rep, so much for that idea.

 

[dylskee]

sapphire warranty rules

heres what i do

call this number 1-909-594-3128

go to rma dept. talk to the tech, find out what they have in stock and what you can get if they dont have the same card. They ask for SN and PN and if you have an invoice. They send u an email, fill it out, a jpeg of the invoice is cool by them.

Send the card in. Use tracking, when it gets there wait 24 hours CALL THE TECH GUY back. They will update you.

My turnaround is usually 10 days from NH to CALI, last time i sent in a reference 4890 and got back a vapor X 4890.

Don't listen to the war stories. They do not charge $15 for all rma's, I have rma'd with them 3 times and only paid once, since they have me on record they wave them for ME apparently. They dont ask me if I bought the card from anywhere infact all 3 rma's were cards I acquired second hand WITH THE INVOICE, I even tell them that LOL.

i dont know where people get their infos, your dealing with athlon micro out of fremont.
[email protected]

The war stories is exactly what he asked for so I told him mine. You said the same thing in my thread except i had the complete opposite experience you had. It was a full three months before I got a working card and I had to pay the $15.00 processing fee, that was MANDATORY. The only reason they complied was the BBB was breathing down their neck. Believe me, I had phone calls we these people and they were rude as hell. Doesn't mean that bob will have the same service I got but he asked for peoples experience and I gave mine so don't dismiss it because you seem to have a good relationship with them.

Newegg is not responsible after 30 days so you're going to have to go through sapphire for your RMA. Good luck my friend!

 

[illli]

i know this is an old topic but i was thinking about buying something from this company. has their warranty service improved? the price was cheaper than competitors, but first i decided to do a search first. i came across this topic, plus this one http://www.overclockers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=611504 and this http://www.overclockers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=683333

needless to say i probably wont be buying from this company

 

[ghost_recon88]

i know this is an old topic but i was thinking about buying something from this company. has their warranty service improved? the price was cheaper than competitors, but first i decided to do a search first. i came across this topic, plus this one http://www.overclockers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=611504 and this http://www.overclockers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=683333

needless to say i probably wont be buying from this company

Go with a Gigabyte, MSI, or if none of those work you could try Asus.

 

[muddocktor]

After reading the horror stories about Asus RMA in the active threads around this one (Nebs and TT's threads), I think I am crossing them off my shopping list too. They don't try to charge a fee on warranty RMA at least though; just give you the royal runaround.