RMA Rejected-End User Damage

[dylskee]

I was helping a friend of mine with a new build and hit a snag with Newegg with whom I've been doing business with for the last 15 years! I put together a low budget build for him and he purchased the parts and brought them over last weekend. I got everything installed on my bench top like I have done 1000s of times and I get 4 beeps and then nothing, I swapped out all the hardware and determined the motherboard was bad. All the other parts worked in my computers here, so I told him to RMA the board and get another one. He called me and told me they rejected the RMA for end user damage, stating that I damaged the pins in the CPU socket. He called and they refused to issue the RMA and gave him 10% off another board!

Now, I look like an *** and I feel responsible for his out of pocket expense. I get the new board here today (ASRock Fatal1ty P67 Performance LGA 1155 Intel P67) and wouldn't you know it, it does the same exact thing! After further searching I found posts online stating that support told them the bios version was too old to support the new line of cpus.

Is it Newegg's policy to lie and steal from their customers now? I'm not putting up with this kind of behavior from a etailer for one minute. The BBB is getting a call today and I'll make sure everyone I know will not buy ANYTHING from these crooks anymore!

EDIT: Oh I see from another user here that this is standard practice with these guys now......

 

[Janus67]

I would never send anything back to a company w/o taking pictures first.

I don't agree with their policy (or reasoning) but it is how I would handle any RMA situation.

 

[dylskee]

I would never send anything back to a company w/o taking pictures first.

I don't agree with their policy (or reasoning) but it is how I would handle any RMA situation.

I have never had any reason to dis-trust Newegg in the past, always had great customer service. Believe me, they won't get away with this one..... This is a matter of principle!

 

[ChanceCoats123]

Who denied the RMA? Newegg, or Asrock? If it was Newegg that denied, and you obviously didn't damage it, then have them send it back. Then request a real RMA from Asrock. I've never done a single RMA through the store I bought it from. It may take a little longer through the manufacturer, but the outcome is almost always better.

 

[hafa]

Most manufacturers have a (inconsistently enforced) policy of having RMAs less than 30 days from purchase handled by the retailer.

That said, I've yet to encounter a retailer who does what newegg did to dylskee and if I did, would take the exact course of action dylskee did. This kind of arrogant disdain for customers is entirely unacceptable and distressingly more common among larger retailers.

FWIW, RMAs from the following have always been hassle-free for us, and as we're a volume shop, we submit them frequently:

Mwave
B&H Photo
J&R
Provantage

One more reason among many not to do business with Newegg.

 

[dylskee]

Who denied the RMA? Newegg, or Asrock? If it was Newegg that denied, and you obviously didn't damage it, then have them send it back. Then request a real RMA from Asrock. I've never done a single RMA through the store I bought it from. It may take a little longer through the manufacturer, but the outcome is almost always better.

Newegg rejected the RMA stating I damaged the socket for the cpu. And it was 1 week after receiving it so within 30 days it has to go back to the store. And why wouldn't I go back to where I got it from? Would you go to Sony if you bought a bad tv from best buy? Yeah, me neither.......

I just updated the bios with a sandy bridge cpu so this board is good to go. So when I get the other board that newegg is sending back that has a "Bad" cpu socket from me bending them, I'm going to video the entire process from opening the sealed box from them and installing a sandy bridge cpu and booting right into the bios. If I bent the pins on the board like they said I did and they tested the board to prove they were bent, then the board shouldn't fire up. How much you want to bet it does? Like I said, this is a matter of principle and they're going to pay for trying to screw me over!

 

[peanutbudder]

Sounds like the time I ordered a "New" nzxt phantom case only to realize after opening it that it had in fact already been used. The screw holes for mounting the optical drive, psu, and motherboard were all scratced from someone already tightening screws down. I was really upset at first but after waiting weeks to finally oreder the case while it was in stock I wasn't about to send it back and wait another couple of weeks. I have ordered many components from newegg and that was the first and only time I got the shaft.

 

[Pierre3400]

I have heard about this before.

Point one, did you install the plastic plate over the CPU socket? If you didnt, your screwed, it says on the cover, and in the manual, that it MUST be mounted for RMA.

But as i said, i have heard this before. The dealer will bend the pins, as that is user error, saves them time and money. Most people dont take pictures of the pins before, so its an easy way to do it. Take pictures, but with that said, sad story to come from such a huge company.

 

[dylskee]

I have heard about this before.

Point one, did you install the plastic plate over the CPU socket? If you didnt, your screwed, it says on the cover, and in the manual, that it MUST be mounted for RMA.

But as i said, i have heard this before. The dealer will bend the pins, as that is user error, saves them time and money. Most people dont take pictures of the pins before, so its an easy way to do it. Take pictures, but with that said, sad story to come from such a huge company.

Of coarse I did, this isn't my first time RMAing something. I have always been straight with Newegg, years ago I fried my Cedar Mill when it was 4 weeks old from overclocking it, I could have sent it back for an RMA but I fried it so I put it on my key chain.

Newegg has always been my first choice, even if they were higher priced. I will NEVER buy from them again, and I'll make sure ALL my friends and family don't either.

 

[Shelnutt2]

Of coarse I did, this isn't my first time RMAing something. I have always been straight with Newegg, years ago I fried my Cedar Mill when it was 4 weeks old from overclocking it, I could have sent it back for an RMA but I fried it so I put it on my key chain.

Newegg has always been my first choice, even if they were higher priced. I will NEVER buy from them again, and I'll make sure ALL my friends and family don't either.

You might want to send the Newegg rep here a pm about this with the RMA case number. He's usually pretty good at looking into situations and might be able to get the board refunded or at least sent back.

 

[dylskee]

You might want to send the Newegg rep here a pm about this with the RMA case number. He's usually pretty good at looking into situations and might be able to get the board refunded or at least sent back.

I sent their customer support a message so I'll wait to see what they say, I'm sure the rep here would have no interest in helping me out on this one..... But I will tell you, they will be taking back the original board for a full refund and if they don't I would think the BBB would have no trouble at all getting it for me.

People really need to be made aware of this type of horrific business practice and with social media that can be very easy nowadays. This kind of stuff is inexcusable and I'm not going to let it go. It was only a $100. board, I understand that people often send back items that they broke but they can't just start randomly picking out customers to screw over to make up for it!

 

[dylskee]

Newegg is still arguing the fact that I bent the pins and that the new Ivybridge cpus are supported! Man I can't believe this, I already proved that the bios version on that board is old and when I flashed it to the newer version all is good. Her name is Yevette, god I can't wait to get the BBB to talk to her. This company is ridiculous!!!!

EDIT: Complaint to the BBB has been submitted....

 

[Brando]

I don't know how people keep getting this horrible customer service. Newegg always takes care of me even when I'm wrong (one time, long story). This is just bizarre. They must have one jerk working there that's related to somebody. We have that problem at my shop as well. People that should be fired 10 times over but nobody has the heart to chew them out or get rid of them because they're too pathetic to make it anywhere else.

 

[Kamel]

i avoid newegg like the plague now, and tell others to do the same. they began with absolutely amazing customer service and great prices. some bonehead upstairs thought they weren't making enough money so they outsourced their tech support and became very stingy. they also play many price games, like providing different prices depending on your browser's version (mac users pay more on average lol).

i did end up buying a case from there recently, but it was out of necessity. if i could have avoided it i would have. i am absolutely disgusted with newegg. to me, it's even worse to pretend like you have great service then switch than to have never had good service at all. at least then i wont feel like it was a bait and switch.

i now do as much business as i can through amazon. they are a giant and have their own problems, but in the least i've never had any problems returning anything.

 

[EarthDog]

 

[Nebulous]

I just purchased a mini ITX board/Cpu and case from them for a media box build. I haven't had any bad luck with them yet so I'm hoping I still have a winning streak.

Keeping my fingers crossed.

 

[sobe]

Have 2 friends this has happened with, 1 was an Asrock Extreme4 and 1was an MSI MPower. NewEgg refuses RMAs, stating customer induced damage, and going so far as the BBB didn't do much of anything. I've heard good things from Amazon as far as mobo RMAs go.

 

[Nebulous]

Well you best believe I will be taking pictures of the unboxing & of the board's socket for insurance purposes. If anything is wrong with the socket I'll be documenting it right from the start.

 

[dylskee]

Thank you for your useful contribution to this thread, I appreciate your apparent well thought out reply.

 

[DaveB]

i avoid newegg like the plague now, and tell others to do the same. they began with absolutely amazing customer service and great prices. some bonehead upstairs thought they weren't making enough money so they outsourced their tech support and became very stingy. they also play many price games, like providing different prices depending on your browser's version (mac users pay more on average lol).

i did end up buying a case from there recently, but it was out of necessity. if i could have avoided it i would have. i am absolutely disgusted with newegg. to me, it's even worse to pretend like you have great service then switch than to have never had good service at all. at least then i wont feel like it was a bait and switch.

i now do as much business as i can through amazon. they are a giant and have their own problems, but in the least i've never had any problems returning anything.

I used Newegg exclusively pretty much from 2000 to 2008 or so. At that time their pricing, and policies began to change and I gradually moved away from them. Today I purchase virtually all my new build components from my local Microcenter store - great prices, easy returns, not problems at all. I buy a few items on Amazon, and used components on forums like this and on eBay.

In my experience retailers on eBay have better customer service these days than Newegg does. The Z68 board I'm using ended up being free from a retailer on eBay after I pointed out a problem with the board that I told them I had a work-around for. The refunded my full payment, told me to keep it, and apologized for any trouble.