This company tells me "Video card is deteriorating" .... Is this some BS trick or wha

T

topcaliber

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Hey guys, I wanted to run this by you and see if this company is trying to bone me or not.


So the story is: I sent a laptop in to this company called Ztronics, the online quote said they would give me 400 bucks for it. With a broken battery they said they would give me 365. I accepted and then sent it in.

I get an E-Mail saying:

"Hello,

Our technicians have had the chance to review your system. They have confirmed that the battery is in fact defective. They have also noticed that the video cards Frame rates are running sluggish. This is a sign of the video card deteriorating. At this time we can only offer a total of 275.00 for the system. Please advise if you wish to accept this amount.

If you do not wish to accept this amount. We will return the laptop, Thank you. Please note fee's may apply for returns with insurance. Thank you."

Now I've been building PCs for a while, and I've never seen a video card "deteriorate" and slowly lose FPS and die off.

Either it dies instantly, blue screens a bunch, or artifacts show up and then it dies soon after.

And as I remember the PC was fine when I sent it in, I'm not sure what they are talking about. What do you guys think? Is the guy at the company just trying to screw me out of their original quote or is what they say legit?

Is there anything I can do? Like request the benchmark they used to determine the video card is "deteriorating"?

Thanks alot guys.




UPDATE: Can the fact that the laptop has no battery.... only running on the charger be a reason for sluggish FPS? Or is that hogwash? Thanks again!


UPDATE 2: I don't really enjoy being played in what seems to be an obvious bait and switch. Plus I lost 40 bucks (maybe more if they don't cover shipping back). If I knew the laptop was only going to net 235... I would of never sent it in in the first place.

I called them and requested the benchmark score they ran, they told me it would take 5 days (I called them again and told them it doesn't take 5 days to run 3Dmark and they agreed to give me a benchmark by tomorrow.)

I'm going to write a letter up and post it to Ztronics and Dell Customer support (They are the ones who recommended this company in the first place.) Basically calling them out on this shady business practice.




Conclusion: I just got a call from them, they said that they re-ran the benchmark and the scores came in a little bit low... however they were in the acceptable range for the original quoted amount. They are going to honor the original deal.

I'm kinda glad this worked out the way it should of, a little bit extra headache... but hey: thats life.

Thanks alot everyone on the forums, you guys had some great suggestions. Later.
 
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Sounds like massive bullshit to me. If anything it could be the TIM is failing or the fan is clogged with dust, but "deteriorating" video card...eh, no.
 
@OP

Did they tell you that shipping the laptop back would incur fees? If not, then they cannot charge you for them to send the laptop back. Take them to small claims if necessary and get back 10x what they promised. Certain laws are in our (the consumers) favor.
 
Either works or it doesn't, there is no such thing as the video card didn't feel up to it today.
 
@metril

They did say that I would have to cover return shipping.



Do you guys think the lack of a battery could be the culprit? Should I request their benchmarks? Should I suggest they update the drivers?

I would really like to get the laptop sold for the price they agreed on because it is not even mine, it is my cousins and I told him that I would be able to fetch that much for him... But now the company is acting this way.
 
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@OP The company is bullshitting you, plain and simple. Tell them to either pay the agreed upon $350 or ship the laptop back at their expense. Video cards don't "deteriorate", they either work or they don't. If the fan is clogged or dusty the laptop might be overheating and throttling the video card, but that's the only possibility - which they could easily remedy by cleaning it.
 
Sounds shady. Hope you took pictures of your laptop's internals so that they don't attempt to swap out your working parts with faulty ones.
 
@mi7chy

Shit, That makes me wish I did. I honestly didn't think they would try to bone me like this >.< .
 
Sounds like they are trying to work you over pretty good. 80%+ of the people out there would be too stupid to know that the BS about the videocard deteriorating is an obvious lie. The difference between $350 and $275 could easily be the difference between them making a profit or not; their motivation is clear.
 
They're nice enough to let you know that you now have GPU issues. Hopefully, you stress tested the GPU thoroughly before you sent it in to get a baseline and definitely do it again when you get it back to make sure it doesn't artifact, black out (including VGA port), BSoD, etc. under prolonged use. Laptop GPU is a common repair and if yours was good. ;)
 
I'm going to see if I can find some Legal forums or something online...


Somebody suggested that they are running a "bait and switch" scam.
 
That's BS and they are doing a bait and switch to make as much profit as possible. The only thing else I can think of is that it's possible that the NVidia optimus hybrid graphics is either disabling the card during there testing or is not compatible during their benchmark testing/stress testing. My alienware m11x I can either turn the NVidia card on or off where I know the m11x r2 was controlled via software and this would cause issues with some programs.

I'm still betting they are being shady as if you're in the industry of reselling pc's, you should know this already.
 
topcaliber said:
UPDATE: Can the fact that the laptop has no battery.... only running on the charger be a reason for sluggish FPS? Or is that hogwash? Thanks again!
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Possibly. I know my old Asus gaming notebook would throttle GPU speeds if its in power saving modes. Even if it's plugged in, when it's in power saver profile I'll get shit performance across the board. "Deteriorating" GPU sounds like BS, probably a line that they pull on unsuspecting clients to extend their profit margin.
 
Yeah, I agree they are treating you like a noob customer like when you bring you car to a shop. If anything they would just need to re-apply TIM or clean dust off.

Having your laptop plugged in is supposed to be best performance, but of course it all depends on the OS settings. Typically battery would degrade performance.

F them.
 
Did they install an OS, or was the one they are using the one you sent it in with on it?

(could be old drivers, could be running updates, av scan, etc, no?)
 
Video cards can definitely develop problems, but deteriorate is inaccurate. Typically you would see some other evidence, like artifacting, crashing, memory errors, etc. How old is the laptop?

Also, FPS drops can be caused by any myriad of issues. The system could be down clocking due to heat or power issues, drivers could be an issue, the benchmark they have installed may not be configured, other software may be running in the background, etc. etc. This whole thing just seems like a scam to me.
 
I don't see what the problem is.

They were nice enough to pay shipping to them.

Just ask for the return and pay the shipping back.

If you wanted a simple cash transaction you should have sold on craigslist
 
I have sold a phone to a company like this, called Gazelle. I got the feeling if I sent them anything other than a perfect phone or a broken phone, they would change the offer stated by the website once they received it.
 
staticlag said:
I don't see what the problem is.

They were nice enough to pay shipping to them.

Just ask for the return and pay the shipping back.

If you wanted a simple cash transaction you should have sold on craigslist
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OP, who paid to ship the laptop to the company?
If they paid, then yeah pay to have it ship back.
If you paid to ship it to them, then they should pay to ship it back to you.

"They were nice enough to pay shipping to them." -
I wouldn't go that far to say they were nice, its a business strategy at best.
 
No no no....


Don't give them any credit they don't deserve.

I paid 40 bucks out of my own pocket to send the laptop to them. I even bought the fedex "laptop" box to make sure it got there safely.
 
Yeah, then no. Original offer or they ship back at their expense.

Make sure they don't try to jack you on that "return fees may apply on insurance", either.
 
Another vote for scam (bait and switch)
Sounds like the standard con, and even if you decide not sell it. They will charge you a significant amount to shipped it back. They will make you pay two day shipping price, when they will send it back to you using media mail
 
I've also sent a letter to the editors of http://consumerist.com/

I'll update on the situation as it develops..

Thanks alot for the information guys, I just knew there was something fishy going on when I read that E-Mail.
 
Make sure they actually provide you screenshots of the benchmark. I bet they are running benchmarks on the highest settings possible which would put lots of load on the laptop leading to added heat which will cause the laptop to throttle itself resulting is the lower fps.
 
Domini said:
Make sure they actually provide you screenshots of the benchmark. I bet they are running benchmarks on the highest settings possible which would put lots of load on the laptop leading to added heat which will cause the laptop to throttle itself resulting is the lower fps.
Click to expand...

Good advice. I also told them to make sure the laptop isn't filled with dust and they update the drivers before they run it.

I just got a typical "Sir we already check the computers 100% once we get them.."

I didn't buy it either...
 
Nothing more than a numbers game. They're going after the low-hanging fruit stupid enough to fall for their bullshit because they know that probably for every 10 customers, 2-3 will cave when they refuse to pay for return shipping.
 
Its like craigslist, you agree on a price, drive 20 min to some place to meet, the dude says oh hey I'm 20 short, you now either take $20 less or lose 40 min of your time for nothing.
 
munkle said:
Its like craigslist, you agree on a price, drive 20 min to some place to meet, the dude says oh hey I'm 20 short, you now either take $20 less or lose 40 min of your time for nothing.
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Yeah. The only CL deal I ever got full price on was a perfect set of GT40 Upper and lower intake off a Explorer.
 
That's why when dealing with Craigslist I make them drive to me to reverse the burden then have them call/text when they're near.
 
LOCO LAPTOP said:
Yeah. The only CL deal I ever got full price on was a perfect set of GT40 Upper and lower intake off a Explorer.
Click to expand...

mi7chy said:
That's why when dealing with Craigslist I make them drive to me to reverse the burden then have them call/text when they're near.
Click to expand...

I simply tell most people a price that is $25~50 more then what I am willing to accept so when they try that they feel like they are getting over on me while I laugh on my way home.:cool:
 
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