First time EVGA RMA really going downhill. What's going on?

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RageVI

Weaksauce
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Nov 23, 2006
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Update: It appears that the USPS is to blame here, details below

Just over a couple weeks ago on the 15th, one of my GTX 480s inexplicably died. I submitted a support ticket, explained all the troubleshooting that I've done to come to that conclusion, and was given an RMA number which was approved the next day. Great so far! I eventually get some time to ship the dead card in a small and sturdy cardboard box on the 22nd with priority mail, delivery confirmation, and insurance. The shipping charge was just a little over $20. My receipt says the expected delivery date is on the 24th.

I check the tracking information on the 24th and see that a notice was left. It was Saturday. I assumed that their offices were closed, and a quick look on the EVGA forums confirmed that this is a common question, so no problems there. I then check the tracking again on Monday the 26th and see the following: Your item was refused by the addressee at 12:09 PM on July 26, 2010 in BREA, CA 92821 and is being returned to the sender.!

I had no idea why. I shipped it in a sturdy box and followed all the instructions regarding labeling and shipment. So, I called EVGA and spoke with a nice guy who couldn't find anything indicating why my package was refused. He requested the tracking number, looked at the tracking info himself, and put me on hold for a minute or two. He returned to ask me if I had shipped it in a bubble envelope or anything similar. When I explained that I shipped it in a cardboard box with padding, I was told that I should "just ship it again with UPS or FedEx, because [they] don't accept anything that doesn't look like it wouldn't survive the shipment and [they've] been doing this with USPS lately". That was all he could tell me!

After that call, I was a little cheesed off. I just spent $20 on nothing, my dead video card was being shipped back to me as parcel post (It could be a week or two just to get it back, since I live in Ohio), I'm probably going to have to pay another $20 to ship it, and will have to wait a while longer. Now, I'm doing my best to reserve judgment here (I swear!). I figured that although it is very unlikely, my package might have gotten considerably beat up/damaged during shipment. I figured that (A), If it really was damaged, I could ship it again and maybe file a claim since it was insured, and that (B), If it didn't appear damaged, I could take pictures of the package, show EVGA what's going on, and I could rely on the great customer service that I've heard so much about to have things made right.

Here's the fun part. I checked the tracking information again, and now it says this: ... Your item was refused by the addressee at 3:03 PM on July 30, 2010 in BREA, CA 92821 and is being returned to the sender. ... Why the hell is it saying my package was refused a second time, four days later? Weren't they sending it back? Did they actually attempt to deliver it again? Is this an error? Is my package still dicking around in California and I'm going to have to wait forever to see why my package was even refused in the first place?

I've lost all hope in having any bearing on this situation. Work has been so busy lately that computer issues like this have consumed all my off-time in the past several weeks. Packing things and getting to the post office when it's not closed is already a huge chore as it is.

Has anyone experienced something like this before? Any ideas? Sorry for the large post -- It was quite medicinal.
 
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Not positive how you shipped it (USPS?), but this is why I just take everything to the local UPS store and have them pack, insure and ship it.
 
Yeah, I know how you feel. I seriously hate RMAing GPUs and to have all the added issues too. I'm pretty sure eVGA will take care of you though. I RMAd a 7900GTKO to them awhile back and got an 8800GT in return, so I trust them. The only reason I went ATI on my last pc purchase is because I planned to upgrade to a DX11 GPU once a game requiring it came out that interested me (still hasn't happened :p) and the card was a good bargain.
 
For sure this is a fluke situation...Evga is not known for dicking anyone around concerning rma's.
 
Hopefully its an error. I have RMAed 2 GPUs and 1 mobo from EVGA in the past and received replacements fairly quickly. Im not sure if it has to do with the plant being fairly close to me (CA), but I trust they will get it worked. For all you know it could be a labeling error and a replacement is on its way. Hope you get things worked out.
 
Wow that is crazy, if you get your box back and it is in great shape I would take pics of it while it's still all taped up and email the pics to evga and ask them WTF!!!! I don't blame you one bit I would be super pissed at evga and the post office.

If it said return to sender then you should of had it back 4 days later not checking the tracking number to see it say it was attempted to deliver again and refused again. Some one would get a damn ear full from me over the phone about this.

If it was evga's fault just sell the card and buy from a different company like xfx
 
This just took a turn for the stupid. Now, all of a sudden, it seems that they have accepted it after refusing it twice. What a waste of priority mail, and of my time ...

So three questions are coming to mind

1) Why were they refusing it
2) Why was the USPS attempting to redeliver it after it was refused
3) Why do they refuse it one day and not the other

Here's the actual tracking info

  • Delivered, August 02, 2010, 12:19 pm, BREA, CA 92821
  • Sorting Complete, August 02, 2010, 7:58 am, BREA, CA 92822
  • Refused, July 30, 2010, 3:03 pm, BREA, CA 92821
  • Refused, July 26, 2010, 12:09 pm, BREA, CA 92821
  • Notice Left, July 24, 2010, 8:44 am, BREA, CA 92821
  • Sorting Complete, July 24, 2010, 8:41 am, BREA, CA 92822
  • Arrival at Post Office, July 24, 2010, 5:14 am, BREA, CA 92822
  • Processed through Sort Facility, July 23, 2010, 11:00 pm, ANAHEIM, CA 92899
  • Acceptance, July 22, 2010, 3:34 pm, (My location)
 
This might sound odd, but they might have a list of packages that they're accepting. If it got there sooner than they thought, they might reject the package, for any number of reasons. Not likely, as this list would be absolutely huge (unless they have multiple RMA centers???), but it's a thought.

Another option is that USPS might have a new employee, a new system, or their old system sucks, or a lazy delivery person who instead of saying that they couldn't drop it off due to the office being closed, put in "refused" as the option on their POD system. This pretty much covers 1, 2 and 3.
 
Sounds like USPS is the one you need to talk to, honestly.

This is also why I ship everything UPS. It's honestly about the same cost, if not cheaper, and better service.
 
Rizen said:
Sounds like USPS is the one you need to talk to, honestly.

This is also why I ship everything UPS. It's honestly about the same cost, if not cheaper, and better service.
Click to expand...

An EVGA rep said they don't have any record of refusing the package or otherwise receiving it until today. Given the messed-up nature of my package tracking, I guess I'll have to side with them.

I only chose to ship USPS because they're the closest to me. I guess I'll be going slightly out of my way to use a courier that doesn't suck from now on.

I guess I'll never know what was really going on with my package
 
I've had incidents like this in the past with USPS. Had a package that was supposed to be delivered to my house that i was eagerly awaiting. I was home all day using my computer by the front door, so it was impossible to not hear someone ring. all of a sudden, the tracking status was updated, indicating that no one was home to receive the package. After several trips to the post office, we finally determined that the delivery person was playing hookey, falsely indicating delivery attempts. He then didn't return the packages to the post office like he should have, to allow pickup, but instead kept them in his vehicle overnight. turns out, he actually did try to deliver the next day, when I had scheduled to pick up the package at the post office.

That in addition to previous botched deliveries (one package left at an entirely wrong address a mile away, attempted delivery to the wrong appt. #, etc) I will never trust USPS to ship anything unless I absolutely have to. In this case I would definitely take EVGA for their word, and learn from this to use UPS or FedEX next time.
 
RageVI said:
I guess I'll never know what was really going on with my package
Click to expand...

Sounds like someone at USPS had fun playing games (or at least tried to) on their rig at home for a week on your GTX 480?
 
USPS shipping is unreliable and their tracking is useless. All it tells me is that shipping notice has been received and then no update for next couple of days. Once it has been delivered and I have the package in hand, it updates the next day "Package delivered." Yeah, that's reassuring.

I have has package lost by USPS on multiple occasions and their is no accountability. Do not even bother with their tracking service.
 
With the USPS they left a notice on Saturday because the buisness was closed. Then it is up to the buisness to come by and pick up the package. Ok so here is where it gets sticky, the post office will hold things for a week (or more) before sending them back unless of course they were actually refused. During that time the carrier would have left no less than 2 more notices to EVGA to come and get there packages. Each time that package is scanned with an update for the customer so they can see where there package is in the system.

Somebody was scanning it wrong, that is all that happened there. And EVGA was not going out of there way to go pick up your card either.

The issue with Saturday delivery for the post office is they typically have subs working the weekends. If the buisness has there mail held on weekends because they are not open and packages slip past then the sub feels the need to do something with that package. And they left a notice.

Speaking as a sub that is what I would assume happened to your card. This is why larger business's will strongly recommend you use ups/fedex for shipping your stuff back. I personally find that ups rates are not as good as they used to be and if I need to send anything of size and weight I personally use fedex ground as it is the most economical route. Small and light I still use the post office as it is the most efficient for that.

What you could have done was to call the USPS and put a trace on that package, they could have confirmed where it was within a day. The post office still has the best customer service of all the delivery options imo.
 
Just thought I'd post a follow-up to say that this saga is over. I received my replacement GTX 480 yesterday and am running SLI once again. I'm actually quite pleased with the replacement, as it runs a stupid 30c cooler than my previous card was.

Looking back, something was definitely wrong with the card that died. It would get as high as 90-100c in furmark under load even with water cooling at stock clocks, while the other one hanged at 55c (The cards are cooled in parallel) . I re-seated the GPU block countless times (sometimes looser, sometimes tighter, always replacing the TIM) and other troubleshooting &etc with little effect.

Installing the replacement card is its own story, though. Five of the screws were stripped as hell out of the box. I was able to get three of them out with brute force. The remaining two were so bad that I ended up drilling the screw heads off completely after trying everything else. Luckily I've had to deal with this before and the heatsink removal was still very clean and the card made it out without a scratch ... until, however, I realized the two little tabs on the bottom of the bracket were also bent and I couldn't even install it in my case without cutting them off! Also the fact that I was too lazy (And short on time) to remove my GPU block from my loop meant that I installed it upside down with limited visibility.

The result: Furmark will now only bring my cards to 60-65c, even with a hefty overclock and a hot room!

I guess I'm happy now!

woodscomp said:
With the USPS they left a notice on Saturday because the buisness was closed. Then it is up to the buisness to come by and pick up the package.
Click to expand...

I've received notices before that said I either had to pick it up or they'd redeliver in a week. However, every time it'd be redelivered the next day anyway. Even EVGA's FAQ states that you shouldn't have to do anything because it'll be redelivered the next business day http://www.evga.com/support/faq/afmviewfaq.aspx?topicid=5&faqid=59027
 
I doubt they refused it, if they refused it would have been immediately sent back to you. It doesn't sit at the USPS office, and they will not try to redeliver if it was refused. Thats my experience with refused packages through USPS.
 
In the USPS manual, they tell you not to put anything but the sender's address and return address on the label because it could confuse their OCR (remember that USPS, unlike fedex/ups, has to accept handwritten labels). One possibility is that the RMA number on the address label screwed up the OCR, it was sent to the wrong address, then sent back to the PO to be re-sorted.
 
thefreeaccount said:
In the USPS manual, they tell you not to put anything but the sender's address and return address on the label because it could confuse their OCR (remember that USPS, unlike fedex/ups, has to accept handwritten labels). One possibility is that the RMA number on the address label screwed up the OCR, it was sent to the wrong address, then sent back to the PO to be re-sorted.
Click to expand...

UPS definitely still accepts hand written labels, but this is still good advice. Be it a person or computer sorting your package through thier system, try to keep the labeling as simple and legible as possible.
 
Glad to hear this was cleared up. I am thiking of going back to EVGA for a GTX470.
 
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