Is OCZ RMA wrong or am I?

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ssnyder28

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May 9, 2012
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Hi Everyone!

Just wanted to get everyones opinion here. I bought a petrol 64gb SSD off another user second hand brand new sealed in the retail packaging. Unfortunately, the item was DOA and I tried going through OCZ RMA for a solution. Here is the response I received:

"Unfortunately, you wouldn't be able to apply for the RMA for the replacement unit. It would need to come from the original purchaser who received the unit as a free gift from his purchase. The name on the invoice must match the person who creates the Trouble Ticket for the RMA request. The warranty is non transferable."

So basically anyone that buys one of these drives from anyone other than a newegg, tiger direct, etc. is screwed if it comes DOA? Am I wrong in thinking this is ridiculous? Even if the user I bought this off of will do the RMA for me its going to cost me a bunch in shipping back and forth (I think OCZ only covers half the cost of the return shipping plus I would have to cover all the other shipping charges.) The biggest problem I have is that the SSD didn't come in non anti-static packaging which is probably the reason it is dead in the first place. So to me its like their own neglegence caused this issue and they won't fix it? Granted its a cheap drive and didn't cost that much money, but this has me so mad I want to do everything in my power to convince others not to buy their garbage products. Is this worth my frustration over $50?
 
ssnyder28 said:
Hi Everyone!

Just wanted to get everyones opinion here. I bought a petrol 64gb SSD off another user second hand brand new sealed in the retail packaging. Unfortunately, the item was DOA and I tried going through OCZ RMA for a solution. Here is the response I received:

"Unfortunately, you wouldn't be able to apply for the RMA for the replacement unit. It would need to come from the original purchaser who received the unit as a free gift from his purchase. The name on the invoice must match the person who creates the Trouble Ticket for the RMA request. The warranty is non transferable."

So basically anyone that buys one of these drives from anyone other than a newegg, tiger direct, etc. is screwed if it comes DOA? Am I wrong in thinking this is ridiculous? Even if the user I bought this off of will do the RMA for me its going to cost me a bunch in shipping back and forth (I think OCZ only covers half the cost of the return shipping plus I would have to cover all the other shipping charges.) The biggest problem I have is that the SSD didn't come in non anti-static packaging which is probably the reason it is dead in the first place. So to me its like their own neglegence caused this issue and they won't fix it? Granted its a cheap drive and didn't cost that much money, but this has me so mad I want to do everything in my power to convince others not to buy their garbage products. Is this worth my frustration over $50?
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Many warranties are valid only for the original purchaser and are not transferrable. Most cases this is irrelevant because the company can not track who the original purchaser was. In this case where it was a free part that came from them directly as part of a sales promotion and they can track it to the original purchaser, you lose. In any case, your choices are either return it to who you purchased it from, ask him to rma it or put his name and your address on a copy of the invoice.
 
mwroobel said:
Many warranties are valid only for the original purchaser and are not transferrable. Most cases this is irrelevant because the company can not track who the original purchaser was. In this case where it was a free part that came from them directly as part of a sales promotion and they can track it to the original purchaser, you lose. In any case, your choices are either return it to who you purchased it from, ask him to rma it or put his name and your address on a copy of the invoice.
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I think changing the address would be the best possible option for me to save $, would anyone know if OCZ would go to newegg for example and check with them on the invoice to verify it? I know it sounds crazy but if they are being this stingy here than I wouldn't be surprised to see the lengths they go to reject an RMA.
 
I would insist the seller take it back for a full refund. It's not his fault it is DOA, but it certainly isn't yours either! If he was using it, he'd have to go thru RMA hell with OCZ, let him do it for the unit he re-sold.
 
and OCZ does have CS / Support folks who read forums like [H] so you could very well of already flagged them to look out for this.
 
danswartz said:
I would insist the seller take it back for a full refund. It's not his fault it is DOA, but it certainly isn't yours either! If he was using it, he'd have to go thru RMA hell with OCZ, let him do it for the unit he re-sold.
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And the next thread will be.....

Hey Guys! I just sold a guy on this forum a working SSD ...............and now he wants to return it.
Click to expand...

LOL!
 
LordCalin said:
and OCZ does have CS / Support folks who read forums like [H] so you could very well of already flagged them to look out for this.
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Good, maybe they'll see all the bad press they are getting here and test their products before shipping. Or find a better way to ship their items so the end user has no issues. They should Fix their QA department before worrying about that crap. Brand new items shouldn't be DOA, and in the few times that it can happen it should be no issue to receive a comparable item or the company should at least attempt to fix it. I never had a problem with OCZ before this but it seems they are going on the cheap to help their margins. Anything to get more on that ol' bottom line.
 
Not unless you can prove they knowingly did so. 99% of the time, it's sloppiness or an honest mistake. What you're proposing is not. Is it really that hard to understand?
 
i never like OCZ warranty policy that based on original purchaser; i tend only buy stuff from manufactures that warranty based on s/n instead
 
danswartz said:
Not unless you can prove they knowingly did so. 99% of the time, it's sloppiness or an honest mistake. What you're proposing is not. Is it really that hard to understand?
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I didn't propose it or say I was even going to do it... Wouldn't you be pissed too?

Seems like OCZ makes many honest mistakes these days, too bad for their customers I guess. Won't make that mistake again.
 
dutnguye said:
i never like OCZ warranty policy that based on original purchaser; i tend only buy stuff from manufactures that warranty based on s/n instead
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This isn't a normal issue. This was for a free drive that was given as a special/rebate for a separate purchase. I have returned drives personally to OCZ that were purchased via a company with different name/address and had no issue.
 
mwroobel said:
This isn't a normal issue. This was for a free drive that was given as a special/rebate for a separate purchase. I have returned drives personally to OCZ that were purchased via a company with different name/address and had no issue.
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Did you do this recently? I read prior to buying the drive that they did it based on S/N so I didn;t think I'd have any problem with the RMA. Shame on me though because I didn't read it from OCZ's website.
 
OCZ warranty has work flawlessly for my case.. had much worse experience with Crucial SSD. you may want to contact one more time with different person
 
ssnyder28 said:
Did you do this recently? I read prior to buying the drive that they did it based on S/N so I didn;t think I'd have any problem with the RMA. Shame on me though because I didn't read it from OCZ's website.
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Initiated the RMA 5.8, shipped the drive UPS ground in on 5.11 from NY and received a replacement Vertex 3 on 5.22. No muss no fuss.
 
A new sealed unopen drive they need to do the right thing and let him RMA it. There are always exceptions to the rules, that is what a supervisor is for to talk too.
 
It would be nice (and good customer relations) for a CSR to allow that, agreed. That has nothing to do with shipping back from a bogus address. Again, if someone is going to sell you something they bought, IMO, it is their responsibility to make it right (unless it was sold "as is").
 
I'm not sure where the issue is

Any company can have a product go bad it was just luck of the draw yours ended up being one of those. If you had bought the product from an official OCZ retailer they would deal with you and replace it without question.

You purchased it second hand, it does not matter if it was a sealed box or not, how can they know the person who sold it to you didn't kick the package around the room for 15 minutes before boxing it up and selling it to you and your expecting them to replace it sight unseen and with no knowledge of what or where the drive has been.

The person who sold you the drive is responsible for the warranty of it, and OCZ is not the only company who does this, hell ASRock who many [H]'s use for motherboards, says directly on there webpage for all warranty issue's go back to who you bought it from.

The only fraud here, is trying to avoid doing things the proper way.

On the other hand, OCZ has always been overly exceptional to me when dealing with RMA's sending brand new still wrapped products in exchange, sometimes better then what was returned if they had low/no stock in the warehouse. They also allow customers to drive to the warehouse and do the RMA directly in some cases instead of waiting weeks for the mail.
 
OCZ should be good at RMA's...from looking at Newegg and forums about OCZ SSD's they need to be experts at it!
 
I'm going to to sit back and see what happens, I did e-mail back OCZ on my ticket and no I'm not going to do the send the fake address thing. I'll update the status if anyone is interested in what ends up happening.
 
It was probably killed during shipment.

Can you make a claim with the shipping company, or does that require visual damage or refusal upon delivery?
 
LordCalin said:
The person who sold you the drive is responsible for the warranty of it, and OCZ is not the only company who does this, hell ASRock who many [H]'s use for motherboards, says directly on there webpage for all warranty issue's go back to who you bought it from.
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In a legal sense, in a primary or even secondary sale, unless the seller expresses or implies a warranty there is none. In this case, the OP purchased an particular item not offered for retail sale (even if other, identical items are) from the seller (not OCZ). Anytime you buy something second hand, sealed or not, you take a crapshoot legally.
 
jwcalla said:
It was probably killed during shipment.

Can you make a claim with the shipping company, or does that require visual damage or refusal upon delivery?
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Often it does. But in any case, where there is no showing of significant damage not expected to be incurred in the normal shipping process, and no damage to the external of the packed device(s), you chances of prevailing in a suit of shipping damage are slim.
 
jwcalla said:
It was probably killed during shipment.

Can you make a claim with the shipping company, or does that require visual damage or refusal upon delivery?
Click to expand...

I don't think so since its basically been shipped at least 3 times OCZ -> Newegg -> First Buyer -> Me. It would be impossible to prove when the damage occured, if any. I really think they do a poor job with their packaging no anti-static protection, etc.
 
LordCalin said:
I'm not sure where the issue is

Any company can have a product go bad it was just luck of the draw yours ended up being one of those. If you had bought the product from an official OCZ retailer they would deal with you and replace it without question.

You purchased it second hand, it does not matter if it was a sealed box or not, how can they know the person who sold it to you didn't kick the package around the room for 15 minutes before boxing it up and selling it to you and your expecting them to replace it sight unseen and with no knowledge of what or where the drive has been.

The person who sold you the drive is responsible for the warranty of it, and OCZ is not the only company who does this, hell ASRock who many [H]'s use for motherboards, says directly on there webpage for all warranty issue's go back to who you bought it from.

The only fraud here, is trying to avoid doing things the proper way.

On the other hand, OCZ has always been overly exceptional to me when dealing with RMA's sending brand new still wrapped products in exchange, sometimes better then what was returned if they had low/no stock in the warehouse. They also allow customers to drive to the warehouse and do the RMA directly in some cases instead of waiting weeks for the mail.
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I find this pretty funny... if he was kicking around the package for 15 minutes I would be able to see damage on it wouldn't I? If anything it was most likely damaged during shipping if it wasn't already DOA before they even shipped it. The issue is that OCZ is sending out DOA items or they are becoming damaged during shipping because they aren't packaged properly. I doubt it was damaged in between my transaction with the guy I bought it from, he packaged it very well.

The proper way, ship to original buyer $5, buyer ships to ocz $5, OCZ ships back to buyer $2.50 (ocz splits I think) buyer ships back to me $5. So $17.50 and have to ship back to buyer if there is another problem... sounds like good business to me.

Found this little gem on OCZ's website:

Additionally, OCZ SSDs have no moving parts like mechanical hard drives, making them more durable, more energy-efficient, and virtually silent.

apparently not durable enough...
 
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ssnyder28 said:
Found this little gem on OCZ's website:

Additionally, OCZ SSDs have no moving parts like mechanical hard drives, making them more durable, more energy-efficient, and virtually silent.

apparently not durable enough...
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Regardless of your current problems, these statements about SSDs are completely true. In any case, your only option at this point it to fight it out with whoever you purchased this from.
 
Does anyone think its possible that the original buyer can open RMA ticket, and have me ship to OCZ from my house? Is there any reason they wouldn't accept that?
 
No reason at all you can't ship it if they open the ticket.. just the same as no reason he can't put your address down as his own when filling out the paper work

In the hundreds of RMA's I do to various companies quite often I"m doing it on behalf of someone else and give our stores address to them instead of the persons real address... all that matters to them is that the original purchaser is filing the RMA / has the original bill of receipt from an authorized company.
 
I will never buy another OCZ drive. Their warranty system sucks. You have to buy it from an authorized retailer (which they do not make a list available). I remember I bought SSD's that were $500 a piece and less than a year later two died and it took months of bitching @ OCZ to finally get them to replace.

They gave me shit cause I bought it off ebay even though it was a reputable reseller and they were NIB.
 
houkouonchi said:
I will never buy another OCZ drive. Their warranty system sucks. You have to buy it from an authorized retailer (which they do not make a list available). I remember I bought SSD's that were $500 a piece and less than a year later two died and it took months of bitching @ OCZ to finally get them to replace.

They gave me shit cause I bought it off ebay even though it was a reputable reseller and they were NIB.
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Houk-
There are a lot of manufacturers who force you to purchase from an authorized dealer (or even just a US authorized dealer) or you lose the warranty entirely. You will see it more in high-end audio equipment than computer equipment. Denon is a good example, but at least they give you a list of who NOT to buy from. Some of the Sony ES equipment is the same.
-Mike
 
mwroobel said:
Houk-
There are a lot of manufacturers who force you to purchase from an authorized dealer (or even just a US authorized dealer) or you lose the warranty entirely. You will see it more in high-end audio equipment than computer equipment. Denon is a good example, but at least they give you a list of who NOT to buy from. Some of the Sony ES equipment is the same.
-Mike
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The US is crazy. We have so much more rights here in regards to internet purchases and warranties.
 
I think OP found out why I stopped considering FS/FT:

* Many prices as high or higher than microcenter/newegg/amazon & no warranty.

IMHO: it should be like a car & go by model year or manufacturer date, but I've heard of this happening with other people who buy OCZ SSD's used.
 
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