PSA: Corsair.com's own web-store shipped "non-authorized HK" video cards to the US

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GSGL

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Long time [H]ard reader, first time poster. About a year ago I decided to purchase a Corsair Hydro GFX GTX 1080 Ti based on the HardOCP review and I believe this post is relevant because I suspect other readers may have done the same.

I recommend that anyone who has a Corsair 1080 Ti contact MSI with their serial number to verify the card is a US model and has a warranty. Below is the reason why.

As stated above, about a year ago I read the Hard article on the video card, and at the height of the Bitcoin boom Corsair.com was selling the Hydro 1080 Ti at MSRP. I decided to jump on offer and placed an order and was happy to receive a great product as the review indicated. However, after about a year the card stared to have issues and I contacted Corsair support. Corsair support told me that they don't provide the warranty for video cards anymore however MSI is contractually bound to honor the warranty in their place. This was not a problem, MSI confirmed that they will honor the 3-year warranty and after diagnosing the card with the phone tech, the remedy was to send the card in for repair and the tech directed me to a website to submit information including the serial number.

However, upon entering the serial number the website would not accept it and claims it was invalid. I called MSI back and they looked up the card, and asked me where I purchased the card. I explained to them I purchased it from the Corsair.com US web-store to which they replied, it was impossible to purchase in the US and the card is "counterfeit" because it is only intended for the Hong Kong market. MSI has said they will not honor the warranty and it is a Corsair issue. I do believe MSI when they state the card is a Hong Kong SKU and not intended for the US market.

I purchase a lot of Corsair products and have always found their support to be helpful. However, on this issue, to my surprise they are not. I understand that this is such a peculiar situation that the staff was probably not trained for the scenario but they are stonewalling and refusing to escalate this matter to a supervisor. The only response I get from them is to contact MSI.

I am still trying to get though to a person at Corsair who can sort this mess out, however if you have a Corsair card I still recommend you check your serial number so you can ensure Corsair and MSI will honor your warranty if a problem occurs. If people are interested I will post back if a resolution is found.
 
Wow, this is a crazy situation that I never would have thought of. So the card is not an actual counterfeit...but they claim it is only because it was supposed to be sold in a different region? What makes it "counterfeit"?? A card is a card....right? It came out of the same factory as all others. This is just wacky....looks like we have another story for Kyle to investigate and post to Forbes lol
 
Sprayingmango said:
Wow, this is a crazy situation that I never would have thought of. So the card is not an actual counterfeit...but they claim it is only because it was supposed to be sold in a different region? What makes it "counterfeit"?? A card is a card....right? It came out of the same factory as all others. This is just wacky....looks like we have another story for Kyle to investigate and post to Forbes lol
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Yeah, its an interesting concept. But I think they are treating it like the companies that import text books from outside the US because the same exact book is sold cheaper in different regions. I am getting very concerned at this point, mainly because the phone and email support from Corsair don't understand the issue.
 
Its sounds like Corsair built the machines in China and didn't think about if the NA regions would care if they got HK cards. MSI is right though its not their problem its Corsair's. When you buy a prebuilt system usually the builder is responsible for the warranty of the parts.
 
pooloffire said:
Its sounds like Corsair built the machines in China and didn't think about if the NA regions would care if they got HK cards. MSI is right though its not their problem its Corsair's. When you buy a prebuilt system usually the builder is responsible for the warranty of the parts.
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This wasn't a pre-built system unless I missed something. It's a graphics card with a waterblock or aio attached.
 
Corsair for a while actually sold a retail boxed video card. I really enjoyed it and it worked great, my understanding is Corsair provided the AIO closed-loop-cooler and MSI provided the video card. I am not sure if I am being punished for going after that sweet sweet MSRP price during the bitcoine craze :(
 
GSGL said:
Corsair for a while actually sold a retail boxed video card. I really enjoyed it and it worked great, my understanding is Corsair provided the AIO closed-loop-cooler and MSI provided the video card. I am not sure if I am being punished for going after that sweet sweet MSRP price during the bitcoine craze :(
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Isn't there a corsair rep on here? I would also try posting on corsair and msi forums.
 
I would assume there is a warranty on HK products as well. Might play around with an msi rep and say you got one there when visiting or something and now need to figure out who covers it? Idk.

I’ve had good luck with msi rma’s in the past, if it were me, I’d focus my efforts there. They made the actual card. They’re the ones who took responsibility for it per corsair. You have a valid recipt. The serial numbers are usually tracked and might be available on your shipping info. If it’s a clerical error, you’ll need to do a little leg work to track it.
Did you register it? That will help. Get all the paperwork together you can.
 
Check with your credit card - often times they will step in. That's a valid "threat" to Corsair if you're not getting the results that you want, too. As long as you've warned them and they have indicated they will not help, your card will step in and review and 99% of the time move in your favor.

As for the previous "pre-built" claims - doesn't it also apply here? It's a MSI card that Corsair slaps their crap on - essentially the GPU equivalent of a pre-built PC?
 
sk3tch said:
Check with your credit card - often times they will step in. That's a valid "threat" to Corsair if you're not getting the results that you want, too. As long as you've warned them and they have indicated they will not help, your card will step in and review and 99% of the time move in your favor.

As for the previous "pre-built" claims - doesn't it also apply here? It's a MSI card that Corsair slaps their crap on - essentially the GPU equivalent of a pre-built PC?
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That is a good idea, I think I will contact my credit card company in the event Corsair keeps blowing my emails off. I hope they can cover something that I purchased about a year ago.
 
GSGL said:
That is a good idea, I think I will contact my credit card company in the event Corsair keeps blowing my emails off. I hope they can cover something that I purchased about a year ago.
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A few steps to take:
1. Collect every receipt.
2. Collate every email exchange. (Try to do screen grabs of texts.)
3. Take photos of the card. Imagine a shady company trying to deny that it is really the card you say it is.
4. Take notes on all phone calls. Time/date them and initial them as they occur. For ones in the past, summarize your recollection of them, sign and current date, annotating the different dates and why.
5. Collect any scraps you wrote on during calls.

Okay, you've now girded your loins.

Call Corsair. (I like their products and have a bunch of them.) Immediately escalate to a supervisor. Tell THAT person you need their boss. During the phone call, jot down notes. (See 4.) At the end of it, ask for his business email and direct phone line. Summarize the phone conversation in an email and send it to him.

Give them a chance to do the right thing. First, the right person has to get involved.

If that doesn't work, then take a more legal stance. You have rights. Pursue them.

(FWIW, I had an issue with a company. Thanks to pictures and getting the right person, I was recompensed. Not fully, but more than I'd expected. The company did the right thing.)
 
^ What he said, and if your CC company doesn't want to play ball (it has been awhile), there's always small claims and the docs you've made will come in handy.
 
Also post to Twitter and Facebook, visibility will frequently get responses.
 
Hm small update.
Every rep I talk to keep claiming they are 'escalating' the issue however no one ever contacts me.
I started to make notes with names, dates, and times, and called in once again. While the phone rep tried to give me the run around and kept trying to say maybe MSI support can fix the problem, I suggested we 3-way call them to get their opinion. The phone rep then admitted they will just say the card is broken and offered me a refund.
However, he then said he has to get approval for a refund and I am in a holding pattern for that for 2 days now. He has to 'escalate' the issue.
I never really used Twitter so I am not sure what to do but I think it could be a good idea.
 
Just go to https://twitter.com/ join and start tweeting. There's a 280 character limit per tweet (used to be 140) so be succinct or use multiple tweets to get your point across.
 
Hope it works out for you. It looks like you'll at least get a refund.

I know it's MSI you're dealing with now, but I wouldn't wish Corsair "support" on anyone. They screwed me real good once which soured me on the brand forever.
 
-=UPDATE=-

After numerous back and forth communication with Corsair, they finally agreed to issue a refund. However, it took them 2 weeks to 'approve it.' I was very nice the whole time, however I had to get quite rude to them on the phone and then they said oh we will call the person in charge. They do that and claim they will issue the refund asap and give email instructions of how to do it by the end of the day. Two days later the email finally arrives.

I really am soured with the Corsair brand, and I am absoutly not going to buy any case, cooler, and psu from them, however I may still buy their ram. I will have to do some research to see what other brands are good right now.
 
I love Corsair cases,power supplies, coolers & headphones but wouldn't buy their memory ever again.
I have literally had to RMA over 10 sets of Corsair memory between 2011 and 2016. Have bought nothing but G.Skill for non-ECC or Kingston for ECC since, with not a single failure out of 25 plus sets (32GB, 64GB, 128GB & 256GB sets)
 
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jrweis said:
I love Corsair cases,power supplies, coolers & headphones but wouldn't buy their memory ever again.
I have literally had to RMA over 10 sets of Corsair memory between 2011 and 2016. Have bought nothing but G.Skill for non-ECC or Kingston for ECC since, with not a single failure out of 25 plus sets (32GB, 64GB, 128GB & 256GB sets)
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Interesting, well I might as well look into other ram providers now. I have heard good things about G.Skill I will check out some reviews and look at their warranty reviews also.
Update on my video card, I purchased a replacement evga 2070, its ok but I feel the performance loss. I wish the 1080ti was still available at its msrp. I may just use this card until I build a new system, X99 is getting old!
 
jrweis said:
I love Corsair cases,power supplies, coolers & headphones but wouldn't buy their memory ever again.
I have literally had to RMA over 10 sets of Corsair memory between 2011 and 2016. Have bought nothing but G.Skill for non-ECC or Kingston for ECC since, with not a single failure out of 25 plus sets (32GB, 64GB, 128GB & 256GB sets)
Click to expand...

GSGL said:
Interesting, well I might as well look into other ram providers now. I have heard good things about G.Skill I will check out some reviews and look at their warranty reviews also.
Update on my video card, I purchased a replacement evga 2070, its ok but I feel the performance loss. I wish the 1080ti was still available at its msrp. I may just use this card until I build a new system, X99 is getting old!
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I have used G.Skill and Corsair memory as well as many others. I haven't really had any issues with either G.Skill or Corsair RAM though. But Corsair RAM is widely regarding as the top of the market, albeit sometimes more expensive. And their customer service is still regarding as some of the best CS in the industry as well (your particular case notwithstanding).
 
Sprayingmango said:
Wow, this is a crazy situation that I never would have thought of. So the card is not an actual counterfeit...but they claim it is only because it was supposed to be sold in a different region? What makes it "counterfeit"?? A card is a card....right? It came out of the same factory as all others. This is just wacky....looks like we have another story for Kyle to investigate and post to Forbes lol
Click to expand...

It is deemed counterfeit because it is a product designated for a different market. It may have different rules applied to how it is produced/packaged/advertised/sold etc. There are also many laws that affect what kinds of products may be used in certain systems in certain situations. Sourcing that product incorrectly from a different market would violate those rules and those products are considered counterfeit (IE sold as if they were sourced in the US/Ally when they were sourced elsewhere)
 
I've generally had good experiences with Corsair, but the only support issues I have had were case and cooling related. I wouldn't be surprised if they have different divisions with different support policies.
 
Both times i had to contact Corsair, the RMA worked well, shipping toward my country without an issue. A company can lose a sale, not a brand.
 
Corsair swapped a K70 for a K70v2. Bad lights under warranty. My one gripe was they made me pay to ship the bad one back.
 
Did Corsair ever properly acknowledge what was going on with these cards? Has anyone else been affected?

Seems like a major oversight on their part.
 
c3k said:
Corsair swapped a K70 for a K70v2. Bad lights under warranty. My one gripe was they made me pay to ship the bad one back.
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Having to pay your own shipping for RMA is pretty much the norm with RMAs with most companies.

AsRock
ASUS
Crucial
EVGA
Gigabyte
G. Skill
MSI
Patriot
Samsung
Sapphire
Seagate
Team Group
Western Digital
XFX

etc etc

The only exception I seen so far is if someone on their end made a huge blunder or a 2nd RMA case for a DOA on the replacement product.
 
Hey, I want to give an update. This took forever to get resolved, I ended up having to contact their General Counsel and then things suddenly happened. I just cant buy another corsair product again, even though some look really tempting!
 
pendragon1 said:
whys that? glad you finally got it sorted.
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Maybe in time the wound will heal. But I can't believe how they handled the case. I understand that they made a very unusual mistake, but it was their mistake. Basically there is no way for a consumer to communicate with anyone at Corsair if there is a problem other than legal action. The outsourced off-shore call center admitted they have never seen this, and they have no way of telling the company of the problem. I like companies that do not hide behind off-shore call centers.
 
pendragon1 said:
whys that? glad you finally got it sorted.
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Because they apparently made him spend a year and a half trying to get his graphics card fixed under warranty?

I'm somewhat less than impressed with Corsair's customer service myself of late, too. I have many of their products, which I generally think are good, but God help you if one of them breaks.
 
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