Sapphire RMA - Thanks for Nothing

[kirbyrj]

Summary: Sent a good card out for RMA due to bad fan, received a different card back which is defective, displays artifacts on a cold boot, and won't even boot into Windows when warmed up.

Just a heads up in case any of you are submitting RMA's to Sapphire. I recently had an experience where my 7950 Dual-X had a bad fan bearing in one of the fans. I could very easily have ordered a replacement fan off of eBay for $10 or so and fixed it myself, however, I decided that I would ship it out for RMA so as to not void the rest of my warranty on the product.

First, Sapphire responded fairly quickly and required me to submit several forms of documentation to show that I did, in fact, purchase the item. Ok...no problem. I was directed to direct correspondence to Athlon Micro Inc. in Walnut, CA. I was given an Athlon Micro RMA number and I was asked to submit all of the same documentation as I already had submitted to Sapphire. This process takes a few days as I had to wait for acknowledgement of the documentation and directions to send the card. Finally, I was directed to send my card in for RMA repair.

My card arrived at Athlon Micro on 03/28/14 and I received it back today (04/11/14)...2 weeks or so, not great, but not terrible either I suppose. I examine the card. I received the same model, however, I received a different card back. The new card had significant scratching on the fan housing that was not present on the card I sent out. The card also displayed some discoloration on the back of the card on several components. This was also not present on the card I sent out.

I install the card and immediately am greeted with artifacts in 2D mode. I attempted to run a 3D application (Valley benchmark) and the screen went a solid blueish-green color and required a reset. After that, I was unable to boot into Windows without seeing the same blueish-green color screen.

I resubmitted an RMA request and am waiting to hear back. But so far, Sapphire RMA service has been nothing but a waste of my time.

EDIT #1 First interaction with the 2nd RMA attempt. They are trying to pawn me off to "tech support" and told me that tech support would contact me within 24 hours. 24 hours later...nothing from Tech Support. I e-mailed the RMA department back and respectfully requested that I forgo tech support and just give me a new card as I've tested it in several computers and the card exhibits the same signs at 55-60C in every computer. Also, other cards do not have these symptoms...hence, I have a bad card.

EDIT #2 Second interaction with RMA department. They related that they were going to issue me a new RMA number "today." They didn't get back to me, so the next day, I sent them a second e-mail relating that they told me they were going to contact me with a new RMA number and didn't. I also related that I was requesting a pre-paid shipping label since they sent me a defective card. The next day, I had a new RMA number and a pre-paid label. I'm sending it out today.

EDIT #3 Got my card back today...another 2 weeks, but it seems to work. All in all about 5 weeks of downtime.

EDIT #4 2nd RMA card artifacting again in bios won't boot into Windows . Not sure if its worth the hassle at this point. RMA process really a joke with Sapphire.

EDIT#5 3 years later, I took apart the card, noticed that the screws had been removed before, and found the about 3 times too much TIM was applied and TIM was caked in the socket. Cleaned it up, reapplied TIM and fixed my own damn card. Fuck you Sapphire sending me some old mining clown's card that he tried to fix up himself.

 

[primetime]

you could have fixed it yourself for 10 bucks....i guess next time you will..right?

 

[noobferguson]

Gathering from everything I read on this forum...

ASUS cards catch fire and support blames you, Sapphire and HIS outsource their warranty service giving you shit in return, XFX is slow and sometimes non-responsive, MSI will buy you off but at a discount of what your cards are worth...

Is there no company worth dealing with??

 

[Knil]

Gathering from everything I read on this forum...

ASUS cards catch fire and support blames you, Sapphire and HIS outsource their warranty service giving you shit in return, XFX is slow and sometimes non-responsive, MSI will buy you off but at a discount of what your cards are worth...

Is there no company worth dealing with??

EVGA #1

 

[Silverking]

Oh man that sucks. I have a 290x from them and I hope I don't have to return it for any reason. Hopefully it all works out for you in the end. I guess a lesson learned would be to take pictures and write down serial numbers so you can check them to ensure you get back the card you sent.

 

[primetime]

If I had a perfectly running card...i wouldn't waste 10 dollars sending it in...just as well spend the money for a replacement fan...it would cost the same and you wouldn't be stuck with a bad card in the end...lol they not going to send back the same card.....silly

I wouldn't even do this with evga....why be without a working card so long...not to mention it saves no money...even with evga you can expect to be without a card for 5 weeks min....over what a 10 dollar item? not me

 

[TaintedSquirrel]

Gathering from everything I read on this forum...

ASUS cards catch fire and support blames you, Sapphire and HIS outsource their warranty service giving you shit in return, XFX is slow and sometimes non-responsive, MSI will buy you off but at a discount of what your cards are worth...

Is there no company worth dealing with??

After this thread:
http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1813652

I think I'll go with XFX and EVGA for the rest of my cards.
I've heard good things about Sapphire's support in the past, they re-invented themselves a few years ago after a bunch of horror stories popped up. Maybe around 2010 or so, anybody remember that? I think the safest bet is to just buy from American-based companies since they all have better reputations.

XFX: Ontario, California, USA

Corsair: Fremont, California, U.S.

EVGA: Brea, California, U.S.A.

Starting to see trends here...

 

[kirbyrj]

Oh man that sucks. I have a 290x from them and I hope I don't have to return it for any reason. Hopefully it all works out for you in the end. I guess a lesson learned would be to take pictures and write down serial numbers so you can check them to ensure you get back the card you sent.

It was documented which serial number I sent in and which one I received back. They very intentionally sent me back a different card. I'm just pissed because the card I sent in was working (just a bad fan bearing) and the one they sent back isn't.

 

[kirbyrj]

you could have fixed it yourself for 10 bucks....i guess next time you will..right?

If I had a perfectly running card...i wouldn't waste 10 dollars sending it in...just as well spend the money for a replacement fan...it would cost the same and you wouldn't be stuck with a bad card in the end...lol they not going to send back the same card.....silly

I wouldn't even do this with evga....why be without a working card so long...not to mention it saves no money...even with evga you can expect to be without a card for 5 weeks min....over what a 10 dollar item? not me

I thought about that, however, I figured that if I had them replace the fan under warranty, I wouldn't lose the remainder of the warranty in case something else broke on it. I still have 13 months left of warranty on the card, which I might need.

 

[TaintedSquirrel]

I wouldn't lose the remainder of the warranty

There's not a single GPU manufacturer that cares enough to check if you removed the heatsink, in most cases it would be impossible for them to tell anyway without using stickers on the screws (Sapphire doesn't).
If you contact Sapphire they will say the card needs to be returned in original condition with no physical damage, that includes removing the heatsink.

 

[kirbyrj]

There's not a single GPU manufacturer that cares enough to check if you removed the heatsink, in most cases it would be impossible for them to tell anyway without using stickers on the screws (Sapphire doesn't).
If you contact Sapphire they will say the card needs to be returned in original condition with no physical damage, that includes removing the heatsink.

Like I said. I thought about that. It's not like I've never taken a HSF off of a GPU, but I just decided to go the "safe" route because I didn't need the card right away. I've been burned by Sapphire in the past on "physically damaged" cards I've sold in FS/FT that are sent out without damage and returned with damage by the buyer (but that's a different story).

 

[xoleras]

Yeah, I don't think I've ever heard of a good thing about Sapphire in terms of RMA. The problem is that they deal with contractors in the states since they're most a CDN based company (if i'm not mistaken) and those contractors cut corners, generally speaking. They can and will fuck you.

It does seem that EVGA is the gold standard, and while XFX has (and apparently still does) have significant issues with design (especially the 79xx DD coolers which were awful) - their CS seems to take care of their customers. Which is a great thing, I haven't seen any stories with XFX users getting fucked on RMA's. Regardless of any product woes (i'm not even sure if they're fixed or not) at least they will stand behind the product and take care of it. Whereas with some other companies you really never know.

 

[Enilder]

EVGA #1

AKA, don't use AMD cards.

Damn...I just bought Tri-X...I hope I don't have to go through the RMA process.

 

[TaintedSquirrel]

EVGA almost always commands a price premium, $30 at minimum usually. On top of that the ACX cooler is garbage.
Their 770 is like $370 right now. wat.

If we could sell the DCII or Tri-X designs to EVGA, that would be great.
Maybe some people can tolerate slightly louder/hotter cards for peace of mind with a good warranty.

Considering I have 8 functioning AMD cards right now stretching back to 2007, I don't have any reason to concern myself with warranties.

 

[xoleras]

That's quite the hyperbole there. ACX cooler is not garbage, and I've seen various EVGA GTX 780s on sale at techbargain for the 460-480$ range. Do note that i'm not here to debate the ACX cooler. You can hate it, others like it, but that isn't the point of this thread. No interest in debating the ACX cooler, but I do find the term "garbage" to be quite excessive. Anyway, you can always find deals if you look. If you want to argue pricing, I haven't seen good pricing on the Tri-X in a long while. But i'm sure you find deals if you look.

It's all part of being a smart shopper. If you want a deal, you wait. Keep an eye on slickdeals and techbargains. When you see the card YOU WANT on sale, go buy it. Without exception if you buy at normal pricing, you will pay a bit more. Sometimes, I go that route because I don't care. But if you want to be a smart shopper, the deals are out there for both EVGA and Sapphire cards.

However, the point of this thread is sapphire RMA. It seems that sapphire just may not be worth it if RMA and CS matters to you. XFX is better as you mentioned, despite their design issues.

 

[kirbyrj]

EVGA almost always commands a price premium, $30 at minimum usually. On top of that the ACX cooler is garbage.
Their 770 is like $370 right now. wat.

If we could sell the DCII or Tri-X designs to EVGA, that would be great.
Maybe some people can tolerate slightly louder/hotter cards for peace of mind with a good warranty.

Considering I have 8 functioning AMD cards right now stretching back to 2007, I don't have any reason to concern myself with warranties.

I didn't normally either. This is my first RMA on a video card.

 

[xoleras]

I didn't normally either. This is my first RMA on a video card.

Yeah, i'm in a similar boat. I haven't had RMA issues in quite a while. However, it definitely is something to consider with a purchase. I mean I love asus motherboards, but reading stories about their RMA issues definitely makes me do a double take.

If EVGA had asus engineering but maintained EVGA customer service. Now that would be pretty fucking awesome. I do feel that asus' engineering is absolutely top notch, especially with their motherboards. However I cannot ignore the stories I've read regarding RMA issues. I don't know if that will affect future purchases, but it's something to keep in mind.

 

[kirbyrj]

I actually didn't have that big of a problem with Asus RMA (motherboard) other than it took 6 weeks to get my board back.

 

[xoleras]

Yeah, i'm still in the process of thinking things over in terms of future Asus purchases. On one hand, I do strongly feel that their engineering is absolutely head and shoulders above everyone particularly with motherboards. On the other? I'm not sure if the RMA stories i've heard are complete outliers, or if those with good experiences are just remaining quiet on the manner. I'm actually glad you brought up the fact that your RMA was good, although that does seem like a long wait.

I guess I've just been rather fortunate that I haven't had much in the way of hardware problems in recent times. With sapphire, them not having much of a US presence is definitely a strike against them IMO. Their contractors are simply not shy about fucking users over, I've heard of more than one story in that respect. In any case let us know how sapphire handles this. I'm interested in seeing if they make things right or tell you to pay for shipping again. That of course would be bullshit.

I wish someone like EVGA US would merge with Asus and that way we could get asus engineering with EVGA CS. (wishful hypothetical thinking here) That would be pretty damn awesome as I mentioned earlier. But, alas, it's always pick and choose according to various strengths and weaknesses. EVGA has great hardware with GPUs, but their motherboards aren't quite on Asus' level IMO. Maybe that mirrors sapphire to an extent; it sounds like their engineering on the Tri-X cards is top notch. But ... it's a major question as to whether it is worth it when their RMA procedures are anti consumer in the US. Certainly sapphire isn't the ONLY AMD based AIB that produces excellent custom cards. There are alternatives for AMD cards (XFX, MSI, etc) if sapphire doesn't stand behind their RMAs properly. I've never heard anything bad about XFX' customer service. Even if their design has issues (thinking of the 79xx DD cards here) they will stand behind it and fix it. Which is important in a purchase consideration.

Just my .02.

 

[Ebernanut]

After this thread:
http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1813652

I think I'll go with XFX and EVGA for the rest of my cards.
I've heard good things about Sapphire's support in the past, they re-invented themselves a few years ago after a bunch of horror stories popped up. Maybe around 2010 or so, anybody remember that? I think the safest bet is to just buy from American-based companies since they all have better reputations.





Starting to see trends here...

I agree with your overall point for the most part but I thought I should point out that XFX is a Hong Kong based company.

I think that these companies are in a bit of a lose lose situation because consumers rightfully expect to have defective products replaced while unscrupulous consumers will abuse the product knowing that they can get a free replacement when they kill it and it's not always easy for the companies to determine whether something died due to abuse or not.

For a while many of the GPU manufacturers were in a competition to offer the best warranty terms but then BFG went under and many of them got scared and started to make their warranty terms worse. Now we're at a point where many legit claims are being denied and I think it's only going to get worse.

 

[kirbyrj]

I agree with your overall point for the most part but I thought I should point out that XFX is a Hong Kong based company.

I think that these companies are in a bit of a lose lose situation because consumers rightfully expect to have defective products replaced while unscrupulous consumers will abuse the product knowing that they can get a free replacement when they kill it and it's not always easy for the companies to determine whether something died due to abuse or not.

For a while many of the GPU manufacturers were in a competition to offer the best warranty terms but then BFG went under and many of them got scared and started to make their warranty terms worse. Now we're at a point where many legit claims are being denied and I think it's only going to get worse.

In my case, I'm not asking for the company to honor a lifetime warranty on a 5 year old card and complaining that I didn't receive a free "upgrade" to a newer card because the old one isn't stocked anymore. I'm only asking them to replace a fan on an otherwise perfectly good card that is only a few months old without them sending me a bad card.

I did some more testing with the card in my brother's computer. He has the same issues. Once the card hits 55C or so, it locks up.

 

[Ebernanut]

I hope you don't think that I was trying to imply you were being shady, it sounds like Saphire is in the wrong on this. I was just pointing out that it seems like GPU warranties have shifted from being consumer friendly to favoring the companies. When in doubt, deny and in cases like yours send out a defective replacement and hope the customer just gives up. I doubt they intentionally sent you a defective card but it's a common enough complaint that it's obvious these companies aren't doing enough to make sure the replacement cards they're sending out are even functional and they make the process difficult enough that many people won't even bother.

I hope that you keep on them until they make it right because the more they get away with this sort of thing the more they'll do it.

 

[xoleras]

With all due respect, I disagree with you. It's not like companies suddenly changed due to shady consumer practices; this has ALWAYS existed, it isn't a new thing. I worked at Best Buy as a teenager and I remember that fraudulent returns of PC parts was a regular occurrence. It really was unbelievable - we'd have guys change serial numbers out, or even try to return stuff with something completely different in the box. Returning a 9700 pro All in Wonder box with something completely different inside. Hoping we wouldn't notice .Yeah that happened. Like I said...it's nothing new. Now it's still a scummy thing for anyone to do, but it still happens now like it did in the old days.

I'd say the more likely story is that companies are buckling up and tightening their funds due to the slow contraction of PC sales and PC dGPU sales, The market isn't what it used to be 10 or 15 years ago. Things have slowed down. Therefore these companies are more frugal than they have been in years past. This is my theory anyway, mainly because underhanded practices by unscrupulous customers isn't new. I could be wrong. Perhaps it's a combination of these factors and more. I don't know.

That doesn't mean all companies are like this, of course, there are exceptions. And there is still consumer choice. If you don't like the RMA practices of one vendor, purchase accordingly. And yes. Sapphire is clearly in the wrong here IMO. Hopefully OP can get this worked out without having to pay for shipping yet again.

 

[iRevert]

Summary: Sent a good card out for RMA due to bad fan, received a different card back which is defective, displays artifacts on a cold boot, and won't even boot into Windows when warmed up.

Just a heads up in case any of you are submitting RMA's to Sapphire. I recently had an experience where my 7950 Dual-X had a bad fan bearing in one of the fans. I could very easily have ordered a replacement fan off of eBay for $10 or so and fixed it myself, however, I decided that I would ship it out for RMA so as to not void the rest of my warranty on the product.

First, Sapphire responded fairly quickly and required me to submit several forms of documentation to show that I did, in fact, purchase the item. Ok...no problem. I was directed to direct correspondence to Athlon Micro Inc. in Walnut, CA. I was given an Athlon Micro RMA number and I was asked to submit all of the same documentation as I already had submitted to Sapphire. This process takes a few days as I had to wait for acknowledgement of the documentation and directions to send the card. Finally, I was directed to send my card in for RMA repair.

My card arrived at Athlon Micro on 03/28/14 and I received it back today (04/11/14)...2 weeks or so, not great, but not terrible either I suppose. I examine the card. I received the same model, however, I received a different card back. The new card had significant scratching on the fan housing that was not present on the card I sent out. The card also displayed some discoloration on the back of the card on several components. This was also not present on the card I sent out.

I install the card and immediately am greeted with artifacts in 2D mode. I attempted to run a 3D application (Valley benchmark) and the screen went a solid blueish-green color and required a reset. After that, I was unable to boot into Windows without seeing the same blueish-green color screen.

I resubmitted an RMA request and am waiting to hear back. But so far, Sapphire RMA service has been nothing but a waste of my time.

Very similar situation and my card is due back on the 16th, I'll update on what my experience is like. Sent out a 7950 with a dead fan and had about a two week turn around for it to ship back to me.

 

[Ebernanut]

@xoleras

The shady consumers I mentioned were mainly to show that I realize there's more than one side to the issue, however I do think it's potentially a problem for these companies and at the very least it's used as an excuse to deny warranty claims. I also think that GPU warranties were much better than they were for most electronics for a while because that's something that GPU companies were competing on for sales(with BFG being one the leaders of that strategy) and now I think they're competing more on price. I could be wrong about BFG being the catalyst but there were a lot of rumors that they went under because they were losing more money on warranty claims than they were bringing in on new sales and it was shortly after that I noticed GPU companies making warranties shorter and more restrictive.

I agree that there's a difference in customer service between companies and I do factor that into my decision when I buy hardware(which is why I like these threads) but I think the bar has been lowered for GPU warranties and some of what I see like the OP's situation are not what I consider acceptable customer service, especially if Saphire doesn't offer to pay for shipping and try to expedite the process.

 

[needmorecarnitine]

I could be wrong about BFG being the catalyst but there were a lot of rumors that they went under because they were losing more money on warranty claims than they were bringing in on new sales and it was shortly after that I noticed GPU companies making warranties shorter and more restrictive.

that doesn't even make sense

 

[primetime]

that doesn't even make sense

it make perfect sense to me....mater of fact...all the friends i had who owned bfg cards all seemed like they had to rma there cards for some reason or another...I can imagine it got completely out of hand...even if it was all manufacturer defects. I could swear my friend got an upgrade as well for some reason....if that happened to much they couldn't have been making profits.....and obviously there were not since they went under

 

[Spidey329]

it make perfect sense to me....mater of fact...all the friends i had who owned bfg cards all seemed like they had to rma there cards for some reason or another...I can imagine it got completely out of hand...even if it was all manufacturer defects. I could swear my friend got an upgrade as well for some reason....if that happened to much they couldn't have been making profits.....and obviously there were not since they went under

That's poor quality control. So I'd say it was mismanagement that put them under and not their warranty.

 

[primetime]

That's poor quality control. So I'd say it was mismanagement that put them under and not their warranty.

i agree...just was all kinda a mix of things...i just figured god know how many upgrades they did for cards that technically worked...but run hotter than shoot have been...in other words they still worked but they were very almost too customer friendly in upgrading cards....im sure mismanagement played a huge part as well...when they went under i was by non means shocked after what my friends were getting in upgrades....was just a matter of time with all the losses they were taking

one guy in particular ended up getting a dual gpu card as a replacement...we were both like wow these guy are awesome...but it didn't make financial sense to either of us

 

[kirbyrj]

I hope you don't think that I was trying to imply you were being shady, it sounds like Saphire is in the wrong on this. I was just pointing out that it seems like GPU warranties have shifted from being consumer friendly to favoring the companies. When in doubt, deny and in cases like yours send out a defective replacement and hope the customer just gives up. I doubt they intentionally sent you a defective card but it's a common enough complaint that it's obvious these companies aren't doing enough to make sure the replacement cards they're sending out are even functional and they make the process difficult enough that many people won't even bother.

I hope that you keep on them until they make it right because the more they get away with this sort of thing the more they'll do it.

I didn't think that, but I've read stories where that happened with people trying to take advantage of lifetime warranties to get "free" upgrades to newer cards.

Trust me. I used to work as a manager at a Wal-Mart. I've seen all kinds of shady returns.

 

[MorgothPl]

I didn't think that, but I've read stories where that happened with people trying to take advantage of lifetime warranties to get "free" upgrades to newer cards.

Trust me. I used to work as a manager at a Wal-Mart. I've seen all kinds of shady returns.

WHen I was buying the TV Set, the seller from store, who was trying to make me purchase insurance for it, told me: You take two years insurance, then in last year, you just push the TV from the table, and you will get brand new one. So yes, people are using those ways to get "easy goods".

In EU we don't have the lifetime warranty though, like XFX has. Also most manufacturers require, that dmaged good should be send to place of purchase, who will then deal with manufacturers. And most of the time, those both parties work side by side to fuck up the customer, and prove his fault. My favourite is, when I sent shoes on warranty, because they started to leak after like 2 months, and they were returned with note: "Warranty cannot be accepted. Shoes have signs of someone wearing them". You can go to court, but with smaller purchases people do ignore it.

 

[Auburn_Tigers]

I agree. Card makers are not stupid, and they know exactly how abusive lifetime card holders have become.
I have 3 280x sapphire cards and a 290x with them. I sent the 290x in, and it was awful trying to get it replaced.
The whole process took 2 and a half weeks to complete, and that was after sending them email after email.

But what really pissed me off the most, is the fact, that you have people in the forums bragging about what
they sent in and what they got back, and forums set up just for that. When the card makers see that, think about
how they feel, using them instead of supporting them, then people wonder why card companies go out of business.

Not saying you were right or wrong, just stating the reason why card companies have become so unfriendly toward consumers.

 

[iRevert]

I agree. Card makers are not stupid, and they know exactly how abusive lifetime card holders have become.
I have 3 280x sapphire cards and a 290x with them. I sent the 290x in, and it was awful trying to get it replaced.
The whole process took 2 and a half weeks to complete, and that was after sending them email after email.

But what really pissed me off the most, is the fact, that you have people in the forums bragging about what
they sent in and what they got back, and forums set up just for that. When the card makers see that, think about
how they feel, using them instead of supporting them, then people wonder why card companies go out of business.

Not saying you were right or wrong, just stating the reason why card companies have become so unfriendly toward consumers.

Not to be brash or anything but two and a half weeks isn't exactly a horrid turn around time with the events of the past few years.

 

[gersson]

Last thing I wanted to read about! I have a Tri-X OC 290x and there's a hella coil whine.

 

[kirbyrj]

Last thing I wanted to read about! I have a Tri-X OC 290x and there's a hella coil whine.

Maybe you'd have better luck as its a newer card and Athlon Micro doesn't have a stash of broken miner cards to dole out for warranty repairs.

 

[dook43]

Summary: Sent a good card out for RMA due to bad fan, received a different card back which is defective, displays artifacts on a cold boot, and won't even boot into Windows when warmed up.

Just a heads up in case any of you are submitting RMA's to Sapphire. I recently had an experience where my 7950 Dual-X had a bad fan bearing in one of the fans. I could very easily have ordered a replacement fan off of eBay for $10 or so and fixed it myself, however, I decided that I would ship it out for RMA so as to not void the rest of my warranty on the product.

First, Sapphire responded fairly quickly and required me to submit several forms of documentation to show that I did, in fact, purchase the item. Ok...no problem. I was directed to direct correspondence to Athlon Micro Inc. in Walnut, CA. I was given an Athlon Micro RMA number and I was asked to submit all of the same documentation as I already had submitted to Sapphire. This process takes a few days as I had to wait for acknowledgement of the documentation and directions to send the card. Finally, I was directed to send my card in for RMA repair.

My card arrived at Athlon Micro on 03/28/14 and I received it back today (04/11/14)...2 weeks or so, not great, but not terrible either I suppose. I examine the card. I received the same model, however, I received a different card back. The new card had significant scratching on the fan housing that was not present on the card I sent out. The card also displayed some discoloration on the back of the card on several components. This was also not present on the card I sent out.

I install the card and immediately am greeted with artifacts in 2D mode. I attempted to run a 3D application (Valley benchmark) and the screen went a solid blueish-green color and required a reset. After that, I was unable to boot into Windows without seeing the same blueish-green color screen.

I resubmitted an RMA request and am waiting to hear back. But so far, Sapphire RMA service has been nothing but a waste of my time.

I had a 7950 which died while mining, sent it in for an RMA and received a 7970 Dual-X in return. I simply sent in a copy of my Newegg invoice, shipped it to Althon Micro, and had a tracking label on a return by the end of that week. It was a flawless process. It did not take several days to get authorization to send in an RMA, either.

Here is the FS thread on the 7970 I received back. http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1797850

 

[kirbyrj]

I had a 7950 which died while mining, sent it in for an RMA and received a 7970 Dual-X in return. I simply sent in a copy of my Newegg invoice, shipped it to Althon Micro, and had a tracking label on a return by the end of that week. It was a flawless process. It did not take several days to get authorization to send in an RMA, either.

Here is the FS thread on the 7970 I received back. http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1797850

Maybe they sent me your dead card . I just received an e-mail from Athlon Micro today telling me that they would be in touch with me within the next 24 hours as to what to do about my card.

 

[J Macker]

I didn't have any problems with Sapphire's RMA process.

I sent in a Dual-X 280x on Jan 3, they replaced it with a brand new Vapor-X 280x, and it was delivered to me on Jan 17.

Aside from the initial back & forth documents and having to deal with Athlon Micro, it was pretty smooth. It was a little faster than my experiences with MSI RMA.

 

[needmorecarnitine]

it make perfect sense to me....

there are a lot more expenses in running a business than just handling warranty claims. There is no way they could have gotten to the point where those claims were more than new sales (which is like about 100% of their income).

 

[McClintoc]

I just put my Gigabyte 7870 in the mail today for an RMA. Time will tell if Gigabyte is any different.