So, am I the only one that AMD treats like a criminal when requesting an RMA?

[LigTasm]

I've been buying Ryzen chips since they came out and recommending them to everyone. I've probably put together 30 different machines with them by now.

But trying to RMA my 5800X that has constant WHEA errors unless I shut all the C-states off, disable PBO and CPB, and change it to PCI-E 3.0 is like pulling teeth. They wanted the original receipt and a picture of the IHS, ok. Then they wanted a picture of the IHS with a hand written paper next to it with my case number....ok. Now they want pictures of every angle of the PC, inside and out, the cables, screenshots of every BIOS page, screenshots of the errors, windows logs, etc. The rig has already been disassembled BECAUSE IT DOESNT WORK.

Is this supposed to be normal? Even worse, I paid double retail price for this chip at the height of the covid/mining craze so they got their goddamn money from me. This is really looking like the last time I buy anything from AMD, I get the sneaking suspicion if I send the chip in they'll just pull a newegg and smash the pins so they can blame me for damage.

 

[Mchart]

Have you told them you can’t do those things? What’s their response? Or are you jumping the gun in anger?

 

[ZodaEX]

Why do you recommend AMD chips to everyone if the one you use gives you errors?

 

[readeh]

I just shipped my wife's 9900K to Germany (free shipping label and pickup). It died a few weeks ago and as they didn't have a replacement they said they'd be refunding her $500 instead. Enough to buy a brand new CPU and a motherboard.

3 year old CPU with 2 weeks left of warranty and I can't complain.

 

[kirbyrj]

Why do you recommend AMD chips to everyone if the one you use gives you errors?

Because he put together 30 of them and likely had no issues otherwise, he would have stopped building them.

And for all of the vaunted "Intel stability," Alder Lake has been a shit show in comparison for a lot of people, myself included.

 

[kirbyrj]

I've been buying Ryzen chips since they came out and recommending them to everyone. I've probably put together 30 different machines with them by now.

But trying to RMA my 5800X that has constant WHEA errors unless I shut all the C-states off, disable PBO and CPB, and change it to PCI-E 3.0 is like pulling teeth. They wanted the original receipt and a picture of the IHS, ok. Then they wanted a picture of the IHS with a hand written paper next to it with my case number....ok. Now they want pictures of every angle of the PC, inside and out, the cables, screenshots of every BIOS page, screenshots of the errors, windows logs, etc. The rig has already been disassembled BECAUSE IT DOESNT WORK.

Is this supposed to be normal? Even worse, I paid double retail price for this chip at the height of the covid/mining craze so they got their goddamn money from me. This is really looking like the last time I buy anything from AMD, I get the sneaking suspicion if I send the chip in they'll just pull a newegg and smash the pins so they can blame me for damage.

I doubt they would pull a Newegg, especially since you have sent them so many pictures of the CPU. I'd send them a picture of the pins just so they can't say that it was your fault.

I would tell them that you can't send those pictures due to the PC being disassembled and press them for an RMA.

 

[OFaceSIG]

It does seem a bit "inquisitiony" for them to ask for that much. That being said, CPUs rarely fail. It happens, but I've seen maybe two CPUs fail in my entire life, and that was in server environments, never in my personal life. I've been in PCs since 1989 and in datacenters since 2007. So I can see their disbelief and desire for proof.

That being said, I would give them what they want and *IF* they continue to be a hassle, all you can do is let the community know.

 

[RazorWind]

Even worse, I paid double retail price for this chip at the height of the covid/mining craze so they got their goddamn money from me.

If you didn't buy it directly from AMD, they didn't, necessarily get much money from you at all.

As OFaceSIG said, it's pretty unusual for a CPU to fail without being abused in some way (such as hamfisted overclocking). I can't exactly blame them for wanting a thorough explanation, and even then, I'd probably still be suspicious that it's a motherboard issue.

I say just play along, and if you can't provide whatever they want, just explain that you can't. Worst they can do is deny the warranty, in which case you make a stink about it.

 

[LigTasm]

It does seem a bit "inquisitiony" for them to ask for that much. That being said, CPUs rarely fail. It happens, but I've seen maybe two CPUs fail in my entire life, and that was in server environments, never in my personal life. I've been in PCs since 1989 and in datacenters since 2007. So I can see their disbelief and desire for proof.

That being said, I would give them what they want and *IF* they continue to be a hassle, all you can do is let the community know.

I've went around and around with this problem for months. I've built a second entire system except the CPU so I've arrived at this conclusion. I was sure it was the board, so the CPU went into two other board, another X570 and a B550. I tried 3 RAM kits, 3 power supplies, multiple drives, Windows 10 and 11, and 3 GPUs. Theres literally nothing else left.

Also, this WHEA error issue is not uncommon on Ryzen 5000 series, although it seems to effect the 5900x/5950x more. When researching it I found a lot of people on reddit or other forums that complained of the same thing and only RMA the processor fixed it.

 

[Zedicus]

i bought an EPYC cpu off ebay. it was listed as new, open box. what i received was a non working ES EPYC cpu in a EPYC box that had all the labels peeled off of it. i sent a request in to AMD to see if they would look at the ES CPU and if it could be made functional so that i was not out everything, as the Ebay seller was fighting me tooth and nail and i thought it might be faster to ask AMD than to do the Ebay charge back. AMD sent me a new EPYC cpu.

 

[cdabc123]

i bought an EPYC cpu off ebay. it was listed as new, open box. what i received was a non working ES EPYC cpu in a EPYC box that had all the labels peeled off of it. i sent a request in to AMD to see if they would look at the ES CPU and if it could be made functional so that i was not out everything, as the Ebay seller was fighting me tooth and nail and i thought it might be faster to ask AMD than to do the Ebay charge back. AMD sent me a new EPYC cpu.

Makes me want to buy a shitty early es epyc off ebay lol

 

[LigTasm]

i bought an EPYC cpu off ebay. it was listed as new, open box. what i received was a non working ES EPYC cpu in a EPYC box that had all the labels peeled off of it. i sent a request in to AMD to see if they would look at the ES CPU and if it could be made functional so that i was not out everything, as the Ebay seller was fighting me tooth and nail and i thought it might be faster to ask AMD than to do the Ebay charge back. AMD sent me a new EPYC cpu.

I sent them as much info as I had, I've literally had to send 8 emails because of all the attachments. We'll see what they do, but I don't understand why they're making it so hard for a single $300 chip. I don't imagine that there are a ton of Ryzen RMAs to the point where they want to block people.

 

[Mchart]

I sent them as much info as I had, I've literally had to send 8 emails because of all the attachments. We'll see what they do, but I don't understand why they're making it so hard for a single $300 chip. I don't imagine that there are a ton of Ryzen RMAs to the point where they want to block people.

I bet they get more then Intel because of idiots bending pins.

 

[pendragon1]

I sent them as much info as I had, I've literally had to send 8 emails because of all the attachments. We'll see what they do, but I don't understand why they're making it so hard for a single $300 chip. I don't imagine that there are a ton of Ryzen RMAs to the point where they want to block people.

could always become a squeaky wheel on twatter, seems to get results...

 

[Zedicus]

I sent them as much info as I had, I've literally had to send 8 emails because of all the attachments. We'll see what they do, but I don't understand why they're making it so hard for a single $300 chip. I don't imagine that there are a ton of Ryzen RMAs to the point where they want to block people.

i did have to send in a bunch of pics, CPU and box, my name, my ebay name, as well as screenshots of the listing and confirmation of my payment to the seller. i think it took me all of 30 minutes? and as a reward, i was gifted a new CPU, i did not even have to pay shipping. Seems fair.

 

[GotNoRice]

Just keep in mind that for every legit return there are probably 50 people trying to scam the system to get a free CPU or return/exchange one that they broke due to their own negligence. I'd require a ton of proof also if I was AMD. It sucks, but don't blame AMD, blame the decline in average ethical standards among consumers that has put them on the defensive.

 

[GoldenTiger]

Just keep in mind that for every legit return there are probably 50 people trying to scam the system to get a free CPU or return/exchange one that they broke due to their own negligence. I'd require a ton of proof also if I was AMD. It sucks, but don't blame AMD, blame the decline in average ethical standards among consumers that has put them on the defensive.

Well said. I think most people would be shocked at how many fraudsters try to scam refunds or rma depts.

 

[chameleoneel]

Yeah, it sounds like your 5800x has legit problems. I think you will get a replacement, in then end.

Due to the rapid growth of hardware sales----they probably have more people than ever, buying CPUs and building computers for the first time. And subsequently dropping them, shoving them in backwards, etc. People breaking multi-hundred dollar CPUs within minutes of handling, can become pretty cowardly.

A few years ago, they probably would have replaced yours much earlier in the vetting process.

 

[Darunion]

I worked as a tech for a consumer electronics company, job was analyzing returns. So many are just buyers remorse that people say "yea it didnt work" and many are abused to the point where they lied on returns and we saw tire tracks on it. The smallest number of returns were actually manufacturer or supplier defect related.

 

[philb2]

I doubt they would pull a Newegg,

What does that say about NE's reputation? Was bound to happen sooner or later. It's like saying, "Google this," or "FedEx that."

 

[Dan_D]

It does seem a bit "inquisitiony" for them to ask for that much. That being said, CPUs rarely fail. It happens, but I've seen maybe two CPUs fail in my entire life, and that was in server environments, never in my personal life. I've been in PCs since 1989 and in datacenters since 2007. So I can see their disbelief and desire for proof.

That being said, I would give them what they want and *IF* they continue to be a hassle, all you can do is let the community know.

As a hardware repair technician in high volume service centers and of course a very long IT career and tons of builds I've done for myself and others, I've seen probably about a dozen bad CPU's out of 10's of thousands of them I've dealt with in one form or another.

 

[blackmomba]

RMAed a 1300x a few years ago. I don't even remember what was wrong with it. They asked zero questions and approved the RMA with a single explanation. Must've been a good one

 

[kirbyrj]

RMAed a 1300x a few years ago. I don't even remember what was wrong with it. They asked zero questions and approved the RMA with a single explanation. Must've been a good one

I think it boils down to which customer service rep you get assigned to your case.

And in fairness if they can isolate user error before they send out another chip it helps their bottom line.

Not everyone has the level of expertise people do around here. Or the willingness to swap out multiple parts to isolate the CPU.

 

[travm]

Well said. I think most people would be shocked at how many fraudsters try to scam refunds or rma depts.

Not electronics, but once upon a time I was responsible for warranty and technical support for a small equipment manufacturer. There are more people out there who believe "its broken, i want a new one" than there are legit people who are experiencing manufacturing defects. Manufacturing defects happen, but its a pain in the ass to sort out the asshats who broke their stuff being morons from the people who legitimately received defective product. As someone responsible for sorting that out, I can relate to the people who are making your issue seem more difficult than it should. But keep it up, if you didnt do the asshat things, they'll figure it out. If they dont and still deny you by all means smear every shade of shit on AMD.

 

[blackmomba]

I think it boils down to which customer service rep you get assigned to your case.

And in fairness if they can isolate user error before they send out another chip it helps their bottom line.

Not everyone has the level of expertise people do around here. Or the willingness to swap out multiple parts to isolate the CPU.

I agree, OP dealt with an overzealous rep. Pictures from all angles of the PC? Gtfo

 

[Andrew_Carr]

Makes me want to buy a shitty early es epyc off ebay lol

i bought an EPYC cpu off ebay. it was listed as new, open box. what i received was a non working ES EPYC cpu in a EPYC box that had all the labels peeled off of it. i sent a request in to AMD to see if they would look at the ES CPU and if it could be made functional so that i was not out everything, as the Ebay seller was fighting me tooth and nail and i thought it might be faster to ask AMD than to do the Ebay charge back. AMD sent me a new EPYC cpu.

Does this work? I have a bunch of shitty ES Epycs lying around I wish I could upgrade (j/k). I had an ebay seller fight me on a motherboard recently. It was BNIB, looked BNIB, but didn't work (who knows why, don't care, not my problem) and they wanted to go back and forth for weeks with questions and troubleshooting. Just push through the request and get your money back. If you play ping pong with them it'll go on forever until you put your foot down.

In the AMD RMA case, it sounds like they're wasting your time and I'd just ask them to honor the warranty and stop hassling you. Although I've never had a CPU fail before and maybe it could've been caused by another faulty part, there's a warranty for a reason and making you jump through so many hoops is silly. Just escalate the issue if the RMA rep keeps giving you issues. If this was your second or third RMA with the same setup and you kept returning failed CPUs then that might be a different story, but even then I've RMA'd a ton of stuff this year and it all was mostly with one company and they didn't give me any of this pushback.

 

[funkydmunky]

OP I think there is some good advice already given here.
1. Don't admit defeat and go down the victim path. You are a paying customer and deserve proper treatment.
2. Stay calm and follow instructions. All it is for them is to weed out the crooks. Comply regardless and they will be forced to honour.
3. Stay friendly and make it obvious you are doing your best. That is what an RMA expert wants to deal with and makes their superiors happy.

 

[Dan_D]

Well said. I think most people would be shocked at how many fraudsters try to scam refunds or rma depts.

I used to work retail at Best Buy and Comp USA. It doesn't surprise me. I saw a guy try to return a video card with books inside the box. I've seen fake factory shrink wrap, different models of things in the box, stuff intentionally broken or fried, etc.

 

[philb2]

I used to work retail at Best Buy and Comp USA. It doesn't surprise me. I saw a guy try to return a video card with books inside the box. I've seen fake factory shrink wrap, different models of things in the box, stuff intentionally broken or fried, etc.

Once I bought a high end Turtle Beach sound card for my kids' PC. Only the box had a a cheapo network card. Frys just took the return and reshrinkwrapped it. They put ME through hell to get an exchange, which is all I wanted. Frys deserved to die.

 

[noko]

For my failed 3960x CPU (one core or CCX), I had to show receipt when bought, picture of CPU with serial number which matched the box it came in mounted on motherboard. I gave steps and images of the problematic CCX using Bios settings. Anyways AMD had me a new 3060x in less than a week after sending in the old one.

I've had two CPUs failed, 1700x which was my fault by accidently OVing stupidly high and the 3960x which was only OC for short testing purposes using AMD software, which showed no significant improvement over just PB, it was run at PB/stock settings for about a year before it failed. Anyways the 3960x is running great and still only using PB, or just plain stock settings.

 

[Wade88]

I just shipped my wife's 9900K to Germany (free shipping label and pickup). It died a few weeks ago and as they didn't have a replacement they said they'd be refunding her $500 instead. Enough to buy a brand new CPU and a motherboard.

3 year old CPU with 2 weeks left of warranty and I can't complain.

Samsung does this when our nvme disks die in warranty. I fixed computers at a circuit city for the 8 weeks before 2 a days in the Summer of 2005 and saw similar fake shrink wrap and alternative items in the boxes from time to time.

 

[LigTasm]

I used to work retail at Best Buy and Comp USA. It doesn't surprise me. I saw a guy try to return a video card with books inside the box. I've seen fake factory shrink wrap, different models of things in the box, stuff intentionally broken or fried, etc.

I bought an open box 6950 at Frys once but the box had a cardboard cutout of a GPU with a rock taped to it for weight in it.

 

[philb2]

I bought an open box 6950 at Frys once but the box had a cardboard cutout of a GPU with a rock taped to it for weight in it.

Yeah, no surprise. Frys paid crap wages so anyone with good skills could make more in another job.

 

[bobzdar]

I rma'd a 2700X (only early life cpu failure I can remember in my 35 years of playing with computers) and they rma'd with no questions asked. However, as part of the return I had put my previous 1700 back in the system to verify the cpu was the problem and put my detailed troubleshooting in the rma notes, so maybe that's why they didn't ask anything.

 

[ThatITGuy]

Once I bought a high end Turtle Beach sound card for my kids' PC. Only the box had a a cheapo network card. Frys just took the return and reshrinkwrapped it. They put ME through hell to get an exchange, which is all I wanted. Frys deserved to die.

Possibly, but not always is it the retailer re-shrink wrapping. Similar to Dan_D, Many many years ago now I worked at CompUSA (and Computer City prior to it being converted into CompUSA). I saw returns where the people would re-shrink wrap the boxes themselves. The problem is, often times the manager doesn't want to cause a stink, so they would just accept the return. Then, rather than open it to prove whether I was right, they would just restock it. That way if I was wrong, they weren't stuck with a definitely already opened item.

 

[Ripskin]

I used to work retail at Best Buy and Comp USA. It doesn't surprise me. I saw a guy try to return a video card with books inside the box. I've seen fake factory shrink wrap, different models of things in the box, stuff intentionally broken or fried, etc.

Small silver lining to working at Comp USA was working returns and opening the boxes to match serial numbers and such and getting to ask the customer why I am holding an old Dlink vs the Linksys 54G router this box was for lol. Unless the GM was in... He would take anything back to keep people happy :[

 

[jordan12]

I broke my 3950X CPU because when I removed the HSF, for some reason, the CPU came out with it!! I actually had 2 pins that literally popped out. Sigh. I had it all of 3 months.

I threw it away and ripped myself a new one for being an idiot and bought a new CPU.

 

[vegeta535]

I broke my 3950X CPU because when I removed the HSF, for some reason, the CPU came out with it!! I actually had 2 pins that literally popped out. Sigh. I had it all of 3 months.

I threw it away and ripped myself a new one for being an idiot and bought a new CPU.

Need to those bad boys up before trying to remove them. Then again I had the same thing happen to me with a 3950x even after heating it up. Nothing was damaged tho.

 

[jordan12]

Need to those bad boys up before trying to remove them. Then again I had the same thing happen to me with a 3950x even after heating it up. Nothing was damaged tho.

Exactly. I did heat it up. Didn't matter this time around. Point is, though, I accepted my own idiocy and moved on. Didn't try and scam anyone\company. it was the right move.

 

[bigddybn]

This was my AMD RMA experience. Emailed about a dead 3900x (which I had bought here used so had no receipt) on 11/19/20. Approved the same day. Label sent the same day. They are in Miami which is 2 hours from me so they got it 2 days later and passed the RMA check the same day. Sent me a BNIB retail replacement CPU 2 days later which I sold here as such.

The only way it could have been any easier or faster is if Lisa Su jumped on a plane and swapped the thing personally