Ultra Responds To Incorrect PSU Label Issue

Back during the window a few years ago when Ultra was testing out pretty good I bought a 600W Ultra as an "upgrade" to my 400 watt. The thing was far from an upgrade and my system would not run stable with it installed. I was sent out a new 600W unit and that one did the same thing. I suggested that if the 600W model could not put out less then 400W reliably they needed to send me one that would even if it was a higher spec model. They did not agree with this idea and sent me a third 600W. What good is a lifetime warranty if the product is flawed? If anyone from Ultra is in here and wants to make this right with me by giving me one of these 850s as well please email me at [email protected].
 
I wonder if the OEM did this as a cost saving measure and Ultra had no idea.

Anyways.....

They are making it right.

seeing as they went under i wouldnt be surprised if there OEM did it with out telling them to try and make a few more bucks at the last hour
 
i agree good supportive response from them, too bad i stil think their PSUs suck and wouldnt buy from them again..
 
I still consider Ultra unreliable, they have a LOT of work to clean up their rep. But this is a step forward.
 
+1 for wondering why they didn't respond to the original review that proved these PSUs were seriously flawed. Who cares about the sticker if the product doesn't do 1/2 of what it's rated? The QC people should have jumped up and said "WTF?!?!" when that review came out. The sticker problem was so overt and "in your face" they HAD to do something, since even people who don't read the [H] would have heard about it and their whole product line would have sunk.
 
Yeah I wouldn't buy from them before....definitely won't buy from them in the future. Damage control or not....this should have never been an issue and should have never gotten past QC. Only reason they came out with the offer to replace these particular PSU's is because they got caught.
 
I don't respect them for doing this in the least bit. This is their responce to keep people from sueing them. They dont' care one bit about their customers being decieved. IMO those that think they do are smoking something.
 
I guess this about the best thing they could have done. At least they admitted they made the mistake and didn't really make an excuse for it.
 
The question is: Was the "gap in their quality control" the labelling of 550W PSUs as 750W, or the failure to remove the 550W label first.

+1, is there any evidence that they actually had an X2 psu that was really a 750 watt power supply?
 
This a great oppertunity for ultra to turn itself around and create a decent to great PSU.
 
I think it's pretty clear that the only thing we learned today is:

Ultra's Customer relations department > engineering/quality control
 
I agree, you'd think they might want to start doing some quality control when their "750w" PSU failed at 500w.


I agree. The response to the mislabel is awesome, and it needed to be done.

BUT, there are two problems here. The first was the mislabel, and it was resolved very well.

The next is the crappy quality of their PSU's. They should have better QC and they should be accountable for a PSU rated for a certain amount should meet that amount! I'm hoping they can replace ANY PSU (and resulting hardware failures) due to a underpowered, yet sold as a higher power, supply.
 
ROFL, so it is not an issue when the units flat out suck in reviews and can't do over even 500w, but when they get caught slapping the labels over the already overrated 550w label, it becomes a huge deal. :rolleyes: I think they should have started looking at what was wrong when this review was first published: http://www.hardocp.com/article.html?art=MTQ2MCwxLCxoZW50aHVzaWFzdA==

I still don't see this as a good job. It was a laughable 750W unit and a bad 550W unit. To hell with the label issue, it's still a POS! If Ultra really wanted to take responsibility, they would address why two of their units posted here couldn't put out more than 50% of the rated power.

Too little, too late.

These two posts sum it up for me pretty much. It was very unlikely that I would buy or even recommend an Ultra PSU, now it will be one of those brands to stay the hell away from. I don't give two shits if they do have some "good" PSU's, the fact is this company isn't here to give the consumer a decent product, it's pretty easy to see what their bottom is.

edit: i also like how they put the blame on their outsourcing company, when really ultra is just as at fault as they are. Way to take ownership! You'd think that Ultra would have the tools and means to test their PSU's at least as rigorously as [H], but nope..
 
This response will do far more for their overall reputation than simply fix the 550/750 problem. People (well, us) will remember them for asserting quality and integrity. Like some other folks have said, they should really go all the way here, it's worth it to them.

Honestly, up until now I regarded them as a maker of fairly junky components that were always on rebate. Hmmm...
 
I don't buy the part where it seems like they are supposedly just now aware of this issue. Of course they knew!

But at least they are taking some responsibility, though only after they had to get called out.
 
I don't buy the part where it seems like they are supposedly just now aware of this issue. Of course they knew!

I tend to believe that as well. The only reason they are coming out now and rectifying the situation is due to it being on the front page. Had it not been broadcast,Ultra would not be giving anyone anything. Look how long it's been since Paul did the review and then there was still no comment. So I have to disagree with many of you. I don't reward that kind of behavior.
 
I'd take the X3, sell it and get something from a brand that has a shred of credibility.
 
I tend to believe that as well. The only reason they are coming out now and rectifying the situation is due to it being on the front page. Had it not been broadcast,Ultra would not be giving anyone anything. Look how long it's been since Paul did the review and then there was still no comment. So I have to disagree with many of you. I don't reward that kind of behavior.

I have to agree with this. while better then nothing for the people that were already duped its hard to believe that they missed the bad reviews and did not bother looking in to them.
 
I predict a lot of new, never tested X3's on Ebay! :eek:

so long as they are sold as 500 watt PSU I would not have an issue with that

Of course they would need to pull off BOTH of the old labels before applying the new
 
They need to do a complete recall of all 750w X2 power supplies. They should know where at least 80% of these power supplies are located, due to product registration. The other 20% would be items sold with builds or ebay etc. They should not make the consumer wait to have an issue, or hope that the consumer just never finds out about this. Contacting the press to post recalls and attempting to contact all registered owners would be true customer service.

Dell had a similar issue with the bad caps a few years ago. They extended the warranty status, but YOU had to call and fight with them to get the boards replaced. I replaced so many Optiplex boards in which the end user told me about Dell reps not wanting to replace the boards. Dell knew they were bad, but did not inform the public. Also, Dell was not the only manufacture, but they are who I mostly deal with.

"Ultra will offer a free replacement upgrade to our new X3 850W power supply (ULT40312) to anyone encountering this issue regardless of warranty status."

Warranty status? They come with lifetime warranties. This is the least they should due, since nobody would want another rebadged 550.

Being that I am in the market for another power supply in the 850w to 1000w range, I know which power supply that I won't consider. I most likely with go with corsair or PC Power & Cooling, due to the ratings at [H].
 
I give them props for offering the better unit for the mixup, but I feel sorry for those who own the 750w (err.. 550w) model now and don't know about the tradeup.

From what I gather, the 850 model has a single 12v rail with 64 amps. The 750 model had the two 25 amp rails, so whoever gets the upgrade is getting a MUCH better unit in my opinion.

I still wouldn't ever buy an Ultra product, but (even though 100 other people already said this) nice work Ultra and give your quality control monkeys a banana once in awhile, mmmkay?
 
I was just like to post about my experience with this Ultra Regarding this matter.

This is for all the users who may doubt Ultra as a great company, their warranty, or for those who may be unsure of how easy this process would be handled.

Sure mistakes were made somewhere with the making of the X2 750, but Ultra in my opinion has taken care of the matter very nicely with a Upgrade, and the process is painless!!


I wrote my letter to Ultra letting them know I made my purchase from ZipZoomFly and the same day received a reply from Richard at Ultra as follows:

The only thing we would need is Proof of purchase that you indeed purchased a 750 x2.

So we would need a copy of the receipt of invoice from ZipZoomFly as an attachment in JPG or PDF format only, your shipping address, and we will send you a no charge replacement.

Richard was very nice and professional, and replied back and forth with me several times. I received a email from him the following day noting that my replacement would arrive within a few days as follows:

Thank you for your receipt, your order # is ------. and is only for your records.

Your X3 replacement should ship out of our warehouse in the next 24 hours and should get to you Via UPS in the next few days.

This is a no charge replacement you may keep the other Power Supply as well. No need to return anything to us.


Needless to say, I was impressed with the timely replies and quick product replacement by Ultra. My New X3 850 arrived two days after the above email me know it would be shipped out within 24 hours.

Fast Shipping to boot..... Always a plus!!!

I have to say, this PSU is MUCH better quality then the X2 750 I think (All X2 750 reviews aside).

I would say it weighs about twice as much, Very Heavy, as well which is a great sign to me!! The overall craftsmanship looks superb, and the new front cover for the cable connection inputs in brushed metal looks very well with the overall look

Here are some images of the X3 850W Power Supply for anyone who would like to see it up close. Sorry, my camera is not the greatest, but just thought I would post a few images so users may be able to see the product up close..

Click Images to Enlarge

The Package








The Power Supply








The Flex Force Cables and Extra's (plenty of Cables for everything)





The Shine (Terrible Camera Sorry, It is a very nice smoke like shine or black chrome)



Overall I am VERY impressed with how Ultra has handled this situation and will be a continued Ultra Supporter!

Big Thanks to everyone at Ultra, and to Richard as well for being so professional and quick to reply to emails.

Thanks Ultra!!!
 
Nice looking PSU. I could use a PSU like that where all the cables are modular especially the 24pin. Making my own cables for modular PSUs for a SFF case, I always end up with extra slack with the 24pin cable.
 
Hello


This is my first post at [H]ardocp and i'd like to share my experience with this whole Ultra X2 750w mess

First I'd like to thank [H]ardocp for being a vehicle that forces companies like Ultra Products to at least appear to attempt to fix situations like this.

I bought my Ultra X2 750w power supply a little over a year ago. Initially I was running one 8800gt and everything was fine for a few months.

I then purchased a second 8800gt to run SLI. The temps increased and I set everything back to stock clocks. I had intermittent crashing, I never linked this to the power supply.

I incorrectly assumed that if you got a power supply from a non generic PSU manufacturer such as Okia you would be getting close to the Wattage you were purchasing.

I updated the video drivers in my system from the 169.x driver set to the 17x.x set. System was totally not stable. I incorrectly blamed my stability issues on nvidia and my xp OS. I decided maybe the vista drivers were more stable and I wanted more memory in my system anyway. I upgraded to Vista x64. Never able to get my system stable while running sli no matter what driver I tried, I tried them all. I thought maybe one of my graphic cards were at fault. So I upgraded to 2 gtx 260 sli cards... Problems.

I then find Hardocp's review on my Power supply.... clearly I wont be buying another PSU that hasn't been reviewed using methods they use here or driverheaven.net ever again.

I felt pretty shitty and out of luck... Then I found this thread. Well I got screwed and spent a year with issues that had been the fault of a crappy PSU. At least the company was going to make amends for it.

I call on 3/25/09 and speak to a technical support Representative that didn't know the issue and was only offering me a replacement for another X2 750w...this was a little frustrating but he put me on hold and verified the issue, and said they would send me a X3 850w. However they are on back order and will arrive on 4/1. "That's fine I can wait another week, I've been dealing this for a year, but man I want to bust out those 2 gtx's in sli soon" I think to myself.

So April 1st rolls around no email stating my PSU has been shipped out. I call on 4/2 and ask what's going on. They say it takes some time for the delivery's to be processed. Call back on Friday 4/3 and see what's going on. I get the call back tomorrow and so forth till today.

So today I call and find out they won't be in till 4/13. So I request they send me a comparable unit to the 850w, like the X3 800w or the X3 1000W. They offer to send me the Lifetime series 750w or tell me I can wait. This would've been fine had I not lost faith in every Ultra Product except for the X3s. So I say I'll wait. So I probably wont be up and running till the end of April or something currently.

I'd like to add the tech support people there were friendly and I think were honestly trying to help me the best they could, but somewhere when the rep put me on hold and spoke to the powers that be about sending me a different model, the powers that be were trying to ship me another crap product.

I have purchased a few Ultra Cases and Power Supplies in the past. In builds for other people and what not. I'd say in those cases they never gave me any issues.

I consider myself to be reasonable and understand that sometimes things happen accidentally and you have to do what it takes to move beyond that.

And from the previous poster who Ultra seemed to take care, it seemed they were trying to do that.
Lucky for him, they weren't on back order at the time.

Thanks again for looking out for the consumer Hardocp!
 
The compliments about good customer service are interesting. This isn't a matter of their generosity or customer service. They got caught shipping a product labeled as something it's not. They are doing this to avoid a courtroom judgement that decisively would not be in their favor.

Replacing a part that broke or wasn't compatible with what you bought it for = good customer service.

Replacing a part that is, effectively, a lie = bankruptcy protection.
 
I have 50/50 feelings on this issue. I have an X2 550 titanium which is by far the best looking power supply I have ever had. It has been running the last 3 years without any issues and I am completely satisfied with it. Now common sense tells me they knew about the labeling fiasco and crossed their fingers and hoped for the best noone found out. IMO the original X connects were very nice units and shot Ultra into the enthusiast segment of the biz. Because to have a winning power supply it must function well and look even better for most gamers/OC'ers.
 
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Ultra fails hard.

Of course there's really no good response to their "mix up," but blaming wintech is as good as it'll get.

They are either incompetent, or they thought no one would notice. Both are traits of companies I avoid.

I'll stick with what's worked for me: PCP&C and Enermax.
 
Well so I finally got my X3 850w replacement around 4/22.. Ready to game with my gtx 260 sli rig. Runs fine as far as I can tell. Go on vacation come back... start to game 10 minutes ..power cuts off... ok whatever... Pull one card out. Same thing happens. Well crap at least with the x2 750w (or whatever it is) I was able to play stable with one card. So that's back in the comp now with the other gtx 260 collecting dust again.

My response from Ultra

Mr. Halim,

We have placed an order for a revised Ultra X3 1000watt power supply. When we originally found out about the possible mis-labeling of the 750 watts, we merely upgraded customers to the X3 850 watt, not knowing there was an issue with high powered video cards using that power supply. We have since had a revised unit built, and have shipped these to customers to take care of that issue. I have placed an order for a no charge X3 1000 watt power supply for you. These should be in this week or next, and once they come in, your order will ship. You may keep the power supply you currently have as an extra. We are not requiring that to be brought back.


We apologize for this inconvenience!

So I hope if you are a fellow sucker with a 750w.... make sure they send you this revised model..
 
Well so I finally got my X3 850w replacement around 4/22.. Ready to game with my gtx 260 sli rig. Runs fine as far as I can tell. Go on vacation come back... start to game 10 minutes ..power cuts off... ok whatever... Pull one card out. Same thing happens. Well crap at least with the x2 750w (or whatever it is) I was able to play stable with one card. So that's back in the comp now with the other gtx 260 collecting dust again.

My response from Ultra



So I hope if you are a fellow sucker with a 750w.... make sure they send you this revised model..

I just recently RMA'd one of the x2 750s and got back theX3 850..it looks fine...but it buzzez on any 3d load..and forget runng my 2 XFX black 260's..it buzzez louder and shuts down and locks up..who is the wheel at Ultra that can get me a PSU that will run my rig...A "GOOD" 850w PSU shouldn't even sweat my rig

Antec 902
EVGA 750i FTW
lapped E7400 that likesa da the juice
(and no,It(the psu) still buzzez at bone stock freq's)
lapped Xigmatek Dark Knight with crossbow
4gig Cosair dominator ram
Sammy 1T drive and a genaric DVD+-r/rw drive

When it's runng right this is a smoken rig..I love it..but I'm real sad,as I like to game with my wife..

Basically i want to talk to whomever you talked to to get them to send you a psu that will work...
 
I just recently RMA'd one of the x2 750s and got back theX3 850..it looks fine...but it buzzez on any 3d load..and forget runng my 2 XFX black 260's..it buzzez louder and shuts down and locks up..who is the wheel at Ultra that can get me a PSU that will run my rig...A "GOOD" 850w PSU shouldn't even sweat my rig

Antec 902
EVGA 750i FTW
lapped E7400 that likesa da the juice
(and no,It(the psu) still buzzez at bone stock freq's)
lapped Xigmatek Dark Knight with crossbow
4gig Cosair dominator ram
Sammy 1T drive and a genaric DVD+-r/rw drive

When it's runng right this is a smoken rig..I love it..but I'm real sad,as I like to game with my wife..

Basically i want to talk to whomever you talked to to get them to send you a psu that will work...

You got a bad one for sure. I ran my main gaming rig (specs in sig) which uses more power and had no problem with it. by no problem I mean 7 hours of gaming in GTAIV. ;)
 
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