Zotac RMA - Through a company that sounds like Scam

BoozerDawg · 11 Jul 2017 at 12:23

Hope this is the right place to put this, if not please can it be moved ?

I purchased a GPU for my brother in December 2015, Zotac GTX 970, comes with 2 warranty and the card was bought from a company that sounds like Scam. A couple of months ago it developed a fault where, 1 of the fans spun slower than the other, causing the other fan to go into overdrive and create a loud noise. Looking it up, it seemed to be a common issue with these cards, and a fan replacement would fix it.

Contacted Zotac first to see if they could simply send out a new fan, but they refused telling me to go through the RMA route from who I bought it from.

Ok, set up the RMA, sent it off, they diagnosed the fault (faulty fan) and sent it off to be repaired through Zotac.

A month and a bit more passes with no update, so I ask again, I'm told it does seem to be taking a while, but as the card is no longer being made it can take a little longer, and to expect something within the next 2 weeks.

2 weeks pass, and nothing, so again I ask what is happening. This time they tell me they can offer me a "benefit of use refund", which would be about a £96 refund for the card. I wasn't happy with this (and told them so), as that isn't enough to cover a replacement card for even a second hand 970, but was told this was more than my legal entitlement and they could do no more. Before I had a chance to reply, the chat was ended.

Now, to me, this doesnt sound right, I shouldn't be worse off than I was before, but I'm hoping someone know a bit more about this to see if what they are offering is right, especially when the card still has months left on its warranty. Am I being a tart ?

And yes, if I bought it through OcUK I probably wouldnt have this problem

paradigm · 11 Jul 2017 at 12:26

If it's in warranty, it's in warranty and needs fixing or replacing. End of.

If you had somehow broken the terms of the warranty, then yes I'd probably expect the offer of a partial refund to be "going above and beyond" what you are due, but if the warranty is intact, then you need to be insisting that the card gets replaced.

Surfer · 11 Jul 2017 at 12:29

Surprised you waited as long as you did. Over a month for repair? sod that i would have gone for like for like replacement or refund.

Send them a letter reminding them of your legal rights i think

PinkFloyd · 11 Jul 2017 at 12:33

BoozerDawg said:
And yes, if I bought it through OcUK I probably wouldnt have this problem

You wouldn't have! My Zotac 970 did exactly the same thing, sent it back to OcUK under RMA. It took a while (but was kept in the loop) before just getting a replacement card from OcUK as Zotac wouldn't fix it. OcUK ftw!

pastymuncher · 11 Jul 2017 at 12:55

That is what Scam does and they are absolutely abysmal for RMA's. They will try to get out of honouring the warranties in any way that they can. At the end of the day the card is under warranty and as Paradigm says, should be fixed or replaced. As it's not made any more I guess a suitable replacement would be a GTX 1060 but I fear that you are going to have a long fight on your hands. They should be avoided at all costs. How the hell they supposedly win awards is beyond me when their customer service is just disgraceful.

kindai · 11 Jul 2017 at 13:01

Also, this is why EVGA > all

You deal with them directly, can do advance RMA's and the turnarounds are in days.

Greebo · 11 Jul 2017 at 13:06

It is standard terms in warranties though that if it isnt fixable and they don't have that model anymore they can offer you the used value of your product. Perfectly legal.

moogle · 11 Jul 2017 at 13:43

PinkFloyd said:
You wouldn't have! My Zotac 970 did exactly the same thing, sent it back to OcUK under RMA. It took a while (but was kept in the loop) before just getting a replacement card from OcUK as Zotac wouldn't fix it. OcUK ftw!

Zotac RMA and Zotac themselves sound like *****. I thought this 28 day RMA turnaround time to Taiwan or Hong Kong or wherever they are, died long ago when the customer service improved.

kindai said:
Also, this is why EVGA > all You deal with them directly, can do advance RMA's and the turnarounds are in days.

Agreed, I can't see any other manufacturer beating EVGA on this (maybe Gigabyte and their UK base, but they don't have the extended warranty you can choose to get).

Can't believe this Scam place are still doing this, it's one of the reasons I moved away from using them as it was a PITA to sort things out. There'd always be a worry of things not going how you imagine it to go.

Then the stress of the phone call which sometimes sorted things out, but why it usually had to get to that point I don't know.

Freddie1980 · 11 Jul 2017 at 13:50

Greebo said:
It is standard terms in warranties though that if it isnt fixable and they don't have that model anymore they can offer you the used value of your product. Perfectly legal.

That sound correct, if an item is faulty an it's older then 6 months the person/company who sold it to you either has to fix it, replace it or offer you a partial refund although you should make an argument that the refund should be enough to get you a replacement product.

https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/c...ne-wrong-with-a-purchase/return-faulty-goods/

PinkFloyd · 11 Jul 2017 at 13:51

To be fair, when I bought the Zotac card originally there wasn't any real criticism about them online. Granted they weren't getting the positive reviews that you get with EVGA but considering the price difference that wasn't really a concern. Comments put them miles ahead of MSI for example. Perhaps they just had a few really bad batches of 970s and just went downhill with those.

andybird123 · 11 Jul 2017 at 14:30

if you paid by credit card (pro tip: always do this for everything), call them, get full refund

moogle · 11 Jul 2017 at 15:20

PinkFloyd said:
To be fair, when I bought the Zotac card originally there wasn't any real criticism about them online. Granted they weren't getting the positive reviews that you get with EVGA but considering the price difference that wasn't really a concern. Comments put them miles ahead of MSI for example. Perhaps they just had a few really bad batches of 970s and just went downhill with those.

Well yeah I originally had them up there with EVGA, because of the 5 year warranty you get with them when you register the card. But if the service is slow or non existent in your case (directly from Zotac) it seems a null point for going with them.
I've yet to hear a lot of praise for them or any threads of users expressing their delight at their RMA service, which is another major factor for me. Those actual user experiences tell me more than whatever the marketing department say.

cheesyboy · 11 Jul 2017 at 15:39

Greebo said:
It is standard terms in warranties though that if it isnt fixable and they don't have that model anymore they can offer you the used value of your product. Perfectly legal.

Yes. But £95 isn't the used value. You won't get a 970 below £130 on Ebay.

Greebo · 11 Jul 2017 at 16:21

cheesyboy said:
Yes. But £95 isn't the used value. You won't get a 970 below £130 on Ebay.

In law it doesn't have to be used value. Its purely a calculation based on new price, expected life span and then divided up accordingly.

Eg you but something for £400 and its expected to have a usable lifespan of 5 years and it breaks after 2 and half years you would get offered £200. Even if second hand ones were still making £300, £200 would be seen as a "fair offer" based on the use you had from it.

You can sometimes win or sometimes lose but legally, apart from kicking off a bit and hoping they up their offer, there isnt much you can do. I was once offered on the above formula £100 more than what second hand ones were selling for so it was a result for me.

The only scope you might have is in their calculation of "usable lifespan" to work out its "used value"

The problem is that due to Brexit these cards have held their second hand price well. They were afterall, only £220 18 months ago so I am assuming they are basing their offer on its lifespan being 3 years?

Sadly I see a lot of your cards sell for £180, a mere £40 less than when they were new so I feel your pain.

moogle · 11 Jul 2017 at 16:24

That calculation is a bit flawed as it assumes every card is meant to die at the end of the warranty period. I remember arguing back about getting an equivalent product and not taking the first option.

wesley · 11 Jul 2017 at 16:26

i was going to buy the zotac magus 1080k but after i read your post. i've changed my mind.

BoozerDawg · 12 Jul 2017 at 14:30

Thanks for the replies. Was hoping to see where I stand regarding this, and it does look like, legally, this is all they can offer ? I might try to get a bit more money from them as is no way will that cover a suitable replacement. That or I ask for the card back, that would be fun ......

tlrBeta · 12 Jul 2017 at 19:51

Have you been a little more aggresive now? Sent all the correspondance to Zotac?

Havent shopped with Scam since buying a geforce 4200 and they didnt honour a warranty.

Surfer · 12 Jul 2017 at 20:02

BoozerDawg said:
Thanks for the replies. Was hoping to see where I stand regarding this, and it does look like, legally, this is all they can offer ? I might try to get a bit more money from them as is no way will that cover a suitable replacement. That or I ask for the card back, that would be fun ......

?? Uhh you should hold your ground. They have admitted the fault with the card so thats very good. They required to provide a refund or a replacement (of equivalent spec) if they cannot repair it or if repair is taking too long.

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/shopping/consumer-rights-refunds-exchange#goods

If they are cutting you off and not playing the game then go here.

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/index.php

Plenty of help and templates for letters to send to the retailer

If you are in England you should be able to use Moneyclaim online to take them to court. I have done this it is very very straightforward.

https://www.moneyclaim.gov.uk/web/mcol/welcome

Hagar · 12 Jul 2017 at 20:07

BoozerDawg said:
Thanks for the replies. Was hoping to see where I stand regarding this, and it does look like, legally, this is all they can offer ? I might try to get a bit more money from them as is no way will that cover a suitable replacement. That or I ask for the card back, that would be fun ......

Asking for the card back could be a sensible option, if it works.

Zotac RMA - Through a company that sounds like Scam

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