Gigabyte RMA help

Ajh90 · 20 Jan 2023 at 16:03

Long story short I bought a used Gigabyte RTX 3090 gaming OC from Facebook marketplace 10 days ago. Picked up the card in person. Took my PC with me, fitted the GPU in it and played a game for 5 minutes or so, physically looked all fine except slightly dusty fans. All working fine, made the payment and came back home. Seller also mentioned buying it originally sometime in 2021 so said it had remaining warranty on it.
I used it very lightly over the last 10 days as have been extremely busy with work. GPU crashed couple of times yesterday and then went completely dead. RGB light on GPU doesn't come ON, motherboard has VGA error light on. Put my old gpu back in and all working fine so definitely 3090 is gone dead.
Checked the warranty status on gigabyte website and shows warranty valid till 1st June 2024. GPU manufacturing date is Feb 2021 and is covered by 3 years warranty till February 2024 regardless of purchase date.

Contacted gigabyte UK via their returns email and received a very flat response "warranty non-transferable", "require original purchase invoice", "will not accept RMA by anyone other than original owner"
Went back and forth few emails trying to reason that GPU has valid warranty just by its manufacturing date regardless of date of purchase but same result.

I have already contacted the seller I bought it from. He replied within few hours stating he is out of country, returning next week and will look for the reciept upon return. Based upon my interaction with the seller I have no doubt about him being genuine.
I feel like gigabyte is just making excuses trying to get out of RMA, specially when they can check the manufacturing date by the serial number.

Any suggestions what to do next please?

Feek · 20 Jan 2023 at 16:09

Ajh90 said:
Contacted gigabyte UK via their returns email and received a very flat response "warranty non-transferable", "require original purchase invoice", "will not accept RMA by anyone other than original owner"

That's their conditions of warranty. Unless you can get the original seller to RMA it for you, they're quite within their rights.

Alt0153 · 20 Jan 2023 at 16:22

thats the risk you take buying second hand and why its cheaper, very few if any allow the warranty to be passed over, so yeah if they wont do it for you or do and then dont give it back to you are are buggered

Ajh90 · 20 Jan 2023 at 16:27

That's fair enough. However this part of the terms seem arbitrary. I would understand if they looked at the GPU and refused warranty if it had evidence of some damage or usage that fell outside of the warranty terms. But refusing RMA flat out when the gpu is in warranty from manufacturing date alone, it feels like bad after sales service. Specially when from most accounts on the Internet EVGA, Asus, MSI do not even require a proof of purchase as long the product serial number is in warranty.

Feek · 20 Jan 2023 at 16:36

Ajh90 said:
But refusing RMA flat out when the gpu is in warranty

It's not in warranty though.

As far as Gigabyte are concerned, the warranty is non transferrable. What other companies do regarding warranty is irrelevant, Gigabyte warranty is only valid if the card is still owned by the original purchaser.

Tetras · 20 Jan 2023 at 16:43

Ajh90 said:
Any suggestions what to do next please?

Just go through the seller, if he is genuine (as you say) then he'll support it for you. Hopefully Gigabyte won't use their records of your interaction as an excuse to deny him the RMA.

Cyber-Mav · 20 Jan 2023 at 16:44

Should be a rep on here to chime in @GIGA-Man

Ajh90 · 20 Jan 2023 at 16:47

Feek said:
It's not in warranty though.

As far as Gigabyte are concerned, the warranty is non transferrable. What other companies do regarding warranty is irrelevant, Gigabyte warranty is only valid if the card is still owned by the original purchaser.

Can you point me to where it says in their terms about warranty being non-transferable please?

Ajh90 · 20 Jan 2023 at 16:48

Tetras said:
Just go through the seller, if he is genuine (as you say) then he'll support it for you. Hopefully Gigabyte won't use their records of your interaction as an excuse to deny him the RMA.

Yeah to be fair, gigabyte did say that I can add the seller in my emails.

Ajh90 · 20 Jan 2023 at 16:49

Cyber-Mav said:
Should be a rep on here to chime in @GIGA-Man

Ah that's very helpful! Thanks!

Feek · 20 Jan 2023 at 16:50

Ajh90 said:
Can you point me to where it says in their terms about warranty being non-transferable please?

I'm going on what you've already said.

Ajh90 said:
Contacted gigabyte UK via their returns email and received a very flat response "warranty non-transferable", "require original purchase invoice", "will not accept RMA by anyone other than original owner"

Alt0153 · 20 Jan 2023 at 16:52

point them to that and say it says nothing about original owner only 3 years from production date

Ajh90 · 20 Jan 2023 at 16:52

Feek said:
I'm going on what you've already said.

That's what Gigabyte have said to me. Hence I said it feels like making up excuses to get out of RMA

Ajh90 · 20 Jan 2023 at 16:53

Alt0153 said:
point them to that and say it says nothing about original owner only 3 years from production date

Already did! Hahah
Thanks for helping.

Tetras · 20 Jan 2023 at 16:59

Alt0153 said:
point them to that and say it says nothing about original owner only 3 years from production date

I suspect they would point out the following:

Valid Proof of Purchase
For any warranty claim, a valid Proof of Purchase is required. All Receipts/valid Proof of Purchase are subject to verification at the sole discretion of GIGABYTE.

GIGABYTE may, in its sole and absolute discretion, determine any registered product to be edited, transferred, void or deleted for any reason including but not limited to the following:
- A receipt is obtained through unauthorized or illegitimate sources/channels, including purchased or obtained online, or at a live auction.

Alt0153 · 20 Jan 2023 at 17:04

Tetras said:
I suspect they would point out the following:

ah so they hide that on a diff page

Tetras · 20 Jan 2023 at 17:06

Alt0153 said:
ah so they hide that on a diff page

Yeah, it is here:

https://Tmember.aorus.com/global/productwarranty

Those terms are so broad they can be pretty much deny you RMA cos the receipt smelled funny

Ajh90 · 20 Jan 2023 at 17:11

Tetras said:
Yeah, it is here:

https://Tmember.aorus.com/global/productwarranty

Those terms are so broad they can be pretty much deny you RMA cos the receipt smelled funny

Exactly my point about making excuses! Hahah
I understand there are risks associated with buying a used product. Best I could do to mitigate those risks was by doing due diligence. Buying with remaining valid warranty was part of that.

Alt0153 · 20 Jan 2023 at 17:13

Ajh90 said:
Exactly my point about making excuses! Hahah
I understand there are risks associated with buying a used product. Best I could do to mitigate those risks was by doing due diligence. Buying with remaining valid warranty was part of that.

thats how a lot of resellers get you saying there is remaining warranty when actually there isnt cause manufacturer wont honour it if transfered!

Tetras · 20 Jan 2023 at 17:14

Ajh90 said:
Buying with remaining valid warranty was part of that.

Unfortunately, unless the manufacturer has terms that explicitly allow this, a seller telling you it has a warranty is meaningless. I see it a lot on auction sites and it is very annoying. On the marketplace here, the seller will offer to support the warranty and that's far more trustable than some vague "it is still in warranty"