Gigabyte RMA help

[Ajh90]

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?

 

[Ajh90]

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.

 

[Ajh90]

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]

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]

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

Ah that's very helpful! Thanks!

 

[Ajh90]

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]

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

Already did! Hahah
Thanks for helping.

 

[Ajh90]

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.

 

[Ajh90]

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

Yeah I am hoping seller will be supportive

 

[Ajh90]

Should have obtained the receipt before contacting gigabyte.

I messaged the seller ahead of emailing gigabyte. As I mentioned in original post, seller said they're outside of country, returning next week. They even said they will ask someone at home to look for the reciept. Fingers crossed!

 

[Ajh90]

Should have obtained the receipt before contacting gigabyte.

They can refuse to deal with you altogether now that you have admitted you bought it second hand.

So the moral of story is never buy a used gigabyte product! Hahah

 

[Ajh90]

@Shroud Pretty much reflected my thoughts.

The current gen GPU prices are absurd to say the least. Both Nvidia and AMD are screwing gamers with high prices. Leaving no choice for "budget" gamers but to buy a used GPU. But in used GPU side, as in my recent experience, partner card companies are using excuses to get out of warranty claims. Buying used goods is an absolutely normal practice.
Its just so much easier to be a console gamer. Neither Sony nor Microsoft ask for original purchase invoice (based on my past experiences). The warranty simply starts from the day of console activation.

 

[Ajh90]

Sorry to bump this thread.

What was the outcome in the end? I ask as I have bought a used Gigabyte card but I have the original invoice from the seller.

I fear that if I hand this over to them, they'll only ship a replacement to their address in their name.

My issue is still not resolved.
Based on my experience, it is impossible to have it repaired under the warranty without significant support from the original owner. You will basically be completely reliant on them to claim warranty on your behalf. I will update once I have the final outcome.

 

[Ajh90]

Thanks for the reply.

Based on your posts and what I've seen online, I've pulled out of buying the card.

Hope you get your issue resolved soon.

No problem and thank you.

If you're still considering buying used GPU, it seems EVGA has the most consumer friendly policy and the best customer service.

 

[Ajh90]

So finally had a resolution last week after 3 month. Needed full support from the original owner. He did provide the receipt but gigabyte were still knit picking. So decided to make a warranty claim with the retailer (popular uk retailer) instead of gigabyte. The retailer also required the original owner to make the warranty claim. So he started the process and RMA was approved fairly quickly. I sent the card off and they diagnosed the gpu faulty 2 days after receiving it and further sent it off to gigabyte. Gigabyte took another 6 weeks to come back with being unable to repair the card. They then dragged their feet to issue the credit to the retailer, making excuse of some internal issue. The retailer finally received the credit in 2nd week of April and offered rtx 4080 as replacement. I am skipping a lot of detail, mostly miserable for both me and the original owner, but we both were fed up of the whole situation. Needles to say it couldn't have been resolved without his full support. Lesson learned, never buying anything Gigabyte again, even the retailer didn't have good things to say about them.