My Zotac 4090 has malfunctioned ? I think it has

[Kelt]

That's outrageous. You should approach the tech press with that.

This has been going on for years.

I had a mobo go faulty, must be 15 odd years ago, the company I bought it from no longer operated within the UK, but their head office gave me a refund, less 25% for usage.

Not against the law either.

 

[muon]

If you bought a car and after 2 years is was faulty requiring a buy back. Would you expect a full refund?

If your argument is also that you should get the market rate, if the price goes above what you paid for it, then should you get that higher amount? Surely that is the market rate.

A warranty unfortunately is very different from insurance. You get a repair, replacement or original value minus the usage you got from it. You don't get the cost to replace it from someone else.

 

[Journey]

When I spoke to the retailer they also told me its consumer law

You could insist on a repair under the manufacturer warranty, but you'd need to send it back to Zotac via a Zotac RMA number, not the retailer you purchased it from.

Or you could argue the toss, and claim defective goods that were always bound to fail using consumer protection law, or just go for a charge back via your credit card for the difference if you bought it on that.

 

[Noxia]

Hmm now I see why I was told not to put too much onus on the 5yr warranty when I initially considered a Zotac card.

 

[muon]

You could insist on a repair under the manufacturer warranty, but you'd need to send it back to Zotac via a Zotac RMA number, not the retailer you purchased it from.

Or you could argue the toss, and claim defective goods that were always bound to fail using consumer protection law, or just go for a charge back via your credit card for the difference if you bought it on that.

You would have to prove it was defective when it was manufactured, since it has been more than 6 months. Even then, not sure you get a full refund, as you got use and value out of the product.

Hmm now I see why I was told not to put too much onus on the 5yr warranty when I initially considered a Zotac card.

Zotac in 4 or 5 years time would probably just give you an equally performing card (probably refurbished) as they would be dirt cheap. You wouldn't be getting a full refund ever. The problem for the OP is what is an equally performing Zotac card right now, other than the same card?

 

[JediFragger]

Also if this is true then Zotacs 5 year warranty is pointless because they will say not in circulation, deduction due to depreciation

Oof that's awful! Thanks for letting us know though, won't be putting any stock in that anymore!!

Personally I'd take the £1550 and wait for the FE's to drop at £1579, I've seen that Nvidia replace faulty cards with like-for-like. Other than that wait to see what the 4080 Supers come out like in about 10 days?

 

[BS Dave]

Oof that's awful! Thanks for letting us know though, won't be putting any stock in that anymore!!

Personally I'd take the £1550 and wait for the FE's to drop at £1579, I've seen that Nvidia replace faulty cards with like-for-like. Other than that wait to see what the 4080 Supers come out like in about 10 days?

They haven't dropped in a while have they?

 

[muon]

Oof that's awful! Thanks for letting us know though, won't be putting any stock in that anymore!!

Personally I'd take the £1550 and wait for the FE's to drop at £1579, I've seen that Nvidia replace faulty cards with like-for-like. Other than that wait to see what the 4080 Supers come out like in about 10 days?

The retailer only has a 1 year warranty for these cards. So the OP would be left with a dead card right now.

edit: But nvidia have started providing 3 years? Used to say 1 year when you clicked through to buy.

 

[Kelt]

The retailer only has a 1 year warranty for these cards. So the OP would be left with a dead card right now.

edit: But nvidia have started providing 3 years? Used to say 1 year when you clicked through to buy.

Three year warranty on my 3080 Ti FE.

 

[hobib_ali]

They can't sell it if it's not working. You could also email customer service, they might be able to tell you why it's in B-grade

I have a feeling they will return the card to Zotac and claim the full retail RRP price, then deduct £450 as a service charge and then return the remainder to the customer, thats so sly, I mean even a Zotac representative stated he has not hear of this rule:

Anyway Zotac said this:

I’m not aware of any policy as you’ve described.

 

[hobib_ali]

You could insist on a repair under the manufacturer warranty, but you'd need to send it back to Zotac via a Zotac RMA number, not the retailer you purchased it from.

Or you could argue the toss, and claim defective goods that were always bound to fail using consumer protection law, or just go for a charge back via your credit card for the difference if you bought it on that.

can you charge back after 14 months? need to speak to AMEX, I purposley bought it on a credit card and paid it off for the protection but the timescale

 

[hobib_ali]

I will have to return the card anyways

Got a courier collection for Monday 22nd

Hopefully I will try and put in a complaint and see if they can make a goodwill gesture, honestly the main reason why I chose Zotac was because of the 5 year warranty

Little did I know it would turn in to a nightmare, I mean a standard 3 year warranty, + 2 years added on top totalling 5 years, so if someone's GPU died after 4 years will they say "oh its 4 years old, we need to deduct 60% oh n by the way its a out of circulation product so no exchange or repair"

 

[SuperElectric]

I will have to return the card anyways

Got a courier collection for Monday 22nd

Hopefully I will try and put in a complaint and see if they can make a goodwill gesture, honestly the main reason why I chose Zotac was because of the 5 year warranty

Little did I know it would turn in to a nightmare, I mean a standard 3 year warranty, + 2 years added on top totalling 5 years, so if someone's GPU died after 4 years will they say "oh its 4 years old, we need to deduct 60% oh n by the way its a out of circulation product so no exchange or repair"

If they stick to the £1,500, what will you buy next?

 

[DavieJG]

Thanks for posting your experiences. I'm in the market for a big purchase next gen and things like this really open the eyes

 

[Gerard]

I will have to return the card anyways

Got a courier collection for Monday 22nd

Hopefully I will try and put in a complaint and see if they can make a goodwill gesture, honestly the main reason why I chose Zotac was because of the 5 year warranty

Little did I know it would turn in to a nightmare, I mean a standard 3 year warranty, + 2 years added on top totalling 5 years, so if someone's GPU died after 4 years will they say "oh its 4 years old, we need to deduct 60% oh n by the way its a out of circulation product so no exchange or repair"

Yeah, the warranty looks good on paper but seemingly not all that after all. Take the money and run.

 

[Troezar]

The reality of these warranties should really get more publicity. After all what can any of them say as it would all be true. The law should make them spell it out clearly, consumers can then make a decision based on fact, not on a fudged marketing version of reality.

It's another argument for buying midrange, run for a couple of years, sell on and buy a new midrange card.

 

[muon]

The reality of these warranties should really get more publicity. After all what can any of them say as it would all be true. The law should make them spell it out clearly, consumers can then make a decision based on fact, not on a fudged marketing version of reality.

It's another argument for buying midrange, run for a couple of years, sell on and buy a new midrange card.

A warranty is simply a contract. You should read it, it will vary from one company to another. No way it will guarantee a new replacement.

Consumer protections are separate and written in law. They don't get you full refunds. A company is allowed to make deductions for use. Consumer protections exist without an explicit warranty. Nor is it Zotac's responsibility to educate people in each country about their own laws.

It's also common sense, you don't get a full refund or brand new replacement, years after purchase.

 

[CaptainRAVE]

Ok so Ive taken the card to my work PC and it displayed the same symptoms, after a few restarts it suddenly worked, so I boxed it back up and took it home

Now as soon as Ive connected the card I get the same issues, but this time im getting windows HDD check pop ups, and BSOD, some times when it goes to desktop my mouse keyboard wont work or its the same blurry screen

Installing a 3080TI has zero issues

So I call the retailer and asked for an RMA

Now they said to me because the GPU is 14 months old and the Zotac Amp Extreme 4090 is no longer in circulation they will deduct 25% of the value, so thats about £400 from the £1950 i paid for the card

I was outraged as I asked for a repair or a replacement, they said its Zotac that deducts because of depreciation.

When I spoke to the retailer they also told me its consumer law

I can confirm that the 4090 displaying issues wasn't my fault.

I think its unfair that I have to pay another £400 because my card decided to malfunction and the retailer will only refund £1450 from the 1950 i paid

Anyway Zotac said this:

I’m not aware of any policy as you’ve described.

The only reason I can think of that the 4090 cannot be replaced may be to do with the US export controls on GPUs for AI use in China. Unfortunately the 4090 was caught in this, and as 90% of 4090s are manufactured in China this might be causing a supply issue until the production base can be moved.

The above has nothing to do with my RMA

Also if this is true then Zotacs 5 year warranty is pointless because they will say not in circulation, deduction due to depreciation

That’s ridiculous. Well we now know to avoid Zotac in future. I’ve gone with them in the past due to the warranty…that clearly means nothing. I’d approach some tech outlets regarding this, Reddit etc. Only fair to warn others.

 

[mrk]

What country are you in? Here in the UK the standard practice is to replace with an equivalent card if the same one is not available new or refuted. The 4090 global stock situation is what it is right now, but that still should not make a difference to an offer to resolve the issue?

I RMAd my 3080 Ti FE last year, they don't make 3080 Ti FEs but I was sent a brand new sealed replacement so obviously old stock even though the internet said nvidia had sold out all old stock at the time lol. I'd expect nothing different from Zotac or anyone else if the card was still under warranty.

 

[SuperElectric]

I think some people are missing the fact that graphics cards don't depreciate linearly at 20% per year. This means that a warranty that doesn't include i) like-for-like replacement or ii) repair, has a lot less value than similar warranties even in the computer space.

How many times have people claimed on a warranty for a monitor or motherboard etc. with just days/weeks left on the warranty? Imagine recieving £5 back instead of repair/replacement since there were only a few days left?

Bloody joke