need advice and help

[dc78]

hi guys.

a few weeks ago i decided to purchase a used gtx780 to sli it with my own 780.
i bought one from eBay and as im always suspicious about second-hand stuff i made sure it was working perfectly by running Furmark for 30 minutes. i found no problem with that at all. i played my games using the new acquired 780 in a single mode and there was no issues what so ever.
but then i figured out that my favorite games like Batman Arkham Knight, Witcher 3 and Rise of Tomb Raider and Black Ops3 have problems with sli, so after exactly a week of the delivery day, i decided to sell it on eBay myself.
this woman bought it from me, then said her son experiences "sometimes" black screens in CoD and Fifa.
we all know CoD is buggy, and does not matter how many times i tried to assure her that my gpu was not faulty, she insisted on returning my item back to me and get a refund.

i even asked her to take the gpu to an expert, or a local pc repair shop to make sure my item was not faulty, but she refused.

then she said that the problem got worse and upon launching a game, her son's pc freezes.

i told her to return the item to me, apparently she did not know how to troubleshoot this matter, and i could re-sell my item to someone who knows more about computer stuff.

so she returned it to me, and guess what?
my pc freezes everytime i launch my games.
that could not be possible!
i tested my gpu for a week, i used it, it cant be..

so i thought she swapped my gpu with a faulty one she had..
the only way to check if it was mine was to check the BIOS .rom which i saved on my pc before sending it to her.

what i found? BIOSs were different.

when i questioned her about this, she said oh yeh, we thought we might be able to fix it by updating the BIOS with NVFlash.
so she flashed my gpu's bios before she sends it back to me.

obviously i didnt accept a refund as she damaged my gpu for good, but that bimbo kept saying my item was faulty anyway as sometimes her kid experienced black screens in CoD!!!!!

she escalated the matter to eBay and received a full refund in less than an hour.

i complained/appealled to eBay, but nope, they kept repeating some non-sense over and over again.

so i decided to take eBay to the court.
i filed my claim, but im anxious as im not sure if the court knows what bios is and what risks would be caused by flashing it specially by a dumb buyer who doesnt even know how to use DDU..

i am not going to attempt to fix the card, as it may not get fixed and then court will not accept my claim.

when i reviewed my court claim documents, i found out that i need a report from an expert for this matter.
it says:
(preparing for the court)
- you may wish to get an expert report, for example, on faulty goods..

so all i need is an insight from an expert on this matter, that is why im posting on this forum.

any help is appreciated.

 

[dc78]

*bump*

 

[dc78]

*bump*

 

[andybird123]

unless you've got everything extremely well documented, I wouldn't bother with court
I've stopped selling on ebay precisely because their "buyer protection" is totally one sided to buyers and sellers have no hope (I sometimes list things on there but put cash on collection only and don't do anything through paypal)

did you also record the serial numbers before and after? that will be pretty key to proving your case if what you say is true and they swapped the card

you could try taking it to a local PC repair shop to get an experts report, it will probably cost you about £40, but basically all they will be able or prepared to say is that the card tests as faulty, they probably won't want to say that the bios has been changed and that that is why its faulty

 

[setter]

I would hazard a good guess that the seller has purchased your card and is still using it but has sent you a dodgy one then made a claim on the auction site. If selling anyting pc related, id advise taking pictures of the serial number on the item. Though tbh I wouldn't consider selling anything on there as its chock full of scammers and sellers have no protection.

 

[nashathedog]

"when i questioned her about this, she said oh yeh, we thought we might be able to fix it by updating the BIOS with NVFlash.
so she flashed my gpu's bios before she sends it back to me."

How did you question her? Was it e-mails and if so have you got the e-mails sent by her stating she did that to the card?
That's about the only defence you have.

I had someone on the river order my 4gb 290x. The same day he cancelled the order saying he's thought about it and he's worried that it hasn't got enough ram for 4k.
I then get a message from The river saying I'm being charged 8 quid for the deal not going through. Apparently when he learned he would be charged for the cancellation he stated that because I put it down as 'as new condition' ie: in good as new condition and it wasn't actually new he didn't want it. I then appealed providing the email that had come via the river where he gave a different reason for cancelling but they upheld his claim so I said screw them and blocked them taking 8 quid from my account and I no longer use them.
The morale of the story is, You learn from your mistakes. Don't use them again.

 

[P4Clock]

i have see story's of ppl swapping out damaged hardware on ebay.

Was the GPU boxed?? if so dose the serial on the box match the one on the card? if not call her local police.

 

[dc78]

@andybird123 @setter

the item she sent me back is most likely mine. i did not record the serial number (made a mistake there), and i asked the first seller to provide me with any, but did not get any answers. the reason im saying its most probably mine is that it has a sticker on the screw hold and its worn out, and its the same on the first seller's listing photos.

 

[dc78]

"when i questioned her about this, she said oh yeh, we thought we might be able to fix it by updating the BIOS with NVFlash.
so she flashed my gpu's bios before she sends it back to me."

How did you question her? Was it e-mails and if so have you got the e-mails sent by her stating she did that to the card?
That's about the only defence you have.

I had someone on the river order my 4gb 290x. The same day he cancelled the order saying he's thought about it and he's worried that it hasn't got enough ram for 4k.
I then get a message from The river saying I'm being charged 8 quid for the deal not going through. Apparently when he learned he would be charged for the cancellation he stated that because I put it down as 'as new condition' ie: in good as new condition and it wasn't actually new he didn't want it. I then appealed providing the email that had come via the river where he gave a different reason for cancelling but they upheld his claim so I said screw them and blocked them taking 8 quid from my account and I no longer use them.
The morale of the story is, You learn from your mistakes. Don't use them again.

the whole conversation is recorded on eBay's Return Request chat.

eBay is asking me for £23 for seller fees now, the time to return the item to original seller is passed, i paid £11 for postage to the buyer and im broke atm.

would not let that go really.
i spent my birthday money on it, i am losing like £200 here.

eBay might suspned my account, as they know i sued them and they keep sating i owe them £23, so i may lose my access to the chat stuff. i recorded that as a webpage on my desktop, but i think they just want to screw me up in this case.

and i already applied for MCOL, paid £25 already.

 

[dc78]

i have see story's of ppl swapping out damaged hardware on ebay.

Was the GPU boxed?? if so dose the serial on the box match the one on the card? if not call her local police.

it was not boxed.

im quite sure it is mine, and in my case the buyer attempted to fix my gpu by flashing the BIOS. that is the breach of returning goods, i specifically asked her to return the item to me the same condition the item was sent to her.
she admitted she flashed the BIOS, all i need is a confirmation that flashing BIOS done by a non-professional can damage the gpu.
thats all.

 

[dc78]

any helps?
do overclockers staff know about the returns policy?