The aim of this post is to share my experiences, hoping some will not fall foul as I did, but mainly to say a massive thanks to OCUK and in particular - Gibbo.
Posted here as I guess it is in relation to general hardware.
In January I was looking to upgrade from my i7 860 and MSI GD-80, no real reason tbh, just had an itch that needed scratched, you know how it is, the obvious choice was a 2500k and I'd read good things about the Asrock Extreme 4 motherboard, so choices made I was looking to order.
As usual I was browsing the MM and I found one seller with amongst other items, the very cpu and motherboard I was after, perfect I thought. I contacted the seller and we agreed on £260 for the 2500K, the Asrock Extreme 4 and a Corsair H60, good deal I thought, I was cautious as its a chunk of cash but the seller had rep and I've bought a few things off MM and always worked out well. Money paid via bank transfer as requested, all was pleasant and fine.
A few days later the package arrived, great, I was keen to get going.
I opened the package and all looked fine, no damaged box. I opened the CPU box to check and my heart sank as I discovered two of the cpu contact pads had what looked like motherboard pins stuck into them, so panicking, I opened the motherboard box and sure enough, matching pins missing and a couple bent. Nightmare.
I must stress at this point that this is exactly how it happened, I opened the box and both the cpu and motherboard were damaged.
Here are the images I took of the damaged CPU, showing the damage to the pads in the centre;
motherboard with missing pins;
First thing I did was phone the seller, after seven calls he answered and immediately blamed me and denied it all, yup, typical. I pressed him and he said he takes photos of all items and would send one to me as proof that they were fine when they left his possession, but he couldn't do it right then, he'd do it next day.
So the next day I received this image;
Yup, this exact image, cropped as above, strange I thought, so 10 seconds searching images for "2500K" came up with this exact image from a web review of the 2500K. (not sure if I can link the review or not, but its easy to find)
The seller had no image of the sold cpu or perhaps he did, but discovered it showed the damage before he sent it.
Anyway, I was told it was my fault and I was getting no refund whatsoever, great, £260 wasted, I'd have been better handing the money to charity or someone needy instead of buying damaged goods.
A few emails went back and forth (to the three different email addresses he used) but they ended up heated and basically it was my fault, then my emails were ignored.
So I'd payed £260 via bank transfer and the seller wasn't replying. I should have been suspicious due to the BT only as theres no reclaim (as far as I know)
Nice, nothing I could do.
I have built up a good relationship with OCUK's Gibbo, as we all know, a great guy who happens to own a 911.........
So I asked Gibbo purely for advice as a friend and as an OCUK expert, his view was very suspicious due to the stolen image being used as "proof", but pointed out that as it was bank transfer I had no reclaim. Cunning seller indeed.
Upon Gibbo's advice I contacted ThundyCat, who was very helpful and forwarded the issue to Huddy. Fantastic that these guys were taking time to look into it as it wasn't even an OCUK transaction. So I'd like to publically say thanks guys for trying when I realise you didn't have to, very much appreciated.
Sadly the story pretty much didn't change, despite their efforts, no refund or even a partial refund.
Now I completely understand that it could look as if I damaged the components whilst attempting to fit (as accused by the seller) but this simply isn't true, I opened the boxes to find them damaged. Fact.
Interestingly I received a message from another buyer who bought a laptop from the same seller which had arrived to him with a non-functioning screen, who I believe never had his issue resolved either.
So I'd payed by BT, as did the other buyer, we both received damaged/faulty items of value and the seller refused to refund or help, then there's the stolen image to consider....... make your own mind up but the facts speak volumes.
I have to wonder how the damage occurred, I initially thought the cpu had been dropped but surely that wouldn't embed the corresponding pin into the cpu pad, my thoughts are too many volts to the "never overclocked" cpu caused the contact to heat up and fuse together, I'd read this about some 1156 boards in my research.
Gibbo suggested I sent the cpu and board in so he could test as I didn't have anything else to test them with, although I didn't want to use them, I have read about unused pins so wondered if I'd still get the use of them.
So sent them in and a few days later Gibbo reported back that they were indeed faulty and unusable, great.
But Gibbo said to let him see what he could do......
So a massive effort put in by the man himself, he reported back asking if I'd like a 3820......err, yes, of course I would! Its way over what I was going to buy, I was absolutely delighted!!!!!!!!!
I still had to buy the motherboard so I read reviews and the best value for money seemed to be the Asrock X79 Extreme 4, so I promptly ordered one, along with an Akasa Nero 3 and Gibbo sent out the 3820.
All built up no probs and running like a Swiss watch, its taken a few moths to sort out but I couldn't be happier.
Though the upgrade did end up costing me more as I've bought two motherboards and two coolers, at least I've come out of it with a higher upgrade than I'd planned, it has ended up costing me a bit but I could have ended up with nothing at all.
So I would like to thank Gibbo personally for going to a massive effort on my behalf and coming back with the cpu and a deal for me which made my upgrade finally possible. It means a lot Gibbo, thank you very much indeed. I won't forget it!
I also want to thank the OCUK team, ThundyCat and Huddy in particular for taking the time to look into this matter and even contact the seller on my behalf, despite the sale being a non-OCUK transaction where they made no profit. Thank you gentlemen!
I doubt other etailers would have went to these lengths.
As to the seller, what can I say, well what I'd like to say isn't allowed on the forum so I'll just leave it at the facts above, as they clearly shows they type of cunning person you are, congrats mate, spend my hard-earned money wisely.
Although I haven't named the seller it's easy to find.....
Thanks for sticking through and reading folks.
Jamie
Posted here as I guess it is in relation to general hardware.
In January I was looking to upgrade from my i7 860 and MSI GD-80, no real reason tbh, just had an itch that needed scratched, you know how it is, the obvious choice was a 2500k and I'd read good things about the Asrock Extreme 4 motherboard, so choices made I was looking to order.
As usual I was browsing the MM and I found one seller with amongst other items, the very cpu and motherboard I was after, perfect I thought. I contacted the seller and we agreed on £260 for the 2500K, the Asrock Extreme 4 and a Corsair H60, good deal I thought, I was cautious as its a chunk of cash but the seller had rep and I've bought a few things off MM and always worked out well. Money paid via bank transfer as requested, all was pleasant and fine.
A few days later the package arrived, great, I was keen to get going.
I opened the package and all looked fine, no damaged box. I opened the CPU box to check and my heart sank as I discovered two of the cpu contact pads had what looked like motherboard pins stuck into them, so panicking, I opened the motherboard box and sure enough, matching pins missing and a couple bent. Nightmare.
I must stress at this point that this is exactly how it happened, I opened the box and both the cpu and motherboard were damaged.
Here are the images I took of the damaged CPU, showing the damage to the pads in the centre;
motherboard with missing pins;
First thing I did was phone the seller, after seven calls he answered and immediately blamed me and denied it all, yup, typical. I pressed him and he said he takes photos of all items and would send one to me as proof that they were fine when they left his possession, but he couldn't do it right then, he'd do it next day.
So the next day I received this image;
Yup, this exact image, cropped as above, strange I thought, so 10 seconds searching images for "2500K" came up with this exact image from a web review of the 2500K. (not sure if I can link the review or not, but its easy to find)
The seller had no image of the sold cpu or perhaps he did, but discovered it showed the damage before he sent it.
Anyway, I was told it was my fault and I was getting no refund whatsoever, great, £260 wasted, I'd have been better handing the money to charity or someone needy instead of buying damaged goods.
A few emails went back and forth (to the three different email addresses he used) but they ended up heated and basically it was my fault, then my emails were ignored.
So I'd payed £260 via bank transfer and the seller wasn't replying. I should have been suspicious due to the BT only as theres no reclaim (as far as I know)
Nice, nothing I could do.
I have built up a good relationship with OCUK's Gibbo, as we all know, a great guy who happens to own a 911.........
So I asked Gibbo purely for advice as a friend and as an OCUK expert, his view was very suspicious due to the stolen image being used as "proof", but pointed out that as it was bank transfer I had no reclaim. Cunning seller indeed.
Upon Gibbo's advice I contacted ThundyCat, who was very helpful and forwarded the issue to Huddy. Fantastic that these guys were taking time to look into it as it wasn't even an OCUK transaction. So I'd like to publically say thanks guys for trying when I realise you didn't have to, very much appreciated.
Sadly the story pretty much didn't change, despite their efforts, no refund or even a partial refund.
Now I completely understand that it could look as if I damaged the components whilst attempting to fit (as accused by the seller) but this simply isn't true, I opened the boxes to find them damaged. Fact.
Interestingly I received a message from another buyer who bought a laptop from the same seller which had arrived to him with a non-functioning screen, who I believe never had his issue resolved either.
So I'd payed by BT, as did the other buyer, we both received damaged/faulty items of value and the seller refused to refund or help, then there's the stolen image to consider....... make your own mind up but the facts speak volumes.
I have to wonder how the damage occurred, I initially thought the cpu had been dropped but surely that wouldn't embed the corresponding pin into the cpu pad, my thoughts are too many volts to the "never overclocked" cpu caused the contact to heat up and fuse together, I'd read this about some 1156 boards in my research.
Gibbo suggested I sent the cpu and board in so he could test as I didn't have anything else to test them with, although I didn't want to use them, I have read about unused pins so wondered if I'd still get the use of them.
So sent them in and a few days later Gibbo reported back that they were indeed faulty and unusable, great.
But Gibbo said to let him see what he could do......
So a massive effort put in by the man himself, he reported back asking if I'd like a 3820......err, yes, of course I would! Its way over what I was going to buy, I was absolutely delighted!!!!!!!!!
I still had to buy the motherboard so I read reviews and the best value for money seemed to be the Asrock X79 Extreme 4, so I promptly ordered one, along with an Akasa Nero 3 and Gibbo sent out the 3820.
All built up no probs and running like a Swiss watch, its taken a few moths to sort out but I couldn't be happier.
Though the upgrade did end up costing me more as I've bought two motherboards and two coolers, at least I've come out of it with a higher upgrade than I'd planned, it has ended up costing me a bit but I could have ended up with nothing at all.
So I would like to thank Gibbo personally for going to a massive effort on my behalf and coming back with the cpu and a deal for me which made my upgrade finally possible. It means a lot Gibbo, thank you very much indeed. I won't forget it!
I also want to thank the OCUK team, ThundyCat and Huddy in particular for taking the time to look into this matter and even contact the seller on my behalf, despite the sale being a non-OCUK transaction where they made no profit. Thank you gentlemen!
I doubt other etailers would have went to these lengths.
As to the seller, what can I say, well what I'd like to say isn't allowed on the forum so I'll just leave it at the facts above, as they clearly shows they type of cunning person you are, congrats mate, spend my hard-earned money wisely.
Although I haven't named the seller it's easy to find.....
Thanks for sticking through and reading folks.
Jamie
and if he did it no matter how or if he knew or not it still sucks for you 
Always take good clear detailed photos before sending stuff, maybe with the buyers address label you are going to attach visible in them so it can be seen that they are not old photos.