RMA Advice (Not OCUK)

pandem0nium

pandem0nium

pandem0nium

Soldato
Joined
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Solihull
Hi All

I Ordered an AM5 CPU and MB bundle from a Bolton based competitor. Board is an Asus Prime B650 Plus.

First board I ordered had bent pins in the socket. I took pictures, sent it back and the RMA went smoothly and I received a new board in about a week.

Second board looked fine, so I installed it in a case and added the other components. Then I discovered that the top M.2 slot wasn't working. The NVMe drive works fine in another slot. I have a picture of the socket from when I received and checked it.

Second RMA request raised. it took a lot longer this time for it to be processed or looked at, about a week. I was told that the board was physically damaged. They uploaded images to the order with bent pins in a socket.
The pins were fine when I sent it back. I reattached the socket protector when sending it and it was packaged sufficiently to prevent damage. In hindsight, I should have made a vide of me packaging up the item including the state of the pins.

I was told that because the board was physically damaged, that the warranty didn't apply. And that if I signed an agreement admitting fault, that they would send it to ASUS to see if it can be repaired.
I declined to sign the agreement because I'm not responsible for the damage. They said that the best that they could do is offer me a free repair, which I accepted.

Thoughts at the time were that ok, they'll replace the socket, test it, send it back. That's not not a bad outcome, as long as I get a working board. What this actually meant was they needed to ship it to ASUS to make the repair.
So far it has two months since I have returned the second board. I asked for an ETA but have been told that they can't give me one.
I have said that 28 days is the reasonable time for resolution according to the consumer rights act. They are just saying that the Consumer rights act doesn't apply because of the physical damage.

Can it be the case that retailers can just say there is damage, we have no liabiliy? Even if the damage has occurred during the RMA process after it has left my posession.

Has anyone else had a similar repair by ASUS and have an idea of how long it should take?

And any advice as to what actions I can take would be appreciated.

I can upload the images from both parties later if anyone would like to see them.

Thanks
 
mickyflinn said:
It's about proof and this is always a grey area if you don't have any as they can say whatever they want.

Have you got confirmation they sent it to Asus otherwise it's likely sitting in the stock room if you didn't sign an agreement ?
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I have been told that the board was received by ASUS on 23/06. But no paperwork or anything.

I only have the image of the socket from when I received it and can confidently say that I sent it back in the same state.
 
mickyflinn said:
Unfortunately your just going to have to roll with it as really they have no obligation to do anything but at least it's with Asus.

Which to me is some sort of admission or good faith as long as there carrying the cost.

Only thing is if you paid by card then contact your bank/visa for help and advice.

Did you buy another motherboard ?
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Yes, there's no cost to me for the repair.

I paid via paypal, which would have used a pre-paid debit card. That was on the 4th of May. Not sure if I have some protection there still, I'll look into it.

The CPU and RAM were shipped to them as well, to test them all together. They still have posession of those.
 
Tetras said:
Sealed item? I didn't think Asus sealed their boards or static bags anymore.



Curious, though possible they weren't new either?
Click to expand...

Yeah, no outside seal around the box. I think that the anti static bag had an unbroken paper label seal but I can't really remember. It had a like new appearance but could have been a used board as you say.

Review samples I think. He spoke about it in the video about dropping them as a sponsor.
 
mickyflinn said:
I agree.

Then you should press the situation the extra week was just to cover your bases by finding out where you stand.
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I'll give it a day to see if I get any more feedback, then go down the paypal route to see what I can do there. Not thrilled with the idea and it'll probably burn whatever bridges with that retailer in the future.

Their customer service is basically a brick wall.

"We have no legal obligation to provide you with any resolution on physically damaged goods other than to have them to returned to you. We have offered you a repair that we are willing to cover the cost of as goodwill. I'm sorry to hear that you are not happy with us trying to obtain you a resolution that you would be otherwise not entitled to."

I don't think they're doing me a favour.
 
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mickyflinn said:
I feel your frustration.

I personally would have brought another motherboard to get up and running and then waited for a resolution as I have no patience but not all people can afford to do that.

Hopefully PayPal will support your case.
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They still have the CPU and Ram. That's good in a way, since in the case of a refund, they would need to have the CPU and board back as it was sold as a bundle.

Buying another board and asking for the items back might be a good option. But it means more cost up front as you say and having to try and sell one of the boards once it's all resolved. And that means more hassle on my part and losing probably 30% on one of the boards.
 
I've gone through the problem resolutiuon process with Paypal. I included an edited down version of my original post and upladed my image of the socket.

Your message has been sent to the seller​

Case ID:
You'll need to give the seller some time to respond to your message. We suggest that you work with the seller to amicably resolve the issue before 4 September 2023 at 11:34:06 BST.

Fingers crossed this sorted out. Thanks for the help.
 
Update for anyone interested.

It's taken a while but today I got a refund offer from the eTailer via the Paypal resolution centre.
They want me to return the items and provide tracking information though.. which of course is impossible. I've just included some screenshots and numbers from when the pickup was organised.
Hopefully that's all right and it'll get processed soon.
 
mickyflinn said:
Great result

What's your plans ?
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Yeah cheers, I'm glad there's light at the end of the tunnel.

Not sure yet, I'm mulling over a well priced Asrock Matx B650 to then pair with a 7600 / 7700 / X3D and 6000 ram.

Or sensible options:

Put a 5800X3D in the existing PC.

Upgrade in the next CPU cycle.

I'm not in any hurry, I'm playing some older games at the moment anyway, where it doesn't really matter.
 
What do you all think about this?

"
Good morning _,

I have been informed by our PayPal team of the dispute that has been opened up against the returned goods. They have advised that as we have received the goods repaired that the best way forward is to issue a refund in this instance.

If you can please close the dispute so that we can issue the refund sooner, that would be great. Please let me know when you have closed this off and I will get the refund issued for you.

Best regards,
"

Closing the case doesn't sound in my best interests and I guess that I'd forfeit the buyer protection.
But it'd be nice to see the end of this.

Paypal status is:

We've contacted the seller
Seller is expected to respond before 18 September 2023
 
mickyflinn said:
That's what you want a refund.

Correct ?
Click to expand...

That's right, yeah. And sooner would be better than later. It just seems off / suspect to me.

Thekwango said:
asus and the bolton crowd......that was always a big ole double risk.

contact paypal again and advise them that the seller has asked you to close the dispute and see what they make of that.
Click to expand...

That's a good shout. I'll see if I can add it to the case.

And yeah, I've learned my lesson for sure.

Thekwango said:
aye, sounds like a ploy to get the customer to close the case, then they'll find some new issue or other which causes them to put the refund on hold while they 'investigate' meanwhile the customer is screwed because they've closed the dispute so paypal won't be interested anymore
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That's what I'm worried about. I'd be somewhere without a paddle.
 
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I've had another, almost identical message from the eTailer today:

"Mr _,

Good Afternoon

I have been informed by our PayPal team of the dispute that has been opened up against the returned goods. They have advised that as we have received the goods repaired that the best way forward is to issue a refund in this instance.

If you can please close the dispute so that we can issue the refund sooner, that would be great. Please let me know when you have closed this off and I will get the refund issued for you.

Best regards,"

I didn't respond to the last message. I uploaded the previous message as additional information to the Paypal dispute.

I think I'll just repond and say I'm not going to do that.
 
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I've just said

"
Hi,



I don’t think it’s a good idea for me to close the Paypal dispute. I’d be giving up the buyer protection and I’d have no recourse if you didn’t refund the money. I think it’d be more sensible to let it run it’s course .



Cheers
"
 
I checked the case just now.

Case Status:Closed
The case was closed in your favour.

No email or anything about it. But I can see the refund show up on Paypal. Nothing showing up on my card yet. Hopefully it's just being processed or something.

Happy to be at what seems like the end of this now. Thanks all for the help and support.

edit:

I've got the refund. It's gone back onto a prepaid debit card, which means it's basically burning a hole. Will look out for some deals around black Friday.
 
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