Sapphire R9 290X Tri-X OC warranty issue

Hey,

I have an issue with my GPU and I wanted to ask people here on the forum what their opinion about it is, please. The card was purchased in the UK!

So, the card ran very well for 10.5 months. Card has been run in a well-ventilated case, very little dust, ran without overclocking (didn't need to really for 1440p).

-> The card was still great but one fan's bearing went and made noise all the time.

Contacted Sapphire, they said contact retailer. Contacted retailer, send them the card, they confirmed the fault. Retailer then send the card to Sapphire, could take up to 28 days for repair / replacement.

Retailer got back to me after 3 weeks, saying that they (Sapphire) cannot replace or repair it (Retailer did not give any further details as to why that is yet). The retailer also does not have the 290X Tri-X in stock anymore, only the Vapor-X, which I cannot have (costs GBP331).

Retailer says that the card has 2 years warranty, I used it 11 months, so I get a little over 50% of the price I paid back (GBP 412 in Feb 2014). The retailer has yet to find out if I can back the card at all. They're thinking what to suggest to me atm....

--> The retailer implies that the useful expected life is 2yrs=warranty, which means I should expect any graphics card with 2yrs warranty only to last 2yrs, any card with 1yr warranty to last only 1yr, and so forth...  I don't think that's ok (for the UK) - according to the  Sales of Good Act, expected life can be up to 6 years even if there is no warranty that long.

 

How long should a non-OC'd card that has seen little use and proper treatment last for? 3-5yrs? 

Please, does this make sense? I paid GBP412,- 11 months ago, been out a card for almost 5 weeks now, and cannot buy a replacement 290X or similar for just over GBP200,- ... 

I again wrote Sapphire to check why they cannot repair or replace it. The retailer does not seem to care and Sapphire has done nothing after 4 messages to them.

:( Thanks

(speak with your retailer - you are not American (you have no freedom) so you have to go through them)

Tell them to replace it with new one, if they cannot fix it. During 2 years of warranty they have responsibility of fixing / replacing your gpu. Sales of Goods Act will only protect you in UK/Ireland, so your retailer will be forced to give you new one if Sapphire fails (sapphire is a Chinese company) but you can take them to community/small courts if they won't replace your GPU with new one in -(check your warranty info)- there's all info there after what time they have responsibility to replace gpu.. By no means will they give you refund, and don't ask for it since you'll loose on it... Ask for replacement. and it must match the specs or be over it.

Wow, that was quick :))

Thanks, I appreciate it. I am still trying to 'read' through all the warranty info / the EU/UK rights. After all, only a fan was broken... Should not be a big deal i thought, apart from the waiting time.

Got a call from the retailer only yesterday evening and did not expect this issue at all. But at least I was quick enough not to agree on anything on the phone, the guy was surely trying to talk me into the cash deal.

I will post back what happens next / when there's more info after speaking to them tomorrow.

Many thanks!!!

Hey, a short update:

I was on the phone with Novatech this morning. They indeed calculate their remaining cash value based on "(warranty period - months used) / warranty period", which generally does not seem fair. This way, everything would be worthless at the end of the warranty period, which is definitely different from the idea of "useful expected life". 

In my case, the rep on the phone assumed the Tri-X has 36 months warranty (I think it is 24, but I did not comment on it), which ended up in 24/36 (10month use) and around GBP299 cash value. I then asked if their purchase price of the Vapor-X they had in stock (GBP332) was around that GBP299 mark. The rep checked with the manager, and they now agreed that they will send me the Sapphire R9 290X Vapor-X as replacement.

So, it worked out ok for me (apart from the colour ;)) but I gotta say that their method is weird at best. I am definitely sure that it was not the rep's way of doing things, it was very clear that it was how he was told to do it.

Thanks again, CyklonDX!

k

 

nice come up

yeah, that worked well i guess? Still they should be apologizing to you, and within international warranty norms they need to repair / replace your gpu/hardware with same or faster model. They shouldn't' make any calc's like that at all - especially showing you this. Its this or sue their asses to ground. They need to feel that there's no playing with this customer. He wants blood, and he'll get it if they are not nice and fulfill their lawful part.

This is for all rma/warranty and sh*t like that, don't play games with them. Be straight, angry and with law on your back - if law is not completely on your side bend it to be. Attack them... and threaten them... and if they still want to play ball sue them, and make it public...

Looks like it was not that great after all - not the replacement process itself, but the QC of the replacement card.

Before I got the card, I read some reviews of it. I know Logan also reviewed the card and praised it. One thread here: http://www.overclock.net/t/1506751/sapphire-290x-vaporx-thermal-pad-quality-control-issues was a bit worrying...

Got the card today, looked at it, and a bit of plastic sticking out at the side. So, being a tinkerer anyway, opened it up and found: forgotten plastic wrapper on thermal pad for the PCB cooling and one thermal pad for the memory missing entirely.

I fixed it for now, removed the wrapper and installed some 5yr old thermal pad from one of my old gpus.

I am really disappointed with Sapphire. Their policies and RMA does not do what it should (and please, don't anyone tell me I could have gotten another fan elsewhere, that is not the point!). And then I get a new card, well, it is blue, and the PC in question is black&yellow... And finally, that card was not properly assembled.

I am sure there are plenty of people out there who never open their card. And then, if their card runs too hot or the memory fails, maybe it was the plastic wrapper or some missing thermal pads. Derp.

Ed from Sapphire seems like a nice guy. And I am pretty sure he is happy. He has easy access to spare fans and thermal pads, and he is allowed to open up the card without voiding the warranty. Well, apparently that is not true for Sapphire's customers. "Supporting the gaming community" ??? Don't get me wrong, I like Sapphire (well, not sure anymore), but I had products from them in the past. I feel a bit like I am paying people like Ed to go to LAN parties all the time, while I sit here, had to wait for repair, no sorry replacement only, and finally repair the new (and BLUE) replacement from them. It's just sad.

Sapphire has a separate RMA company called Athlon Micro. Sapphire does not handle RMAs themselves. 

And the way Cyth was bashing them for being from Hong Kong is uncalled for. Sapphire has been around since 2001. Every company has SNAFUs with cards. The problem you had was your Retailer tried to screw you. Sapphire did not try to screw you. your retailer knows that Athlon Micro handles Sapphire's RMA's and yet they still "sent" your card to Sapphire. Sure, Sapphire did not contact you directly. Not necessarily their fault. 

I have had my RMA get resolved through Athlon Micro even though I bought from Newegg. My card was good until about 30 days before the Warranty expired. One of the fan bearings went and the card overheated. I now have a new card.

What your retailer most likely sent you was a Refurb VaporX. the idea that your Retailer no longer carries the Tri-X is ludicrous. If they had to replace it, they could have easily requested another from Sapphire. Sapphire STILL makes them.

Yeah, I hear you. I am pretty sure that is bang on.

I am sure that this was my last purchase with Novatech. I am not bashing Sapphire as such, but apart from going through a lot of sh.. or even small claims court, I would have a hard time getting somewhere with NT.

I just wish that the Sapphire Tech guys that said "sorry for the inconvenience" had just taken that time to slap a fan in a bag and in the mail. Would have been so simple. Other companies manage to do that, why not them.

The quality control is on Sapphire though! Forgetting plastic wrapper on thermal pads or forgetting thermal pads altogether is not ok at all. The card was sealed still when it arrived, I am pretty sure that is was bnib. I am always checking for this b/c I purchase stuff from Amazon frequently...... ...... ;)

 

 

its totally called for; forcing customer to go through their retailer instead going to them to be redirected  straight to the Athlon micro. This opens customer to UN-needed hassle and potential being screwed over. If companies are totally fair, and produce quality then they deserve market support, but if they fail something they should be taken accountable for it.

Sapphire did make quite good series this series. Still they didn't come to him clear, they took retailer stance. (basically I don't care)

I did get a reply eventually from Sapphire tech support, after going through sapphire's forum. Overall, not as easy at all, and quite a few messages back and forth.
They didn't really seem to be bothered about the assembly f**k-ups at all. In fact, no comment about it all. They just wanted me to send pictures.

At least afterwards, they said that given I prefer the Tri-X, I should fill in a RMA form and send my replacement Vapor-X to the Czech Republic (costs GBP 25+).
They have a look, and after send me out a replacement Tri-X (but the card only; probably a repaired one from someone else).

I wanted to see how bad they were, now I know. I gave up on this.
The Vapor-X works fine with my replacement thermal pad. I probably end up spray painting it. That's easier than waiting around again.

Personally, I will completely avoid Sapphire in the future. Their products are good, but if something is wrong, their (UK) service is horrifying. If you buy from a good retailer, maybe that's an option, but I didn't apparently. Live and learn.

Well that's nice. I had a same problem back when my GTX 770 went bad. The guy I was talking to on the phone said I should contact EVGA first and RMA before I could get my money back. After I recieved the RMA they didn't sell it anymore and wouldnt give me my money back. They declined that they had ever spoken to me and since I was 16 it would be a hell of a pain to get a lawsuit while I was studying so I ended up with a unwanted card and I ordered a R9 290 Tri-X just like yours. I paid 215£ for it though.

Dude just buy from Amazon. So easy to get a refund. Sometimes prices are high on the UK site but try looking around at the other ones in Europe. I saved 40£ from ordering my R9 290 from Amazon.fr

I know, I do a lot through Amazon, also from Amazon France, Germany, and Netherlands before. Again, live and learn. The best offer might bite you back when there is some trouble with the product and you can't sort it out easily.

But Amazon UK does not do anything after 1yr, they then refer you to the manufacturer. And this card was over a year and I would have ended up with Sapphire as well...

Thanks, k