News Aorus RTX 5090 package from Amazon was allegedly filled with macaroni, rice, and an old obsolete GPU — it's an impasta!

[sollMAN]

The last gpu i bought from Newegg GIGABYTE WINDFORCE GeForce RTX 4070 (in late 2024) when I got it something looked wrong . I did record as I open the box just thinking it got dropped. But when i open the package i could see it was not a new card. It was a return card, box was open and ripped. The card was not in a new rapper, taped in a rapper saying card was checked. Contacted Newegg to return it. sent it back, but they just dragged there feet and did not refund my moeny. Talked to customer serice, uploaded the clip and they said they would look int to it. After a couple of days still no answer from Newegg,I called my card company and told them the story and uploaded the clip I had. Next day the card company called me,said in two days you will ether get a refund from newegg or from us. I do think this is happening more than we think, I never had respone from my card company on issue so fast, they must be seeing this alot. Newegg refunded my money in 2 days Not saying someone at shipping did this or just a mistake, but makes me wonder that someone is switching and stealing the new cards.

 

[spongiemaster]

Sadly this is why every expensive item I open, gets filmed. CYA because customer support isn't your friend. If they can find a way to make you eat the cost of some else's fraud, you will.

Yes, this is clearly Amazon's fault, and not the person that actually switched the product out and defrauded Amazon. If people were honest, we wouldn't see a constant stream of these articles in newsfeeds, and retailers wouldn't have grounds to question the customer. Unfortunately, there are a lot of people that are dishonest and we all pay the price for that. I didn't see if this was sold as an open box of not, but after the Microcenter mass switcharoo, not even allegedly factory sealed products are safe any more. The retailer was certainly not the one to blame in that case.

 

[umeng2002_2]

I don't know if Amazon does direct to business sales, but B&H is used by large corporations; and they stock a decent amount of GPUs. Probably more reliable than Amazon.

 

[dylondev]

I worked as a corporate SDE for Amazon Warehouse Deals for 5 years (10 years ago) and did some extensive analysis on customer return feedback. Fraud like this is fairly common but Amazon catches it most of the time.

What likely happened is that a customer purchased the GPU, swapped it with the other contents, and returned it in a pristine box. If the box does not appear opened, the warehouse associate does not have to open it for examination (grading) and can relist it as new. The OP was then sent the returned GPU without Amazon realizing what it contained. This happens a lot with electronics, camera lenses, and watches, especially in Europe.

This is an edge case with the scale at which Amazon operates. Graders aren't paid much, have an enormous work load, and their jobs hang on their productivity. If a box doesn't appear opened then they are unlikely to check it so they can begin grading the next return.

 

[TheBeastFromOz]

Why would anyone buy something like this from Amazon. Why does anyone buy anything from Amazon, given the total scumbaggery of the billionaire who owns it. Sure, he's not as bad as fElon, but he's still a scumbag, and every sale through Amazon adds to his fortune. Go to dedicated computers stores, people, you must have those in the US? We have dozens in Australia that sell nothing but computer gear. But then, we have decent consumer laws as well...

 

[umeng2002_2]

I do use Amazon a lot, but for GPU purchases over the past 10 or so years, it's all been NewEgg. Sold and shipped by NewEgg.

 

[DingusDog]

If you're going to buy something like this from Amazon, make sure it's sold and shipped by Amazon. I highly doubt this happened enroute.

TL;DR? it didn't say it's from a 3rd party seller just that it had a long convoluted shipping process with lots of stops. Buying directly from Amazon is no guarantee either.

 

[umeng2002_2]

Nothing is guaranteed, but I would assume AIBs ship directly to Amazon warehouses when Amazon itself sells you a GPU.

 

[passivecool]

I have a relative - a seasoned expert - who sells old HiFi stuff. Customers have striped components, soldering no-longer-available chips right off the board or removing the now-sought vacuum tubes, and claimed the article arrived 'defective'.

There are a great number of dishonest 'customers' and abuse abounds. Most honest retailers are very sensitive to their rep.

It is difficult to say where the truth lies in such a case.

I have rice and noodles and a pre-historic GPU in the basement, I could try to save 2000.- that way too. I'm not saying it is so.
I'm not saying it is not so. I'm saying that it is difficult and one should be careful before pointing the finger.

In the old days, when we old wrinkly people were less old and wrinkly, we went to physical stores and bought stuff we looked at first.

This did have certain advantages.