EVGA claims minor rust as physical damage. What do you think ?

[Maxx_Power]

I'm posting this for one Toms member here, who seems to be is being shafted by EVGA! It is not my problem, I usually just help others. In this case, I think "lpedraja2002" is being unfairly (screwed) treated by EVGA.

Original thread here:

http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/382231-33-evga-rust-considered-physical-damage-charged#t2874451

BASICALLY:

"To make things short I sent my awesome EVGA 8800gt ... for an RMA... Well, after $25 in UPS charges for a small box ( I live in Puerto Rico) I received an email today saying that the card had physical damage Rust! The technician ...included the pictures in the email and I could see that the screws had a little rust on them and so did the bracket on the DVI ports. I was instructed to pay $69.99 to continue with the RMA but this is where I'm honestly confused. Is this even considered physical damage? I always took good care of this card and cleaned it with compressed air only so rust happening is not my fault, its what happens to metals that aren't treated, as far as I know.

The technician responded back saying that rust and corrosion is not normal wear and tear and that they have cards older than 5 years that look like new. I told him if there is any special consideration regarding the country in which the owner lives since I live in Puerto Rico and the tropical climate ranges from hot and humid to cool and humid with humidity reaching up to 80% or more. So given these living conditions can we assume it is a natural environment for rust to develop along the years?


EVENTUALLY.

He said he reduced the price to support me better from $69.99 to $39.99 I was quite disappointed that he didn't respond to my initial question about the climate I live in being the factor of the rust. Do all companies charge their costumers when RMAing on Lifetime Warranties?



UPDATE IMAGES:

"

WHAT DO YOU THINK ?

 

[smorizio]

as a pc tech that does not look like rust in the photo but tobacco colored dust. google images and you see the color is close to a rust color. also depending on the area where you live it might be clay dust. I would ask them to blow the card out with some high pressure air and see if the gunk falls off. if it does it was dust. and dust is not going to cause a faulre.

 

[lpedraja2002]

as a pc tech that does not look like rust in the photo but tobacco colored dust. google images and you see the color is close to a rust color. also depending on the area where you live it might be clay dust. I would ask them to blow the card out with some high pressure air and see if the gunk falls off. if it does it was dust. and dust is not going to cause a faulre.

Well, no one in my house smokes, I think you mean the color of the dust? Well my friend I can surely tell you that Saharan Dust (that's what its called here) is a major player here to make it look like that. I know this from experience, it doesn't happen in a week, it takes some time but as time passes and we get hit by more of the dust you'll end up with dust that looks like that. I have only seen it when I clean the top shelves that are near windows in my house and guess where my PC was all these years?

 

[lpedraja2002]

I think there is a clear, scientific way to resolve this issue for those who does think the environment is responsible (and even then, I'd argue it is the responsibility of EVGA, much like rust-proofing production cars sold in the snow belt by the manufacturer to last through the "rust perforation" warranty period):

take some pictures of the computer you used the card in, and show that the screws in the computer NOT on the EVGA card are not rusted. This way, we KNOW SCIENTIFICALLY that the screws/springs EVGA used are not properly acclimated to the environment it is sold in.

Hmm... interesting, I do not believe the other screws inside my case are affected by rust. I will take pictures this weekend when I have the time, thanks for the suggestion. I already payed the repair fee but I will include all of this in the review link they give you when the RMA process is over.

 

[badtaylorx]

evga sucks, but com'on man!!! 5 years out of a gfx card and you want THEM to replace it???

find a side job and get a new card

 

[lpedraja2002]

evga sucks, but com'on man!!! 5 years out of a gfx card and you want THEM to replace it???

find a side job and get a new card

I wouldn't say they suck, the product did last for 5 years. I was expecting them to replace it yes, I was under the impression that this is what the "limited lifetime warranty" was supposed to do and considering I've never RMA'd the card before I figured I wouldn't have a problem replacing it. Plus, you have to go through tech support and explain the situation to them before the RMA even begins, so the approval for replacement was confirmed and processed by them.

So yeah, I expect companies who promote their warranties with the words "lifetime" in them to replace it after 5 years.

 

[Maxx_Power]

In retrospect, EVGA must think pretty high of their own screws by asking you 40$ to proceed with the RMA on the account of rusty screws...

EVGA products are never cheap to purchase upfront, but who would have thought they employed 40$ screws? AND THEY RUST!

 

[06yfz450ridr]

really wasnt worth rmaing in the first place. better off telling them to keep the thing and credit you towards a new evga card or something. get a 550ti or something the are cheap and do a good job with the newer games.

 

[Maxx_Power]

really wasnt worth rmaing in the first place. better off telling them to keep the thing and credit you towards a new evga card or something. get a 550ti or something the are cheap and do a good job with the newer games.

I think logically this might have been part of the reason why XFX and EVGA have largely stopped the practice of "lifetime" warranties. On the other hand, we've got a slippery slope here with Seagate, Western Digital, Toshiba, Samsung, etc going with only 1 year warranty on their consumer oriented, large volume hard drives, which is in my opinion, retarded.

 

[lpedraja2002]

really wasnt worth rmaing in the first place. better off telling them to keep the thing and credit you towards a new evga card or something. get a 550ti or something the are cheap and do a good job with the newer games.

I think logically this might have been part of the reason why XFX and EVGA have largely stopped the practice of "lifetime" warranties. On the other hand, we've got a slippery slope here with Seagate, Western Digital, Toshiba, Samsung, etc going with only 1 year warranty on their consumer oriented, large volume hard drives, which is in my opinion, retarded.

It seems I forgot to reply with the outcome but since you were very helpful I will tell you. So in the end, I payed the fee which was about $40 I believe but considering I already payed like $30 for shipping I told the EVGA customer rep that for the price I would have been better off buying a brand new 9800gt from Amazon which at the the time cost like $60, I sent him the link to prove it and I asked him If he would consider upgrading the card If I payed a little more, he replied back telling me he would RMA back a GTX550Ti as a "complementary" update. So that's what I've been using ever since and its a pretty good card, it gives almost twice the performance of an 8800gt, so I guess it kind of worked out in the end.

As for your suggestion on checking weather other parts of the case developed rust, well I did check and it did have rust! The screws on the Antec 900, the "gold" metal backside on my X-Fi Xtreme Music, the only thing that I think won't be affected is the overall case (Antec 900) since it is painted black so I guess that gives it some protection. But yeah I'm unlucky as hell, but still I do not believe that the rust cause the malfunction on the video card since basically all my other components have it in some way or the other and they're not affected by it, although the video card is taxed way more in games but still.

I was gonna buy a GTX660Ti but ever since they announced the PS4 I figured I will just wait until the new console arrive and fully upgrade my PC by then so I can still have a kick ass PC compared to the current gen consoles.

Sorry for the ever so late reply but I wanted to thank you for all the help you gave me. Have a good day!