Discussion Gigabyte voided warranty on a fake claim of "water damage"

[plunix]

I put my Gigabyte z390m gaming in for a warranty repair after having issues. It's a long trip to California, which is my first lesson on not buying Gigabyte. I swapped the cpu cooler, and once I hit the windows boot screen the computer crashed and wouldn't post anymore.

They send me pictures saying it has water damage and cannot be repaired. I will stay away from this company from now on. I have never had liquid come into contact with this motherboard. It's an absolute bogus claim and I'm livid. This isn't the first time I've heard of a bogus warranty refusal by them.

Has anyone else had this nonsense happen to them?

 

[chaoyang]

Although unlikely, but it could be due to humidity in your room and PC.

Another possibility is that they got your motherboard mixed up with others. If I ever have to send back my components for repair, I would always take a picture of the whole thing including its model and serial numbers. Any luck with that?

 

[punkncat]

I once had a really bad customer service issue with Samsung. I was angry and frustrated. This was back when MP3 players were all the rage and this particular model was one with a screen and due to demand and the Christmas season I was SUPER lucky to have gotten. The screen got broken by a visiting friend on Christmas day. I inquired about service, didn't even want it to be warranty, just replace the screen. This was also during some of the beginning of the right to repair thing and a screen simply wasn't available, offered to sell me another one at a higher price than I had paid due to a promotion. I was never going to use Samsung again....

Well, the reality set in that they make some of the best TV's. They make what I consider among the finest SSD. They make superb phones and other electronics.....yeah, I could throw a tantrum to no effect and essentially bar myself from smart purchases, or...

Gigabyte makes good products within it's range. I cannot speak to the circumstance of your issue, but admittedly the pictured damages are questionable. I cannot imagine a company staying profitable long if they just checked off every warranty repair that came in simply by good faith.

In the end, the decision is yours to make, but for the price of a motherboard it might be worth consideration, or not. Sorry that it happened to you.

 

[carocuore]

Has anyone else had this nonsense happen to them?

Yes, but not to me directly. Unfortunately it's fairly common when dealing with this brand, friend of mine had bought a graphics card made by Gigabyte (I know...) and it suddenly died when he was playing a game. They refused to repair it even though it was covered by the warranty.

 

[Zerk2012]

From the top picture I would not warranty it either.

 

[DRagor]

What is seen on your pictures is clearly physical damage. That never qualifies for warranty repair. The two questions that immediately arise are: whether it is your board or Gigabyte mixed something up; and whether it was in that condition when you send it to them or maybe it got damaged in transport. In both cases it requires further investigation to find the cause.

 

[revodo]

That's very odd physical damage. It looks like something was raked across the board itself. That's not really something you'd see unless it was intentional.

Prosecution moves to motive, your honor. Who would intentionally damage a motherboard? A customer, knowing that physical damage would void said warranty, or the manufacturer that wants to keep costs down?

 

[USAFRet]

I see stuff and/or damage on that board that did not come out of the factory.

 

[johnsoner13]

You say the water damage claim is bogus. But you don’t really acknowledge the clear damage or say “it wasnt there when i sent it to them” or anything like that. To me it seems like you damaged it, and I dont blame gigabyte.

 

[NightHawkRMX]

I clearly see residue from a liquid and other damage. I would not honor warranty either if i was Gigabyte.