My EVGA GTX 980 SC broke. They send me a broken card for RMA. What should I do?

[BHTeam1]

Hi guys,

I am new to this forum, but wanted to ask for your opinion on the situation I am currently in with the EVGA Support.
Here is my story/issue.
I used to have a GTX 460 SC that broke an year ago. Because I was happy with how the card performed and it's life span and knew that EVGA had really good warranty I decided to get a new GTX 980 again from EVGA.
An year later, present day my first GTX 980 SC decided to show black screen when under load. I opened a ticket and after few messages with two different support engineers I got an approved RMA.
Today I received my RMA card and I was "pleasantly" surprised so find out that they send me a card that had a lot of white residue on its back and the fan was making some funky noises and not working like my previous card.
Opened a ticket again and got a reply that everything is fine with this card and I should not worry about the residue as it was solder flux and if I want the can send me a new fan. Researching the solder flux residue, I found out that this is not something that should be still on the board and has to be cleaned as it can capture moisture and create shorts between the components. And there is a lot of the white stuff on the card. My brother studies in Technical University of Sofia and I went to talk to one of his professors about the residue and he also confirmed that it can cause electrical problems with time and has to be professionally removed from the card.

I have asked twice for my ticket to be escalated to the next level of support or to some kind of manager/supervisor, as I don't think the replacement product is adequate to the one I purchased, but so far nothing has happened.
I am really furious about how I got played with this card. Paid 550 euros a year back and now I get treated like I want to RMA some 9800GT card. And can't find a logical explanation why would EVGA do this? Is the EVGA support no longer what it used to be, or at least what it used to be marketed for?

What do you think I should do now? I feel like they played me big time and just send me someone else used card that is making funny noises and have the potential to blow up at any time. I don't want to stress it up so it does not blow my entire machine and take any other components with it.

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A week ago even ordered one of the EVGA 1000W PSU from the T2 series from my local shop. It will ship on 29th and I am thinking of returning it and getting a Corsair, so that I don't have to deal with EVGA support again.

 

[greens]

You don't get a new device when you claim on insurance or warranty. The only exception to this would be an RMA to the store for exchange within the initial purchase window. This is with all manufacturers of any product in any industry.

Flux is not uncommon, it facilitates the solder weld. Perhaps you could take pictures to show that it is in fact an uncommon amount? I am assuming the card doesn't have a back plate otherwise you would never have been able to see it. I assure you moisture isn't going to build up in a case that generates heat, condensation isn't a concern and there would need to be a massive amount of humidity in the air to create a laminar stream, I would, like EVGA, dismiss these concerns.

The fan noise thing is kind of weird, and they offered you a replacement to install yourself? Kinda weird too, sometimes the shrouds are tough to remove without taking the entire heatsink off. It isn't just a bit of dust or debris or a wire or something that got moved in shipping? those things happen and aren't a huge deal, just a bit of pressure can often get things working just fine.

Overall you were able to do a warranty exchange on a premium item near a year after the purchase? I'd be upset about the card failing, but honestly EVGA honoring the claim... it isn't a bad thing.

Post some pics of the card flux, if it is really bad i'm sure people with EVGA will be willing to take another look.

 

[junkeymonkey]

I been a evga fan and would speak highly of them and there great support but as all things times seemed to have changed

to me now today there no better of then any brand you got to deal with all that good old evga is now a thing of the past it seems

I would keep insisting on another replacement [like said above send pictures ] and hope for the best that's about where all you stand and if not satisfied that you just know better next time ? [ this I noticed with them right after the 900 cards were released in how they ''changed'']

good luck