Monday, March 8th 2010
Intel Steps into Alleged Counterfeit Core i7 920 Sale Issue
After last week's report on some of Newegg.com's customers receiving what the store calls "demo boxes" that it described to have been accidentally shipped by one of its "long term partners", Intel stepped in with a clarification on how it looks at these anomalies. In a statement to HardOCP.com, Intel's Dan Snyder said "Intel has been made aware of the potential for counterfeit i7 920 packages in the marketplace and is working to how many and/or where they are being sold. The examples we have seen are not Intel products but are counterfeits. Buyers should contact their place of purchase for a replacement and/or should contact their local law enforcement agency if the place of purchase refuses to help."
The "examples" Intel is referring to in the statement are these so-called "demo boxes", apparently 300 of them, which could be out on the loose. Meanwhile, Newegg.com is making efforts to get in touch with each of the affected customers and rush-delivering genuine merchandise or providing 100% refund, depending on what the customer chooses. While the whole episode seems to have taken a toll on Newegg's image as one of the most reliable, efficient, and competitive online retailers which it built over years, in the line of fire seems to be its "long term partner", a certain distributor in charge of these Intel processors. The same company sent cease and desist letters to some online publications to withdraw their reports on this issue, blaming them for publishing "untrue statements" about it. However Intel's statement adds clarity to the issue. Indeed some customers may have received "counterfeits", and indeed there are no such things as "demo boxes", at least as far as Intel is concerned. That said, whoever is behind these "demo boxes" still stands to face the law for infringement and imitation of Intel's product design, and trying to profit from it.
Sources:
HardOCP.com, TechEYE.net
The "examples" Intel is referring to in the statement are these so-called "demo boxes", apparently 300 of them, which could be out on the loose. Meanwhile, Newegg.com is making efforts to get in touch with each of the affected customers and rush-delivering genuine merchandise or providing 100% refund, depending on what the customer chooses. While the whole episode seems to have taken a toll on Newegg's image as one of the most reliable, efficient, and competitive online retailers which it built over years, in the line of fire seems to be its "long term partner", a certain distributor in charge of these Intel processors. The same company sent cease and desist letters to some online publications to withdraw their reports on this issue, blaming them for publishing "untrue statements" about it. However Intel's statement adds clarity to the issue. Indeed some customers may have received "counterfeits", and indeed there are no such things as "demo boxes", at least as far as Intel is concerned. That said, whoever is behind these "demo boxes" still stands to face the law for infringement and imitation of Intel's product design, and trying to profit from it.
104 Comments on Intel Steps into Alleged Counterfeit Core i7 920 Sale Issue
A company with 2.1 billion revenue to do that? for a 280$, there is something weird here.
That said, I don't really understand what you're getting at here. :confused:
In a way is a bit like your Bill Clinton getting caught out with Monica, it wasn't necessarily the fact he was getting a blow job which did the damage. More the fact that he said he didn't when it was proved he did!
If there is an issue with something I sell, I go to my supplier and ask them why, and they give me a reason. If it is believeable I tell the customer. And in this case, demo boxes are pretty believeable, even with the spelling mistakes.
Them bending over backwards to sort the issues out is newegg being newegg. That is what they do, always, even with small issues that wouldn't publicly hurt their image.
the cpu's can be traced....but i doubt someone will do that(every cpu has a unique signature in 1 system...)
If you have never used Newegg you don't have a say if they are a good company or not. In my experience Newegg is the best online E-tailer.
However, since a very quick examination of the box reveals spelling mistakes that are revealing as to the non-Intel origin of the boxes, reporting them as "Demo Boxes" was a bad move. It might have been a message from D&H they passed along (But should have verified, since they had a huge scandal developing on their hands and probably had a few of those boxes on-hand, as well), or it could've been an overzealous marketing representative who thought it was a clever way to try and minimize the damage (And failed miserably), but this is not the behavior expected from the "best E-tailer to get computer parts from in the US".
Here's a statement it gave to Overclockers.com editor IMOG:
You guys seem to have no idea how business's work. When something like this happens you use a neutral term like "demo boxs" so not to immediately implicate wrong doing until it is certain of what has transpired.
I still think they are demos, perhaps not formally approved by Intel, thus now gaining the term "counterfeit" from Intel's perpective. Originally I thought Intel themselves had procured these but now based on their statement, I suspect a mistake by a distributer. If I were Intel, I'd be sweeping this under the carpet, as they are doing.
And it doesn't take a Newegg shopper to see something wrong, or that only Newegg shoppers are some special species that have the "moral right" to "speak about" Newegg.Since when is it an axiom that "the best" don't screw up? If anything, news of this nature should be encouraged, and not looked at as defamatory or maligning to
the giant Pandora treeNewegg. For starters, Newegg could dump its suppliers for more competent ones, and that could benefit you. Where has "proactive thought" gone?It isn't entirely unheard of to get a 3rd party to make realistic looking demo products. You ever been in a store and seen those fake boxes on the shelves, with tags that say "bring box to counter for real product". I've seen plenty of very bad demo boxes.
And really, if D&H told newegg that they were demo boxes they had made up for another customer to display in their store, that is a plausable thing. I'd certainly accept it an move on, because there are bigger things to worry about.Because if you replace what you steal with something that looks real, you are less likely to be caught instantly. Someone along the distribution chain likely swapped the fakes for the real products, and because they looked real enough, no one noticed.
I mean, do people really think the people shipping the processors, and packing them up in newegg's warehouse are reading the backs of the boxes looking for spelling mistakes before boxing the product up?
The world of computers has no titled ruler and only one rule: Don't. Screw. With. Intel (Or any other very, very large company who would sue your ass off if you somehow threaten their good name - And with right and good reason).
Newegg discovered the problem and their working to correct it, I don't think this will have any lasting effect on their reputation and I am sure steps will be taken to prevent something like this from happening again in the future.
They'll find out where these counterfeit/demo/non-functioning-paperweights were slipped into the supply chain. As long as their customers are taken care of, things will be alright.