AMD Warranty service

[kapone32]

I had a bad experience with Gigabyte, Asus and Micron(Crucial) with some RMA items. Those experiences influenced me to be leery of RMA services. About 2 months I had an accident that killed my 2920X. I bought a 1900X for $225 Canadian from some German retailer as a replacement. As i have been using the 1900X I was underwhelmed by the performance vs my 2920X. I decided to try the RMA process with AMD so I searched for it and found it. I was asked to take pictures of my CPU in a socket and explain briefly what happened. I did as requested and submitted the required information. The next day I received an email from AMD that my RMA request had been approved. I packaged up the CPU and sent it by UPS Ground. It took 4 days to arrive. It arrived on Thursday the 22nd on the 23rd I got an email notification from AMD that my replacement processor had been shipped. Totally painless, no stress, I was so excited I decided to RMA a Seagate SSHD that has been sitting around. That one does not even have to leave the country, province or city so that should be nice and fast. I guess what I am saying is that it has been very good recently for RMA services from some companies including SP and Adata.

 

[Bill_Bright]

Those experiences influenced me to be leery of RMA services.

You mean there was a time you weren't leery of RMA services?

I think it important to note that RMA/warranty services represent money pits to companies. 100% of their investments in those services come right out of potential profits.

I generally have much better RMA service if I can deal with the retailer (Amazon, NewEgg, Best Buy) instead of the manufacturer. But sadly, in many cases, once 30 days has past, you have to go with the manufacturer. And then, if they determine you can have a replacement, there's a good chance it will be a "refurbished" unit and not a new one. Western Digital is notorious for that. And also, should you get a new one, the warranty period does not reset.

 

[kapone32]

You mean there was a time you weren't leery of RMA services?

I think it important to note that RMA/warranty services represent money pits to companies. 100% of their investments in those services come right out of potential profits.

I generally have much better RMA service if I can deal with the retailer (Amazon, NewEgg, Best Buy) instead of the manufacturer. But sadly, in many cases, once 30 days has past, you have to go with the manufacturer. And then, if they determine you can have a replacement, there's a good chance it will be a "refurbished" unit and not a new one. Western Digital is notorious for that. And also, should you get a new one, the warranty period does not reset.

That was the reason I posted the thread. I was in the same thought process as you. One of my first posts in this forum was a lamentation on Asus and my X370 experience. I know that it is better to deal with the retailer (I totally agree about Amazon and Newegg). I would rather have a refurbished 2920x than a dead one taking up space (especially since they are $750-$1400) . I know what you mean but it would seem that these companies are making good revenue. I sent in a SP 3480 that had died. Within 2 weeks I had a brand new looking 3480 (Government made me pay duties on an RMA).

 

[Bill_Bright]

but it would seem that these companies are making good revenue. I

I agree. But that does not mean they can afford to waste money either. In any case, good after-sales support is good for return business, but not sure, from a business/profit aspect, that is the best business policy.

As someone who owned my own business for many years, and as an individual consumer, I see both sides of the issue.

Edit comment: Fixed typo

 

[kapone32]

I agree. But that does not mean they can afford to waste money either. In any case, good after-sales support is good for return business, but not sure, from a business/profit aspect, that is the best business policy.

As someone who owned my own business for many years, and as an individual consume, I see both sides of the issue.

I understand but it goes a long way with the customer when the RMA process is working, as a single entity it would be difficult to maintain but, every time I take a return back to Amazon the bin (Yes they have a bin you just put your box in) is full but Amazon is not hurting. It is their ease that makes me shop on Amazon first though. I do het

 

[EarthDog]

Cool story.. glad it worked out! Nice to see some positive feedback...regardless if the overwhelming majority having no issues in the first place.

 

[kapone32]

Cool story.. glad it worked out! Nice to see some positive feedback...regardless if the overwhelming majority having no issues in the first place.

That is so true I can't even tell you the number of AM4 and TR4 builds I have done. Not one annoying phone call or text.

 

[EarthDog]

The key is to have terrible memory and a realistic perspective (read: myths and statistics) on things. As always horror stories are exponentially more common and the reality is, even from some of 'the worst' (whoever that is), satisfaction levels are still well into 90%...

It also helps to know how to work the system.

 

[CompuNerd2K]

I once RMA-ed a radeon 240GB SSD that decided to start going bad exactly 2 years (right up to the DAY) after I got it. In the mean time I had purchased a new separate one as I needed a working computer. Put the warrantly replacement in a case and now a few month shy of 2 yeas since replacement it has had only 5 hours of use but developed bad sectors (according to latest HDSentinel) but still works fine... AMD is great for CPUs but clearly something is up with their SSDs. I have to admit though, their warranty customer service was excellent and super friendly. The only SSDs that gave me a worse experience were Junkston A400 that don't even supply SMART data (lol), and let's say I've lost a few files to those being unable to copy them to an external HDD, but that is a rabbit hole for a different thread.

 

[Caring1]

The only SSDs that gave me a worse experience were Junkston A400 that don't even supply SMART data (lol), and let's say I've lost a few files to those being unable to copy them to an external HDD, but that is a rabbit hole for a different thread.

Did you install Kingston SSD Manager?
That shows relevant data about the drive.

 

[EarthDog]

I once RMA-ed a radeon 240GB SSD that decided to start going bad exactly 2 years (right up to the DAY) after I got it. In the mean time I had purchased a new separate one as I needed a working computer. Put the warrantly replacement in a case and now a few month shy of 2 yeas since replacement it has had only 5 hours of use but developed bad sectors (according to latest HDSentinel) but still works fine... AMD is great for CPUs but clearly something is up with their SSDs. I have to admit though, their warranty customer service was excellent and super friendly. The only SSDs that gave me a worse experience were Junkston A400 that don't even supply SMART data (lol), and let's say I've lost a few files to those being unable to copy them to an external HDD, but that is a rabbit hole for a different thread.

AMD SSD? Confused looking at the thread title... lol

 

[kapone32]

AMD SSD? Confused looking at the thread title... lol

They branded SSDs and RAM at one point.

 

[EarthDog]

I recall the RAM, but not the SSD. Crazy!

 

[kapone32]

I recall the RAM, but not the SSD. Crazy!

I think it was rebranded OCZ or Kingston.

 

[sepheronx]

Glad to hear your RMA experience was good. Only recent RMA I had to do was with Gskill Flare X. Died after a month of use on a customer build. RMA took at least three weeks and cost me $20 for shipping but otherwise, it was hassle free.

 

[Bill_Bright]

I understand but it goes a long way with the customer when the RMA process is working

I agree completely. Often time, it is the after-sale service that sets a company apart from the others.

but Amazon is not hurting.

Sure they are. I mean yeah, what's a couple dollars to company that is worth $1 Trillion? So its all relative. But lost profits are still lost profits.

 

[CompuNerd2K]

Did you install Kingston SSD Manager?
That shows relevant data about the drive.

No wasn't even aware that was a thing. I'd expect any decent SSD to have STANDARD health reporting. At the time I was still using CrystalDiskInfo (nowadays I use HDSentinel on my newer machines). The secondary SSD (A400 480GB) started having issues after a year where Windows would refuse to copy certain files to a known good external HDD, and a few months of sitting unused later the boot drive (also A400 but 240GB) which was purchased when the AMD one went out (about 5 months after the 480GB one was installed) had just from sitting degraded so bad it took TWO attempts to get it to boot (the Windows install was 100% healthy w/ no malware, etc...). Even my friend who has less experience with this stuff was sure the SSD was toast. Never buying Junkston SSDs again. Their RAM is good though (had a stick last in an AMD based system for 8 years, although after 7 years it got a fault in the first 64K that caused BSODs once every few months), and my current desktop came with some as well.

 

[kapone32]

Well my 2920 has arrived and I am stoked.