BFG lifetime warranties are a scam (RMAing a 6800GT)

[niko084]

On a side note here... "Lifetime warranty" when it comes to technology does have a "LEGAL" sidestep, at least in the USA where after the item is considered to be EOL they no longer have to warranty it.

Being a 6800, it's LONG EOL, now that doesn't mean they should be providing poor customer service, but it is well within their right to not replace it.

 

[newtekie1]

On a side note here... "Lifetime warranty" when it comes to technology does have a "LEGAL" sidestep, at least in the USA where after the item is considered to be EOL they no longer have to warranty it.

Being a 6800, it's LONG EOL, now that doesn't mean they should be providing poor customer service, but it is well within their right to not replace it.

As I said before, legally if it is not defined in the warranty policy, it is assumed that lifetime means the life of the customer, not the life of the product in the market. However, in this case, BFG does define lifetime as meaning as long as the original owner owns the product, so the life of the customer not the life of the product in the market.

 

[yogurt_21]

Not really, the closest comparable AGP card is probably the HD3450 available for $50, anything cheaper than that is either an FX5200, 6200, or 9250, which are not even close to the performance level of a 6800GT. And I'm inclined to think that the 6800GT actually probably outperforms the HD3450...

Shipping the card back to BFG is likely to cost under $10, so unless you can find a card that is the same or better than a 6800GT for under $10, your wrong.

Edit: It cost me $3.55 to send my card back to BFG, so that is your target to beat, find an AGP card equal to the 6800GT for $3.55.

they already replaced the same card which has a market value of 20$, comparing it to others is silly.

 

[{JNT}Raptor]

With the Warranty laid out the way it is from BFG....the have to replace it or at the very least should reimburse the cash he has been wasting on shipping their own dead ass cards back to them...that's ridiculous....they send out dead cards and he has to pay shipping back to them......there HAS to be a law that can squeeze them for it.....this is America....the sue happy capital of the world ya know.

Worth it or not.......their lifetime warranty means lifetime warranty.....all you haters should stop trolling the thread telling him it isn't worth it....he just wants what was promised by contract.

Good luck with this.

 

[newtekie1]

they already replaced the same card which has a market value of 20$, comparing it to others is silly.

I'm comparing it to what is available on the market as a replacement, that certainly isn't silly when that is the alternative to RMAing the card.

So right now, your argument is that shipping would be more than the card is worth, well prove that the card worth less than $3.55, or even that the alternative(buying a similarly powered card) is cheaper. Those are the things you have to prove for your statement that shipping would be more than the card is worth. I was even nice and assumed that shipping would a little higher due to the heavier card and said $10, but I don't even think you can do that.

 

[kciaccio]

>>"All products sent in for Return Merchandise Authorization (“RMA”) in connection with warranty claim must include a copy of the original invoice or receipt."<<

Taken directly off the site.

...and how "fucked over" are you going to get when discussing a 6+ year old card anyway?

The simple answer is:

Don't purchase any more of their products.

LMAO

 

[piyokos]

BFG is going down in flames, I'd get your RMAs as quick as possible, so at least if you have to take these bankrupt bastards to court you got something to go on.

Looks like you called it: http://www.hardwarecanucks.com/news/video/bfg-tech-sending-rma-denial-letters-winding-business/

It looks like BFG has finally received the final nail within its coffin and is officially “….winding down and liquidating its business” in their own words. Some of their customers who have recently sent in BFG video cards for RMA have begun receiving the following letter from BFG:


BFG Technologies Inc. is in the process of winding down and liquidating its business. Unfortunately, our major supplier would not support our business. As a result, we are returning your graphics card without being able to repair it. We apologize for the inconvenience.


It seems short and to the point but this will surely yank the short-hairs of people expecting a “lifetime warranty”. It goes to show you though that nothing ever lasts forever.

Oh well.

Just don't worry about it and refrain from buying BFG again? I mean, you got 5 years of use out of it and the card is only worth a few dollars these days. If they send you back another card and it works, yay. If they send you another shitter or you never get anything back, just forget about it.

It annoys me a lot because I've actually chosen BFG over other brands for other systems I've helped build, all over the warranty. It's easier to justify pricier components to people if they're warrantied forever. So much for that.

 

[hat]

my response was why should they keep a warehouse full of graphic cards when the graphics department no longer exists as most people no longer have a BFG branded card, most people have already upgraded to something else. so they would need to pay rent indefinitely because their waiting for people to RMA a dead BFG graphics card once in a bluemoon. they can no longer repair the cards as they probably no longer hold contracts with the people or factories that done the repairs. - you can send a graphics card to BFG but it probably has no where to go = the graphics department who usually deals with it no longer exists. which means they are limited on options when an RMA arrives

Why not just give refunds then?

 

[dr emulator (madmax)]

personaly if i were you i'd get a s/h hd3850 take the horrid cooler off, put a better one on and you should be sweet for a fair while longer,

i only upgraded recently becaue my old athlon xp 3000 just couldn't cut it when emulating (most emu's require sse2 or more)

but the hd3850 can run most pc games great

and like Soylent Joe said you've got 5 years out of it, so it aint all tears, plus if you get something back it'll be a bonus

 

[KainXS]

Looks like you called it: http://www.hardwarecanucks.com/news/video/bfg-tech-sending-rma-denial-letters-winding-business/



Oh well.



It annoys me a lot because I've actually chosen BFG over other brands for other systems I've helped build, all over the warranty. It's easier to justify pricier components to people if they're warrantied forever. So much for that.

damn thats sad . . . . . . so they're doing that for not only their graphics cards but their psu's and everything else too, i got bfg PSU's so damn.

 

[yogurt_21]

I'm comparing it to what is available on the market as a replacement, that certainly isn't silly when that is the alternative to RMAing the card.

So right now, your argument is that shipping would be more than the card is worth, well prove that the card worth less than $3.55, or even that the alternative(buying a similarly powered card) is cheaper. Those are the things you have to prove for your statement that shipping would be more than the card is worth. I was even nice and assumed that shipping would a little higher due to the heavier card and said $10, but I don't even think you can do that.

shipping by the times shipped. first card was rma'd, then returned and still not functional
so he has to send it in a second time.

don't know what you're shipping for 3.55$ but it's not a typical price, most will be 10$ plus for any reasonable delivery date ie within a week, if you're sending slower than your comment regarding rmaing as fast as you can due to bfg closing makes no sense. so by that 10$ plus mark and the 20$ the card is worth working, he's at a loss shipping it twice.

http://cgi.ebay.com/Gigabyte-Nvidia...I-E-Games-/330459398004?pt=PCC_Video_TV_Cards

being that bfg are now sending "sorry we're closing and can't fix your card" letters better for the op to not waste his time or money shipping the card.

you're basically advising his to waste weeks of his time and toss good cash down the drain.

it's bad advice and not typical for you.

 

[Triton.se]

the party is over when money runs out. ..this is scary, but ugly true. I dont feel for the companies and executives, share holders, but for genuine workes and customers.

Share holders, executives etc have their own forums....

 

[Perseid]

Why not just give refunds then?

Because they don't legally have to?

 

[starfreak]

i found this article yesterdday

http://www.maximumpc.com/article/news/bfg_bails_its_customers_refuses_warranty_repairs

 

[Techargon]

purchased a 8800gtx bfg card that went bad, it cost me $24.08 to properly ship my card into BFG's RMA to get the card fixed
(it had a lifetime warranty and that's why i bought this card). Unfortunately they sent me another bad card.
I was very upset at this, and wound up shipping the replacement card back (another $24.08) It was received by their warehouse on Aug.12th.
Today i received an email stating that they are going out of business and that they will just ship me back the bad card.
When i called tech support today i was informed that they stopped receiving replacement parts to fix the cards a long time ago,
and that they have been re-shipping the RMA'ed cards back to different customers since these parts were no longer available after "testing"
them without any repairs being done.

I'm just upset that they wasted my money ($50), if they had told me that they were going out of business i could have saved the shipping money,
but instead they told to me to send, and resend the card.
Also re-sending "tested" cards that have not been repaired as their RMA'ed replacements is just really bad business.
I'm a college student so it looks like i wont be playing any pc games for awhile until i can afford a new card,
luckily (as well as unfortunately) my BFG 7600 still works!

I should probably knock on wood or this card will break too and i'll really be screwed, Haha!

 

[Mussels]

purchased a 8800gtx bfg card that went bad, it cost me $24.08 to properly ship my card into BFG's RMA to get the card fixed
(it had a lifetime warranty and that's why i bought this card). Unfortunately they sent me another bad card.
I was very upset at this, and wound up shipping the replacement card back (another $24.08) It was received by their warehouse on Aug.12th.
Today i received an email stating that they are going out of business and that they will just ship me back the bad card.
When i called tech support today i was informed that they stopped receiving replacement parts to fix the cards a long time ago,
and that they have been re-shipping the RMA'ed cards back to different customers since these parts were no longer available after "testing"
them without any repairs being done.

I'm just upset that they wasted my money ($50), if they had told me that they were going out of business i could have saved the shipping money,
but instead they told to me to send, and resend the card.
Also re-sending "tested" cards that have not been repaired as their RMA'ed replacements is just really bad business.
I'm a college student so it looks like i wont be playing any pc games for awhile until i can afford a new card,
luckily (as well as unfortunately) my BFG 7600 still works!

I should probably knock on wood or this card will break too and i'll really be screwed, Haha!

at least you're here on TPU, you can buy cheap video cards from the for sale section

 

[erocker]

BFG is going out of business.

Nvidia will not supply them with any more parts.

BFG is screwed.

BFG's customers are screwed.

It's unfortunate for everyone, one of lifes "sucks" moments.

/end of line

 

[KainXS]

So what's the real scoop? According to reports, Fermi is partly to blame for BFG's sudden downfall. As the story goes, Nvidia is the major supplier that wouldn't support BFG's business by denying allocation of Fermi parts to the graphics card maker. Once Best Buy learned that BFG was not going to put out new graphics cards, the retail chain drop kicked BFG from its stores altogether, including no longer carrying the company's power supplies.

did nvidia put a knife in BFG's back?

if thats true thats just f**ked up but thats another side of business . . . . . . . sad but sh** happens you know

now like many people on this forum im sittin on 3 BFG PSU's with no warranty . . . . . . . . and its sad because BFG used to be really really good with warranties and had really nice customer service reps before this fiasco.

 

[Mussels]

did nvidia put a knife in BFG's back?

if thats true thats just f**ked up but thats another side of business . . . . . . . sad but sh** happens you know

now like many people on this forum im sittin on 3 BFG PSU's with no warranty . . . . . . . . and its sad because BFG used to be really really good with warranties and had really nice customer service reps before this fiasco.

so few fermi cards were made at first, that nvidia only sent cards to the big boys (asus, gigabyte, etc) - and the smaller ones were pretty much fucked over.

 

[CarneASADA]

just got this email from BFG TECH:

This email has been sent to inform you that BFG RMA number xxxxxxxxx, originally
created on Jul 21st 2010, has been cancelled.

BFG Technologies, Inc. is winding down and liquidating its business. Unfortunately our
major supplier would not support our business. As a result we are cancelling your RMA
without being able to repair your product. We apologize for the inconvenience.

If you have already sent your product it, it will be returned to you.

BFG Technologies, Inc.
14048 Petronella Drive
Libertyville, Illinois 60048

FUG...
my 295 died and was trying to get it RMA'd...

 

[KainXS]

damn man that sucks, whats wrong with your 295, no video or artifacts

try to bake it(what else can you do)

 

[Jflynn0]

BFG is going under I do believe. I read this on Xbit
http://www.xbitlabs.com/news/video/...idating_Business_Denies_Warranty_Support.html

 

[sneekypeet]

BFG is going under I do believe. I read this on Xbit
http://www.xbitlabs.com/news/video/...idating_Business_Denies_Warranty_Support.html

its honestly really old news. It was rumored over a year ago that they were going buttom up, just took this long to finalize.

 

[MetalRacer]

I had a feeling this was coming when a couple of weeks ago geeks.com had new BFG GTX260 OC MAXCORE 55 896MB for $99.99 each + $4.95 for shipping.It just seemed like to good of a deal plus considering the recent terminations at BFG.

However I did pickup two of the GTX260's, I figured it was still a decent deal even if they did go under.

Now what bothers me is I just received a Microcenter paper today and they are still selling BFG VGA's and PSU's at full price to unknowing customers who think they are getting a lifetime warranty.

 

[CarneASADA]

damn man that sucks, whats wrong with your 295, no video or artifacts

it actually worse then that... both my 295's are DEAD...

went to water.cooling...
did everything nice and easy.. took my time.. not too tight... per instructions...
even had a friend check the tightness...
now, both cards don't work...

well sort of.
1... only 1.gpu working. checked the sli.cable between cards... re.sat waterblock.. same results
2... dead... nothing...

sent them both in to get looked at...

i was being so careful too...
i honestly.. didn't do my best at trouble shooting... thought i'd just RMA them...
once i get them back...
i'll do better trouble shooting, worse case..
i'll swap the boards around... try to get one working atleast..

urgh!!