Warning Against EVGA support

I've been building for 22 years and used MSI, Asus, Gigabyte, Dell, Lenovo... pretty much name it. I started buying EVGA because their performance to dollar and online reviews seemed good.

Got an EVGA 2060 from their website in the B stock (already opened and returned) because of the discount off of new. It supposedly came with a warranty.

I did a fresh install of Windows 10 and tossed in that card. The system met all required specs for the 2060. Within 5 minutes the system froze. I rebooted and couldn't even get the Nvidia drivers installed before another hardlock. Tried inspecting the card and rebooting again and the boot record for windows at this point was corrupt. I tossed in the old card (1050Ti) reinstalled and everything worked fine.

I contacted EVGA and sent the card back within 2 days of getting it. They hit me for a 15% restocking fee 3 weeks later (on an already open/used card that wouldn't work) and never even acknowledged the return. I asked them to remove the fee because the card hard-locked the system repeatedly (that otherwise ran fine and met specs) and they refused.

I am out almost $80 between shipping and restocking for a used, non-working, already open B stock that they hit someone else with a 15% restocking fee on the other time(s).

I highly advise against working with them.

That's been EVGA's policy for refund returns for a long time. It's a lot less friendly than doing the same through Amazon or some other retail outlets. Their RMA process isn't much better, but at least that doesn't have the 15% fee.

Sounds like a great racket... sell the same broken product six times and you've 15%ed your way to profitability.

Thanks guys, that's exactly what I was feeling and needed to vent it.

I just ordered a brand new EVGA 2060 card, but via Amazon, since their return policy is much more consumer friendly.

is the better business bureau any good?

Mexico's PROFECO gets a few weeks to get started, but once you get their attention, they become quite enthusiastic to rip businesses a new one and like to make it very public for other companies to see.

Hobbes2099 wrote:

is the better business bureau any good?

Mexico's PROFECO gets a few weeks to get started, but once you get their attention, they become quite enthusiastic to rip businesses a new one and like to make it very public for other companies to see.

Generally speaking, the BBB is regarded as "Yelp for old people."

I have an EVGA 2070 I bought over a year ago on amazon. It failed a few months ago and I went through EVGA as it still had warranty and got it replaced in one phone call at no cost. So EVGA are not all bad. Sucks that this happened on your card.

BBB is a scam. Paid positive reviews before the internet.

Medmey wrote:

I have an EVGA 2070 I bought over a year ago on amazon. It failed a few months ago and I went through EVGA as it still had warranty and got it replaced in one phone call at no cost. So EVGA are not all bad. Sucks that this happened on your card.

Yeah, shame this experience was so bad, because I'm still very much an EVGA fan.

EVGA has no questions asked RMA'd two of their products for me and done overnight shipping both times. They had me send the busted one back in the new one's shipping box. Barely 24 hrs inconvenience in both cases.

It is no contest the most hassle free warranty dealings I have ever had with any company.

Thin_J wrote:
Medmey wrote:

I have an EVGA 2070 I bought over a year ago on amazon. It failed a few months ago and I went through EVGA as it still had warranty and got it replaced in one phone call at no cost. So EVGA are not all bad. Sucks that this happened on your card.

Yeah, shame this experience was so bad, because I'm still very much an EVGA fan.

EVGA has no questions asked RMA'd two of their products for me and done overnight shipping both times. They had me send the busted one back in the new one's shipping box. Barely 24 hrs inconvenience in both cases.

It is no contest the most hassle free warranty dealings I have ever had with any company.

That's the experience I have read/seen over the years from people on the webs.

BBB is absolutely, at best, a powerless sham, but old people think it's a real government body because it has "Bureau" in the name. At worst BBB is itself actively crooked, essentially shaking down local small businesses to get a good "rating."

If you used a credit card, I'd contact the card company, explain the situation to them, and see if they'd consider a chargeback. It was obviously a defective item, and you tried to resolve the situation with EVGA. I think it would qualify.

deftly wrote:

If you used a credit card, I'd contact the card company, explain the situation to them, and see if they'd consider a chargeback. It was obviously a defective item, and you tried to resolve the situation with EVGA. I think it would qualify.

Normally I'd agree, but in this case they did an open box refund instead of a warranty claim. It doesn't read like they contacted the RMA department at all.

LouZiffer wrote:
deftly wrote:

If you used a credit card, I'd contact the card company, explain the situation to them, and see if they'd consider a chargeback. It was obviously a defective item, and you tried to resolve the situation with EVGA. I think it would qualify.

Normally I'd agree, but in this case they did an open box refund instead of a warranty claim. It doesn't read like they contacted the RMA department at all.

Credit card companies and banks can and will force merchants to change their policies if they're being jerks and get enough complaints. Chargebacks are a pain for the CC companies too. They have to make sure they're not fraudulent, and end up doing tons of long-term data tracking. I guess it comes down to how angry you are about it and if you want to try another route that might work or might just make you angrier.

LouZiffer wrote:
deftly wrote:

If you used a credit card, I'd contact the card company, explain the situation to them, and see if they'd consider a chargeback. It was obviously a defective item, and you tried to resolve the situation with EVGA. I think it would qualify.

Normally I'd agree, but in this case they did an open box refund instead of a warranty claim. It doesn't read like they contacted the RMA department at all.

Their RMA department is the same for returns or replacements. Can't send them items without an RMA number. Since the card freezing corrupted the boot sector I didn't want to have to go through testing another 'open box' for them and reinstalling everything. I asked for a refund.

I read my card's chargeback policy and since they credited back the amount minus the restock I would have to dispute the original charge and send them back the refund and wait for the dispute process.

I am just sick of the whole thing and done with them. Other people at the Linus Media group forums said they had bad experiences as well.

GoldenDog wrote:
LouZiffer wrote:
deftly wrote:

If you used a credit card, I'd contact the card company, explain the situation to them, and see if they'd consider a chargeback. It was obviously a defective item, and you tried to resolve the situation with EVGA. I think it would qualify.

Normally I'd agree, but in this case they did an open box refund instead of a warranty claim. It doesn't read like they contacted the RMA department at all.

Their RMA department is the same for returns or replacements. Can't send them items without an RMA number. Since the card freezing corrupted the boot sector I didn't want to have to go through testing another 'open box' for them and reinstalling everything. I asked for a refund.

I read my card's chargeback policy and since they credited back the amount minus the restock I would have to dispute the original charge and send them back the refund and wait for the dispute process.

I am just sick of the whole thing and done with them. Other people at the Linus Media group forums said they had bad experiences as well.

So it was an open box return. Yeah. Figured that.

I work in customer and public sector/support. I get told almost daily how appreciative people are of my understanding and that they wish other places treated their issues with the same care. The one thing I do different is treat them like people and not a number.

If they have an issue I make it right. Sure some of the issues are dumb, stupid, not my fault, but that doesn't change the fact that I am given an opportunity to help a person in need. It's not my place to judge others and I always take them at their word. The genuine aspect comes across strong and they treat me with equal respect because of it. I get burned, but it's rare and can happen in any relationship. I stopped being someone for them to scream at and instead am their solution. I get thank you cards in the mail from some of them.

I spent years unhappy in my line of work because I got tired of working with 'stupid' people or people who were a mess. Three years ago I stopped distrusting everyone and instead embraced all our differences. If it wasn't for all these people needing my help I wouldn't be able to support my own family. Customers are my life-line and my security. I am sad to loose a single one and they all have an interesting story to tell. I've become so popular I have to turn work away.

When I get a business that tosses me aside and they distrust their own customers I send a review of the person I worked with and move to a company that appreciates the ones supporting them. We should all be grateful to the ones that make our life possible.

I feel some frustration and pity for the company that tells me to go elsewhere when I ask to be treated like a person. They obviously didn't care in my case and I will look for a company who is interested in helping others and propagating relationships over a 15% fee.

I mean Jeff Bezos figured it out and look at him. No comment on how he treats employees, but the customer feels confidence with their purchases. I lost that in EVGA.

My last three graphics cards have been EVGA (GTX 1070, GTX 1080 to replace the 1070 when it failed, and a RTX 2070), and more than likely my next graphics card will be from EVGA as well. I've only had to threaten to use the bat phone to my contact there ONCE in my entire dealings with their tech support and RMA departments, since I'm really good friends with their head of product development through the convention circuit. Had one of their support agents try to give me the run around before they shipped the GTX 1080 to me. He said his piece, I said connect me to J.F.'s office; and told the agent to make sure he knows who you're speaking with. Few minutes passed, and the agent came back and went straight into apologizing for like two minutes straight. Didn't have any more trouble after that, that's for sure.