I see my rant was removed from my other thread. So I shall simply post the brief overview here, without the excessive $#@!%#@!.
Company Name: PowerColor
Product: Radeon HD7970 V3 (model #: ax7970 3gbd5-2dhv3)
Warranty Period: 2 Years
Date purchased: April 2013
Date RMAed: November 2013
Where it was sent to: US, California, City of Industry
Ease of RMA: Assuming 10 is most difficult, and 1 is least difficult. My difficult RMA was a 7.
Any extra fees?: Yes, $25 - $30 in shipping fees, to ship from Richmond Hill
Wait time: First time, 3 weeks (1 week to ship there, 1 week to process, 1 week to ship back)
Second time, 4 weeks (1 week to ship there, 2 weeks to process, 1 week to ship back)
Details: The first time around, registering and sending in the card for RMA was easy. However, it was until after I got my replacement card, that it became a painful process. They basically sent me a lemon for a replacement (i.e. I unboxed it, installed it, booted my rig, and then my screen was overwhelmed with thick vertical lines).
After calling them, they wanted me to test the card on another machine and send them pictures. I tested on two other machines, and took pictures. I sent them the results and they asked me to ship the replacement card back to them, but they did not want to cover the shipping fees, even though I was not at fault, and they're the ones who sent me a replacement lemon.
After 30 mins on the phone, they agreed to cover the shipping, as long as I shipped with the least expensive option with Canada Post, and included a copy of the shipping invoice in my package. I did all of that. When CanPost/USPS confirmed that they received the package, RMA services said they could not locate my parcel.
A couple days later, they said they found it. They said they tested it for two hours on one machine, and two hours on another, and found nothing wrong, thus negating the need to reimburse my shipping fees. What a load of horse-baloney, because I tested it on my colleague's rig and my friend's rig (so 3 very different system specs altogether) and got the same problems, and my old 6850 and the second replacement 7970 works perfect on my rig, so I know something was wrong with the card.
They said they could send me the exact same card back, or yet another replacement. So I settled for another replacement. Thank God this second replacement works perfect (btway, these are not BNIB cards, they're "replacement" cards).
To sum it up - sent me a replacement lemon; then asked me to test on multiple machines and take pictures; then initially didn't want to reimburse shipping fees for second RMA; then could not find my parcel; then said nothing wrong with the card; then said "no, we are not reimbursing you the shipping fees". If that's not a bad RMA experience, I don't know what is. I guess they could've screwed me even more, by not sending me a replacement at all.
Satisfaction: Assuming 10 is most satisfied, and 1 is least satisfied. My experience was 1.
*EDIT: I dug-up some emails. After I sent the pictures of the problem on my rig and my colleague's rig and my friend's rig, here's RMA Services' reply - "Thank you for your time in verifying that the card is the root of the problem. As soon as I receive the card, I will try to get this issue resolved as quickly as possible"...and they have the nerve to tell me that nothing was wrong with the card, just because their own testing did not yield the same results...
