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How is Gigabyte's support in Canada?

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How is Gigabyte's support in Canada?

I've heard that Asus customer service is virtually nonexistent nowadays, whereas MSI is great for Torontonians who can do drop in replacements, but what about Gigabyte? For Gigabyte mobo/GPU owners, what was your experience with getting dead or defecitve hardware replaced?
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Raident wrote: I've heard that Asus customer service is virtually nonexistent nowadays, whereas MSI is great for Torontonians who can do drop in replacements, but what about Gigabyte? For Gigabyte mobo/GPU owners, what was your experience with getting dead or defecitve hardware replaced?
i filled out the request online got the rma number within an hour. i called in with the rma number and asked to make it an advanced rma. they emailed me the forum i filled it out. 2 days later they shipped out the replacement board. took about a week to get it. i swapped out the board and mail the old one in. only downside is u have to mail the board to California they don't have a depot in Canada were both asus and msi do.
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Raident wrote: I've heard that Asus customer service is virtually nonexistent nowadays, whereas MSI is great for Torontonians who can do drop in replacements, but what about Gigabyte? For Gigabyte mobo/GPU owners, what was your experience with getting dead or defecitve hardware replaced?
Curious to know about the bad experiences with Asus CS in Canada. People complain about RMA service for every brand (except maybe for EVGA), but I haven't heard anything especially bad about Asus's service in Canada lately. If, however, they've gone downhill I'd like to be informed since I usually gravitate toward Asus and MSI because of their Canadian warranty depots.
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birthdaymonkey wrote: Curious to know about the bad experiences with Asus CS in Canada. People complain about RMA service for every brand (except maybe for EVGA), but I haven't heard anything especially bad about Asus's service in Canada lately. If, however, they've gone downhill I'd like to be informed since I usually gravitate toward Asus and MSI because of their Canadian warranty depots.
LOL Asus is worse than Samsung. Here is what Asus will do (and they've been known to do this in many cases)... They will receive your thing, whatever it is--videocard, mobo, monitor, etc--you will have shipped it to them in fine physical shape but Asus will get out a screwdriver and bust up the thing you sent them. Then they will tell you they are sending it back to you, unfixed, because it had "physical damage" on it and they will take pics of said damage and send them to you. They then send your thing back still broken and with the warranty now void too. You know, due to the physical damage they "received" it with :lol:

I think most people RMAing anything with them are taking very detailed pictures with a newspaper and the date, taking pictures of loading it into the box, etc. just to be sure they don't get screwed. Even then they have to cross their fingers.

Asus seems to do this just whenever they feel like it. Typically they do it on things that are a couple years old where don't have replacements and/or they don't want to fix it and/or don't want to send you an upgraded version and/or have to get one shipped in from Taiwan or wherever. Basically when they think you should just buy a new one (for some reason they think you are going to buy something from them after they just scammed you??? :rolleyes: ), that's when they get out their trusty "warranty refusal tool"--ol' the screwdriver :lol: Wouldn't trust any of their warranties that are longer than 1 year because after that they will probably hose you even if it's still in warranty.

Most "bad" RMA experiences have to do with long turnaround times and possibly sending back another broken or DOA item in exchange. Asus' version of bad is a whole other dimension where they actually flat out scam you by just busting up what you send to them, tell you "it was like that when we got it" (so you must have done it before sending it!) and try to close the case on you and whatever warranty you thought you were getting.

Personally I've read enough stories about this scam game they run (there are quite a few same-theme stories out there on the intarwebs), so I'm probably never buying anything Asus in the future, unless it's already 2nd hand and the warranty is already over and not a factor. But definitely don't buy something from them and expect a warranty...or honesty either.
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ES_Revenge wrote: LOL Asus is worse than Samsung. Here is what Asus will do (and they've been known to do this in many cases)... They will receive your thing, whatever it is--videocard, mobo, monitor, etc--you will have shipped it to them in fine physical shape but Asus will get out a screwdriver and bust up the thing you sent them. Then they will tell you they are sending it back to you, unfixed, because it had "physical damage" on it and they will take pics of said damage and send them to you. They then send your thing back still broken and with the warranty now void too. You know, due to the physical damage they "received" it with :lol:

I think most people RMAing anything with them are taking very detailed pictures with a newspaper and the date, taking pictures of loading it into the box, etc. just to be sure they don't get screwed. Even then they have to cross their fingers.

Asus seems to do this just whenever they feel like it. Typically they do it on things that are a couple years old where don't have replacements and/or they don't want to fix it and/or don't want to send you an upgraded version and/or have to get one shipped in from Taiwan or wherever. Basically when they think you should just buy a new one (for some reason they think you are going to buy something from them after they just scammed you??? :rolleyes: ), that's when they get out their trusty "warranty refusal tool"--ol' the screwdriver :lol: Wouldn't trust any of their warranties that are longer than 1 year because after that they will probably hose you even if it's still in warranty.

Most "bad" RMA experiences have to do with long turnaround times and possibly sending back another broken or DOA item in exchange. Asus' version of bad is a whole other dimension where they actually flat out scam you by just busting up what you send to them, tell you "it was like that when we got it" (so you must have done it before sending it!) and try to close the case on you and whatever warranty you thought you were getting.

Personally I've read enough stories about this scam game they run (there are quite a few same-theme stories out there on the intarwebs), so I'm probably never buying anything Asus in the future, unless it's already 2nd hand and the warranty is already over and not a factor. But definitely don't buy something from them and expect a warranty...or honesty either.
Good to know your perspective, will keep that in mind. I've read a lot of horror stories also but mainly applied to the USA RMA site. I've RMAed one product (motherboard) with Asus Canada and it was a positive experience.

My brother-in-law also RMAed an Asus motherboard in Canada, but his case wasn't so positive - X77 Sabertooth motherboard (which is a known lemon), he did two exchanges, got two refurb boards from them to replace his original, which had a bad memory slot. Both had defective sound (and different serials, so they didn't send back the same one); eventually he just gave up and got a USB sound card before eventually selling that sh$*tty motherboard.

It's kind of hard to choose a good GPU/motherboard vendor these days. I dislike ASRock based on my own experience and their deceptive rebate practices, and Gigabyte also has tons of horror stories in forums, plus USA-only depot. I guess that leaves MSI? I'm sure you can find lots of angry customers out there for them too, but I haven't had any personal bad experiences and they do have a Canadian warranty service.

I can say only good things about EVGA at least. They straight up bought back a 1070 SC from me, six months after I bought it, due to the VRM-cooling fiasco; the vendor (Newegg) told me to take a hike. I think EVGA actually paid me back more than I paid for the card due to currency fluctuations - they covered the shipping cost, taxes, everything. Too bad that model sucked.
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birthdaymonkey wrote: I can say only good things about EVGA at least. They straight up bought back a 1070 SC from me, six months after I bought it, due to the VRM-cooling fiasco; the vendor (Newegg) told me to take a hike. I think EVGA actually paid me back more than I paid for the card due to currency fluctuations - they covered the shipping cost, taxes, everything. Too bad that model sucked.
I actually have an EVGA horror story. Get your smelling salts out!

My brand new 1080 was DOA. I called EVGA and they told me to register the card on their website and call back. I registered it and called back and they basically said "dunno what's going on, you can try taking it back to the store". Thankfully, Mike's Computer Shop was somehow able to scrounge up another 1080 for me.
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ES_Revenge wrote: LOL Asus is worse than Samsung. Here is what Asus will do (and they've been known to do this in many cases)... They will receive your thing, whatever it is--videocard, mobo, monitor, etc--you will have shipped it to them in fine physical shape but Asus will get out a screwdriver and bust up the thing you sent them. Then they will tell you they are sending it back to you, unfixed, because it had "physical damage" on it and they will take pics of said damage and send them to you. They then send your thing back still broken and with the warranty now void too. You know, due to the physical damage they "received" it with :lol:

I think most people RMAing anything with them are taking very detailed pictures with a newspaper and the date, taking pictures of loading it into the box, etc. just to be sure they don't get screwed. Even then they have to cross their fingers.

Asus seems to do this just whenever they feel like it. Typically they do it on things that are a couple years old where don't have replacements and/or they don't want to fix it and/or don't want to send you an upgraded version and/or have to get one shipped in from Taiwan or wherever. Basically when they think you should just buy a new one (for some reason they think you are going to buy something from them after they just scammed you??? :rolleyes: ), that's when they get out their trusty "warranty refusal tool"--ol' the screwdriver :lol: Wouldn't trust any of their warranties that are longer than 1 year because after that they will probably hose you even if it's still in warranty.

Most "bad" RMA experiences have to do with long turnaround times and possibly sending back another broken or DOA item in exchange. Asus' version of bad is a whole other dimension where they actually flat out scam you by just busting up what you send to them, tell you "it was like that when we got it" (so you must have done it before sending it!) and try to close the case on you and whatever warranty you thought you were getting.

Personally I've read enough stories about this scam game they run (there are quite a few same-theme stories out there on the intarwebs), so I'm probably never buying anything Asus in the future, unless it's already 2nd hand and the warranty is already over and not a factor. But definitely don't buy something from them and expect a warranty...or honesty either.
We had fun reading your experiences, and getting educated at the same time! But you had fun that time, right?
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Raident wrote: I actually have an EVGA horror story. Get your smelling salts out!

My brand new 1080 was DOA. I called EVGA and they told me to register the card on their website and call back. I registered it and called back and they basically said "dunno what's going on, you can try taking it back to the store". Thankfully, Mike's Computer Shop was somehow able to scrounge up another 1080 for me.
They probably would have RMAed it for you if you insisted, but if you're within return window it's usually better to return the product to the merchant. I wouldn't call that one a horror story - maybe "less than optimal CS." Doesn't seem as bad as taking a screwdriver to your warrantied item. That said, I don't mean to come off as an EVGA fanboy/apologist. I have no doubt that they mess up plenty. They do seem to be near the top of the AIB industry for customer service, but their actual products have a tendency to be mediocre.

Now, who's got an MSI horror story for us so that we can all just quit buying computer parts. Grinning Face With Smiling Eyes
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birthdaymonkey wrote: They probably would have RMAed it for you if you insisted, but if you're within return window it's usually better to return the product to the merchant. I wouldn't call that one a horror story - maybe "less than optimal CS." Doesn't seem as bad as taking a screwdriver to your warrantied item. That said, I don't mean to come off as an EVGA fanboy/apologist. I have no doubt that they mess up plenty. They do seem to be near the top of the AIB industry for customer service, but their actual products have a tendency to be mediocre.

Now, who's got an MSI horror story for us so that we can all just quit buying computer parts. Grinning Face With Smiling Eyes
Mind you, this was a clearance item that EVGA had stopped producing (it's the original 1080 with the slower 10Gbps memory). The only reason Mike's was able to source another one for me was because there was another customer at a different store who never picked up their order. The awesome clerk at my local Mike's store, whom I spoke with over the phone several times during the fiasco, actually felt anxious for me, since he knew I would never be able to get another 1080 for $560 and encouraged me not to take a refund unless and until all other options have been exhausted.

So yeah, not as terrible as Asus and screwdrivers, but being left in the lurch for 10 days and not knowing what's going to happen is hardly the stellar customer service that everyone loves about EVGA.
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badOne wrote: We had fun reading your experiences, and getting educated at the same time! But you had fun that time, right?
Thankfully this didn't happen to me! However the exact story happened to another RFDer not that long ago. However they fought them until they finally gave in and gave him a replacement IIRC. There are other similar stories on the intarwebs too. Reading them has made me simply say "no" to Asus nowadays.
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Does anyone know if Gigabyte will provide a shipping label to California?
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bigbug wrote: Does anyone know if Gigabyte will provide a shipping label to California?
they will not. if u call them though they can setup an advanced RMA were u give them a cc and they ship u the replacement first then u ship back the old one. when it comes to shipping it in use netparcel https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q ... eli7HVHC1d u will get a discounted ups shipping label it will cost less then canada post and will get there faster. cost would be about 15 bucks maybe 20 at the worst.

also if u bought the board at canada computers and your with in the first year they will RMA it for u at no cost.
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aaron158 wrote: they will not. if u call them though they can setup an advanced RMA were u give them a cc and they ship u the replacement first then u ship back the old one. when it comes to shipping it in use netparcel https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q ... eli7HVHC1d u will get a discounted ups shipping label it will cost less then canada post and will get there faster. cost would be about 15 bucks maybe 20 at the worst.

also if u bought the board at canada computers and your with in the first year they will RMA it for u at no cost.

I second using Netparcel to get cheap labels. I use them almost daily. It even becomes cheaper shipping to the US if you have a Paypal account. If you link your Paypal account on Netparcel to buy labels you'll get a discount on small packages going to the US. (https://pp.netparcel.com/home.action)
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I dunno about Gigabyte, never really had any major issues with their stuff. I had an issue with a MB but I don't recall what happened with that for the life of me, sorry.

I've had good luck the few times I needed MSI RMA (as others mentioned having their depot in Mississauga helps.)

EVGA I had mixed stuff with their RMA. Had issues with a 690 and ended up returning it but got fleeced on the exchanged rate and lost ~$115 due to this, so really left a bad taste to me! They replaced another GPU fine once though. Now having issues with one of their PSUs, but shipping is the bad part now as it has to go to Cali, USA (about $40+) so not really their problem this time.

Asus on the other hand...
I've had to replace more ASUS parts in systems then all others combined over the years. I don't buy their stuff anymore, nor recommend it to family or friends or customers if possible...
I tried to RMA an Asus TUF motherboard a few years ago that had an issue, and their website and all the media I could find said the TUF motherboards had a 5yr warranty at the time. It was just under year 4 of it. They told me it wasn't a TUF motherboard and only had 3yr warranty, even though it says TUF right on it! The manual and all the their website info for it says TUF series as well and they still wouldn't honor it, even though I provided at least 20+ links/pictures/etc of this proof from their own websites.

Zotac had below average support service, so any issues with their stuff I've bought has just been returned. They have pretty cheap stuff imho so I don't usually get anything from them anyways unless requested (and I usually try talking them out of it.)

Sapphire had bad service the couple time I tried with them, wasn't impressed overall.

Nvidia support was brutal as well. When I had issues with a couple 970s they determined it was the cards, so I exchanged them... and had the same issues! I went though this with them for months and went through 10 different cards (970, 980, 780 and 1080s!) before they finally said it was the drivers!!! I swapped to AMD for a bit, and sure enough the issues fixed themselves on the 970 a handful of driver versions later.
Last edited by IcarusLSC on Jan 18th, 2021 8:46 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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IcarusLSC wrote: EVGA I had mixed stuff with their RMA. Had issues with a 690 and ended up returning it but got fleeced on the exchanged rate and lost ~$150 due to this, so really left a bad taste to me! They replaced another GPU fine once though. Now having issues with one of their PSUs, but shipping is the bad part now as it has to go to Cali, USA (about $40+) so not really their problem this time.
how did u lose $150 exchanges rates go up and down but to add up to $150 thats seems hard to figure out. also on the shipping look at the link i provided above for netparcel the discounts they offer to ship to us are so good that i find it can cost less then shipping something within canada as crazy as that is to believe.

only done 1 RMA with evga for a 2070 was super painless called at like 1 am and someone picked up instantly processed everything and since it was within the first 30 days he gave me a pre paid ups label. took a week to get there 2 days for them to ship the replacement and a week to come back.

did one with Sapphire once they were slow to reply to messages they wanted me to try a lot of stuff with delays between each reply. then finally they said ok its bad and tell me to email there Canadian place to deal with it once it got to that though the Canadian place that handles there rma were fast gave me the RMA number right away mailed it off and 2 days later had a new card. but they force u to deal with the head office first to trouble shoot and get a ticket number first witch slowseverything down.

one company that was pretty lame is xfx there email support is slow so slow the take like a week to reply then make u jump though a ton of hoops then they lie and say ur out of warranty so u email them the invoice then they ignore u. finally when u get sick of waiting u try calling an it takes hours of calling back before anyone ever picks the phone up it puts u on hold 5 mins then says no one is here to talk to call right now and hangs up so u call back a couple dozen times going though that and finally someone will pick up.

IMO its better to deal with NVIDIA board partner then AMD all the companies who make AMD cards seem to be subpar when u need help. was so much better back in they day when it was ATI and u could buy a card built by ATI vs some other company. when u RMAed with ATI u could email them and there support would email u back in 30 mins with the RMA number ud ship the card to markham and the same day it got there they would have a new card out to u via ups and most of the time they wouldn't have ur card so they would upgrade u for free to a better one i recall doing an RMA for a 9800xt and getting an x800xt back way back in like 2003.
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aaron158 wrote: how did u lose $150 exchanges rates go up and down but to add up to $150 thats seems hard to figure out. also on the shipping look at the link i provided above for netparcel the discounts they offer to ship to us are so good that i find it can cost less then shipping something within canada as crazy as that is to believe.

...
Sorry that should be ~$115 not 150. I don't know why it was so different, they just kept saying exchange rate and shipping, I argued with them for a few weeks about it. It was an $1100 card back in 2012! :(

When I saw your post about the netparcel actually, I logged into my PayPal and checked it out, got a quote and made a label to send this EVGA PSU back tomorrow. $15.79 incl tax vs $38.22 +tax at CP! So thanks for the tip into going there.Hopefully no issues when I drop it off at UPS.
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IcarusLSC wrote: Sorry that should be ~$115 not 150. I don't know why it was so different, they just kept saying exchange rate and shipping, I argued with them for a few weeks about it. It was an $1100 card back in 2012! :(

When I saw your post about the netparcel actually, I logged into my PayPal and checked it out, got a quote and made a label to send this EVGA PSU back tomorrow. $15.79 incl tax vs $38.22 +tax at CP! So thanks for the tip into going there.Hopefully no issues when I drop it off at UPS.
if u don't mind waiting at home just call the 800 number they will send someone if u have an account on the ups site u can also setup a pick up online.
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The UPS store is quite close. I'll just drop it off tomorrow. I didn't think of doing a pickup till after I had paid for it and printed the label etc, oh well...

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