Crucial RMA process experience

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May 1st, 2022 10:50 am

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Mar 14th, 2022 11:14 am

tebore [OP]: Deal Guru; Feb 9, 2006; 13045 posts; 7857 upvotes; Brampton

Mar 14th, 2022 11:14 am

Crucial RMA process experience

First off I want to say if you Google Crucial's RMA Process it's a mixed bag at best if you're in the USA and down right terrible if you're not in the US.

I'll share my experience so people can find it.

I have a 32GB Ballistix DDR4 kit from 2017 go bad. I start the RMA process with Crucial by going to the site verifying my Model and batch code. Warranty valid. However for some reason it never took me to the step where I put in my information to actually start the RMA it would just land me in their store page.

I had to call them to start the RMA process, the rep had to send me an email where I populated all the information. There's no place on the website to check RMA status.
I asked the Rep to outline the timeline for me, they stated to me that once the defective RAM was received that I would receive the replacement in 1-2 Business days usually over-nighted.

I airmailed my RAM to Crucial which was delayed. When Tracking finally showed that crucial had received it I emailed them to confirm and to let me know when the replacement would be sent. At this point the rep says processing RMAs would take 5 business days.

Crucial does not offer an advanced RMA, and does not cover shipping. Worse yet it nonsensically somehow makes the end user responsible for duties on the replacement.

I can like their products but this warranty process really seems like it's designed to discourage anyone outside of the US from using it. A lack of an advanced RMA means extended downtime, shifting the duties to the end user is punitive, eg don't return an expensive product or you'll end up paying a high dollar in duties on it.

I couldn't even get a straight answer on what the expected duty value would be which should be easy to get based on the dollar value of the replacement which I also couldn't get.

tldr. Crucial has a rough RMA process. Will factor in to my future purchases as a warranty that's not worth it.

EDIT:
Latest update. Now they're saying they didn't receive my defective RAM.
crucial-rma-process-experience-2530402/2/#p35849086
WTF kind of gong show is going on at Crucial?

Last edited by tebore on Mar 16th, 2022 11:37 am, edited 2 times in total.

40 replies

Mar 14th, 2022 11:22 am

PerformingAzura: Deal Addict; Nov 1, 2017; 2566 posts; 1752 upvotes

Mar 14th, 2022 11:22 am

Your experience is the norm.

You shouldn't have to pay duties on the replacement, but it's depends on whether they import it as a replacement.
One way shipping is also the norm and advanced shipping is something only a few companies offer.

In my experience, companies with great warranties that go beyond the norm:
Intel, Corsair, Seagate/WD, EVGA

+7

Mar 14th, 2022 11:49 am

aaron158: Deal Addict; Nov 25, 2004; 4033 posts; 2799 upvotes; London

Mar 14th, 2022 11:49 am

u will probably have to pay import fees because Crucial is known to fill out the customs papers wrong and declare the item as a bought item not a warranty replacement. some rfders have fought them and got the customs fees refunded but it was not easy.

suggestion is next time buy kingston ram they are the only ram company who pay 2 way shipping via fedex 2 day air and ship the replacement back via 2 day air and customs papers are filled out right so no fees. they also do offer advanced rma if u want that.

+6

Mar 14th, 2022 12:15 pm

tebore [OP]: Deal Guru; Feb 9, 2006; 13045 posts; 7857 upvotes; Brampton

Mar 14th, 2022 12:15 pm

PerformingAzura wrote: ↑Your experience is the norm.

You shouldn't have to pay duties on the replacement, but it's depends on whether they import it as a replacement.
One way shipping is also the norm and advanced shipping is something only a few companies offer.

In my experience, companies with great warranties that go beyond the norm:
Intel, Corsair, Seagate/WD, EVGA

aaron158 wrote: ↑ u will probably have to pay import fees because Crucial is known to fill out the customs papers wrong and declare the item as a bought item not a warranty replacement. some rfders have fought them and got the customs fees refunded but it was not easy.

suggestion is next time buy kingston ram they are the only ram company who pay 2 way shipping via fedex 2 day air and ship the replacement back via 2 day air and customs papers are filled out right so no fees. they also do offer advanced rma if u want that.

I'm afraid you're both right.
It's just sad in this day and age such a large corporation can be so poor in providing a good user experience.

And yes I've had excellent customer service with those listed brands.

This is my first ever RMA with crucial memory (that's one positive I suppose a relatively low failure rate).

In my Experience any large company that doesn't have an advanced RMA process tends to have a poor RMA process and experience. Chalking Crucial up in that negative column.

Mar 14th, 2022 12:20 pm

aaron158: Deal Addict; Nov 25, 2004; 4033 posts; 2799 upvotes; London

Mar 14th, 2022 12:20 pm

tebore wrote: ↑ I'm afraid you're both right.
It's just sad in this day and age such a large corporation can be so poor in providing a good user experience.

And yes I've had excellent customer service with those listed brands.

This is my first ever RMA with crucial memory (that's one positive I suppose a relatively low failure rate).

In my Experience any large company that doesn't have an advanced RMA process tends to have a poor RMA process and experience. Chalking Crucial up in that negative column.

thing that's funny to is crucial is like one of the oldest ram making companies to been around since the late 70s. ud think they would know how to fill out a customs from so that customers dont get scammed by customs fees. if it happened once because someone messed up that is one thing but i've seen lots of reports of people being charged customs fees. then when they contact crucial they pretty much tell the people to bad our fine print says u have to pay any customs fees so its not our problem that we didn't fill the papers out properly.

i've seen a couple were people said corsair messed up but when they person contacted corsair about it they owned up right away and offered to pay the fees no problem.

+1

Mar 14th, 2022 2:08 pm

alpovs: Deal Fanatic; Sep 16, 2013; 7444 posts; 5080 upvotes; SW ON

Mar 14th, 2022 2:08 pm

Did you actually pay customs charges that are purely taxes and a processing fee as there are no duties on RAM? Maybe crucial figured out how to fill customs forms out properly. You may remind them if they haven't shipped the replacement yet.

Mar 14th, 2022 4:12 pm

PerformingAzura: Deal Addict; Nov 1, 2017; 2566 posts; 1752 upvotes

Mar 14th, 2022 4:12 pm

alpovs wrote: ↑ Did you actually pay customs charges that are purely taxes and a processing fee as there are no duties on RAM? Maybe crucial figured out how to fill customs forms out properly. You may remind them if they haven't shipped the replacement yet.

Shouldn't need to pay any of that.

I've rma'd two (400$+) psus with corsair. They came from the states with no duties.

Mar 14th, 2022 4:24 pm

aaron158: Deal Addict; Nov 25, 2004; 4033 posts; 2799 upvotes; London

Mar 14th, 2022 4:24 pm

PerformingAzura wrote: ↑ Shouldn't need to pay any of that.

I've rma'd two (400$+) psus with corsair. They came from the states with no duties.

exactly i've done RMA with many company's both tech and none tech related and only a couple times have i ever had the shipping company try to charge any fees and those were with companies that say they have rarely had to do an RMA to Canada so the admitted they messed up and took care of it. from the complaints i've seen on crucial when people have contacted them they just use some blanket statement about how we put in the terms u have to pay any customs fees yet if they had just filled out the customs papers properly u would have had to pay nothing.

you already paid the tax when u bought the original item the warranty replacement is free of charge so no customs fees should be due.

Mar 14th, 2022 5:24 pm

middleofnowhere: Sr. Member; Dec 6, 2020; 937 posts; 1043 upvotes

Mar 14th, 2022 5:24 pm

aaron158 wrote: ↑ thing that's funny to is crucial is like one of the oldest ram making companies to been around since the late 70s. ud think they would know how to fill out a customs from so that customers dont get scammed by customs fees. if it happened once because someone messed up that is one thing but i've seen lots of reports of people being charged customs fees.

A company the size of Crucial will have many people--either in-house or contracted--responsible for procedures to move parts and finished product cross-border with a minimum of fees.

The only reason these 'mistakes' happen with RMAs is to discourage returns.

Mar 14th, 2022 5:26 pm

qwertywerty: Jr. Member; Aug 23, 2010; 135 posts; 53 upvotes

Mar 14th, 2022 5:26 pm

Last year I had to RMA two sticks of Corsair RAM I bought in 2017 (I was getting random BSODs). I checked their website and it said all RAM had a limited lifetime warranty so I emailed them along with my amazon receipt. They accepted it and I printed out all the forms and shipped it to California via UPS. They don't send you the new sticks until they check the olds have failed, but about 3 weeks later (maybe less) I got new RAM sticks.

I didn't pay for any shipping or duties. I was pretty satisfied with my RMA and the speed of it.

Although I've been reading that you can get better/faster RAM for cheaper from other brands these days.

+1

Mar 14th, 2022 5:34 pm

aaron158: Deal Addict; Nov 25, 2004; 4033 posts; 2799 upvotes; London

Mar 14th, 2022 5:34 pm

middleofnowhere wrote: ↑ A company the size of Crucial will have many people--either in-house or contracted--responsible for procedures to move parts and finished product cross-border with a minimum of fees.

The only reason these 'mistakes' happen with RMAs is to discourage returns.

exactly but at this point with the amount of people who have complained about crucial its not even a mistake anymore there being told to do it that way. when u factor in shipping the product to the us and ontop of that being jacked for import fees because they refuse to do it properly unless u have a 64 or 128gig kit of ram the cost of rmaing it becomes a waste of money and u can just toss the ram and buy a new kit.

kingston charges a little more then most for the ram but if something goes wrong the will cover all cost and i can't think of any other company who is willing to pay 2 way shipping. some times u can squeeze a free shipping label out of corsair if u complain enough about the shipping cost but its not just part of there standard policy to give it. adata is pretty much no deal on provide a shipping label. haven't tried any other of the other ram companies to see if they would be willing to provide a label as i don't have any other brands of ram that have needed rmaing so some of them might be willing to help out but doubtful.

+1

Mar 14th, 2022 5:39 pm

aaron158: Deal Addict; Nov 25, 2004; 4033 posts; 2799 upvotes; London

Mar 14th, 2022 5:39 pm

qwertywerty wrote: ↑ Last year I had to RMA two sticks of Corsair RAM I bought in 2017 (I was getting random BSODs). I checked their website and it said all RAM had a limited lifetime warranty so I emailed them along with my amazon receipt. They accepted it and I printed out all the forms and shipped it to California via UPS. They don't send you the new sticks until they check the olds have failed, but about 3 weeks later (maybe less) I got new RAM sticks.

I didn't pay for any shipping or duties. I was pretty satisfied with my RMA and the speed of it.

Although I've been reading that you can get better/faster RAM for cheaper from other brands these days.

with corsair u can request an advanced RMA but u have to ask for it u then have to provide them a deposit in USD and they will ship the ram up front. only downside is if u got something like say a 64gig kit and it cost $300-400 usd when they refund u the $300-400 in a couple weeks depending on the exchange rate u could lose as much as $30 on the exchange rate.

+1

Mar 14th, 2022 8:15 pm

tebore [OP]: Deal Guru; Feb 9, 2006; 13045 posts; 7857 upvotes; Brampton

Mar 14th, 2022 8:15 pm

Lots of positive Corsair RMA stories. I RMA'd a H115i at year 5 because the pump made a racket.
They put a hold on my card for an Advanced RMA and within 2 days I had a new cooler. Within a week my they received the old one and hold was returned.

So quick update

I tried calling Crucial today to get a follow-up and got hung up on after a lengthy hold to get thru, I gave them my RMA info he put me on hold and bam dead air after 5 mins. And still no reply from an email sent Friday.

The reps had initially told me it would be shipped out 1-2 days after getting the old stuff back. Last email said 5-10 days when I asked them to confirm receipt as tracking shows it was received.

Mar 14th, 2022 8:20 pm

M1K3Z0R: Deal Fanatic; May 11, 2009; 7767 posts; 4505 upvotes; Trudostan

Mar 14th, 2022 8:20 pm

tebore wrote: ↑ I'm afraid you're both right.
It's just sad in this day and age such a large corporation can be so poor in providing a good user experience.

And yes I've had excellent customer service with those listed brands.

This is my first ever RMA with crucial memory (that's one positive I suppose a relatively low failure rate).

In my Experience any large company that doesn't have an advanced RMA process tends to have a poor RMA process and experience. Chalking Crucial up in that negative column.

+1 to Kingston. Only time I ever had to RMA ram was a stick of DDR in 2008 or so. Painless shipping prepaid fedex, just had to drop it off at Fedex. Replacement arrived at lighting speed over fedex, and they didn't have the lower capacity stick in stock so sent me a higher capacity kit.

aaron158 wrote: ↑ thing that's funny to is crucial is like one of the oldest ram making companies to been around since the late 70s. ud think they would know how to fill out a customs from so that customers dont get scammed by customs fees. if it happened once because someone messed up that is one thing but i've seen lots of reports of people being charged customs fees. then when they contact crucial they pretty much tell the people to bad our fine print says u have to pay any customs fees so its not our problem that we didn't fill the papers out properly.

i've seen a couple were people said corsair messed up but when they person contacted corsair about it they owned up right away and offered to pay the fees no problem.

Samsung is huge and you'd think they would make the SSD warranty process simple but alas, not so in Canada. They direct you to the retailer you bought it from and then you are at the mercy of the retailer, who in my experience would send you on a loop to talk to samsung, who issues you a generic letter to show the retailer, and around you go

SAMSUNG SUCKS! NO SSD WARRANTY IN CANADA > https://forums.redflagdeals.com/has-any ... d-2098075/

Mar 14th, 2022 11:45 pm

aaron158: Deal Addict; Nov 25, 2004; 4033 posts; 2799 upvotes; London

Mar 14th, 2022 11:45 pm

M1K3Z0R wrote: ↑ Samsung is huge and you'd think they would make the SSD warranty process simple but alas, not so in Canada. They direct you to the retailer you bought it from and then you are at the mercy of the retailer, who in my experience would send you on a loop to talk to samsung, who issues you a generic letter to show the retailer, and around you go

ya samsung is a pain in the butt. i hear if u provide that letter to newegg that people have gotten them to honour it no problem if u bought the drive from them. amazon also would probably do it to if u complained there support will accept returns for stuff even a year old if u really want to return it bad enough.

not sure on canada computers people complain about how crappy they are even with a return within there own policy. there website claims they will warranty stuff for u at no cost for the first year but when i contacted them to try it once time there guy said it could take 4 months or even longer witch is b/s doing the rma my self only took a couple weeks guessing they just don't want to deal with it.

memory express i've always heard good things about them but never had to do a return with them they only opened there first store in london not long ago there website also claims they will help with doing warranty claims for the first year at no cost again never tired it so can't comment on how good or bad they would be at it.

Mar 14th, 2022 11:48 pm

Quickman: Deal Addict; Jan 8, 2015; 1700 posts; 1305 upvotes

Mar 14th, 2022 11:48 pm

Thanks for the intel OP! I was considering buying some crucial ram 2 years ago. Good to know Kingston does two way RMA. Last time I had to RMA Corsar ram was way back in 2010-2011. I had to pay for shipping to them. Is that still the case?

Mar 15th, 2022 8:55 am

tebore [OP]: Deal Guru; Feb 9, 2006; 13045 posts; 7857 upvotes; Brampton

Mar 15th, 2022 8:55 am

With Corsair I find if you ask nicely they'll send you a return label.
Or just do an advanced RMA and they cover both ways. Fast and smooth.

Ive been thru samsungs RMA hell with SSDs. Samsung has a very inconsistent RMA process depending on what, where and when you bought (not strictly talking about SSDs but all their electronics).

For storage I stick completely with WD and they've never done me wrong. From opening a case to all resolved usually in 10 days all holds reversed etc.

Mar 15th, 2022 9:25 am

Scote64: Deal Fanatic; Jan 21, 2018; 8085 posts; 8846 upvotes; Vancouver

Mar 15th, 2022 9:25 am

aaron158 wrote: ↑ thing that's funny to is crucial is like one of the oldest ram making companies to been around since the late 70s. ud think they would know how to fill out a customs from so that customers dont get scammed by customs fees.

I've had the same thing happen with IBM.

U.S. companies don't know how to fill out Canadian customs forms.

Mar 15th, 2022 1:01 pm

tebore [OP]: Deal Guru; Feb 9, 2006; 13045 posts; 7857 upvotes; Brampton

Mar 15th, 2022 1:01 pm

I'm on Day 4 of 5 business days (not counting the first day of receipt) waiting for them to process RMA.
I've never had a computer parts company take this long to "process" (not repair or wait for a part) an RMA on a part.

Mar 15th, 2022 3:13 pm

ssiu: Deal Addict; Apr 18, 2008; 1752 posts; 862 upvotes; Toronto

Mar 15th, 2022 3:13 pm

Just got 16GB Crucial RAM a few weeks ago -- wish I know this earlier. I thought Crucial is Micron and a safe big-name choice. Next time I'll go with Kingston.

P.S. I thought RAM is non-moving part that shouldn't just die after a while? (It is not SSD with finite write life either.) Is it because people are overclocking/overvolting them thus shortening their lives (electromagnetic migration)? Or Crucial is not high quality?

Amerifriend threads need to include instructions on how to acquire an amerifriend.

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