EVGA not honouring step-ups!

[ldx00]

If you are in Europe and want to buy EVGA, you need to read this.

I bought an EVGA 8800GTS 320 back in September last year and have been trying to step-up to a 8800GT since December. I am still #61 in the queue and have hardly moved (I think I started at 70 something), all movement appears to be from people who have given up and dropped out of the queue. Not only that, the step-up prices are extremely high and you have to pay shipping to Germany and be without a card for at least a week. Up until the recent price drops it was cheaper to sell my card on ebay and buy a new GT than to step-up! All in all, a complete pain in the backside and because I thought they might actually honour the step-up in a timely manner, I'm stuck with my current card which really isn't going to fetch much now.

I understand the company have to make money. I assume the resale value of the returned cards is generally high enough to make the step-up system profitable. However the way that Nvidia brought out the 8800GT meant that everybody wanted one and the resale value of the older cards plummeted, but that's not our problem. We as customers expect to get stepped-up because that's what they advertise! If they choose not to honour it, that's false advertising and I'm making sure as many potential customers know about it as possible. One of the primary reasons for buying EVGA was so I could step-up, I knew the GT was coming but needed to build. I would never have paid the premium for EVGA otherwise and if you think they'll honour your step-up, don't be so sure. Even if they do, you'll probably find that it's cheaper to sell it and buy a new one from someone else.

You can read posts by myself and others in the EVGA forums, although they've dropped quite far (page 4-5 now). Posts there and e-mails have on the whole, just been ignored, they're generally polite enough, but there's no action, so does it even matter?

All in all very very disappointing. US customers appear to be unaffected, but that just means they're perfectly happy to turn a profit in the US and sideline european customers. It's not like there are thousands of us, maybe a few hundred at most, not enough for them to care apparently.

Anyway, you've been warned. Don't buy EVGA, they're and they don't give a !

[fredered]

Loooking at etailers there don't even seem to be any stock problems to blame. What you have posted also makes me wonder what they are like with warrenties at the moment.

I hope you get moved up the line, and thanks for bringing this up.

[Blitzen]

EVGA......well.
As good as their cards are, they are just another example of a company that looks after its customers in the USA and not not that interested in the UK customer base.

ABIT (as of very soon when the UK office closes)
Corsair

These are the other two glaring examples of the 'sod the UK attitude'.

[-iceblade^]

i'm extremely disappointed to hear this... I always liked eVGA...

sorry for the trouble they've put you through . Maybe you could try BFG next time?

[fathazza]

i did a step up with evga last jan and everything went fine..

i also rmaed my present card in more recently and they only had it for one day of testing before dispatching a new one

cant really complain really...

[dc72]

I've read several complaints about this before. Damn poor service indeed.

[BUFF]

they are just another example of a company that looks after its customers in the USA and not not that interested in the UK customer base.

ABIT (as of very soon when the UK office closes)
Corsair

These are the other two glaring examples of the 'sod the UK attitude'.

we'll see what effect closing abit UK has, it may not have any detrimental effect & based on my 1 email query (I got a reply in 2 1/2 minutes!) things may even improve from the already good level that abit UK provided.

[philehidiot]

It's an odd attitude - as poor as my maths is I can see the weak USD making it good business selling in the UK. It's the same as when we buy cheaply in the US.

[kmac]

Yes regarding the exchange rate but the huge scale of the US makes that a secondary factor. Also we don't know what the relative import duties are (US vs UK).

Hate the mentality though - if you are going to serve a market doit properly or pullout.

[dingemini312]

GAWD !!
i always believed EVGA to be a very customer friendly Co..

[|Muffin|]

Trading standards. Enough complaints will eventually tip the scale.