I recently fell foul of the SCAN RMA procedure which thankfully I never had occasion to use in the past!

When I highlighted the problem to SCAN the customer service representative didn't seem that interested in addressing the issue or offer compensation, so I post this in the hope that others using SCAN can avoid this pitfall.

A few weeks ago I ordered a 5870 from SCAN which turned out to be defective. After processing an RMA through the SCAN website they sent an e-mail instructing me to send the card back to the stated returns address making it clear that 'proof of delivery may be required'. With my e-mail client open over the course of half an hour I packaged up the 5870 and returned it as instructed by this e-mail. Upon my return from the post office I discover subsequent e-mails with conflicting information. Having not been through an RMA process with SCAN I was not familiar with the courier service that these e-mails I received later offered.

To date SCAN have not offered reimbursement of the postage costs incurred to me in excess of £20 since they state a courier service was offered. My defense is that I acted upon the information I had at that time and followed their instruction from the original e-mail to the letter. They consider the case closed and the dispute encouraged me to cancel my order in favour of a full refund for the 5870 itself. I suggested that a single RMA e-mail with all the relevant information would avoid such situations in the future. So just beware to wait for the torrent of RMA e-mails from SCAN before processing the return of your faulty goods!

I'm still a little upset over the lack of reimbursement offered by SCAN since I consider myself an innocent victim thanks to the stream of SCAN e-mails not turning up through my inbox in a timely fashion. Even the much maligned pixmania managed to process the RMA for a defective 4870 a year into the cards life offering a full refund and reimbursement of postage costs to France! So in contrast, at least in my view it really does show up the 3XS service offered by SCAN.

However there is a silver lining as I managed to get a 5870 for £260 through a rival retailer thanks to some handy discount vouchers they offered me