Scan claiming broken pins on RMA of motherboard - total nonsense

[Nudey]

As the title says

Scan is claiming that broken or bent pins on the motherboard is the cause of my systems failure. I know this to be untrue as I am an experienced PC builder and the PC failed 2 years in to use... The pins would not magically bend without me taking the machine apart.

Reading the internet this seems to be quite a common problem where people have failed motherboards and Scan claim bent pins so they don't have to refund or replace the item.

What is the official way to challenge the ruling? - since I know it is nonsense.

If anything is bent now then it has happened on Scans side. The motherboard has failed but for physical damage to have been the cause then it would have had to have been tampered with, it has been happily working for 2 years.

Unfortunately I think I am screwed because obviously I did not think I needed to take a high res picture of the CPU socket. Absolutely terrible service.

Thanks

[kalniel]

You can't do much I'm afraid. Scan may offer to broker a repair service to the motherboard manufacturer - many manufacturers will also do this if contacted independently, at cost. It'll be less than a new motherboard, but annoying I agree.

Officially.. nothing you can do either as no proof either way. You could contact Watchdog as they tend to investigate this sort of thing with entrapment operations if enough people have the same complaint. They would clearly establish proof before making any claim. This wouldn't help you in the short term, but IF they were found to be in the wrong, you might get compensation later down the line.

[Nudey]

I'll have to look in to that I guess when I get the board back. I know there are do it yourself fixes for bent pins but I'm not sure i'd be too happy tampering with that. Yet it would still would not get to the bottom of what actually broke the board in the first place before scan got their hands on it.

Not that it would make one bit of difference to scan but at least I know to buy a replacement motherboard from somewhere else if I go down that route.

So frustrated

[Hicks]

Reminds me of an RMA I did a while back with Aria...

I sent a CPU back as it failed while gaming one night after all the usual fault finding to narrow it down to that component. Anyway I then received the same response in that the pins were showing damage, confused by this as it failed while running so I couldn't understand how they managed to get damaged I went to Aria (I'm local to them) and spoke to a service rep. After explaining that it was running at the time and if the pins were damaged then it must of happened during transit for the RMA as I no longer had the origional box etc they honored the warranty and replaced the faulty CPU.

Surprised by that though, I always rated Scan highly.

[Jim - ASUS]

It can be surprisingly easy to damage CPU pins - all sorts of things from catching them with the edge of the CPU to a loose thread.

Is it an ASUS board?

[Nudey]

ASUSZ87-PRO s1150 Z87 MoBo

I'm certain the pins were not broken at the time of the original RMA because my PC stopped working after no tinkering. It had been good for around 2 years or so. The last component I tested out was re-seating the CPU under advice from Scan themselves.

[herulach]

To be fair to all parties it's perfectly possible you bent the pins whilst removing the cpu. I've been building pcs since K7 was the danglies and have still managed to bend pins on newer Intel boards. It's obviously not spontaneously bent in the machine (unless you've moved it with a huge cooler on?) but it isn't possible to diagnose another fault without that being corrected

[Jim - ASUS]

ASUSZ87-PRO s1150 Z87 MoBo

I'm certain the pins were not broken at the time of the original RMA because my PC stopped working after no tinkering. It had been good for around 2 years or so. The last component I tested out was re-seating the CPU under advice from Scan themselves.

OK Nudey - I'm not at work today, but I'll have a look at this tomorrow and see if there's anything I can do to help you out.

Do you have the board back from Scan yet or is it still with them?

[Nudey]

Thanks Jim

The board is still with them at the moment. Hopefully I'll get it back soon.

[Mark@SCAN]

Nudey,

Please provide your RMA number so that I may investigate this complaint further.

Regards

[excalibur2]

Well there could be a cover up from motherboard companies on how delicate their pins are and even suppliers sending out motherboards that are on border line in that the board was sent back on RMA and checked out ok, but sent back out to another customer for hit and miss. Why do I suggest this? Well I had a board that was bought about 8 years ago used it for about 2 years and then put it in a cupboard until the other week when it tried to boot up but it immediately closed down...after reading this thread took the cpu off and used a loupe and saw a tiny bit of track loose\broken, too delicate and small for me to attempt to re solder, so it must have been on borderline from new.

[Nudey]

Nudey,

Please provide your RMA number so that I may investigate this complaint further.

Regards

Hi Mark

RMA # 364844

Thanks

[Mark@SCAN]

Thanks for providing your RMA number.

Please find below picture of the CPU socket on your returned motherboard.



There are a couple of points I would like to pick up from your original post

Prior to your post we have not had any contact with you since the RMA was issued. We simply sent e-mail notification to you yesterday afternoon stating the return had been rejected. The member of staff who booked in your RMA has updated the RMA tracking with the following comment: "CPU contains a bent pin, unable to test."

"Reading the internet this seems to be quite a common problem where people have failed motherboards and Scan claim bent pins so they don't have to refund or replace the item."

What exactly would SCAN gain from making things up? as the above picture shows there is clearly a single bent pin on the CPU socket. If board's fail under warranty it's the manufacture that foot's the bill for the repair, replacement or credit so i'm not sure what benefit SCAN would get from doing as you have claimed.

If anything is bent now then it has happened on Scans side. The motherboard has failed but for physical damage to have been the cause then it would have had to have been tampered with, it has been happily working for 2 years.

I would respectfully request you refrain from making such accusations without providing proof. The board has simply been booked in and checked for damage prior to testing as is the case for all items returned to SCAN. Upon inspection damage was noted to the CPU socket and you were subsequently informed of this via e-mail. It should also be noted that the Pnp cap supplied with the board originally to protect the pins had not been returned.

Given the relatively minor damage I am sure this will be quite easy to straighten which we are happy to attempt with your consent, after which we can then test for the reported fault. Subject to a fault being confirmed the board can be returned through the supply chain for repair/replacement or credit. If no fault is found the standard fee's for testing and return of none faulty items would apply.

Regards

[Nudey]

Hi Mark

The accusation I made to the company was not fair and made when annoyed, so I will apologise for that. There are a fair amount of complaints about motherboard pins and scan though, whether that's scans fault or not.

Maybe don't automate emails in future with so little information? It serves no purpose to the customer who has not had to go through your RMA process before.

I'm happy for you to go ahead and straighten the pin if it means you can test the board. What is the fee for testing?

Thanks

[Jim - ASUS]

Thanks Mark. As the board is still with you I'll leave this in your and SCAN's capable hands in that case

[Mark@SCAN]

Hi Nudey,

Thanks for the apology.

Of course customer's are upset when an item purchased is rejected, this often results in frustration and anger vented on public forums towards the place of purchase. However I know this type of situation to be true of other retailers also and not something unique to SCAN.

I appreciate the automated e-mail is light on information however it has to be as it has to cater for all manner of products that are returned with their various reasons for rejection. The e-mails asks you to contact returns staff for assistance and provides the RMA tracking link so that you can see a detailed description of the reason for rejection for your particular RMA.

I have sent some instructions to you via e-mail to enable us to proceed with the repair to the CPU socket.

If once tested no fault is found the fee applicable is £10

Regards