3 months 11 days with no workstation motherboard :-(

[EhSteve]

I first sent the board (Supermicro X8DAi) to Scan after it failed to POST (fans would spin up but then it would turn back off, no beeps) and they recieved it on the 24th of June.

The RMA was rejected due to 2 bent CPU pins, voiding the warranty (this wasn't what was causing the problem, and I suspect the bent pins occured while I was packing the board up for return).

I was given a disclaimer to sign saying that since the warranty is void due to physical damage, anything Scan do from there is a gesture of good will and could take an indefinite amount of time. I signed this disclaimer (after realising there was nothing else I could do) and sent it to them on 14th of July (I was away from home until then).

They subsequently sent the board to their suppliers for repair, who stated around a month later (20th August) that it was unrepairable (this wasn't a surprise, since I knew the problem wasn't with bent pins).

Scan then sent the board back to Supermicro for, and I quote Wesley on this, "a warranty repair". If the board was unrepairable then how would sending it back to the manufacturer help? Anyways, I called and emailed Scan maybe a dozen times throughout this ordeal, only to be told "leave it with us, we'll email you once we've chased it up", and I never received an email update. Needless to say this was frustrating.

Its now the 5th of October, and I've been 3 months 11 days without a workstation motherboard, which I need for my work (which has been put on hold for this time since my current rig can't handle it). I admit that 3 weeks worth of this was due to me being away and not signing the disclaimer, but this is frankly ridiculous. If I was told either way that the board can be repaired or it can't, then I could buy a new one and be done with this.

Incidently, I splashed out the extra £6.86 on scansure but since I recieved the board on the 7th of May, and I didn't build my workstation until after 28 days had elapsed (18th of June) (as I was waiting for parts from an inefficient unnamed Stoke based computer supplier, because Scan didn't stock the parts I needed), it became irrelevant. In total I spent £4545.54 at Scan, and I still don't have a functioning workstation out of it.

In short, if I could be told whether or not I'm going to recieve a working board, it would be nice, so I can buy a new one or recieve a refurbished one and resume my work.

I consider myself a fairly patient guy, but this has gone on too long and I've missed out on too much new work for me to stay silent any longer. I've read the other after sales forum posts, and there seems to be a good trend of fast resolution of customers' problems, I only hope that that will be the case with mine.


Eagerly awaiting to hear back,

--EhSteve

[AD-15]

Sorry to hear that dude.

I've had problems with Scan in the past, but they've normally been dealt with very efficiently.

However, I have to agree over 3 months is completely unacceptable. Warranty or no warranty. Scan say it was a good will gesture to send it off for you, but they seem to have caused far more annoyance than anything else. Like you said, it would probably have been better for them to tell you right from the off what would happen. Especially considering how much you've spent.

Anyways, good luck.

[wesleyaldred]

Hi

I have chased this with our Supplier Returns department and have been informed that this is still with Supermicro America, we are chasing them currently for a status update, as you are already aware from the disclaimer you signed the timeframe for this process was never guaranteed.

I apologise further for my typo the statement should have indeed read "a non warranty repair" as you are already aware.

[Bugbait]

Curious, how much was the motherboard, or more importantly, how much would a replacement cost?

Fortunately I don't do much work from home on my main PC these days but when I did, having downtime exceed 6 hours would be unacceptable as the downtime would cost me far more than a replacement. Even one lost day would pay for several motherboards which is why I have 3 PC's that are "acceptable" for work use. Just something to consider if the work aspect is that critical.

Best of luck in getting a speedy solution though if you choose to wait.

[EhSteve]

Right, I've just forked out another £314.13 for a replacement, I guess that's 1-0 to Scan. Congratulations. I've been making do on my old rig for the last 3 and a half months, but that's on its last legs and won't cope with the new projects I've got on the table, so I've decided it's time to get this over and done with, as Bugbait noted.

How long does a phonecall to Supermicro take to complete? Anyway, its irrelevent now, I guess in a year or so, I'll recieve a second motherboard and I can eBay one or something.

[Bugbait]

I've been making do on my old rig for the last 3 and a half months, but that's on its last legs and won't cope with the new projects I've got on the table, so I've decided it's time to get this over and done with, as Bugbait noted.

Unfortunately urgency sometimes outweighs who's right or wrong. I still keep random spares on hand in case things blow up at inconvenient times. If a hardware failure took my gaming offline for more than a few weeks I'd suffer much aggro . My WD Raptor HDD warranty took one month direct with WD and it was well within the warranty period. It failed after 6 months but I didn't send it back until month 13 but has a 5 year warranty. I had replaced it with another within 48 hours so wasn't in any particular rush and not too inconvenienced. Was worth the extra cash outlay IMO just for the reduced aggro factor.