SCAN.care@HEXUS
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Last July, I purchased an almost complete system from Scan ie. everything other than memory, comprising the following:
ASUS P6X58D-E MoBo £163.52
Intel Core i7 920 2.66G *OEM* £184.67
1TB SAMSUNG HD103SJ SATA F3 £48.05
1GB PALIT GTX460 SONIC £183.84
LG GH22NS40 22X SATA BLK OEM £15.18
Corsair 650W 650HXUK 80 PLUS £97.11
Logi 970264-0120 X-140 Spkrs £15.73
Arctic AC-MX-2 THERMAL PASTE £3.40
Noctua NH-D14 Dual Radiator an £60.94
This, coupled with 6GB of Corsair 9-9-9-24 1600 Mhz RAM, made my new Core i7 system.
Perhaps within two weeks of building the system, I noticed a slight abnormality: one that meant every time I cold booted my computer, it would recognise 2 GB of memory whilst posting. Curiously, CPU-Z showed 6 GB of memory, of which 2 GB was usable. In effect, on every cold boot, I had to start my computer twice (on any subsequent start-ups, all of the RAM would show up fine). I researched the problem and found that several others with similar systems had experienced it. Some had had success with newer versions of the BIOS for their motherboard, but when I tried this, it was to no avail.
I lived with the issue for several months, before I decided that I would complain to Scan about it. I did, and in October they issued an RMA for the PSU, CPU and motherboard. Upon realising that this would mean the hassle of dismantling my entire computer and living without it for several days if not weeks, I simply let it be and continued to live with the issue. After all, it was only a hindrance when I cold booted my computer, and I don’t do that particularly often.
Recently, I decided that enough was enough, and that I’d had enough of having to put up with the problem that under the Sales of Goods act should never have existed in the first place. Therefore, I complained to Scan once again, who suggested that I should get my memory replaced as well. eBuyer (from whom I purchased the RAM) were rather efficient in replacing the entire kit, but unfortunately, I had the issue even with the new set.
After contacting Scan again, they asked me to update to the latest BIOS. After doing so, I had limited success, although I don’t know if it was just luck, or was actually down to the BIOS. Instead of showing 2 GB of RAM on cold boots, my computer started to show 4 GB. Obviously, the problem had not been solved, and on my request, Scan issued an RMA for the PSU, CPU and motherboard, as before. On Monday 21st of February (which was incidentally also my birthday although that is entirely irrelevant) I packaged the three items securely in bubble wrap which I purchased from my local post office, and sent it all off for a shocking postage cost of over £20, using Royal Mail Special Delivery.
On Wednesday, I received an email from Scan, stating that my RMA had been rejected. Rather annoyed, I went on to check the exact reason why, on the website. Here it is: "track damage. one deep scratch, mutli marks near backing plate".
I don’t quite know what they mean by “track damage”, but if they mean that the tracks on the motherboard are scratched, I’m shocked as to how they can class this as damage caused by misuse of the product. Screws, which rub against the tracks when being tightened, could quite easily have scratched them. How this relates to the original issue, I don’t know. Furthermore, I’m curious as to what the extent of the “multi marks near backing plate” is. I’m well aware that my Noctua NH-D14 is quite large, but its mounting system is known to be excellent, and again, I don’t know how a few marks where the back plate goes can be classed as misuse, seeing as I followed every instruction in both the guide for the motherboard and the installation guide of the heat sink.
Now, onto the “one deep scratch”; I cannot attest to the fact that this didn’t exist when I sent the motherboard off, as I did not take any photographs, but I certainly didn’t notice it in an inspection of the motherboard before I put it in its packaging. Additionally, I have not done anything to the motherboard which constitutes misuse (why would I?), and my motherboard tray is removable, which makes it far easier to install the board, further minimising the risk of accidental damage. Moreover, it is not stated in Scan’s description of the damage where it is exactly, but if it is in the silicon, there is no reason why it would be the cause of an issue so widespread that with a simple Google search, I was able to find several forum posts describing my problem exactly:
[Sorry, I had to cut out the URLs due to a posting restriction.]
I’m convinced that not all of these thread starters have "track damage. one deep scratch, mutli marks near backing plate" on their motherboards.
My case is quite simple. This particular problem was inherent to my motherboard, and I have not done anything that one can reasonably argue caused the problem. The fact that Scan have responded to my RMA in such a way shows that they don’t understand the problem, and are doing everything they can to avoid respecting their customer, who up until this point has not raised a fuss.
The whole ordeal has made me reconsider buying from Scan again, but I hope someone with sense and sympathy can deal with the issue I have raised quickly, so I can get back to having a working computer as soon as possible, and so that Scan can uphold their reputation as a reliable and trustworthy company to buy computer components from.
Sorry for my ramble, and thank you for taking the time to read it.
Regards,
und
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Originally Posted by TAKTAK
