Unhappy - RMA replacement

[Ferral]

Right, fair enough a replacement is decent enough but it is supposed to be of equal or better spec than the card being replaced.

My origional card Sapphire Radeon X1950 Pro 256 Mb (Costing me around £98.60 (Ex Vat) when purchased last year). Now offered £36 (Ex Vat) as trade in towards something else or a replacement with 8600 GT (Not my fault X1950 pro is not working )

Replacement card which I have had to accept as nothing else is offered is a Gigabyte 8600 GT (A Radeon 2600 XT was mentioned at some point during the conversation but that is not much better)

Differences :

Memory 8600 GT GDDR 2 128 bit interface - X1950 Pro GDDR 3 256 bit interface.

Core clock on the 8600 is lower than the X1950 Pro but memory clock is slightly higher.

Fair enough the ram on the 8600 GT is 512 which is better spec than my poor Radeon and it is also Direct X 10.

Now looking about the net for reviews the 8600 GT way under performs the X1950 Pro and I do use my PC primarily for gaming. I could run Stalker in High detail on the X1950 but chances of that on the 8600 are quite slim I am guessing. Fear ran in Maximum detail, once again a bit unsure of whether this 8600 GT will be able to manage that one also. One of my favourites as of late and started to play through a 2nd time, Bioshock, chances of this running in high detail once again slim.

Closest card to the X1950 pro at present is either the Radeon 3850 or something like the 8800GS, or something from the Geforce 7 series like the 7900 or 7950 when it comes to performance.

I did mention that I use my PC for gaming and cannot afford to put anything extra towards a new card with the trade in price I was given as I have 3 kids. So unfortunately have had to agree to this Geforce card.

Personally feel I have REALLY been let down with this one, the new card I am being sent is nowhere near as good as the X1950 Pro. But unfortunately I guess theres not a lot I can do

[wesleyaldred]

Ferral,

We can offer you a market value refund, you don't have to accept the card being offered. I understand the 8600GT we were offering has tested faulty anyway, so we can't send you that card.

I'm afraid it looks like this will have to be processed as a market value refund, you will receive an email in relation to this shortly.

Wesley

[Ferral]

Thing is though the Sapphire card carries a 2yr warranty, getting a £36 refund is not helping me at all. I need a replacement as I cannot afford to purchase a new card. Onboard graphics I am using at this very minute is a Via Chrome 9 IGP which only just runs Blood 2 and Nocturne.

[wesleyaldred]

Ferral,

Unfortunately if we don't have a suitable replacement, then a market value refund is our only other option. This refund amount is calculated based around the usage of the product you have had (15 months) and the warranty you have remaining as well as current market values.

Wesley

[Nelly.]

Why didnt they offer you another X1950 Pro?

On scan website, do a search on this - LN18668

256MB HighTech Radeon X1950 Pro, IceQ3 v2, PCI-E (x16), Mem1540 , GDDR3, GPU 590 MHz, 12 Pipes, VIVO

[Ferral]

Come on guys, I really need a replacement. £42.30 (inc vat) is not going to get me anything with a spec like the X 1950 pro.

You must have something lying about with a similar spec, not bothered if it is boxed or not. Just the card with nothing else would do me in this situation. I will definately not accept a refund.

I am extremely upset and frustrated with this

[slypie]

Isn't the warranty with the card manufacturers after the 12 months? Can't you send it back to them for a replacement or repair?

[kalniel]

That would be a better bet. Scan are only obliged to refund the worth of the product in the remaining time of the warranty (which in this case is just a reasonably expected lifetime of the product), thus they take account of worth to you of your successful use of the product for x months/years. Many companies operate replacement warranties for goodwill reasons, but I guess scan's margins don't allow them to do this - it's always been like this.

[Ferral]

I contacted Sapphire and they said go back to where you got it.

I really appreciate Scan taking it back and testing etc after 15 months, they are looking into it at the min for me.

Really good of them

[slypie]

If you can't get anywhere with Scan by law sapphire have to sort it out. Not sure if they have an office in the UK so enforcing it maybe another thing.

[SiM]

You can get the refund and go for this: http://forums.hexus.net/current-barg...s-35-99-a.html
Its approx the same performance afaik...

[Ferral]

Ian at Scan is looking into getting a replacement for me at this very moment.

I will have some decent money coming within the next 2 - 3 months and am going to be building a really good system and have no hesitation with purchasing from Scan at all.

Everyone I have spoke to on the phone with regards to this have been as helpful as they possibly can, I cannot fault them for their customer service at all.

I don't think I will be purchasing another Sapphire product though unfortunately, probably stay away from ATI alltogether as this is the second time an ATI card has become faulty on me after the first year of warranty is up.

[listy]

i would be inclined to go back to sappire and the say the retailer does not offer any card with spec as good as 1950pro see what they sugguest after that cant hurt can it

but you would expect a like for like offer

[slypie]

Ian at Scan is looking into getting a replacement for me at this very moment.

I will have some decent money coming within the next 2 - 3 months and am going to be building a really good system and have no hesitation with purchasing from Scan at all.

Everyone I have spoke to on the phone with regards to this have been as helpful as they possibly can, I cannot fault them for their customer service at all.

I don't think I will be purchasing another Sapphire product though unfortunately, probably stay away from ATI alltogether as this is the second time an ATI card has become faulty on me after the first year of warranty is up.

Well fingers crossed you get a result mate

[da_ging]

Why didnt they offer you another X1950 Pro?

On scan website, do a search on this - LN18668

256MB HighTech Radeon X1950 Pro, IceQ3 v2, PCI-E (x16), Mem1540 , GDDR3, GPU 590 MHz, 12 Pipes, VIVO

surely as pointed out ^^ if ferral requests that one or LN19946 as it's the cheapest as a replacement scan cannot reasonably say no?
and referring to market value looking at your prices they are now higher than what ferral paid so you cannot say that the value has decreased from that angle and although he has had the card 15months 1 would expect it to last for considerably longer than 15months

[SiM]

surely as pointed out ^^ if ferral requests that one or LN19946 as it's the cheapest as a replacement scan cannot reasonably say no?
and referring to market value looking at your prices they are now higher than what ferral paid so you cannot say that the value has decreased from that angle and although he has had the card 15months 1 would expect it to last for considerably longer than 15months

Its warranty is for 24 months. 15/24 = 0.625. So its depreciated by 62.5%.
Original price: £98.60. Current value: (1-0.625) * 98.60 = £36.975. With VAT, that is £43.45

I am not saying it makes sense but that's what they have done. I would say 2nd hand value is £50 max so its not too far off actually. Of course if it breaks after 23 months you would only get about £5 back which is ridiculous.