Faulty VTX3D Radeon 7870 2GB

_Puma_

So I ordered this card from Pixmania about a month ago. Worked fine until the weekend when Lines started appearing on the display on bootup. DVI output then stopped working when Windows booted.

Tried reseating the card and trying it on another system and same problem. Finally checked my old card and it works fine so It's not a problem with the PCI-e slot.

I have a 2 year guarantee for the product and have contacted both VTX and Pixmania. I know that Pixmania are going to be slow and reluctant to deal with the problem after reading about them on Boards already so I am hoping that the manufacturer will deal with me directly but unfortunately they are based in Taiwan.

What would peoples advice be with returning the card, stick to my guns with Pixmania and get them to accept the card or try and deal with VTX directly. Has anyone ever dealt with them before?

BloodBath

It's Pixmanias problem to be honest. Legally they have to sort it.

_Puma_

So that was an interesting morning.

Rang Pixmania first, the customer service agent recommended that I return it directly to the manufacturer. I replied saying that they are under obligation to accept the card under the guarantee for a year after selling it to me. She accepted this and replied that it would take a minimum of 6 weeks for the RMA to be processed. I said this was unacceptable and that I would be escalating the issue.

In the mean time I rang the number on the VTX3D website and to my surprise a chap from Taiwan answered. He gave me his email address and asked me to send him an email about the problem with the card and he would get back to me ASAP.

About an hour later I receive an email from TUL, VTX3D's parent company who handle RMA's in Europe with an RMA number and instructions to send the card to the Netherlands. I would have to pay for the Freight to the Netherlands but they will pay the return Delivery and I should have the replacement 15 days after they receive it.

Got back to Pixmania and told them the story. They said to go ahead and send the card off. The CS agent informed me that they would have to go through the same process to get an RMA when they received the card from me and determined that it is a Manufacturer fault (Which I already know it is and this could take up to 6 weeks). It then could take minimum another month for the a replacement card to be sent to me.

So I'm going to bite the bullet and pay for the freight myself to send it to the Netherlands. I informed Pixmania and asked them to mark the card as RMA'd. He said that if the fault happens again they would request a refund number from TUL/VTX3D.

So I think I have all angles covered here, not an ideal situation but I've read so many horror stories about Pixmania's RMA process that I may aswell and just bypass them and take the hit on sending the card to the Netherlands. Plus hopefully I get the card back within a month.

ED E

Pix have been known to have pretty damn poor CS, would suggest you avoid them in future. Amazon are similar or cheaper prices and a amazing CS.

N64

I hate to bring up this thread anytime anybody mentions them, but yeah, considering how I got treated by them, I would just bite the cost of sending it off to the netherlands!

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=79542812

TerrorFirmer

Pixmania have gotten better, I sent them a faulty card about a year ago and I had a refund after about 2 weeks, 6 weeks seems a bit crazy and most likely said to encourage you to deal with the manufacturer.

_Puma_

Ya so just as an update to this story, In the mean time a manager has gotten back to me from Pixmania. He has apologised for the confusion and has informed me that they will take care of the return.

I'm in two minds what to do. Send it off to the Netherlands and pay the shipping myself. This way Pixmania wont have a record of the card being RMA'd and if the problem happens again with the card, I have to go through all this again. I'm under the impression that the manufacturer will be sending me back a refurbished card as it will be shipped in bulk packaging.

If I send it to Pixmania they will take care of the shipping and if the problem occurs again I can get a refund. Only thing is I'm worried about how long this could take. I'm thinking about buying a spare card on adverts for €50 to tide me over in the mean time. I have another Computer that could do with it when I'm finished with it.

Just to add another twist to this story when I ordered it from the Pixmania site I chose the OEM 7870 listed on their site. Instead I was sent out the VTX3D 7870. At the time I was surprised and was contemplating sending it back but the card seemed to be fine and I figured that this is how Pixmania sell their excess stock of a particular brand of card. The problem is the Invoice has it down as an OEM so I could run into trouble with the manufacturers.

Think the best course is to just send it to Pixmania and keep everything above board.