Oh dear, have I been ripped off and rorted?

I put a thread in recently about how to test a new Motherboard before installation and followed the advice received. The board was DOA and I returned the board by Express Post (overnight) as a warranty claim. Under that obligation, I pay the freight (it cost us $12) to the on-line store and they ship me a new board for free. Firstly though, they of course test the board to see if it is really dead. Guess what? After following the advice kindly given in my 'How to test a new motherboard before installation' thread and finding the board DOA, I shipped the board back to the on-line store and they tell me their 'Tech. Department'' (ho, ho, we are talking about VERY small stores here in OZ and some of them probably operating out of their garage), say there is nothing wrong with the board …and that it will cost me $45 for the testing plus $18 postage to send the board back to me (this is a $100 Gigabyte GA-45T-UD3LRT 775 socket, DDR3 board). "OK, so were did I go wrong in the testing?" I ask. Well there might have been something faulty somewhere with you testing equipment" they say. 'Well, I used a Corsair 520w ATX PSU (checked with a multi-meter), a brand new E7300 core duo plus it's heatsink, 1 stick of Corsair ram from a 2x kit that I KNOW is good (tried both sticks), an added fan hand-held and 2 different boot-up buttons tried that I know work, a small speaker and my own PC display, so please tell me how the motherboard is possibly a good one. Not even the fans spun up!" "Well, you will have to ship us all your testing equipment so we can find out what is wrong with it and that will be another $45 labor to do that and the return (huge) freight cost." Oh sure, I'm going to pay for the cost of all that freight both ways and do without my display until it all comes back at my expense, For a $100 board? And then ..and THEN .. they gave themselves away (I think) ! They told me they ":upgraded the 'board's firmware …that's Bios to you". Hello, hello? Upgraded the 'motherboard' bios (?) on a motherboard test bench, without a HD and OS? That is a isn't it? Actually, I think it can be done using DOS and a floppy and the right downloads from the motherboard manufacturer etc with access to the Internet from another PC to make up a specific diskette, but why in the hell would a shop bother? Updating the bios, for what purpose? To 'fix' the motherboard? I said to them that they have just replaced the motherboard, charged me $63 total to get a working board. They then will of course, make a warranty claim for the dud board with Gigabyte! "Oh no they say, you can check the serial number of the returned board which is on your original invoice"! Now that stumped me. Is the serial number on these boards stamped or on a sticker? If its on a sticker, then they don't print a sticker for every board they make, It must just be a batch or model serial number (?). If the boards are individually stamped, did they fix the board somehow ( a well known minor fault easily fixed or something, or were they right, my testing set-up was wrong or faulty)? Could a faulty new CPU be the culprit? Wouldn't the fans at least spin, and don't you get a beep from the speaker if the CPU is Faulty? I'm building this PC for someone, with their money not mine, so the situation really bothers me. Cheers, Lee.

They can upgrade the firmware (which includes the BIOS) with a floppy. As far as the serial number on the invoice - I don't know. Newegg does not do that. But there are unique serial numbers for every board and the box it comes in will have a sticker with the number on it. I don't know what was wrong with your test setup, if something was. Perhaps the switches were on the wrong pins. BTW, you can't test a PSU conclusively with a multimeter. PSUs need to be tested under realistic loads for one, and most multimeters don't test for ripple (AC on the DC voltage).

The boot switch was in the right pins and even a coin or knife will spin up fans when used to short out those pins. No switch needed. The Corsair (2 weeks old) I used is out of my own personal PC and is working fine right this second as I type this. The Antec Neo also used on that DOA was what the Corsair replaced and it was working fine too when it came out of this PC. A working PSU + a good Motherboad + 2 good fans = working fans (at least). No spinning fans = dodgy MB one way or another. PC basic tech 101 surely? Maybe a 'Bios upgrade' is all that is needed to get the fans to spin-up and turn a DOA into a perfectly good motherboard …or perhaps even a pumpkin with fairy lights. A friend sent me a link last night to a consumer forum here in OZ. It had 14 pages of (90%) negative comments about the on-line store involved, including one detailed comment from a Computer Tech. who works installing and maintaining computer systems for big business. He reckons the store's (so called) 'tech' doesn't know Jack about electronics ! Naturally I can't put the link here or name the store. It wouldn't be appropriate. Cheers, Lee

Lee, do you have any consumer protection laws in Oz? In the Uk if you buy online then you can get a refund if you ask for one within 7 days…. there doesn't even need to be a fault…one can just change one's mind… Anything like that in you neck of the woods? It might solve the problem Regards paws

I think it goes even further than 7 days here. You have a statutory right to a refund or replacement on a faulty product for up to 3 months. Most places will say you have 28 days to return a faulty item, but in reality, any product which you pay VAT on is refundable up to 3 months. You can even do it with pets…. Your best bet is to talk to your credit/debit card vendor. They usually stick payment protection in there for free. Or go to your equivalent of the "Small Claims Court". Not sure whether it's worth getting a solicitor for a motherboard though….

No, it's not worth taking legal action. I paid through paypal but I don't think I would get far with a 'dispute' listing. The store will claim the board tested as 'good' and naturally a store tech. will always be 'right' and the customer always a 'noobe'. If Zoe comes back with a different board, I'll know what their up too. The very same scenario had been mentioned quite a few time in that Consumer Forum I mentioned earlier, about returned hardware that wasn't working. Cards, Boards and PSU's mostly. All testing 'good'. No, I'll leave well enough alone I think and cop the extra $46 labour charge on the chin. I won't bill the lady who the PC is for with it. All going well, the PC will be up and running for her to collect tomorrow. Thanks for all the advice guys Cheers, Lee

Zoe just rang me from Melbourne after picking up the MB from the store. They even showed her it working on their test bench as I had pr-arranged with them. Guess what? It was a different board, not the one we sent to them (with a small deliberate mark on it). She didn't say a word, Just collected the board and got out of there as planned. The store will certainly be hearing from me though, that's for sure. And so will the Aust. Gigabyte distributor. Cheers, Lee

Guess what? It was a different board, not the one we sent to them (with a small deliberate mark on it). She didn't say a word, Just collected the board and got out of there as planned.

The store will certainly be hearing from me though, that's for sure. And so will the Aust. Gigabyte distributor.

Did you take pictures?

Good point Dig.

Well, be sure to tell the GB distributor where and what that mark is. BTW - I use Gigabyte boards almost exclusively - I would not let this incident dissuade you from using them in the future.

[attachment removed] This is all I've got of that board (it was still in the Camera and I had to load it into my pc.) I can't quite make out the numbers on the front , but no way it can show the mark. Cheers, Lee

Well, be sure to tell the GB distributor where and what that mark is.

BTW - I use Gigabyte boards almost exclusively - I would not let this incident dissuade you from using them in the future.

It's not Gigabyte motherboards I dislike it's Intel socket versions of any board.
I'm strictly an AMD board man.

Check the Net. and chose any PC problem you like.

Intel, Intel, Intel …….

Check the Net. and chose any PC problem you like.

Intel, Intel, Intel …….

Arguably, that's down to pure statistics. More people own Intel based PC's, therefore it will look like more people have problems with Intel than with AMD.

Saying that though, I would never both buying an Intel myself. Most people won't be able to notice the difference between an i7 or a Phenom II. It's a false economy really. By the time that applications need an Core i7 to run smoothly, new industry standards will be out an Intel will have moved onto a new socket.

Yeah, your probably right about statistics (and there is personal bias on my part for sure). Most people go Intel, but …. I've just set up this new board my wife returned with because there was one last thing I wanted to test, The new Intel CPU …just in case. [attachment removed] I've used the standard heatsink for the test as I can put the custom one on later. Guess what? Fans spin up, the 4 lights come on and everything on the board (and the board) has been double and triple checked as working fine, but no Post with this CPU !!! No beeps at all to indicate what the problem might be. If it's the CPU I should be getting 5 beeps according to Intels beep code. Where to now? The nearest cliff to jump off I think

Well, since the Core 2 Duo, I've used Intel on most my builds with no regrets. That said, AMD still makes great CPUs. I think it is a prejudicial mistake to discard an entire line because of any perceptions.