The good, the bad and the ugly!

[sleepysheep]

As i've had an interesting month or so replacing components and checking every part of the pc slowly, I thought it might be interesting to see which companys people have found to have awsome customer service and tech support and which are just awful!

The good

Iiyama. Wow when i read that name I thought, hang on I've nver heard of it! Shit! But for a company that I've never heard of their customer support was super good. Guy spoke perfect english was funny and relaxed. Not only that, they took my details quickly and went ahead with replacing my damaged monitor. I'll admit they had to send me three monitors since two of the monitors they sent me was damaged on arrival but I've never seen a company want to kiss my ass so much, and they generally wanted me to use and be happy with their products.

Corsair. You just mention you think their product is broken and they will just replace it. You don't evn have to phone them just one email. It did cost me £70 to post it to holland where corsair is based but otherwise you couldn't ask for better customer service. I think its broke....ok here have a replacent for free!

The bad

Gigabyte. I was honestly expecting great things from thm. What I was not expecting was their customer support being shit and dumber than a plank of wood. Guy couldn't understand english and struggled to speak it. Took me 30min to explain I just wanted my motherboard checked. It then took over a week to get checked and if I hadn't questioned them it would of taken longer. Truly bad. But on the bright side they couldn't make any sense of my motherboard and gave me a free replacement in case mine was broken.

The ugly

Intel. Rudest customer support ever. Period. I have nevera had  a guy on the phone shout at me until then. I have never been so angry on the phone or been so rudly spoken to. Truly disgusting customer supprt. Oh and if you mention the word over clock you void everything. Yes evn though they advertise it as a cpu made to be overclocked, you lose all support saying so. I could sue them for false advertising with all the crap on their website saying things but really not worth it.

If you break an intel cpu, I recommend you lie. Lie and lie and lie. Lie about everything. Then your get a replacement cpu. But whatever you do never tell them the truth.



Anyway I think that sums up everything. Oh yes this is uk customer support, please state which county you live in!


Ps touchscreens suck so just bare with the poor gramer and spelling I cannot be assed to touch the same spot a billion times to try and edit one word. Stupid pad!

[Freeborn_Toad]

The only notable customer support comments I can make are regarding OCZ. I contact them, they give me the run around for a week, and then don't get back to me. The I contact them again, and the cycle starts over. I'm in the US, but since I usually use their online ticket system, I don't think that really matters.

I usually test everything pretty thoroughly as soon as I get it. If something goes wrong, I send it back to where I bought it, not the manufacturer. Beyond the 30-day return policy of most places, I've likely already voided any warranty so blatantly that there is no point in even attempting to contact manufacturer customer support.

Oh and if you mention the word over clock you void everything. Yes evn though they advertise it as a cpu made to be overclocked, you lose all support saying so. I could sue them for false advertising with all the crap on their website saying things but really not worth it.

You wouldn't get very far if you did try to take them to court. Almost no one, let alone Intel, warranties overclocking of any sort. Read the warranty that comes with the processor; it explicitly states that running anything out of spec or not in accordance with instructions will void your warranty.

[sleepysheep]

The only notable customer support comments I can make are regarding OCZ. I contact them, they give me the run around for a week, and then don't get back to me. The I contact them again, and the cycle starts over. I'm in the US, but since I usually use their online ticket system, I don't think that really matters.

I usually test everything pretty thoroughly as soon as I get it. If something goes wrong, I send it back to where I bought it, not the manufacturer. Beyond the 30-day return policy of most places, I've likely already voided any warranty so blatantly that there is no point in even attempting to contact manufacturer customer support.

Oh and if you mention the word over clock you void everything. Yes evn though they advertise it as a cpu made to be overclocked, you lose all support saying so. I could sue them for false advertising with all the crap on their website saying things but really not worth it.

You wouldn't get very far if you did try to take them to court. Almost no one, let alone Intel, warranties overclocking of any sort. Read the warranty that comes with the processor; it explicitly states that running anything out of spec or not in accordance with instructions will void your warranty.

All my stuff was after 30days so had to goto manufactor. You would be surprised how many will give life time guarantees and stick by them no matter what, corsair being one of them.

Its funny how intel void your warranty, but everything else, ram motherboard even some gc, if they are made to be oced, the manufctor will still give you a warranty. Anyway I've learnt my lesson. Lie to intel, and if all else fails buy from scan and get their insurance for a fiver. Anything goes wrong and free cpu ftw.

[=CJW= Bin Fish]

You never say overclock to a manufacturer.

You just say "Is shit, want new one"

If they argue you go on overclock.net and show everyone how doucheeeeeeee they are.

[sleepysheep]

You never say overclock to a manufacturer.

You just say "Is shit, want new one"

If they argue you go on overclock.net and show everyone how doucheeeeeeee they are.

Rofl, well that's true. I will admit I was tempted to never mention the oc word again. But gigabyte didn't care, as long as i didn't have burns on the board lol. As i said before life lesson right there.

[=CJW= Bin Fish]

Yeah but they still can. It will say in the mobo manual that all overclocks are done at your own risk.

It is best to just never admit to it when dealing with manufacturers.

And also kudos on the other thing, I always order from scan for my processors etc, just in case they are uber shit and pop with a tiny voltage pump.

[sleepysheep]

Yeah but they still can. It will say in the mobo manual that all overclocks are done at your own risk.

It is best to just never admit to it when dealing with manufacturers.

And also kudos on the other thing, I always order from scan for my processors etc, just in case they are uber shit and pop with a tiny voltage pump.

I only found out about it when my mate told me a few weeks ago. Was a shame my first cpu was from ebuyer, but never again lol.

Some people even get away sending cpu back for a free new one when they dont like how it ocs and they just fry it on purpose lol until they get a good one. Im not going to be doing that but yes scan is awsome.

[=KoS=toasterpastries]

Sounds crazy, but I actually got really good customer service from Microsoft when my old Sidewinder X-5 mouse's laser went out.

I got a hold of their warranty replacement department and got a U.S.-based rep within 2 minutes.
I described to him exactly what my problem was and what I had done to arrive at that conclusion, and he fully agreed with me and gave me all the info I needed to send it in. He was very helpful, knowledgeable and friendly.

He called me personally when my return got in, and confirmed that a new one was on his way.
He called again after it had shipped to make sure that I gotten the replacement.

I was really impressed, I honestly didn't expect calling Microsoft to solve my problem and make my day.

[sleepysheep]

Sounds crazy, but I actually got really good customer service from Microsoft when my old Sidewinder X-5 mouse's laser went out.

I got a hold of their warranty replacement department and got a U.S.-based rep within 2 minutes.
I described to him exactly what my problem was and what I had done to arrive at that conclusion, and he fully agreed with me and gave me all the info I needed to send it in. He was very helpful, knowledgeable and friendly.

He called me personally when my return got in, and confirmed that a new one was on his way.
He called again after it had shipped to make sure that I gotten the replacement.

I was really impressed, I honestly didn't expect calling Microsoft to solve my problem and make my day.

If I got that service in the uk I would eat my public hair. Lol

[~SJ~ Xarg Talasko]

I suppose thats more socially acceptable than eating your private hair.

[sleepysheep]

I suppose thats more socially acceptable than eating your private hair.

Gay, public hair damn it.

[Gremlich]

I had an 80GB OCZ SSD that went toes up. I emailed them, got a prompt response with some instruction, followed their instructions and got a replacement within 8 calendar days.

Great service.

I have not, however, installed the SSD.

[Mitchpate]

Saitek's customer support is incredible.  Support was US-based, spoke great english, and was very easy to deal with.  Had a trigger spring break on my Evo and I tried to fix it myself.  Long story short, getting it back together didn't go so well.  I sent them the disassembled joystick, they sent me a new one.  This was before they were acquired by Madcatz so it may have changed.

BFG support is solid as well.  I can't say the same for their products but at least when they break they're quick to replace them.

Thermaltake support replies in broken english but it's quick and they answer the question.  Never had to send anything back to them but I don't imagine it'd be a problem.

Heard great things about eVGA support but make sure you register your card with them within 1 month of purchase or your lifetime warranty becomes a 1 year warranty.  I made that mistake and was none too happy about it when my $600 card died

Same experience with Corsair as OP.  Just hint that your product might be broken and they practically beg you to send it back to them.  I use them exclusively in my gaming builds based solely on that fact.

Microsoft's PC hardware department has legendary warranty service but it depends heavily on who your ticket get assigned to.  Some care like they're a relative of yours and some, well, don't.

MSI is very quick to issue RMAs but they take FOREVER to fulfill them.  I used to work in a shop that used MSI boards and it usually took over a month to get replacements back and about half of them were DoA as well.


Things you don't say to the manufacturer:
-Overclock
-Aftermarket cooling
-Frequent power outages, dips, surges, brownouts (for power supplies)
-That you use a UPS (for power supplies)
-Firmware update/upgrade/hack
-Beta, modded, or unofficial drivers
-That you kicked it (no, seriously, I've seen someone try before, RMA was obviously denied)

[Bloodycrow]

BFG support is solid as well.  I can't say the same for their products but at least when they break they're quick to replace them.

Too bad BFG is out of business now. Kinda makes me sad; years ago I got one of their vid card's and power supply's, and was planning on doing their neat Trade-Up program before they fell out of the market.

[=CJW= Bin Fish]

EVGA are the only company to do the tradeup program now as far as I am aware