I have just had an RMA knocked back from Overclockers because there were 3/4 bent pins that the techie reckons he could see through the static bag. I also had not replaced the CPU socket protector, result warranty void. The reason I RMA'ed it in the first place was that it refused to power up so so I stripped down ,bagged and boxed it. So my question is again how easy is it to bend pins and how can I insure that it does not happen again?
Typical Overclocker's response then! Any chance you could claim on carriage insurance? If it is CPU socket pins then im not sure how you would straighten them out. But running a debit card along the edge of CPU pins if they are bent works a treat.
make sure you have flexible plugs, not much advice but it makes a difference. The usb header on my case is a thick and bulky cable and resulted in me bending the pins on my usb 3.0 socket on the motherboard when trying to fit it in.
How easy ? Easy. And if he could see it through static bag, that means you didn't put the socket protector back, a big no-no. I am affraid to have board without the socket protector on my self, not even talking about shipping the board in that condition. How to protect yourself ? Do not apply force when mounting and/or removing CPU and use CPU socket protector every time there is no CPU in the socket. And make pictures of how the board looked when you received it. That way you could prove that the pins were bend right when it was delivered.
It had been running flawlessly for a couple of months but I changed the PSU to the Strider and then nothing. Oh well, £77 worth of experience. Thanks all. PS: For some reason they are sending it back free of charge so I might have a play with the credit card trick as suggested by Pookie.
There is a reason why that CPU socket cover exists. Without it, there is a high chance for something to apply some pressure on those pins, bending them.
Bending pins is very easy, takes as much as a brush with your hand and they go. Easy to bend them back too.
This is why I don't use Overclockers other than the fact they banned me from ever using them again because I had the audacity to take faulty items back to them. The pins within a CPU socket can be bent quite easily but, your issue here is that you sent it back without the protective cover on the socket and means, they may not have been bent when you sent it but the box could have been banged, whilst in transport and caused some pins to bend. This is also why I won't buy a motherboard by post and will always go to the store to pick it up so that I can check the socket for bent pins, and then reject it straight away and I did the same with AMD CPU's back in the day as well. There are only 2 things you can do the first is to contact the manufacturer of the board and ask how much they would charge to fix the bent pins, and then test to see if that was the reason for the board not powering up but it could cost, more than the board is worth. The second option you have is to make a claim if you sent it recorded delivery and was insured, and say it has been damaged within transit and it is now damaged beyond repair. My other advise is my own oppinion from my own experience with them and others may object to it, but I would suggest not using Overclockers again because every time I took something faulty back to them they always, said it was not faulty until it was out of the 12 month warranty period at which point they always told to deal with the manufacturer.
you need a high magnification magnifying glass and a really really thin screw driver and gently push them back in to place as best you can I think its its a gigabyte board they might if it for free if you tell them its DOA all other makers charge a packet This is really where Scan rule..with its scansure insurance. A member on here same issues not long ago and fixing them took all of a minute after days of arguing with the retailer
That is why I always pay for the Scan Sure when buying a new motherboard because I have bent pins before and there is nothing worse, that buying a new £200+ board and then killing it by bending a pin.
No, not at all! You simply cannot afford to ship a motherboard without that cap, its absolutely essential, and I'm sorry but this is the OPs own fault (that they rejected his RMA, not the board being broken)
Extremely easy to bed CPU pins. I have done it a couple of timers myself. I currently have one with Scan that they have sent back to Asus for me. It's not an RMA, as I acknowledged that I had done it, but last time it cost me £20 (might have been £30) for Asus to fix it for me. Cheaper than buying a new board. I have since learnt from my mistakes and have added Scansure to the last motherboard I bought
Hmmm - I'm upgrading when Haswell lands & hadn't thought about doing this... Will definitely do it now! +rep!
Nice to see retailers killing off returning customers as not willing to give benefit of doubt or be helpful. Sure your supposed to put cover back on etc etc, we know.
Lots of stuff to mull over here guys and I will of course remember about the socket protector. This is the first time this has happened to me but what makes it more of a nuisance is that the board was fine until I changed PSU. I suspect thee was another fault with the board but because I have obviously bent pins and sent it with out a protector I am, to a certain extent, to blame for the RMA being rejected. Hopefully I will have learnt from this. Cheers all.
I agree. When buying a motherboard I always grab the Scan Sure. Peace of mind is worth the pittance it costs on top. Even if you have built hundreds of pcs and have never damaged a thing, I would still recommend getting it when dealing with motherboards.
Scansure is good as I had to use it to return a new board that had bent pins(sure I didn't do it but hard to argue) but be aware that you still have to pay for the return postage. Cost me £7.50 to return a £45 board, still better than forking out for a new one though.
With me I am lucky because I am only a 30 or so minute drive from them. Its going to cost me on Saturday £30 for the scan sure but that's on £1100 worth of hardware, and I would rather pay it and be safe.
It's good for human error on the PC building end of the scale but should not be used as a substitute for genuine claims against faulty goods sold. Out of interest is this still added to your basket on SCAN by default?