Incredible GTX 275 woes

[Fodda]

Having had some small problems cropping up with my 8800GTX card (yes I've tried everything, but it's useable in most circumstances) I decided to replace it with a nice new Gainward GTX 275 from overclockers.co.uk.

Having received the card it refused to work. Won't even boot to BIOS, no POST beep or anything. Once or twice I got a BIOS beep code which says problem with graphics card.

I decided to get advice from overclockers and spent a fruitless couple of days "dicussing" the problem through their incredibly long-winded and useless webmail thingy. Upshot of it was (after they kept ignoring all my system details and copious notes) that they gave me an RMA number. I sent the thing back (£8 postage) and they then returned it saying no fault found and charged my another £18 for the priviledge!!

Needless to say the thing still doesn't work and they won't refund as it's past my 7 day window of opportunity (3 of those days spent trying to get any help from them at all). I'm now stuck with £200 worth of card that refuses to work with my PC that's well within the stats required to run it. GGRRRRR!

Now I'm having to resort to court action to rescue my funds.

My sorry tale and advice? Do NOT use overclockers.co.uk at all. The customer support is worse than useless, and it took me this vast amount of money before I Googled them and came up with rafts of after-sales and customer care stories as bad as and some even worse than mine.

Merry bloody Christmas to me...

[Garry Russell]

Truly shoddy treatment Gary.

In case like this is not really about whether or not the goods are faulty....thats easy to resolve if they want to talk to you properly and listen.

Clearly they're just passing the time of day and not giving a toss about their customers...no resolution can ever be attained with that.

Anyone else had a bad experience with ANY similar suppliers??

Garry

[DaveB]

I'm both surprised and saddened to hear this about Overclockers. I've used em for years and never had a problem though tbh, I've never had to send anything back.

It's not like you've tried it and don't like it.. you've tried it and at no point will it work on your system.. for whatever reason. I'd have expected (perhaps) a restocking fee but other than that, a refund or the offer of an alternate card. Try your local trading standards office for advice. They should love this one.

ATB

DaveB

[TSR2]

I'll be honest mate, but it sounds like the card isn't getting enough power or possibly a compatibility problem with your motherboard. What is your PSU rated at? Also is your motherboard running the latest BIOS?

[EDIT] and worth running an air duster over the slot in the Motherboard, its amazing how small bits of debris will stop these things working.

A good test would be to disconnect your Drives and CD ROM's etc and see if you get enough to power the card. Failing that, you can send it to me and I'll happily test it in my system.

[Fodda]

Ben, LOL... Yes I've done all that. PSU is 620W Enermax and all PCI-E outputs are producing 12V (I'm an electronics engineer by trade with lots of PC building experience too). My 8800GTX runs fine in the same PCI-E slot. BIOS updated as well, all default settings. I did that too. AND I've diconnected everything but boot-HDD and card... All with teh same probs.

Dave. I went with overclockers because I've used them for years too, bought all sorts and this is the first time I've had trouble with anything. To be honest, I assumed they'd be great but just Googling overclockers and customer service brings up more complaints than I've seen for practically any company on the interweb.

Yes overclockers are fine... If what you recieve works. If you have to have any dealing other than paying them money for something, they're worse than useless and bloody rude to boot. I spent half an hour filling in all manner of boxes with details of my mo-bo, RAM, HDDs, PSU etc, including the make model and timing stats etc... In each box they specify is required... Then a long time detailing the problem, my tests and results... Only to have one line replies. First asking if my PSU was up to scratch!!! After I'd specified it and it's output!!! Second asking if I'd plugged everything in... After I'd already stated what I'd plugged in and what I'd tried and retried. At this point my 7 day grace period was over and now they're taking me for a ride. Each time I contact them they ignore every single previous communication. And the help line is 10 per min and reports say up to half an hour on hold and as soon as you ask anything awkward you get disconnected.

Shop with them if you're 100% sure that what you'll get will work straight out of the box because you'll get nothing but short shrift from them otherwise.

[DaveB]

That's disturbing mate.. very disturbing. I think I'll view any further purchases with caution and perhaps do what Ian Hind/Tony Madge do and just buy off ebay. Hassles like this leave a very bitter taste in ones mouth and it really shouldn't happen. They can still sell it on as B grade stock and make a profit if they're so convinced it works

I've never thought of Googling for customer responses before. It's a bit like something I found last week having bought the Triumph 955i. I was innocently looking for something and found a pile of notes/articles noting a factory recall to rectify some brake pin or other Things may not always be as they seem.

ATB

DaveB

[TSR2]

Its been a while since I bought anything significant, but I usually use Scan. When I did my last upgrade, I was having some intermittent crashes which (after a few months) I identified as memory modules. Emailed scan with all of the original order details, they asked me to do some tests (via email) and then sent me an RMA number. Within 3 days my new memory modules where at my door. A very happy punter.

[Fodda]

Thanks Ben, I'll remember that. A good online supplier is worth its weight in DDR3 RAM modules.

On a different note, I had my nice Logitech G9 mouse go down in an unrelated incident. Tested in other USB sockets and on a second PC. Contacted Amazon about changing it (it being three months old) and they put a replacement in the post immediately with apologies and all postage paid. Same with a dodgy joystick I received a couple of years ago. I had two in the house at one point, the new one, and the one for return which I hadn't had time to take up the Post Office! Think I'll be buying mostly from Amazon in future, and I'll give scan a go for the other PC gubbins.

[DaveG]

I've used Overclockers for a couple of years now without issue
Only had to send one thing back (dead HD) and it was swapped for a new one same day.

[tonymadge]

Wow I am saddened to hear of your troubles, its disgraceful treatment your having.
I have never had a problem with Overclockers service and once when I had a 8600gt card that failed after a couple of months with a very intermittent fault they replaced it with no quibbles even though they could not get the fault to show. I had waited a week and contacted them stating I needed it urgently, the next day it was replaced.
Ok with your knowledge and background it does seem there is a fault or incompatability issue, however if your running a 8800 card it should have worked. Quote the Sales of Goods Act to them and demand a refund you are well within your rights and a call to your local trading standards will be useful.
If you could get the card checked in another PC first I would do so, just to make sure your system is not at fault.
Keep us informed.
My sh*t company is Mesh they lie they lie and they dont tell the truth.... I would never buy a single thing from that bunch again......