Topic: GPU warranty trick - Question (Read 1433 times)

Call back and try to RMA, ask for a supervisor...it's worth a try, costs you nothing. Also, if there is no other easy fix, send the damn thing back without an invoice and see what happens.

Yup thats a better solution.  Look for the manufacturers website, and warranty section.  some have very strict warranty conditions, others quite the opposite.  Others give you 1 year warranty, but if you register in x amount of time and upload the invoice, you get 3 years, etc.

Interesting. I will investigate it. Maybe the seller can get me other cards. So far he had Zotac and Asus. I wont be changing any labels and shit. I'll just look for card that i can get warranty without invoice. I would be paying with cash.

Just want to add that there are other GPU manufacturers that accept warranty claim without an invoice.  Pretty sure gigabyte doesnt require an invoice, they check the card and determine the date of manufacture, and your warranty starts from there.  If you bought the card in 2016, but it was made in 2015, then you just lost one year warranty - unless - you have the invoice stating date of purchase.

+1 couldnt have said it better

Rofl

They are brand new, unopened. Probably he have some ways to order them cheaper or smth, no idea. They are not fake or used 100% just no invoice and he probably dont want to print one to not connect himself or whatever.

haha, who else would try to pull this shit other than some guy from my goddamn country...

anyways, I assume you bought your card(or intend to) via njuškalo(croatia's craigslist)
that's the thing when buying stuff from craigslist, you have to realize you're getting(at best) a new/not used much or used product which comes cheaper than buying from an authorized seller/retailer for the price of not getting a warranty and possibly a product without included accessories you would get otherwise.

In other words, buying stuff from craigslist/ebay/etc. is a gamble and the question is can you afford that?
if you can't, then save up some more and buy cards from a retailer like most people do.
or accept a gamble but don't ever try to pull that thing...

people are not that stupid.

actually card's serial number provides some info such as manufacturer, date of production, type of gddr memory(i think)...

from zotac:
Warranty claims will be void if the user:
·         Tampers, defaces, or removes any stickers containing product identification information such as model number, serial number, or part number.

Don't buy hardware from shady people; it's just asking to get screwed sooner or later. Unless you know them and trust them, don't do it.... especially if they don't provide the paperwork you need for a manufacturer warranty. For all you know they stole them from a Zotac Warehouse.

So far all my cards i have are legit bought and all my warranties are fine. But i found some seller selling 20% cheaper GTX's 1070, and one of models he sells are Zotacs, but he doesnt give any invoice with them. So i was curtious can i switch labels or just use warranty without invoice in case this cheaper Zotac malfunctions while mining.

I noticed switching labels can be risky and stupid so i wont try that.

Second is try to claim warranty without invoice. Although i havent bought anything from him yet but i am curious if i buy it, can i settle my warranty, coz maybe seller tries to fuck me up if i try to ask him for replacement. I cant rely on him, i rather make sure i can do this directly with Manfacturer.

Im willing to bet they will change warranty options very soon...if they havent already.  Good GPU's like EVGA don't need to, because their fans,etc, actually last long and thus are good for mining.  Some still have sleeve bearing fans, and those will die and be RMA.  I wouldnt try to scam the company for a repair...its because of people that do so that rules get worse for everyone else.

In my country this was done massively until now. Sellers both online and offline shops now require you to stick a serial number to the card and if you bring the card without that serial number , and many other identifiable serials of the card itself. They attach it to the back of the card with a scotch. If you have removed it, you have removed warranty.

To the person who quit selling on ebay, you can start selling with these conditions, pretty sure no scammer will be in your way if you apply these tricks when selling graphic cards, but you can apply this to any product.

I would agree with you on that point and you would probably be able to make a claim if you persisted hard enough. But on the other hand why wouldn't you have an invoice if you as you say legitimately bought the card from an authorized re-seller? At the least, they could send you a new copy so you could receive service.


This is totally disagree with you on. They are under no obligation to honor a warranty for cards that are not sold through authorized channels.

Say for instance they manufactured a batch of cards that didn't pass their QA testing for some reasons, and maybe they have a contract with a recycling company to buy the defective cards from them at a bit less than cost and the other company makes its money by reclaiming the components. Now that other company goes through and tests each card before the reclaiming process, and maybe they are a bit unscrupulous. They may set cards aside that might fire up and kinda run, and then sell these at a discount (compared to normal wholesale) to another shady re-seller, who turns around and sells them to someone like you for a discount. Of course no one can offer an invoice as the whole thing is shady as hell but they do lure in some people who think getting a 40-50% discount on a brand new card is somehow legit.

Well now then we have a card that the manufacturer thought was disposed of turning back up to be serviced from a scammed customer. So how is that their responsibility to fix?

Of course this is just one of hundreds of possible scenarios of how you came to posses your card, but the point is if the seller is not willing to provide documentation or a invoice with a valid serial number to obtain warranty, you should be looking to shop elsewhere. You bought the card at a discount knowing that it could be an gamble, and now that you have lost that bet you want the manufacturer to come to the rescue. Sorry to say, but with that attitude you seem to be not a lot better than the scammers who took advantage of you in the first place.

How did you pay the guy? I don't know if your country has consumer protection laws, even without an invoice, if you paid with a Visa card you might have some protection.

I've read Zotac's warranty information. At this point I would RMA the thing without the invoice...just follow the online instructions...and send it back.


They have a 2 year warranty, if the item was not made more than 2 years ago, logic would dictate that it is less than 2 years old and would fall in the warranty period.


Or call and talk to a supervisor, tell them the production line of the card is not older than 2 years, you lost the paper work, etc...maybe let him/her know you are part of a BIG online community that is following the outcome of this (and hoping for good results).

I am from Europe - Croatia. Basicaly i have 10 Zotac cards that i bought from a store and i have invoice. But found some guy that can get also cheap Zotac cards, same model, but like 20% cheaper. Downside is, he doesnt give an invoice. So was thinking either to change labels (but i guess it's to risky) or if something goes wrong with GPU, claim factory warranty.

I contacted Zotac via live chat, i told i am from Europe, croatia and asked can i claim warranty if i dont have invoice. Guy said no xD

"cannot claim manufacturer warranty if i don't have invoice"


Laws very from country to country, I'm not familiar with the laws in your country, BUT some manufacturers will say things that are not legal...check with the laws of your country/state and make sure what they are saying is true to the law.


Did you use a credit card to buy the card?

How did you buy the non-working card?


Also there are some video's online about diagnosing and fixing cards, but that is a long shot.


Zotac's warranty policy seems ridiculous and probably not legal in many countries, especially EU countries.

https://www.zotac.com/in/page/product-warranty-policy


OP where are you from?

I guess i wont mess with it. Probably wouldnt work. But it's sad i cannot claim manufacturer warranty if i dont have invoice. I wanted to buy some cheap RoG Strix 1070 for around 350 euros but i dont want to take the risk.

I'll rather pay 100 euro more and be safe for next 3 years.

Isn't there a manufacturer's warranty ?


Maybe you don't have to go to the seller...I would try to do an RMA with the manufacturer...usually these things have at least a 1 year warranty (the serial number should be tied to a manufactured date).

Also, few people do this, but if you bought it with a Visa card that might have extended your warranty to 2 years OR there might be buyer protection against non-working electronics (through visa, but I'm sure they don't make it easy to get a refund).


Keep us updated

Well, I bet they do have some sort of identification, they cannot have such a breach. People would abuse it constantly, they definitely have the serial number printed somewhere not visible. The sticker seems just for reference I think, even though they claim that it voids the warranty if removed.

This is why I am really surprised why manufacteurs don't permanetely imprint the serial # onto the PCB or at least somewhere on the ROM where it can't be altered.

I had this issue a few years ago with my R9 270X, basically the Serial # sticker blew off somewhere probably due to heat. But they still accepted since I had the receipt.

Really genius to put a 1 cent sticker which is held on by glue on something that reaches >100C on a $600 GPU.

By using the mail system you are committing a felony right there which is good for 5 years and nice hefty fine, not to mention also possible fraud charges that Zotac or the seller might pursue.

Contact the seller and ask for a new invoice. If they don't respond, contact Zotac and show them the paypal or credit card statement. Zotac should be able to estimate the manufacture time and should work with you.

Swapping serial labels makes you an asshat and you're asking for negative trust just for considering that kind of unethical behavior.