ATI Voiding 9500 PRO Warantees?

LeeJend

OSNN Veteran Addict
Joined
25 Jan 2003
Messages
5,291
A friend of mines ATI 9500 PRO is starting to have problems. Artifacts, crashes, etc. He has installed latest drivers, reformated and reinsatlled XP and he has no idea what overclocking is so the card has not been abused. Oh, and it is an ATI branded card.

He contacted ATI to get tech support and was left on hold over an hour on a long distance call. He eventually got an email from them stating that there was nothing they could do for him since the 9500 PRO card is now "out of production" and the ATI LIMITED warantee expressly states the card will be "replaced with the same item". With my encouragement he is forwarding all correspondence to half a dozen federal agencies for business fraud investigation of ATI.

The question is - has anyone else run into this problem with ATI?

I bought my 9500 PRO last spring just before they went out of production and a major reason I bought it was because of the 3 year warantee (my last nvidia card died at 13 months). Needless to say I am PISSED to hear about this. Especially since I've been recommending ATI for the last 6 months.

The average high end video card version stays in production about 12 months and they usually don't make it past 18 months so ATI offering a 3 year warantee with a built in 18 month life cycle limitation is pretty much fraud. Especially when the product is nearing the end of its life. I may still be able to get a "full replacement" extended warantee from the retailer but that's another $30-50 and I already paid an extra $40 to buy the ATI branded card instead of a Powercolor or Sapphire.

I guess at this point I have to recommend against buying ATI branded cards. 2 hour tech support waits on long distance is bad enough but trying to weasle out of a warantee because you decided to discontinue a good product for "convenience" is down right criminal.
 
hrmm.....i'd say keep bugging them about it til they replace it
 
Are they refusing to replace it? They should give a 9600 Pro or something. Save all your emails from them as a threat that you'll smear them. And remember...the squeaky wheel gets the grease!
 
He just got an email from them 2 weeks after his first contact with customer service saying that his complaint has been received and is being looked into. He has since been forced to buy another board (5600 Ultra) and is out the money.

They have not yet offered him a 9600 PRO. I think I have him convinced it is a "close enough replacement" but he is still hacked off because he chose the 9500 PRO for the extra pipelines and good speed at lower (i.e. cooler?) clock speeds.

And I'm teaching him to squeek real loud (cc all correspondence to the Federal Trade Commission, Intersate Commerce Commission, Department of Justice, State Department (ATI is a foreigh manufacturer), half a dozen Tech Review companies...). Hopefully he can get it replaced and then sell it to recoup some of his losses. Still a lot of work to do just to enforce a warantee. I have friends getting FX 5600's and ultras to replace 4200's because the manufacturer can't meet demand on 4200's. Thats what I expect from customer support.
 
normally they would or should replace the card...

the cards afaik either carry lifetime or 3 year warranties...

if his card falls under that setup... it will be replaced... if the warranty has expired.. ati has a few setups...

here is the information..

http://www.ati.com/support/rma/warranty.html#Warranty Durations

now... bear in mind a few products are sold with 'lifetime' warranties... the erroneous understanding is this implies it is LIFETIME for the life of the card... that is not the case... it is lifetime for the RETAIL life of the product...

on a side note... ati should actually work with your friend... for a charge... to fix/repair the product or perhaps replace it for a charge... I am not sure what he told them or what they told him... but the card should... if it is a RETAIL BBA card... come with a 3 year limited warranty...

in my experience in contacting ati with any concerns I have had... the response has always been prompt and courteous and to the point...

I highly recommend continuing to stay in touch with ati and get to the bottom of this... the product should either be fixed or replaced with a similar/same product...

www.sapphiretech.com one of ati's card making suppliers actually still carries the product therefore it is likely that a direct replacement may well be possible...
 
Sazar

Do you have a contact method other than what they post on their web site or the toll phone number with the warantee. It sounds like you did not get the kind of run around he's getting.

PS he has the 3 year warantee retail version of the card.
 
Originally posted by LeeJend
He just got an email from them 2 weeks after his first contact with customer service saying that his complaint has been received and is being looked into. He has since been forced to buy another board (5600 Ultra) and is out the money.

They have not yet offered him a 9600 PRO. I think I have him convinced it is a "close enough replacement" but he is still hacked off because he chose the 9500 PRO for the extra pipelines and good speed at lower (i.e. cooler?) clock speeds.

And I'm teaching him to squeek real loud (cc all correspondence to the Federal Trade Commission, Intersate Commerce Commission, Department of Justice, State Department (ATI is a foreigh manufacturer), half a dozen Tech Review companies...). Hopefully he can get it replaced and then sell it to recoup some of his losses. Still a lot of work to do just to enforce a warantee. I have friends getting FX 5600's and ultras to replace 4200's because the manufacturer can't meet demand on 4200's. Thats what I expect from customer support.

understand this... :)

ati not only MAKES products... it also SELLS them...

as you should know as a consumer... retaillers all act differently... I know many people who mess up their cards and get replacements... but the quality of the replacement and what not depends entirely on the retailler...

it is not in ati's interest to replace a discontinued product with a discontinued product... the 9600pro would be the logical replacement... this is stated in the warranty as well... therefore there is consistency...

concerning the 4200/5600 replacements.. it does happen... but NVIDIA does not SELL cards... they sell the chips... the only cards they actually are involved in the manufacture of are the nv30/35 series due to the complexity issues... all the others are AIB's...

I understand your friend being peeved... but this is the case with warranties... and business's...
 
Originally posted by LeeJend
Sazar

Do you have a contact method other than what they post on their web site or the toll phone number with the warantee. It sounds like you did not get the kind of run around he's getting.

PS he has the 3 year warantee retail version of the card.

I use the general weblinks provided...

didn't get run-arounds... I just provided all the information needed... specific information which i believe there is a tool to collect... collect info/submit and you will get a response back...

mind I have not had actual problems with the card... it is more in line with getting software help... ie getting info on compatability issues not listed previously and tradeup information...

average response time == under 24hrs... with detailed info...

like I said though... keep following up on the problem with ati... they should deal with it in the appropriate manner as stipulated...
 
I sent my 9500 pro in under warranty repair about 2 months ago. I went to the ATI web page, filled out an RMA request, got the RMA the next day. Shipped it out 2 days later, received a new 9500 pro about a week later. Everything went smoothly. You may have gotten a dingbat newbie on the phone. Have your friend go to their web site and arrange for warranty repair there. Trying to get anything done on the phone with big companies is ridiculous.
 
There is no way he'll get another 9500 Pro replacement, they don't make them anymore, which means there is little, if any stock of them around.

The industry should have a safequard like the auto industry has, they have to have so many replacements parts for x amount of years after a car leaves production... it makes sense, and makes sure the consumer doesn't get hosed.

the 9600 is a cooler running GPU than the 9500 Pro... alot cooler. and it's not all that much slower, and it overclocks like crazy... it's a fair replacement...
 
Originally posted by Goatman
There is no way he'll get another 9500 Pro replacement, they don't make them anymore, which means there is little, if any stock of them around.

The industry should have a safequard like the auto industry has, they have to have so many replacements parts for x amount of years after a car leaves production... it makes sense, and makes sure the consumer doesn't get hosed.

the 9600 is a cooler running GPU than the 9500 Pro... alot cooler. and it's not all that much slower, and it overclocks like crazy... it's a fair replacement...

the 9600pro has fewer pipelines though more efficient architecture... it is the closest replacement you will get to the 9500pro w/o actually getting a 9500pro...

it makes absolutely no fiscal sense for an IHV to make replacement parts cost wise especially with the way technology moves forward... it makes a lot more sense to give the consumer the same product if available or the newer one if it is not available...
 
Originally posted by eddieb
I sent my 9500 pro in under warranty repair about 2 months ago. I went to the ATI web page, filled out an RMA request, got the RMA the next day. Shipped it out 2 days later, received a new 9500 pro about a week later. Everything went smoothly. You may have gotten a dingbat newbie on the phone. Have your friend go to their web site and arrange for warranty repair there. Trying to get anything done on the phone with big companies is ridiculous.

LMAO...

he said dingbat... :D
 
Whats wrong with dingbat? All us old farts grew up with it. Remember Archie and Edith Bunker.

I feel age discriminated. :-(

PS Thanks eddie. I'll pass that success along, and I feel a lot better about my 9500 PRO. It is running flawlessly but in my job paranoia is considered a plus.
 
UPDATE

All is well in ATI land. They responded to the latest email from the guy and have offered him his choice of replacement board.

Anything but the discontinued 9500 PRO.

Whew I can relax now.
 
Originally posted by LeeJend
UPDATE

All is well in ATI land. They responded to the latest email from the guy and have offered him his choice of replacement board.

Anything but the discontinued 9500 PRO.

Whew I can relax now.

you probably got one of em pimple-faced intern kids who doesn't know what 3d graphics is... :)

glad to know your m8 is fine...
 

Members online

Latest profile posts

Also Hi EP and people. I found this place again while looking through a oooollllllldddd backup. I have filled over 10TB and was looking at my collection of antiques. Any bids on the 500Mhz Win 95 fix?
Any of the SP crew still out there?
Xie wrote on Electronic Punk's profile.
Impressed you have kept this alive this long EP! So many sites have come and gone. :(

Just did some crude math and I apparently joined almost 18yrs ago, how is that possible???
hello peeps... is been some time since i last came here.
Electronic Punk wrote on Sazar's profile.
Rest in peace my friend, been trying to find you and finally did in the worst way imaginable.

Forum statistics

Threads
62,015
Messages
673,494
Members
5,621
Latest member
naeemsafi
Back