My MythTV box has an Albatron KM18GPro motherboard in it. Last week, the Ethernet port on it went dead. I can plug in a known good cable, and don’t even get LED activity on the port. Plug the same cable into any number of other machines, and it works fine. (This is repeatable across different cables and switches, too.)
So I submitted an online RMA request to Albatron. Despite their claim of “instant confirmation” when an e-mail address is supplied, after submitting the form, it says to call them if there’s no response after 48 hours. I also submitted the proof of purchase as they requested.
Since there wasn’t, I called them and got a voice mail box. Left a voice mail. It was never returned. I also e-mailed their RMA team. No response. I’m sure this has nothing to do with the fact that my warranty expires in a few weeks.
It’s now been days since I first contacted them. This is absolutely the worst hardware support I’ve ever received from any vendor — taking days to even *respond* to a problem. I recently had a problem crop up with my Sipura SPA-841 phone, and got a replacement on its way to me within 12 hours. That’s right, a *phone* got better service than this motherboard.
I’ll never buy from Albatron again.
Their site says “Capturing the spirit of the albatross.” I think they got it wrong. It should be “capturing the spirit of the weasel.”
One of dictionary.com’s definitions for albatross is “A constant, worrisome burden”, so it seems like their current slogan is accurate as well.
You know “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner”?
Hadn’t heard of it, but Google brought up some info. Are you saying my motherboard is cursed? :-)
I’ve had issues w/ Tyan as well, and there a major company, took them like a month to replace my motherboard (as they didnt have that model in stock and finally convinced them to send me the updated model, so got a small upgrade of a tiger MP->Tiger MPX motherboard. 3Ware had my raid card for 2 months before they sent me a replacement!
best warrenty experience I have had is through AmEx on the 1 year extended warrenty on my processsors. they just gave me a credit of the cost of the purchase! Considering the processors were 3+ years old (yay for 1 year extended warrenty on retail processors), got a nice upgrade out of that.
I would say asus, but I haven’t had any experience with their RMA department, mainly because nothing I have had from them has broken or arrived damaged. Maybe someone has some experience here?
http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview.aspx?catid=27&threadid=1609455&enterthread=y
http://forums.mikhailtech.com/showthread.php?p=56590#post56590
Yeah I to have had problems with Albatron and RMA’ing stuff with them. I to will never buy from them ever..
My only other RMA experience was with WesternDigital and they were very fast. All they needed was a S/N number and they would send you a replace ment right away. Two day shipping, but you have to give them your credit card number so if you don’t send back defective drive they will charge you. I loved the process only had to pay the $3-5 for shipping got me a brand new drive. :)