FYI: Chaintech warranty
 

Chaintech just informed me that their 12 month warranty for a MOBO begins with the day of purchase and that it is not extended if the board breaks within that period of time.

For example: For the first 8 months I was in constant email communication with support@chaintech.tw. They finally agreed that the problem was the MOBO and they authorized an RMA. They don't repair your board they merely send you another's reconditioned MOBO*. Because it takes a month to complete the exchange you will only have three months remaining on your warranty. Then if that board fails within 2 1/2 months the newest reconditioned board is not warranted which is what happened with my 9cjs MOBO.

I don't know about other MOBO manufactures but I would hope that they assure customers a MOBO that works for 12 months in a row.**

Feedback about this please.

Thanks,

Kerry

* the significance of this is that one has no idea how many hours (especially boots 'n shut downs) the first owner put on the board before it was RMA'd. For example: If you RMA'd a 2 month old board you could be getting an 11 month old remanufactured board in return. I think this policy is a squeaky wheel that needs lots of squeaking.

** This partly explains why NewEgg et al don't publish the warranty info with their listing. It's not a true 12 month warranty. It would be if they repaired your board.

this policy is quite common.
Otherwise you could just break your motherboard every 10 months and thus have lifetime warranty. (and yes it's perfectly possible to break something without VISIBLY voiding the warranty)

I do follow FreeStyler's way of thinking; compare it to a car which has 10 year warranty on engine malfunction; when the car is 9 years old you throw a wrench into the motor and go the garage, who fix it still "under warranty".. would be logic, that when your car roles out of the garage that you get another 10 years on the engine? :)

H'mm, guess my thinking is off. I would have thought that they would be able to tell if the board were purposefully sabotaged.

Still, I'd feel better about the policy if they repaired my MOBO rather than give me someone else's. My guess is that most 9cjs owners overclock their boards, and that this trial and error process (including hundreds of extra on/offs) somewhat taxes a board's components. thereby shortening its life. I haven't overclocked yet solely because I didn't want them to be able say, "Sorry, the reason your MOBO is dead is because you accidentally tweaked it incorrectly."

I admit that part of my frustration has to do with the hundreds of trouble-shooting emails with ChaintechTW most of which have had gross confusing English and contained misleading info or missing steps, or, they simply didn't answer all of my questions. Incomplete instructions wreak havoc with us mild dyslectics. It's embarrassing as hell to ask for step-by-step instructions written in sixth-grade English—it's not hard to understand why I excelled in the military. :) I should have known better than to attempt the project. Coincidentally, Chaintech upgraded their BIOS twice due to problems I uncovered. That, and the fact that twice they've sent me remanufactured boards that apparently they did not burn-in test.

Thanks for letting me vent.

Kerry

It's good you are so upfront with the experiences with Chaintech support; we have no direct contact with their support service and users planning on buying Chaintech products in the future might want to consider support as a main deciding factor, instead of focusing on price:)

Yah, I feel like a heal badmouthing them but everything I've mentioned in posts I've discussed with "Chaintech Support" including the point that I have no idea who replies each time. They purposefully don't sign their emails so that a user can't report them for not answering questions. I even offer to poof-read their email replies to others (for free) suggesting that they should run all replies through their best English speaking tech but they turned down the offer and ignored the advice.

It's been over a year now and they still reply to trouble-shooting tickets with the same auto reply worded email. "Due to customer demand we will get to your reply as soon as possible." or some such template, with no improvement in speed or any signs of an intention to improve their service. I suspect they are too concerned with sales to bother with service. It has the feel of a company in survival, on the way down, not up. I used to tell others that though the manual and service is poor the product is great. Now with three malfunctioning boards I can't even say that. No doubt others have had different/better experiences.

Thanks for the consolation. Your support has been the source of solutions and direction and a voice of sanity for me. Thank you,

Kerry

Now there are sompe other points that are actually worth complaining about.
You should indeed have the option to have your own board repaired. This will take a LOT longer, but at least it's your choice.

And bad tech support, it could be worse, as in no tech support. I've sent plenty of E-mails in my days(used to work in a computer shop) and the only one I ever got a response from was the marketing departement, not very usefull.

Bad RMA service however just can't be excused.

My experience with Abit, Asus, MSI, Corsair, Micron, Thermalright as a consumer has been very good, except G.skill

Agree totally that customer support is important, often people don't really care until they need the service. And, it is difficult to evaluate. Perhaps, we can come out with a "scheme" ;)

I fogot to add my last encounter (a few days ago) support that resolved the problem within an hour .... a small Company Jetway = excellent !!

It took one phone call ... they returned the call within 10 minutes.

Maybe my nonprofit education org should start a National Support Directory. Enter product-name_support into Google and it would list everyone's experience of that company—the good the bad and the ugly. Any poster would have to CC a copy of their comment to the company. It would include an edit option by the original praiser/complainer so that they could correct or add-to their experience. "Originally I said they sucked, but since then they have come through wonderfully. I now highly recommend them."

The Directory, in the form of a message board/forum, would require registration w/email validity confirmation. And even though some competitors might try to trash a company a single person couldn't do too much damage. The value of the directory would be that it would provide an overall/average opinion. Companies could check each day and see what the majority of their customers think about them so that they could improve their service/product.

I can already think of about 20 great products/companies that well deserve my effort to praise them and a couple that I think warrant caution/avoidance. :)

I think what would be great about it is that over the years a CEO might hire a new customer rep manager who would scour the Service Directory cleaning up the messes which would then prompt the originator to totally change their opinion. Such a post would warranty a gold star. That would be so cool.

The above is just a thought. I find that when I purge my mind of such thoughts my mind is empty for a few minutes so that I can get some work done. Most of these kinds of thoughts are like marijuana ideas. The next morning, in the light of day, I can't even remember them, or, I ask myself, "What in the hell was I thinking?"

Again, thanks for the space to ramble.

Kerry