Razer asking me to send a pic of cut cable?

So I've needed a bunch of RMA (never sent it back due to family issues and leaving out of town) and now they email me saying all they want is a picture of my mouse's usb cable cut off along with its serial number... has anybody gone through this process before?

Is there anyway I can cut the cable and fix it back? It really is a waste of a mouse since the problem it's being RMA'd for is the top coating is peeling off like no tomorrow.

 

Yes, after you cut it, just reconnect the wires with solder and put some electrical tape around it.
Wont look pretty anymore but will work. Or you could use some heat-shrink tubing.

That sounds strange to me, why would they want you to cut it?

 

To show them that I dont use it so they can send me another one? I had to read the email around 11-12 times just to comprehend what they really meant. Then I had to check the trail of emails to make sure it wasn't just some spambot that picked up my email address from somewhere. Have you ever reconnected wires with solder? How easy would it be for a soldering noob?

 

Yeah. They basically want to make sure the mouse is "destroyed" before they send you a replacement. It's common practice where it's not worth having the RMA item returned.

Cheers,
Kermee

P.S. It also gives you an idea of what the mark-up and/or actual value of the item.

 

Really easy. In fact if you didn't want to solder you could just twist the wires and then tape them. I'm sure there is lots of info on the net about how to reconnect wires.

If it's a USB mouse then it must have 4 wires inside that cable you are going to cut.

 

I had to do this with my Carcharias headset recently. I just snipped the cord, took a photo and attached it, and my replacement was on the way the same day.

They also told me I could ship the headset back to them first, but then I would have to pay for that shipment and wait for it to get to them for them to send the replacement, so cutting it is just more convenient. I haven't tried to repair the cable though.

 

What mouse is it? I cut off a usb cable to a deathadder one time and was able to take it apart and install another cable.

 

That is a better idea, since it would make the mouse look as good as new.

 

Yeah I don't wanna pay for a box to ship it in, and then pay for the actual shipping. Is the Deathadder USB cable high quality or anything? Which usb cable did you use to connect the two?

mine is a Deathadder! Best mouse I've used to date!

 

I used a cable from a friends diamondback that didn't have a working left click. Razer sent me a new deathadder and my friend uses the one we repaired.

 

this seems like a huge pile of hassle to go through to 'cheat the man'.

 

You think it would be better to use a Razer USB cable?

 

Seems like he is recycling to me, instead of sending a good mouse to the junk pile.
And it is an easy fix, not much hassle.

 

I think any cable should work.

 

Not cheating the man at all here. My mouse is obviously faulty as the outermost coating is peeling off. Obviously gamers sit on their butts all day and have their mice in their sweaty palms all day.

I do not want to waste the mouse because another member in my household needs it.

 

"Cheating the man" would be repairing the mouse in a non-obvious way (i.e. taking it apart and attaching a new cable inside) and selling it on eBay or similar (advertising it as used, of course).

IMO, there is nothing even remotely shady about repairing it for personal use. They sent him a mouse of poor quality, when he paid for one that wasn't defective. To me, it seems incredibly petty on the part of the manufacturer to make him prove he's ruined it, especially when the end result is just a little more work for him to have 2 working mice anyways.

 

Leaving it with a family member! Has anyone found a tutorial on how to do this?

 

Well when I had problem with my Naga they said to mail it to them, nothing about cutting cable, too bad, could've had 2 of them