bad experience with OCZ

Well a few days ago I was running the Cpu benchmark test in XTU and I bricked one of my drives. I called OCZ for an RMA and they wanted me to send them my receipt. I bought it on Ebay so the only receipt I had was my Paypal statement which I sent them. Bottom line, they won't honor the 5 year warranty because I'm not the original owner. If I bought it on Amazon they would send me a new one.Anyway I contacted the Ebay seller and he's going to help me out.I have to send him the drive and he has to get an RMA and when OCZ sends him a new one, he'll send it to me.What a PITA!

 

That sucks, Harlon. At least it sounds like you're gonna get it sorted - shame that you have to go round the houses to do it. I've had similar experiences with a Samsung TV I bought off Amazon. Should have had 2 yrs manufacturers warranty, but because it was bought off Amazon, it defaulted to 12 months. Samsung didn't want anything to do with it then.....but I did manage to kick Amazon UK's butt about it, and they ended up sorting it out.

Good luck with it, keep us posted.

 

The UK laws protect you over a one year warranty anyway, but you do have to carefully check the warranty conditions to make sure you are covered.

 

That's a lot of hassle at least the seller is responsible enough.

 

It's kind of weird, because there should've been a PayPal invoice. It's not really OCZ's fault that the seller didn't properly transfer the product to you.

 

What, that's unbelievable.
What if people get their stuff from local shop or as a gift w.e. Typically the warranty is intact as long as the sn is there. The may start counting warranty period from the date of manf, but it will be under warranty.

I would go to their forum /contact again and inquiry/complain about it.

 

Actually, I just remembered that a few years ago, I bought a brand new and sealed Crucial C300 256gb off Ebay. Fortunately, I did ask the seller for a copy of HIS proof of purchase, which he was happy to supply me with. I never needed to RMA the drive, but when I sold it, the invoice went on to the next owner for this exact reason - warranty/ownership proof if faulty. I'm hopeful that you will get sorted, Harlon.

 

OCZ told me that the warranty is not tranferable from the original owner.

 

Yeah, but if you have the original proof of purchase, it's probably possible to 'impersonate' the original buyer without OCZ even knowing it. Just say you moved address and give them the buyers name and your address and I'd imagine your RMA would fly through....hopefully.

 

Exactly, that's the way it has to be done if OCZ tries NOT TO HELP. the warranty is supplied for the product, not for the combination of individual and product doh!

They got to provide full warranty service as long as the receipt is present. And yea if they play dirty you should do so too. I see no reason they should be pushing you around. Get just the receipt and be the original owner if you have to when claiming for warranty repair etc.

And by the way, little out of topic but main question, how OCZ drive death is related to XTU CPU Stress Test? I take if it died it did just because it wasn't built well enough etc, flaw in manufacturing/bad batch etc. Could be just coincidence though

 

I bought another Vector on Amazon; they are an authorized OCZ reseller according to OCZ. I'm not waiting around for the ebay reseller to help me out if he ever does. One of the reasons I bought 2 Vectors was because of the 5 year warranty and because it got excellent reviews as far as reliability.HAHA As far as why it bricked I really don't know, could have been just coincidence that I was running an XTU Cpu benchmark when it happened. So hopefully the ebay guy will help me out and I'll have a spare drive.

 

That sucks, right there. It should make no difference whatsoever to OCZ where you bought the drive. If their policy is that the warranty extends only to the original owner, that is a great reason to boycott OCZ products. That's pure garbage policy.

It is their product and the warranty should be valid regardless of how many owners it has had, or whether you obtained it as a free gift with no receipt. It will cost them no more or no less to stand behind their product. Looks to me like a way to wiggle out of doing the right thing. I have never had Seagate or Western Digital even ask for any proof of ownership. Their drives are either still under warranty or not... period. If they are in your possession, you're the owner. When, where and how much you paid for it is none of their business. OCZ needs to follow the lead of their competitors and stop making excuses.

 

I just wrote this to OCZ corporate headquarters in Ca. "I hope that someone in corporate headquarters reads this.I purchased 2 Vector 256Gb SSDs on 3/9/13.I bought them from a reseller on Ebay.They were BRAND NEW. A couple of days ago one of my drives failed. It said failed in the RAID menu and was not showing in the BIOS.I installed it in another computer and it would not boot up.I tried to get an RMA but was turned down because you have a warranty policy that does not honor the 5 year warranty except for the original owner.I am a member of Notebook Review Forums and other members could not believe I couldn't get a replacement drive after owning it only 3 months.Here is what one of the Forum Administrators said".It should make no difference whatsoever to OCZ where you bought the drive. If their policy is that the warranty extends only to the original owner, that is a great reason to boycott OCZ products. That's pure garbage policy.

It is their product and the warranty should be valid regardless of how many owners it has had, or whether you obtained it as a free gift with no receipt. It will cost them no more or no less to stand behind their product. Looks to me like a way to wiggle out of doing the right thing. I have never had Seagate or Western Digital even ask for any proof of ownership. Their drives are either still under warranty or not... period. If they are in your possession, you're the owner. When, where and how much you paid for it is none of their business. OCZ needs to follow the lead of their competitors and stop making excuses." I hope you can help me but if not their are a whole lot of people that will not be buying OCZ products because you won't honor the 5 year warranty you claim. The 5 year warranty is one of the reasons I purchased these drives. A very dissatisfied ex OCZ owner"

 

This was exactly my experience when I had my alienware apart from I bought mine from a friend. It was absoultly fantastic for about 3 months then after that, nothing but trouble. AW machines are incredible when they work, but when something goes wrong their support leaves you high and dry

 

I just got this from the ebay reseller "Can you provide me a phone number to reach you? i found the original invoice. Let's start an RMA process with them. You can ship the drive to them and if they send to my home address I will send it to you. OCZ is a hit or miss with who you talk to at Support" So it looks like the guys going to help me out

 

That's great news, Harlon! - it comes to something when you get more support from a stranger off Ebay than you do a multimillion dollar business. Hopefully, it will all work out sweet for ya, buddy!

On a side note, see if the Ebay guy will send you a copy of his original invoice, just incase you need to RMA again in the future - 5yrs is a long time and he might be well and truly gone by then.....

 

Thanks for your support Brother Stevie

 

just when I thought OCZ were finally cleaning up their act

 

yup, i thought they are good value option but with that kind of customer service...

 

Too bad tech review websites rarely review the manufacturers' tech/RMA support.

"Here's an amazing product at a cheap price! But we didn't check if they actually honor their warranties or if they have a 300 page warranty policy book, many of them specific exceptions."

 

What would make you think that? Many of the CSRs who (mis)handled the 25nm bait-and-switch are still around handling RMAs today.

 

On a product like an SSD, what does it matter if there's one owner or 20? Honor it from date of manufacture at least. Any hard drive or SSD I've ever owned would honor the warranty that way if I didn't have a receipt or proof of purchase.