HIDEvolution - Clevo lost my CPU - how else to proceed?

Hey guys, I had my P870KM1-G in RMA for 2 months or so getting the motherboard replaced due to a CPU pin that was damaged. I shipped it to HIDEvolution with my components in to ensure that it was tested stable and my components weren't causing any issues. (removed the battery though to reduce cross-border inspection hassles)

So anyways, HIDEvolution did not record the components in the laptop before they shipped it off to Clevo to get the motherboard replaced/repaired/whatever they did.

I received my laptop back a week ago in working condition thankfully, but noticed that my CPU had turned from an i7-7700K to an i7-6700K!
The i7-6700K had a sticker on it showing it was from Clevo's part stock: S-BJAEKAB
Here's a picture of the CPU after removing it and cleaning off the TIM:
https://adduono.com/p870km1/for-hidevolution/6700k/IMG_20171023_205126.jpg
According to HIDEvolution, this part number shows it is Clevo stock from 2015. My initial thoughts were that the KAB on the end meant Kaby Lake and it was just a sticker on the wrong CPU but apparently this is not the case. (just a coincidence)

Oh just for fun this is what it looked like when I took the heatsink off: https://adduono.com/p870km1/for-hidevolution/6700k/IMG_20171020_150255.jpg
Good thing it's such a hard paste and didn't leak under the CPU PCB, otherwise I'd have more CPU pin issues than I first sent it out for lol!
*** The thermal pads are all attached to the GPU heatsink block since they stick much better to copper than thermoset plastics (ICs)

While I don't really want to stir up a bunch of drama here, I do think the best way to get something resolved is to make the situation be known to the public. The fault here is on both HIDEvolution (for not recording parts before shipping) and Clevo (for misplacing the CPU and not even keeping a record of the replacement?!?!?!)
I do think HIDEvolution is a good company and they maintain decent contact and made attempts to look into the situation, so I'm not trying to get people to boycott them. I'm just really frustrated because I haven't even had the chance to use my laptop for more then a few days since I bought it and now the P870TM1 is out!

Email conversation (newest to oldest, only messages regarding the mix up):
It's a little confusing piecing it together, I'd post the entire thread but for some reason they are all separated and every new message gets another thread in gmail.

 

The solution is pretty simple. If they want to make it right they will give you a 7700K and apologize profusely for their mistake. Sadly, the Clevo repair depot doesn't do the right thing. They have wrongfully charged @Trafficante for replacement motherboards under warranty more than once. No need for drama. It's just a fact that they do not accept responsibility for their mistakes, and they don't care about Clevo Resellers any more than end users. I doubt that having proof will sway them because they don't care. I've also heard, from sources I trust, that bent CPU pins on brand new Clevo motherboards is also not uncommon on machines that haven't been sold yet. I personally know of two people that encountered the same.

And, you are right. HIDevolution is an amazing company and they are a victim of the dishonesty as much as you are.

It would never be a good enough reason for me to ever buy one of their crippled turdbooks today... no way I would entertain that at all... but, one thing I can say for Dell/Alienware is they always tried to make things right. The customer was almost always right, and given more benefit of doubt than deserved sometimes. If they couldn't make things right you generally ended up with a replacement machine (often cursed with the same issues as the product it replaced) and under really bad circumstances something was offered as compensation (better specs, extended warranty, etc.) for your grief. That's how things are supposed to work if they want repeat business.

Clevo is a lot like NVIDIA in this respect. End users are not their customers, and customer satisfaction isn't their concern. Know what else is sad? I've heard and experienced similar or worse horror stories from HP, ASUS and MSI regarding employee blunders, refusing to take ownership of their mistakes and botched up processes relating to warranty repairs.

 

Its a shame but at least you know to expect poor customer service from Clevo. In the future its probably a good idea for anyone to take pictures, gather screenshots and documents of all their components before sending anything off. Any evidence in your favour will likely be useful.

 

Unfortunately I don't think anything actually works as proof no matter how good it is. I took this a few days before shipping it out.
I've even got receipts for the order of my 7700K at the same time as purchasing the P870KM1-G from HIDEvolution.

The Clevo parts yellow sticker should be obvious enough for proof, especially when the laptop was ordered without any CPU in it! How else could someone obtain this CPU?

 

Please be patient...we are working on this to get you a proper resolution. We should have it resolved in the next few days.

@Mr. Fox @Arrrrbol

 

Exactly, be patient they find good solution for you, i belive

Gesendet von meinem SM-G935F mit Tapatalk

 

They offered to ship me another 7700K from hidevolution stock if I first ship them the 6700K, I guess that's ok....except for being without my laptop for another 2 weeks.
Responded asking if they'd take a deposit so I can wait till it gets here. -_-

I also noticed my Bluetooth wasn't working now, and that someone had put tape over the Intel 8265 antenna connectors. I assumed to keep antennas in place and reduce stress on the port.
I lifted the tape (gently) and the antenna port came off with the antenna it was connected to LOL. I guess the tape was holding the port to the PCB. To be clear, I didn't break it! That would take quite a bit of force and there'd probably be a snap.
Thankfully bought a spare Killer 1535 and Intel 9260 should be out soon anyway, but wtf!

Right now I'm trying to salvage the MHF4 antenna by removing this port from it with tweezers but I dunno if it's happening, will probably need to order another MHF4 cable
Update: Nope that antenna is toast, while I was able to clear the port out of the end, the conductor came out with it. Killer 1535 is working great with 2nd antenna in main port for now.

This has been a horrible experience in every way.

 

Putting Kapton tape over the WiFi antennas is a common practice. Most new machines ship that way from the factory. If I remember correctly @Prema had a new system where one of the antenna ports fell off the Intel 8260 card because it was not soldered securely during manufacturing.

 

I love how your company does the right thing all of the time. That is what sets HIDevolution apart and makes them great, and why HIDevolution is a company I prefer to do business. I just hope the resolution on the back end is Clevo actually being accountable, owning their mistake and footing the bill, rather than HIDevolution absorbing the loss for a valued customer.

 

Sorry to hear about that. Like Mr Fox says Hidevolution should swap out your cpu with a i7 7700k or at least compensate you. On ebay a used 6600k is going for about $270 and you can buy a new 7700k from Microcenter for about $299. That's the route I would probably take and ask Hidevolution to compensate me $50 or so.

Sent from my SM-G935T using Tapatalk

 

Knowing HIDEvolution, they will probably swap out his 6700k for the 7700k, to fix Clevo's stupid mistake.

EDIT - I need to read the whole thread before posting next time. Thats exactly what they are doing lol.

 

Actually, he had a 7700K to begin with and when it came back from Clevo they had kept his CPU and put in a 6700K with a Clevo part number sticker on it. HIDevolution had nothing to do with the mistake. It was the Clevo repair depot that messed up and refused to acknowledge they had made a terrible mistake.

 

yeah only problem right now is i can pay $15 to send 6700k back in 15 business days or $35 for 4 business days, then 1 business day for processing at hidevolution, then i have to wait ~8 business days for fedex ground back to canada so 2 weeks without a computer if i spend $35, 3.5 weeks if i spend $15
i really hope they allow me to put down a deposit and ship as soon as i receive...

btw regarding ebay as an option, they are up for sale for 270 but people only buy them at 230-240 and ebay takes 10% of your money when it sells so ~210 is what you get, and microcenter doesn't exist up here and they do not do online sales, so i'd be paying $325+13% tax for a new one if i took that route, putting me out over $150 in losses

 

Yeap, didnt realize they already are working to fix Clevo's mis handling.

 

It's really unfortunate that you would have to pay a single red cent or be without your laptop for even one day when Clevo is to blame for the incompetence in handling of your repair. Mistakes can happen. We're all human. We all make mistakes. We should forgive and move on, or bitterness and resentment will cause us more harm than the underlying problem. However, when a company like Clevo makes a mistake and then refuses to do the right thing and expect the end user to foot the cost and inconvenience resulting from their incompetence, that paints a pretty clear picture of who they are and how they roll.

Ask @Trafficante how many P570WM motherboards he had to pay for out of his own pocket under warranty because they arbitrarily decided he had done something to cause them fail. If I remember correctly, they even made him pay for a CPU and blamed him for damaging it when he had never taken the bottom cover off of a brand new system to repaste. It was damaged by Clevo during the repair, but he had to pay for it, because " There's no way it could have been Clevo's mistake." (I hope I am remembering that right. It was a few years ago, but I remember being livid about the way they were screwing him over.) I think the first one Clevo shafted him on came from LPC Digital and the second one he got screwed over on the motherboard might have been from Prostar, but in both situations I believe the problem was Clevo, not the vendor that sold the systems to him. If I remember correctly, neither vendor was able to influence the Clevo repair center or get them honor the warranty or admit that it was their fault.

 

Let me see if I can clarify some things.

HIDevolution is in the middle of two parties, each claiming emphatically different positions. While we are not Solomon, jcadduono is our customer, and Clevo is our manufacturer. Clevo says they keep very tight inventory, and a rigid procedure for work on the bench, and they do, and they claim there is no way they could have mistakenly put a different CPU into jcadduono's laptop. jcadduono presents a very appealing case, including a receipt for the purchase of an Intel® Core™ i7-7700K, along with pictures of the box, and claims that was the CPU he sent in.

How is HIDevolution to know which is true? How do any of you know which is true?

Given that one of these two parties is mistaken, HIDevolution is left with the difficult situation of not knowing which is correct, and which is mistaken.

I asked jcadduono earlier to be patient while we did some fact finding, and that we would work something out.

To that end, HIDevolution will take a deposit from jcadduono for the Intel® Core™ i7-7700K and mail one to him out our expense, as a warranty replacement so that there will be little or no tax due when going into Canada. We will also send him a Priority Mail label so that he can return the used Intel® Core™ i7-6700K to us. Once received, as long as it is in proper working order with no damage, we will return the deposit.

@jcadduono, please work with our staff member who has been helping you with this issue to finalize these arrangements.

 

That is exactly what I wanted to hear, thank you @Donald@HIDevolution !!!

also I should mention it wasn't kapton tape that was on my wifi module, it was hockey tape, lol, odd choice for manufacturer, left residue all over the module, antenna connectors, and pcb. definitely replacing it with kapton later.

my stupid backup killer 1535 just died while downloading overnight (bluetooth still works, atheros pcie interface totally gone), these M.2 wifi modules are awful, ordered another 8265 from china for now, I hope they improve quality on next generation chips!

 

does anyone know how to check if a GPU is G-Sync supported or not, like a digit in serial number, I'm having trouble getting G-Sync to show up in nVidia Control Panel since the GPU swap performed at Clevo factory.

VBIOS is 86.04.56.00.2D on both GTX 1080s.

 

You can tell by the hardware ID showing in GPU-Z or Device Manager. A GTX 1080 with G-Sync is 1BE0.

 

Which is which?

 

Re-check my post.

If your 1080 shows 1BE0 you should be good to go. It may be the display driver that is installed is bugged.

Having the CPU switched to 6700K with a BIOS supporting 7700K may also have disabled G-Sync. When you get the 7700K, uninstall the display drivers with DDU and reinstall them and it may come back.

 

Ah ok thanks for the edit, looks like both of mine are 1BE0, are you running a custom VBIOS or is that just a newer one? Mind passing me a copy?

Yeah could be, I'll try downgrading to Clevo's 382 release instead of nVidia's 388.00

 

That was a beta @Prema vBIOS mod. So, I cannot share it. Nobody has that as of yet because it is unreleased and still a work in process.

 

This thing is cursed, I tell ya!!!!!

My Q key just stopped working, and now all my Qs must come from my K830 :|

Oh well, not like I ever strafed left in the first place!

Ok and my touchpad keeps falling asleep and taking multiple attempts to move the cursor.... or maybe that's just bad gesture detection in the synaptics driver *shrug*

 

One of the ribbon cables under the keyboard is probably not be securely seated. Not likely the keyboard is bad. You have to hold the wide ribbon cables securely seated and work both sides of the retainer until fully locked or this can happen. and it is fairly common.

Touchpad quirk could be a driver issue, but if you are using an external mouse the option to automatically disable the touchpad should be selected.

 

No luck. Fully disconnected the keyboard, cleaned the contacts, put them back in, closed the connectors (why did they use different latch types, that is so weird, I like the lift up kind, screw the double tab push in kind) and the result is still the same.
Tested every single key and they all work except for Q. It's not like each individual key has their own connector lane. The lanes must all have proper contact. I'm gonna assume there's something gone wrong behind that key alone. :/

Seems I'm not the only one, lol
http://forum.notebookreview.com/thr...876-owners-lounge-phoenix-3-0.800081/page-175

 

I've had that happen once when I swapped the keyboard, some keys wouldn't work. I simply reconnected the keyboard ribbon cable and it worked.

Here's the trick, when you press one of the latches to lock the ribbon cable, it tends to move the other side of the ribbon out so you need to hold and press both latches together until it's secured and locked. Try again

 

You quoted me saying that I did just what you said

 

Looks like i won't even be seeing it till next year at this point.

Clevo repair center did replace the keyboard, so it was faulty.

Apparently the lack of G-Sync was due to the CPU being a 6th gen series 6700K rather than my 7th gen series CPU.... what an awful whitelist condition!

 

So good news, I got my laptop today after paying for 2 day shipping (really didn't want to wait till January)

Testing it out in a moment.

When I took it out of the packaging a screw fell out and then I looked at the bottom of the laptop and there was no screws in it, haha!
Didn't bother me since I had bought a pack of 50 or so expecting to lose some over time to repeated opening / wear / dropping and losing.

Results:
(copypasta of email I sent to hidevolution)

(I meant DDR4-3000, oops)

overall I'm a little disappointed I went through so much effort. I actually lost my border tax receipt at some point so I'm really afraid to bring it out of the country now, hope it never needs to be serviced again :X (I almost had to pay tax again on it this night when bringing it across, very scary when it's another $900!)
The experience makes me wary of purchasing any Clevo product in the future from ANY retailer simply because of my experience with the Clevo Repair Center, and not HIDevolution.

side note: I disabled "legacy bios logo" and was greeted with a lovely Prema BIOS boot screen complete with Prema's logo instead of the EVOC logo, cool! Happy surprise either way, glad to be rid of the "Style Note" screen haha.
That is an INSANE amount of configurable options in the BIOS now, WOW!

 

Don't forget that the Clevo Service Centers are only used by companies which don't carry out repairs at their own premises, so your experience shouldn't have a strong bearing on purchasing any Clevo chassis from any system integrator or reseller in the future.

 

In all this thread it has been "Clevo" this and "Clevo" that... I seriously do not get this. Who the heck is "Clevo" ? A contract exists between the customer and the retailer and in most civilised countries the contract is governed by the state. The customer has no idea who "Clevo" is; they could just as easily be a local repair shop or in-house staff carrying out repairs.

 

Happy to hear the HIDevolution did the right thing. Happy I made the right decision going with them.

 

This matter was resolved to the customer's satisfaction month's ago...did you read this thread?

Given the OP's Title to this thread, this customer clearly knew who Clevo is, as do most buyers of a Clevo laptop, regardless of its final branding.

I think you might want to read up on some civilized law that is common to most countries and states within them. This was a bailment - see https://legal-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/bailment. The bailor (OP) claims the bailee (Clevo) did not return the same CPU that was sent when the laptop was returned for repair. The OP got the correct CPU once HIDevolution.com stepped in...case closed.

I seriously don't get why you made the quoted post.

 

I agree that this thread doesn't need to be resurected again after it's clearly been resolved to the customer's satisfaction. Problem is, and if I muddied the waters I appologise - the thread title is very missleading because at no point has Clevo been involved in this. I think that's the main point @doofus99 was making, not that he's trying to start the blame game again.

Comes back to numerous discussions had on this forum when members (often those who are new to the Clevo ecosystem) don't understand the differentiation between Clevo and Sager - the title of this forum section "Sager and Clevo" doesn't help either as that suggests a number of falsehoods. IMO the section title should include all SIs or all resellers, or none, as some people clearly think that all Clevo laptops are Sager and then rebranded.

Anyway, I'm getting off topic - as I said this thread really doesn't need to be resurected.