My Mythlogic RMA Experience

I will use this post to keep track of my Mythlogic RMA experience, this is for my Phobos 8715S (Clevo P870DM-G) display/GPU issue, so far it's felt a little slow, even when I called they couldn't give me an estimate of how long things are going to take

One thing people should take note is that even though you purchase the 2 way shipping warranty thing, they will ask you to pay for the shipping first and then reimburse you, something that is not quite pleasant

And they didn't answer my question as to what component might be actually defective although I explained my situation in detail to them, and this not just the failure but also the detailed symptoms

Monday Nov 14 2016, called Myth and was told to send an email to support, email sent to support right after the call asking what component might be broken and during the call they couldn't give me an estimate on how long it will take them to repair, they just told me that if they need to order parts it might take some time

Tuesday Nov 15, 2016, 24 hours after the email, no response, I called again and asked that the support team be notified about my email, a few hours later I got a response to ship the laptop to them with some instructions however they did not answer my question as to what component might be defective
After contacting @mythlogic rep here I was given the shipping label that very night which was nice

Wednesday Nov 16, 2016, The shipping label included a high value sheet, something I wouldn't have known had I created the label myself, but the instructions were confusing so I had to sort it out with UPS

Thursday Nov 17, 2016, I gave my laptop to UPS in the morning, also had them sign the high value sheet, the ball is now in UPS/Myth's court, hopefully they are not as slow as depicted here in the forum

Monday Nov 28, 2016, after more than a week (partly due to Thanksgiving holiday) the laptop was received by Myth, signed by BENZ according to UPS tracking, but there's no update from Myth support ticket yet
Got an update from Myth in the evening saying that it was a software issue, which was really surprising, since if you see the video I posted it doesn't seem to be a software issue at all, but I asked them to confirm that they're seeing the same problem I'm seeing in the video
Received another update later in the evening telling me that they indeed saw the same problem and when they reinstalled the OS on their drive (to avoid wiping my drive) everything was running fine, this includes various benchmarks, so it was nice of them to update me even late at night

Tuesday Nov 29, 2016, I was told that they're going to re install the OS on my drive since they believed it was a software issue

Wednesday Nov 30, 2016, they finally was able to replicate the shutdown issue with their own OS on their drive, so now they are trying to isolate as to which component failed, good to know they found the issue before wiping out my OS the bad thing is that this is a different issue from the screen blacking out, max fan, LED blinking stuff and it took them 1 day of bench testing to reproduce, so hopefully it doesn't take too long to fix all this

Friday, Dec 9 2016, I was told earlier this week that there might be multiple components failing and the combination testing has been taking a long time and that I was going to be updated toward the weekend but so far there's been no update, this has taken way too long just to find out what the problem was

Wednesday, Dec 14 2016, after inquiring the day before as what their policy is if they can't determine what the problem is, I was told that it's a bad motherboard and they'll be re installing the OS on my SSD to see if the problem can be reproduced
Later that evening I was told that they already swapped the motherboard and now testing to see if the problem is fixed, they also told me that my components are OK, so hopefully it won't take much longer

Sunday, Dec 18 2016, I was told that they'll be doing more software/game testing but things are looking good, appreciate them giving an update on a Sunday

Friday, Dec 23, 2016, laptop was shipped back to me earlier today, yay!

Tuesday, Dec 27, 2016, 4:08 PM laptop received will be using it for a couple of weeks or so before posting a final update, but kudos to myth for shipping it using ups 3 day select instead of the usual ground that would've taken at least a week

Total days: 43

We'll see

 

Hey

Check your PM's, but we also don't like speculating as to what exactly is wrong with the laptop until we actually get it and tear into it, because we don't want to set incorrect expectations for you or anyone else, because what might seem like a dead stick of ram (easy fix) can turn out to be a dead motherboard, or a busted keyboard (that one was fun). We just want the opportunity to properly diagnose it before we give an expected prognosis and more importantly a timeline.

 

Thanks for the reply, appreciate it, I was just hoping that you've had seen cases like this before from your past experience

 

Yes we've seen stuff like this before, and a few of the examples were in the previous reply. So it could be memory, a dead gpu, bad screen cable, bad screen, fried motherboard, even a shorted keyboard. So we've seen it all that can manifest as a dead screen.

 

All being said, I've noticed that Mythlogic has been a little slow on the RMA lately, quite a few complaints as of late. Did yall downsize?

 

Well just to clarify it's not just a dead screen, in the ticket I explained that initially the display blacked out intermittently during games and then during internet browsing and then permanently, the main clue is that the fan sped up to max and the power on LED was blinking everytime it happened

I explained all this in the ticket and I explained all this to Tim on the phone before I created the ticket as well, not just a blacked out screen, but if you can point me to the threads of the failures you mentioned above I'll appreciate it

And if it can speed up the diagnosis I have a video of what the current condition is

 

That's my impression, it feels like they might be down to 1-2 people running the place now. My team is shorthanded like that at work, but we're at least transparent about our lack of staff and delays. I'd have been much happier if they just said "hey, we're really short staffed - We're sorry, but the RMA is going to take quite a bit longer than normal". That's really all it takes to keep customer trust. I don't mind waiting if they're up front about it.

 

Well, when I called it was always Tim who answered and he told me that Josh and Jeff still work there so they still at least have 3 people
But I agree with you that they are better off being frank with their customers

 

Passed one month mark after RMA request, Myth still confirming the problem, they are pretty sure it's a bad motherboard, I personally feel this is still taking way too long just to confirm a problem

 

Yep. It's rather simple to climate hardware problems. Specially for resellers .
Try spare CPU/ram/GPU. In no particular order and start eliminating combinations.

 

They said that it took 6-8 hours to reproduce the problem for my case, so since there are 8 components, CPU, GPU1, GPU2, mobo, power supply, RAM, SSD, so it took 8 business days

But my main gripe is that they don't even have some sort of policy on the max amount of time allowed to analyze a problem, I asked them what their policy is on this and they didn't answer, because unless they have some cut off date it might go on indefinitely

 

Yeah, but since the display was going blank, first step would be to eliminate the GPUs. And try a new/test GPU in each of the slots. If that works, then make sure the heat sink isn't faulty or has leaked.
That will take tops 5-6 hours.
I haven't seen display issues being related to RAM/CPU, but you never know.
It definitely shouldn't take this long though.
It just disgusts me at how "leisurely" they take their customer service. As if people have all the time in the world.

 

They told me that the issue was intermittent, that's why it took up to 8 hours to test a component, I understand some issues are hard to pinpoint but the lack of update is quite frustrating.

Still, I feel that they should have a policy in place where if they can't figure out what the root cause is within a certain fixed amount of time a replacement should be provided or something, basically an assurance to the customer that it will be well taken care of.

But good news though, last night they told me they have already put in a replacement motherboard and now testing to see if the system is fixed, so at least it's moving along

 

I really do pity the horrible RMA experience your getting.. Will be telling people to avoid Mythologic.. Service is a joke!

 

Well then the next step is to check the display cable, it be came loose on me once, after i chucked my back pack on my bed from a bit further than usual.

I do get your point though, they need to setup policies like every other re-seller.

 

Well, I am still willing to give them the benefit of the doubt (in case they're really short handed or something) although the lack of updates and/or transparency is definitely frustrating, and I'm genuinely disappointed because myth is supposedly known for their commitment to quality, really hope the best for them and hope they can turn around for the better

But I appreciate your comments, because I believe your feedback does help push them to improve, I'm grateful we have this gaming laptop enthusiast community here in this forum

 

These clevo machines are hefty beasts, how/why did you chuck them like that? I think it is imperative that they have policies like this, it will only improve their reputation and customer satisfaction, a win win, I work as customer support so I know

 

Springy bed

 

Wow, thanks for sharing this. Was about to pull the trigger on a new rig from Mythlogic but think I will go somewhere else. Seeing too many complaints about them in recent months. A pity too since I have bought from them before with good experience. Luckily did not need RMA or guess I would be SOL too!

 

Yeah go elsewhere, Sager resellers or Hidevolution are much better choices..

Sent from my LG-H850 using Tapatalk

 

Good to know that my experience is useful for others although it kinda sucks for me

My intention is of course not to flame/harm mythlogic but it is kinda disappointing indeed, it just takes too long in my opinion, true that they are careful but sometimes being too careful is also not good

 

The thing is it is a tight market and you need to be on your A game... They have screwed up more times then I can count, it sucks that you have to make an account on this forum to complain before anything gets done... So yes, they deserve to be flamed... Its beyond a joke now!

 

It does suck indeed, and it's now been 40 days without the laptop ....... which seller have you had experience with? and which will you recommend? the only good alternative I've seen so far is HID, I've heard bad things about Sager regarding their service

 

See my review of HIDevolution and why I recommend them:


HIDevolution - The Best Company I ever dealt with

HIDevolution's Warranty!

1) HIDevolution does things that no other reseller can give you like Factory CPU Delidding , click on the link to see what it means in a nutshell but basically it involves cutting off the little metal plate on the CPU Heat spreader so that you can get to the actual CPU Dye and put Liquid Ultra Thermal Paste in there and then stick the heat spreader back on. what this will do is due to the great heat conductivity of Liquid Ultra, it will dissipate heat sink faster onto the CPU heat spreader, which, coupled with good thermal paste between the CPU heat spreader and the heatsink, would low the maximum temps of the CPU anywhere between 7 and 10C.


If you do this yourself, your CPU warranty is instantly void!


HIDevolution offers to do this in-house and will cover the CPU under their own warranty so should something ever go wrong with your CPU (very unlikely), then they will pay from their own pockets to replace your CPU since obviously Intel won't cover the warranty as the CPU lid was removed. You see, it takes courage from a company to do this but that only comes to show you how much they cater to the enthusiasts like us.


2) In addition to point 3 above, they also can offer you Silicon Lottery CPUs which are cherry picked CPUs that are known to be great over clockers due to their perfect silicon manufacturing process which in turn, means that a Silicon Lottery CPU will run much cooler at stock speeds vs a normal one, and thus giving you more room to overclock in the future and better longevity. You can off course just order a normal 6700K CPU for example and still receive a good sample but it's a 50% chance. So if you're like me and don't like taking chances (which I've done twice with this CPU and regretted it), then go for the Silicon Lottery CPU from the get go *if* you can afford it.


3) They also offer faster RAM options (up to 3000MHz.) which again, no other reseller does? Why? I have no idea really why don't others give us the best options out there, max I've seen on other resellers sites is 2666 MHz.


4) Their SSD options are also amongst the best offering the latest and greatest Samsung 960 PRO SSDs


5) HIDevolution has a Global Warranty option which means for international customers like me (I live in Dubai), is a must-have as it covers the shipping costs for when the laptop needs to be sent for repair. If it's a small part that needs changing like let's say, a keyboard, then they will send you the part right away and they'd be for the shipping, that way you won't have to be without your laptop.

 

International Warranty? how much extra did that cost you? and have you had an actual RMA experience with them?

 

I had amazing experience with their warranty.
My GPU was causing issues, and I did all the troubleshooting to root out any other issues ( took me like 5-6 hours at max). Used my friends 980m to double check it was the GPU. And within a week they had a new card shipped overnight to me.

 

I didn't need an RMA since the issues I had were flimsy keyboard issues so they just sent me new keyboards twice with no charge as they paid for shipping.

Their RMA is super fast usually if it's not the weekend

Global International Shipping cost me $200 USD per year

For US Customers, they pay for shipping as standard in their warranty so you only need the Global Warranty if you wanna go out of the US.
You can also add the Global warranty later although the price may be slightly higher I heard

email [email protected] to get your NBR discount

 

+1 for overnight shipping they just trusted you or you had to ship your old GPU to them first?

 

they trusted him

 

Even Sager has done it for someone here. Don't remember his name.

 

My only problem with their US warranty that at stock its 1 year.. Even Sager does 2 years... They can get away with that in the US but if they were in the EU, they would have no choice but to provide 2 years warranty..

 

Laptop received half an hour ago, although UPS almost screwed up by saying that I wasn't home, good thing I caught the UPS truck in time, phew ......

Will be using the laptop for a few weeks before posting the final update here, but I'd like to thank @mythlogic rep here that I've contacted a few times to get things going, without his support I wouldn't have gotten back my laptop in 43 days, and of course to @bloodhawk and @TomJGX for their support and comments that I believe sped up the RMA process, thanks guys

At a glance, the BIOS is the VERY stock bios, it doesn't even have the mythlogic logo (it says something something note) and I think I got a new shell, my original shell didn't have the go faster stickers (soundblaster, nvidia, HDMI stickers etc), and they managed to revive my windows cause I can see all my files including my browsing history even though they said they were going to reinstall the OS, a good thing that I don't need to re install all my games

The soundblaster X-Fi driver still wasn't installed, at least I couldn't find it in device manager, if you guys know how to get and install this driver please let me know, the sound quality is a lot worse than my iPhone for now, even with my good SONY headphones

 

Yes you got a new shell and we left the bios stock because you wanted the non prema by your request

Also we did get your OS up and running and so didn't reinstall any drivers that weren't there already as didn't know if you set it up that way on purpose.

 

Sweet!
Keep us posted. And seems stock Style Note BIOS lol.
I can help with changing the logo if you want, or Mythologic might be able to as well.
Check Phoenix's Driver thread for the Sound blaster driver.
On my phone, so can't link it for some reason..

.


Will it be possible to know what the problem was ?

 

What initially looked like a busted os then morphed into a seemingly bad GPU. Turns out was a bad motherboard. But it only showed that under hours of testing so that's why it took a while to diagnose as if it only happens once every few hours. But yeah bad board.

 

Just curious, how did you revive my OS? I think that's a good info to know just in case

 

Normally they would just need to replace the board and reactivate windows.
Drivers stay the same.

 

Also would like to thank @mythlogic for shipping it using the UPS 3 day select instead of the normal ground that would take a week

 

So the reason for the white line on boot was because the GPU drivers were jacked up because of the crashes. So when the board was swapped all the drivers reinstalled and reinitialized themselves and it took a good 10 minutes but once it re-detected everything it all worked like a champ.

 

Final(?) Update on this RMA

I've had the laptop for more than four weeks now, here's the conclusion, I'll list them from the less serious/relevant to the more serious/relevant
1. I almost didn't get my laptop, there was a minor typo in the address myth put on the UPS label, thankfully there's no actual street with that name, in Pittsburgh however there are two streets with similar names, i.e., centre and center, a typo in that situation would be devastating, second the UPS driver went to the wrong house, thankfully I kept updating the status and caught up with the UPS truck, the driver even said to me "good thing you caught up with us then" ....... the good thing is that myth shipped it using UPS 3 day select rather than UPS ground which would have taken much longer
2. They forgot to install the Sound Blaster driver even though I requested it through the ticket, so I installed it myself following the guide provided by @Phoenix, I don't know why Clevo uses such a low quality DAC for such an expensive laptop
3. My Killer wireless changed into an Intel one, I guess they forgot to swap the wireless card when they replaced the motherboard, the Killer wireless would disconnect by itself while the Intel one would say couldn't resolve DNS, in both cases I have to disconnect and re-connect but the Intel wireless complains more often
4. The keyboard doesn't work properly, I purchased street fighter V during the steam winter sale and I couldn't do V trigger which is pressing J+M at the same time (this is heavy punch+heavy kick) later I tried typing J+M on notepad and every time J is pressed I can't press any other key, other combinations are OK, I can press G+B for example, I think beside the burn in test myth does they should also test the keyboard, the funny thing is that the previous owner of the laptop told me that when the laptop first arrived the keyboard was defective so myth sent a replacement keyboard, for now I'm using autohotkey to remap the keys

So all in all I think I'm quite blessed as although my problem (a bad motherboard) was a more serious one it took in total 43 days compared to another person here who had to wait for 57 days for a touch pad issue. But I have to say that the beginning was frustrating, everything was really slow, it's only that after I contacted myth rep here that things started to go more smoothly, but the lack of updates was still annoying, most important of all there was no assurance of what will happen if the root cause cannot be determined in a definite amount of time, so if the problem is a really tough one it might take a really long time.

For a high end laptop at this price range I expected a much better service than this to be honest, there are other details that I would not spill here because then this comment will be come too negative LOL

But in any case I would like to thank the forum, especially @bloodhawk and @TomJGX for their support and of course @mythlogic rep here for all the help answering my inquiries and helping things move forward

 

Glad you finally got the system back! And that its fixed , kinda lol.

1. Daaaaammmnn, that kinda stuff would keep me awake for weeks if it ever happened to me, specially with such and expensive package.
2. Yeah the DAC in the original P870DM-G is pretty sub standard. The newer models DM2/DM3 , all come with a high quality Sabre ESS DAC.
3. The Killer Vs Intel debate is tbh very very router dependent. My Intel 8260 works flawlessly with my RT-AC68U , but my buddies DM3 with the killer loses connection every 10-15 mins. Similarly at his place , where he is using a TP Link Archer (no sure which one, but the $75 one form last year) works flawlessly for him, and craps out on me sometimes. Usually when there is an iphone on the network.
4. That is a key ghosting issue Prema recently fixed in the Kably BIOS's. Im not sure if its fixed in the stock Clevo BIOS's or not. But for the P870DM-G, the kaby lake BIOS is pretty far away for now.

End of the day what matters if a major part your issue was fixed!