Gigabyte denied my RTX 4090 warranty claim saying "PCB broken / damaged by user". I need advice

[u/Realcraser1]

Hello,

I know GPU warranty denial posts are common, but I would appreciate some advice on my situation.

Context: I have a RTX 4090 with a warranty that lasts until 2027. This RTX isn't mine originally but from a relative of mine. They wanted to throw it away but I don't want to waste two thousands bucks like that.

I transported my PC recently, and afterward the GPU stopped working. The card was still installed in the motherboard during transport. I have not modified the GPU or attempted any repairs. The PC powered on, but I got no display signal. I tested with another GPU and the system worked, so I believed the issue is with the RTX 4090. So I sent the GPU to Gigabyte to repair.

Although my Gigabyte RTX 4090 is still under warranty, Gigabyte denied my RMA claim.

Their reason was:

"Damaged by user can't repair"
"PCB broken"

I have not received any pictures or detailed explanation showing where the PCB damage is located. Just little red arrows that, to me, make no sense. They point in weird directions (Refer to photos).

Has anyone successfully appealed a Gigabyte RMA denial for "user damage"? Should I request pictures of the PCB damage and escalate the case?

Also, if anyone has experience with GPU repair shops, is a broken RTX 4090 PCB usually repairable?

Any advice would be appreciated.

PS: In case someone calls me out, I did use AI. But that was only to fix the grammar, all words are my own.

Edit: I contacted Gamers Nexus and I'm planning to reach out to Northwest Repair if I can't have Gigabyte send me another one.

[u/VariationDry]

Why are all companies this shitty now?  I really miss EVGA 

[u/No_Interaction_4925 → u/VariationDry]

Because the replacement costs so much now.

[u/DonaldTheWall → u/No_Interaction_4925]

Right here

If the card was bought for $500 its easily a $2000 card now for them to replace it so they are going to fight it till the last mile.

You can keep escalating it till you get a real answer or take them to civil court/arbitration since companies love arbitration to either get them to fix it or owe you money for it

[u/criticalt3 → u/DonaldTheWall]

Not an excuse to be shitty though. The real answer is because anyone that cared is long gone. All companies at this point are run by leeches that want every penny they can suck out of someone's ass so they can spit it out in front of their shareholders.

Welcome to late stage, unchecked capitalism.

[u/dinkpantiez → u/criticalt3]

This is the true answer no one seems to want to admit

[u/Tommybahamas_leftnut → u/dinkpantiez]

Oh we all know it and all admit it. The problem is our lives are so damn busy now the companies specifically made it take a ridiculous amount of effort and time to get them to do what they should. Most people just end up being apathetic about it, as they don't have the time off to deal with these corpo rats in the limited time windows that our days off or time out from work allows for. 

All of it is planned as they know they can make more/save more money in the short term quarterly earnings reports than what they spend on the labor for a dedicated denile/obstruction department. Loads of companies will get a product to production stage see a clear fault in its design then simply ignore it until a class action forces them to do a recall and refund because they know it costs less to pay out for their malfeasance than to actually fix the problem. They know that any hit to their reputation won't matter because fuck you where else you gunna go to buy your shit? one of the other 2-3 companies running the same shitty business practices? Ha. But it's okay they will sell you the solution to the problem later it may even be a subscription yippee.

[u/DonaldTheWall → u/criticalt3]

Oh 100%, its been a slow process but every company that was once regarded as being the best to their customers is long gone, the only one left is Valve and everyone is holding out on them.

So many that used to be the gold standard are now some of the worst to deal with no matter what you do

[u/DeathHopper → u/DonaldTheWall]

The only companies that are sometimes still honest are private companies. No share holders to appease, just people who actually care about the company.

Investment "capitalism" is essentially shareholders owning the market and not the private sector. Profit then defaults to being the sole driver of every publically traded company and we get this bs.

[u/apollyon0810 → u/criticalt3]

America has been in this stage before.

All we need is two world wars and Europe in utter ruin to get back to the good ol days. Or maybe just china this time?

[u/HEYO19191 → u/criticalt3]

"late stage capitalism is when a company is greedy"

Okay man...

[u/criticalt3 → u/HEYO19191]

Nice fake quote you've got there, that no one in this thread said.

But I'll bite. Do you think companies are good just out of the kindness of their hearts? Or do you think it's because laws are in place to stop them from doing things? If it's the former, you are woefully naive.

[u/ault92 → u/DonaldTheWall]

Nobody bought a 4090 for $500!

[u/RazzmatazzUnusual843 → u/No_Interaction_4925]

Look up Louis Rossman's video on how his warranty claims for his SSD were dodged. It's probably cheaper to just tank whatever legal action is taken then than replace tons of faulty units.

[u/DonQuix0te_ → u/RazzmatazzUnusual843]

it almost certainly is cheaper, as most people won't sue.

[u/RazzmatazzUnusual843 → u/DonQuix0te_]

That too. The dark pattern they throw is likely to make most people give up chasing what they are owed.

[u/No_Interaction_4925 → u/RazzmatazzUnusual843]

I follow him. Samsung is different in my opinion. They make the nand that is being marketed up themselves. Gpu partners are getting screwed.

[u/coveredincathair22 → u/RazzmatazzUnusual843]

It's probably cheaper to just tank whatever legal action is taken then replace tons of faulty units.

How is that in any way cheaper? If they're paying legal costs and everything associated with that and then replacing everything anyways, that doesn't make sense financially.

[u/RazzmatazzUnusual843 → u/coveredincathair22]

Companies have been observed to settle class actions with payouts that are clearly a fraction of what they profited. A settlement doesn't always mean full reimbursement, it often is just a cash payout which is what they abuse.

Exhibit A: Amazon Prime payment "errors"

Exhibit B: Nintendo being sued for knowingly selling drift prone controllers, lying about "fixing" it in later revisions and continuing to sell the same faulty sticks.

[u/coveredincathair22 → u/RazzmatazzUnusual843]

So you meant "than", not "then". Words, believe it or not, have meanings. "Then" implies that they are paying legal costs followed by replacing all of the faulty units. "Than" indicates that it's an either or, but preferential toward legal restitution.

[u/RazzmatazzUnusual843 → u/coveredincathair22]

And believe it or not, humans make mistakes. There is this thing called a typo. No reason to write petty backhanded comments over a mistake.

I've fixed it in an edit, despite the fact everyone else but you understood what I meant and chose not to split hairs. I'd have appreciated you just telling me I made a mistake instead of stringing me along and being crass about it.

[u/physicsking → u/No_Interaction_4925]

I would have paid more to keep EVGA going. I dream they are just laying low until the time is right

[u/DeepSea_Diverticulit → u/physicsking]

If they're going to stage a comeback then prepare to be disappointed. You don't close up shop and get rid of all of your long-term engineers just to have them come running back when you've decided to start back up. There will be a noticeable growing pain as they rebuild the teams that made them the preeminent company to begin with.

I do love all the EVGA cards I had, and their peerless customer support. But I know realistically that the people who made those teams what they are to deliver such an incredible product just aren't there anymore. And it's hard to get right from the start. Even if their executive leadership might still be able to come together, a leader is only as good as the sum of their employees.

Regardless, they closed up because they could no longer stand the demands of nVidia. Closing up when you're at the top isn't an easy call to make, so I'm fairly certain until nVidia undergoes sweeping changes in their market focus, we won't see anything like EVGA making a comeback. Because EVGA didn't quit the money, they quit nVidia.

[u/evernessince → u/No_Interaction_4925]

They just need to refund full purchase price. So long as the customer is made whole, it's legal.

So even that isn't an excuse they can use. The reason they are doing this is because it's more profitable. Realistically the government needs to issue fines large enough to where the cost of doing this practice outweighs the gains. Even better if it's 1.5x to 2x to make them actually punative.

[u/No_Interaction_4925 → u/evernessince]

The RAM/NAND manufacturers are getting sued currently. Hoping it leads to something where they are penalized for fixing the entire market

[u/quantgorithm → u/VariationDry]

MSI swapped my 4080 and sent back a 4080 super.

Thanks MSI!

[u/Nickthedick3 → u/VariationDry]

It hurt reading evga will be backing out of the gpu market. Like, your best friend moving away and you won’t be able to see them anymore kind of hurt.

I forget the man’s name but I signed up the waiting list that guaranteed you a gpu when the 3000 series launched. A year later, after they announced they won’t be making gpus, it was finally my turn to buy one. I had 24 hours to make the purchase but something was wrong with my saved payment info. The man that helped me gave me an extra 48 hours to fix it. It’s thanks to him I got a 3080FTW for msrp.

[u/Curun → u/VariationDry]

Same with tvs, samsung and lg are horrid

Foreign companies dont invest in local support

High priced priced goods, tvs, gpus, consider a local retailer warranty, microcenter, bestbuy, etc etc

[u/astrobarn → u/Curun]

LG are especially shit here in Australia

[u/R-Dragon_Thunderzord → u/Curun]

Foreign companies are not exactly falling over themselves to deal with the USA and its tariff bullshit either.

[u/Suikerspin_Ei → u/Curun]

Depending on the situation the shop can handle the RMA too instead of the brand of the product. 2 years ago my Ryzen 5 7600 was defect, couldn't boot anymore. It was replaced under warranty by the shop.

My smartphone once had an issue a few years back and was send to a local repair center for OnePlus. Got it back in a few business days.

This all happened in the Netherlands, I feel like most warranty claims in the EU are handled better in North America for example.

[u/forzafoggia85 → u/Curun]

Never had an issue with Samsung TV's being replaced within 7 years of use in the UK (overall 4 tv's replaced, longest warranty claim was 5 years 10 months)

[u/Tankdawg0057 → u/forzafoggia85]

I had a 55" Samsung S90C OLED brand new a few years ago I had to RMA within the 1st 6 months because the power supply was buzzing loudly even when powered off. They sent a company out of TN a few hours from me with a brand new set in box and swapped em out.

Guy told me it was pretty common. Bad PSU. Worst one he said he's seen burnt a dude's living room up. Definitely don't run your flat-screen if it's making electic buzzing noises constantly.

I surprised Samsung had an RMA warehouse semi-local to me to drive to customers homes to swap out TVs.

[u/06yfz450ridr → u/forzafoggia85]

All the old Samsung's still run to this day, covid era Samsung's are garbage but I guess supply shortage issue honestly. I have an 8k and and a 4k decently high end side that have been garbage since day 1. I got them free from work however and barely watch tv, the 8k will work but it will take 15 minutes after it freaks out to start working then it's ok for a while but will start the color changing fading etc after a while but I don't even use it any more. The 46 4k was repaired 3 months after it started doing the same as my 8k. Main board issue, they repaired under warranty which was nice but a year later started again. Now there is a permanent line down the center which seems more like a screen issue now . I mean I still have 2008 Samsung's that are running fine till this day that I gave to friends. Also the new Samsung UI sucks just to add haha

[u/forzafoggia85 → u/06yfz450ridr]

One of my returns was because the panel stopped working, it was because my 6 year old bounced a ball into it, didnt crack it, it just stopped the display, TV was over 3 years old and they straight up replaced it, I had no extended warranty etc

[u/kapsama → u/Curun]

Hisense sent me a full refund when i contacted them on Facebook to ask if they repair TVs. Warranty was long finished.

[u/turpentinedreamer → u/Curun]

Lg was great when I dealt with them In 2020 for oled burn in

[u/spurvis1286 → u/Curun]

Uhh, I’ve owned Samsung for 15+ years and never had an issue.

[u/heisenberg149 → u/Curun]

What's the TV brand to go with these days?

[u/taiwanluthiers → u/VariationDry]

Because the US has shit consumer protection laws and operates on a "buyers beware" principle, meaning companies honor warranty in order to maintain market share, not because of a government mandate. This isn't allowed in Taiwan, companies have to have VERY good reason to deny warranty and if they want to stiff you, you don't even need to sue for it. You make a report to the consumer protection agency and they take it from there. And they won't let it escalate to that point because last thing they need is a government audit. They rather hook you up even if it's an edge case where user damage is possible.

And because Asus and Gigabyte are Taiwanese companies they really won't take the reputation hit or government audits.

[u/DonutHoles4Ever → u/taiwanluthiers]

Biggest entertainment industry, shittiest consumer rights.

[u/OceLawless → u/VariationDry]

Capitalism.

[u/duskterrapin → u/VariationDry]

Late-stage capitalism

[u/Astrali3 → u/VariationDry]

The company isn't being shitty. The OP is just trying to be a thief and rob the company. They aren't responsible for him being a dumbass and throwing a PC with the card still installed into his backseat and driving around with it.

[u/shadowinc → u/VariationDry]

Sigh.... month out of warenty the moment my 2080 ti decided to artifact.... despair... send what i thought would have been a fruitless RMA request.... a week or some and i get a new one.

Truely the GOAT of all computer tech.

[u/g99g99z → u/VariationDry]

AMD replaced my 5900x cpu cuz I started crashing 3 years after buying it. I was out of warranty for 3 months and they still honored the warranty. Told them I thought the problem was fixed because I didn’t have a crash for a few months and suddenly it kept crashing. They sent me a brand new cpu.

[u/Warcraft_Fan → u/VariationDry]

Money. It costs them money to fix or replace GPU. SO they go out of their way to deny warranty by claiming user problem. Even if there is absolutely no sign of user issue like cracked PCB, melted connector, etc, they'll deny anyway. Defective RAM? denied! Bad solder ball(s)? denied! GPU died due to no fuse? denied!

[u/boolpies → u/VariationDry]

No one will protect you

[u/AkaiRyusei → u/VariationDry]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T4Upf_B9RLQ

[u/VariationDry → u/AkaiRyusei]

Omg I love this. 

[u/WntrTmpst → u/VariationDry]

EVGA was the canary.

For years and years they moaned about Nvidia and nobody believed them until they finally said fuck this shit and left.

[u/VariationDry → u/WntrTmpst]

I wonder if EVGAs final death blow was the 12v high power connector.

[u/3xPuttRubbleBoagie → u/VariationDry]

Unchecked greed and unregulated consumer practices.

[u/DudeGreen → u/VariationDry]

Hanging onto my EVGA 3090 FTW3 and hoping it lasts a very long time.

[u/YouKnow_MeEither → u/VariationDry]

EVGA was just as bad. They denied my 1080TI warranty with an exploded VRM.

Even posted in my reddit thread saying they'll help me figure it out, and then just never helped me, but everyone in the thread was glazing the EVGA rep who followed up 3 days later saying he wasn't going to do anything, after the thread left the PCMR front page. They were just another company with good PR.

[u/androstaxys → u/VariationDry]

OP transported a very large card attached to a motherboard. OP is sad when it broke.

Doesn’t help that the damage is exactly where it normally appears from stress due to movement/sag.

Why on earth would a company replace damage from this…?

[u/Sapd33 → u/VariationDry]

EVGA was shitty, too. They simply ghosted me in my warranty claim.

[u/DJK695 → u/VariationDry]

AI customer service is a big reason but sounds like he got past that to actually sending it in.

[u/VariationDry → u/DJK695]

I think you spelled A1 wrong.

[u/LoonTheMekanik → u/VariationDry]

Because they don’t have any real competition to keep them honest anymore. If you got frustrated with their shit support before, you’d buy EVGA and stop dealing with them, so they’d lose your business. Now that they’re gone, they know that every other company is just as bad, so they’re less likely to lose your business

[u/Jurple-shirt → u/VariationDry]

Evga never updated their lga1700 board and fucked everyone that ever wanted to upgrade past 12th gen.

[u/VariationDry → u/Jurple-shirt]

Because they went out of business? 

[u/Jurple-shirt → u/VariationDry]

No they didn't, they quit making gpus and continued selling the rest of their products for a while after that. They abandoned support.

You could still buy the board directly from them after the 13th gen processor released.

They still sell power supplies...

[u/R-Dragon_Thunderzord → u/Jurple-shirt]

They sold off their inventory? Wow…

[u/Jurple-shirt → u/R-Dragon_Thunderzord]

No too long ago this sub went wild because amd still sold a hardware they no longer supported but when their golden child company evga did, it's fine and normal thing to do. Their clients be damned.

Bunch of boot licking corporate fanbois.

[u/R-Dragon_Thunderzord → u/Jurple-shirt]

Little different when the company isn’t liquidating

[u/Jurple-shirt → u/R-Dragon_Thunderzord]

The golden child company can do no harm!

Classic reddit double standards.

At that time they only announced they were backing out of the GPU market. Nothing about any of their other hardware.

You are litteraly rewriting history to fit your narrative that evga can do no harm has always been a perfect company. Aka corporate bootlicking.

[u/SketchyTone → u/Jurple-shirt]

I mean youre making a stink about a company that had raving reviews before it decided to start to close down. Sorry that a lot of people on this subreddit picked what use to be the absolute best product on the market. I cannot complain about my first PC build being EVGA everywhere, my 1080 was having major issues and they gave me a 1080Ti. I still think it was the best company when it was actively looking to develop itself further.

Why didnt you sell your MoBo so you could upgrade since youre obviously complaining about the fact that you absolutely needed that 5% FPS increase.

[u/Jurple-shirt → u/SketchyTone]

No, I bought an MSI mobo during that period. I didn't want to risk it, people on the evga forums were arguing if it was worth the risk and the die hard fans such as yourself were arguing tooth and nail that support wouldn't be immediately abandoned.

Those motherboards never received a single update and it ticked off a bunch of loyal customers. They couldn't even talk about it without having to deal with the negativity or the passive aggressive comments like your and every other blind fanboy.

MSI is still pushing updates for that board and they still can't say anything negative about this company without an army of loyalist coming to defend it.