Graphics card damaged when shipping - can I get refund off royal mail?

Minstadave · 27 May 2006 at 11:46

Ghuraba said:
I work for Royal Mail and to be honest I think England have more chance of winning the World Cup than you have of getting any money from Royal Mail. Unless you can prove the Parcel was damaged by Royal Mail you have no chance. But, I hope I'm wrong.

Michael

I had a Graphics card damaged by them 6 weeks or so back, and I got full refund on Monday, it was a bit of a battle but if you want a run down of how I did it I'll post it

Vegeta · 27 May 2006 at 11:47

Minstadave said:
I had a Graphics card damaged by them 6 weeks or so back, and I got full refund on Monday, it was a bit of a battle but if you want a run down of how I did it I'll post it

Yes definetly please I need to know exactly what todo.

Minstadave · 27 May 2006 at 12:08

Right here's a quick run down, I sent a 6800Ultra in the post and it arrived with the package wet and muddy, the card bent out of shape and dead as a dodo, so I jumped on RMs website and fired off a claim form, I also refunded my buyer that day and appologised:

1. Fill in online form, you have to decided on the value of the item, I went with a guess at its second hand value, but I don't know how much you can get away with, in the end I had proof of value of just under £400, obviously the card was no longer worth that. Sent in the form with the RMSD ticket you get when you post as proof of postage, you might want to keep a photocopy of this as they don't send it back, but they were happy with this as proof of postage.

Wait 2-3 weeks.....

While your waiting you'll need the seller to return the item to you with all the original packaging, he'll also need to not mark the original packing with postal stickers, address etc, you want to keep everything as it was sent. You reaally need the original back by the time your reply arrives as they don't give you much time to sort out the next step.

2. Recieved letter from RM asking for photos of both the damage to the item and the damage to the packaging, they only give you 5 working days to reply, so its best to have the photos done already! They also ask for proof of value, an original receipt or a catalog showing its price, I don't believe they accept a website printout. 5 working days is not a lot of time if you're not expecting this, as I found out.

If there's no visible damage to the parcel I'm not sure how much hassle they'll cause you.

I couldn't find a reciept fortunately IamMed who I had actually sold the card to had an old receipt for one and saved my bacon. It doesn't have to be the reciept of the item, just anything that proves its value.

Wait 2 weeks....

3. Recieved letter from RM asking for item to be sent to them so they can release the fund.

Wait 2 more weeks......

4. Cheque arrived, banked it, sent a thank you letter (only polite

)

Vegeta · 27 May 2006 at 12:11

No way am I getting a refund considering the packaging was ok and the only way I can prove value is via a website print out.

Minstadave · 27 May 2006 at 12:15

Vegeta said:
No way am I getting a refund considering the packaging was ok and the only way I can prove value is via a website print out.

You can ask around for a receipt, all you need is to photocopy it and send it back to the owner, it doesn't need to be the original for your card.

Whether you need damage to the packaging and physical damage to the card I don't really know, you could try phoning RM but they have a great phone system, you ring up, battle through the maze of options to find damaged/missing items line and you get "All our operators are currently unavailable, please try again later" and it just hangs up! No on hold or anything :confused:

Durzel · 27 May 2006 at 12:50

I'm chasing RM at the moment for a package that got "lost" in HK. Well, I say "lost", it appears it got delivered but not to the correct person as the original recipient claims he hasn't seen it (and I trust him). Bad parts - the tracking says it has been delivered, I have no packaging to show Royal Mail (obviously, since its lost), and only a website printout to show its current market value.

Not holding out much hope... but the card was knackered anyway so its no huge loss (was being sent back for RMA).

Cyber-Mav · 27 May 2006 at 15:10

monkeybutt said:
Tell him to remove all the ATI drivers thoroughly first (Driver Cleaner) turn the pc off and install the 7800 then install the Nvidia drivers. Might help.

don't be stupid, drivers have no effect what-so-ever if the system can't even turn on to display the post screen.

jellybeard999 · 27 May 2006 at 15:18

Vegeta said:
No way am I getting a refund considering the packaging was ok and the only way I can prove value is via a website print out.

i got some mags, i could photocopy an advert for your model for you if ya want

mail me if you want a hand

freneticvirus · 27 May 2006 at 23:41

i actually work (part time, thankfully) in the RM claims department - what actually happened to it?

for the kind of price involved you'll need to supply the actual item, packaging, 'evidence of value' & the posting certificate.

Reality|Bites · 27 May 2006 at 23:53

tell him to reset his cmos and see if it boot up, the escd may need clearing

Lanz · 28 May 2006 at 00:39

TBH, your best bet is to just get the card back, give the guy his money, and RMA it. Chances are, if the packaging wasnt damaged you wont get bugger all from RM. Or it'll take you ages, you could probably just send the faulty card back to whoever made it, and be sorted within 10 days.

Vegeta · 28 May 2006 at 01:51

Lanz said:
TBH, your best bet is to just get the card back, give the guy his money, and RMA it. Chances are, if the packaging wasnt damaged you wont get bugger all from RM. Or it'll take you ages, you could probably just send the faulty card back to whoever made it, and be sorted within 10 days.

I would but I bought if off OCUK B-Grade LOL, it has a dell label on it, but it does work perfectly for me (I know what your thinking b-grade it is probably broken but 90% of my pc is b-grade and works fine).

kbc · 28 May 2006 at 02:30

Vegeta said:
I would but I bought if off OCUK B-Grade LOL, it has a dell label on it, but it does work perfectly for me (I know what your thinking b-grade it is probably broken but 90% of my pc is b-grade and works fine).

So what progress have you made so far?

I had a card sent via Royal Mail SD to a person who I sold a GeForce 6800LE to. I guaranteed it was working before I sent it. When it arrived to the buyer - the card had a bad case of video corruption. Though the buyer claimed no damage to the packaging - I couldn't see why it wouldn't work.

... best bet is to just get the card back and refund that guy and try to get it replaced yourself.

crashuk · 28 May 2006 at 05:02

well when i sell my cards or mem i always write down the serial number from the sticker, write down the serial from the chip and i mark it with a special pen so under ultra light i can see. I do all this becuase some guy tried to swap his card with mine and said it did nt work.

Infinity · 28 May 2006 at 05:13

If the packaging wasnt damaged its not RM's fault and there is some other reason for the damage.

B grade just means previously used. The original warranty should still be intact and running from the original purchase date, so you may still be able to rma it with the makers or even ocuk, ask them.

I never offer returns myself, I leave that for companies who make profit which I sadly do not. Good on you for doing what you can though

Vegeta · 28 May 2006 at 11:49

I can gurantee theres no warranty on the card - b-grade warranty is 14 days from ocuk? And the card came with no original packaging just the card alone.

Minstadave · 28 May 2006 at 11:53

Infinity said:
I never offer returns myself, I leave that for companies who make profit which I sadly do not. Good on you for doing what you can though

Wouldn't a no returns policy just make you look like a scammer though? If I recieved some hardware that was sold as tested working I would not be happy to recieve a dead card and told tough luck, no returns.

Lanz · 28 May 2006 at 13:56

There might be a warrenty with the manufactorer still, they will take the serial number and see if its over a year old or not.

Sir Random · 28 May 2006 at 15:20

Infinity said:
If the packaging wasnt damaged its not RM's fault and there is some other reason for the damage.<snip>

That's what I'm thinking. If there's no evidence of physical damage to the package or the card, then it must be component failure.
If the package had been crushed, or torn open, or wet, then you'd have a reason to blame RM, but if the package arrived undamaged then how can it be their fault?? (If it rattled around inside the package, then it wasn't packed properly)

Vegeta · 31 May 2006 at 08:18

Right well I just got the card back - and it works 100% fine, bit ****** off I went through all this anxiety due to a idiot who doesnt know how to install a graphics card but ohh well all is good now I can sell it on hopefully to someone who knows what they're doing.