Where do I stand with bent pins on RMA mobo?

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I recently bough a Gigabyte Aurus Gaming 7 & a i7 8700K. After owning a Z270 Apex I wasn't happy with the board especially as I couldn't run my 8 pack signature Team Group memory at over 3900mhz due to the board not being able to set some of the secondary timings loose enough.

The board is a poor overclocker so I sited being unable to run my memory at it's rated XMP 4133mhz as the reason to RMA as it is advertised as being capable of doing so.

A couple of weeks later the board has been sent back to me with bent pins that 'are not covered under warranty'. The socket cover wasn't on the board and the lugs are bent.

When I called the vendor they said the cover wasn't in place when returned, I know it was as I struggled for 5 minutes fitting it. It looks like some meathead has used too much force to remove the cover he's bent it and probably slipped bending about 10 of the pins near the socket centre.

They maintain that's how it was returned, where do I stand?

I have checked and there is no way I could have bent the centre pins while fitting the cover myself. I have proof I didn't bend while fitting the CPU as I have video footage of me reviewing the board for YouTube with it running.

Any help would be appreciated. I already replaced the board before sending it back with a far, far superior Apex so still have a working rig.
 
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Soldato
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You you say vendor... you mean reseller as shop or Actual vendor like Gigabyte?

And i bent my pins using the cover haha- i just bent them back though - didnt read the manual of how to install the socket cover hahaha

@GIGA-Man might be able to help- guessing there is a cost to sending the board and work carried out but believe this might be fixable - specially when people bent the pins back themselves

had the ITX z370 gigabyte and ran 8 packs ram kit at 4000hz.... depends on the chips IMC and cashe - and luck
 
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I sent the board back to the reseller, as I say they claimed the socket cover wasn't even in place. I spent a good few minutes getting it on so know it was.
I've had the same memory running on both my Apex boards at up to 4200mhz. The trc on the Gigabyte board won't go looser than 64 where the JDEC spec is 95 for that memory to run 4133mhz which my other boards will do.
Some of the pins are bent accross each other right to the bottom of the socket so won't be easy to straighten, thanks for the offer Giga Man, I might take you up on it.

I never noted the serial number either and have a feeling it's a different board, the plastic cover on the heatsink with the Gigabyte logo has been removed and the other covers are all bobbly. Also the inside of the box has signs of wear, everything was absolutely mint when I packed it.

As I was doing some filming with it I may have footage of me packing the board before sending it back, hopefully where I can see the socket cover, will look when I get home.
I've never had any problems with returning goods before (this is only my 3rd time) so didn't think too much about it. Lessons have been learned!!
 
Soldato
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Least it's the pins bent on the gigabyte board, had it been your apexnor another brand, you can't direct RMA :(

Hopefully pins get sorted and ram speed checked . Latest bios might help with timings possibly
 
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I was doing a YouTube video of the board (I haven't made it yet) and had a clip of me packing it with the socket cover in place which customer services said wasn't on it when returned. I've just sent them the video clip today and have clips of it working on my test bench and with screenshots.

I paid through PayPal so think I may be able to raise a case through them too.

Not sure where they are but the whole order came in 3 lots. I'll give them a chance to sort me out before I name and shame them as they have always been good up until now.
 
Soldato
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I never noted the serial number either and have a feeling it's a different board, the plastic cover on the heatsink with the Gigabyte logo has been removed and the other covers are all bobbly. Also the inside of the box has signs of wear, everything was absolutely mint when I packed it.

This sounds like they've mixed up your returned board with one from another customer.
 
Soldato
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I know it doesn't help now. But always take photos/videos of packing up and note down serial numbers.

Sometimes a good company has bad workers or workers that are tempted to do the wrong thing because they made a mistake.

Hopefully you get it sorted!
 
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It's been a good few days now, I sent the eb#yer representitive a video clip of me packaging the board with the socket cover in place and offered clips of it working beforehand to prove I hadn't bent the pins during CPU instalation. Still not heard anything so think they are trying to string me along, they were the 1st online vendor I used back in 2011 for parts and have been using them ever since, I spent over a grand with them last year. I won't ever buy from them again now regardless of the outcome.

Seems silly to rip off regular customers when there are so many etailers in the market now. Overclockers is the only other one I've ever done an RMA with and it was all smooth so they will be my number 1 choice in future. Have to say that I'm not keen to buy anything for a while after this, I was going to get Ryzen 2 and a 240hz monitor but think I'll leave it at least until next winter. I've got other hobbies so I can take or leave overclocking and PC's, and I don't make enough out of building systems for people to be worth the potential aggro.

I've opened up a dispute with Paypal so will see where that goes.

If that fails then I'll see about getting the pins straightened.
 
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