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I had a fan bearing go bad on an ATI Radeon 9800 Pro. It was literally two days out of warranty, and I was pissed. I was near one of their main offices at the t

I had a fan bearing go bad on an ATI Radeon 9800 Pro. It was literally two days out of warranty, and I was pissed. I was near one of their main offices at the time, and ended up calling their reception and driving to drop off the borked card after speaking to an engineer who wanted to see it. They handed me a brand new card, no questions asked, and thanked me for bringing the problem to their attention. I miss the good old days.

dillondoyle 5y ago
Apple used to do this for me more than once. Not anymore they need that sweet monthly applecare revenue.
eightysixfour 5y ago
I’ve been such an ATi fan after owning an FIC-branded 9700 that was flashed to a Pro and went bad in the first year or so. I was ~13 years old, called up ATi and told them the situation, I was honest that I had flashed the bios, and asked if there was anything they could do. They sent me an ATi branded 9700 Pro. First company to do me a solid like that and I’ve stuck around since.
- monkeytaco 5y ago
  I had a similar experience with AMD back in the day. I was probably a similar age and damaged the pins on my new Athlon XP 2500+. I called them up and they ended up sending me a 2800+ as a replacement.
- masklinn 5y ago
  It’s why I still like logitech today. Had a mouse go bad 20 years back, called up support, they told me they’d send a new one. I was shocked, wondering what if I was lying and didn’t they want evidence? They replied they took it on trust but I could cut off the usb plug and put it in the trash if it made me feel better (that is, of course, a very easy repair).
  - philjohn 5y ago
    I had a similar experience with Logitech - when I first got into sim racing I got their cheapest wheel and pedal set - it started not keeping a calibration so contacted them. They paid for me to ship it to them, and then just sent me the next model up as a replacement as mine had been discontinued.
    - Arrath 5y ago
      Same. I last bought a mouse in...damn, 2008. They've replaced it 3 times since, with the new equivalent model regardless of it being in or out of warranty.
sennight 5y ago
Back when IBM was making Thinkpads, I called their support number to get the FRU for a HD in a second hand laptop that was well out of warranty. The next day I had a package waiting for me with a new drive and prepaid postage for the return. Easily my best customer experience, without a doubt they made that money back - I went out of my way to direct my business their way for years.
- copperx 5y ago
  I remember hearing stories of Apple taking care of their customers like that, too.
  - Operyl 5y ago
    They still do. Support will upgrade models of MacBooks every once in a blue moon (have had it happen before).
    - arcticbull 5y ago
      Happened to me once too. I got a lemon, it went in for service 3 or 4 times (this was right after the Intel transition) and eventually AppleCare just apologized and mailed me a new laptop - the next generation of them.
      - Operyl 5y ago
        Same thing, only two repairs, in store exchange to a newer model, price difference comped.
  - lotsofpulp 5y ago
    One of my cousins went swimming with his new iPhone 3G 3 weeks after it came out, and they replaced it for free at the store. I dropped mine in water (pool if I recall) 2 times and had it replaced for free also (3G and 4 I think).
  - sagarpatil 5y ago
    I’ve had the absolute worst experience with Apple. I wanted to buy Apple Developer Program subscription. It wouldn’t let me add any of my credit cards, saw an option to add payment via UPI (Unified Payments Interface) in India. Added $99 to my Apple account and was still unable to pay for the membership. Spent around 7-8 hours speaking to customer support but no one had a clue what was wrong. I asked for a refund and was told money added to Apple account as credit can not be refunded.
nmfisher 5y ago
I had a similar experience, something borked on my Radeon 9600 Pro (assuming a busted capacitor) a week or two after the warranty expired, but I figured I'd try my luck and ask if there was anything they could do. They promptly sent me a new card for free (though it was probably refurbished), didn't even ask for the old one in return. ATI was a great company back then.
wil421 5y ago
Apple, Ubiquiti, and Microcenter have all honored just expired warranties for me in the past 5-8 years. You just have to be polite.
- lostlogin 5y ago
  * or be covered by a consumer guarantees act that looks after you. New Zealand has a great bit of legislation there.
  - Ueland 5y ago
    How long are you covered there? It's 5 years here in Norway for anything "you should expect to last five years", which means basically all computer parts and mobile devices.
    - m4x 5y ago
      The legislation just says products must last a reasonable amount of time. As you can imagine, retailers and consumers usually have different ideas about how long something should reasonably last. I've never had much luck getting products repaired or replaced once the manufacturers one-year warranty runs out.
      - vegardx 5y ago
        Directly from Forbrukerrådet (Consumer Council): "You have 2 or 5 years to make a complaint if you purchased from a professional vendor (Consumer Sales Act (in Norwegian)). The statutory warranty period depends on how long the product is meant to last when subjected to normal use. Sofas and mobile phones are examples of products with a 5-year warranty period. When buying from a private individual, the warranty period is 2 years (Sale of Goods Act (in Norwegian))." You can't have been trying very hard. I have never had any problem.
        m4x 5y ago
        In case it wasn't clear, I was referring to the Consumer Guarantees Act in New Zealand
Tsiklon 5y ago
Just out of interest was yours a Sapphire branded 9800 Pro? The fan died in mine and the only bad behaviour it exhibited was that it overheated in games (Half-Life 2 and Unreal 2 were the big killers), for anything else it was perfectly usable in that crippled state.
- xyzzy_plugh 5y ago
  It might've been, I still have it somewhere probably. To this day it is still the hottest piece of hardware I've ever owned. I swear you could cook on that card. It definitely didn't help that the fan died, and it melted itself into a broken state not long after I suppose.
throwaway41597 5y ago
Compare this to 3Dconnexion, a maker of expensive 3D mice for CAD software. They rubberized their mice but the rubber decayed after a couple of years (spent $200+ in the 00's and got a gooey piece of junk 3-4 years later). For a decade, they've been ignoring customers and saying the issue was fixed in a later version.

dillondoyle 5y ago

Apple used to do this for me more than once. Not anymore they need that sweet monthly applecare revenue.

eightysixfour 5y ago

I’ve been such an ATi fan after owning an FIC-branded 9700 that was flashed to a Pro and went bad in the first year or so. I was ~13 years old, called up ATi and told them the situation, I was honest that I had flashed the bios, and asked if there was anything they could do. They sent me an ATi branded 9700 Pro. First company to do me a solid like that and I’ve stuck around since.

monkeytaco 5y ago
I had a similar experience with AMD back in the day. I was probably a similar age and damaged the pins on my new Athlon XP 2500+. I called them up and they ended up sending me a 2800+ as a replacement.
masklinn 5y ago
It’s why I still like logitech today. Had a mouse go bad 20 years back, called up support, they told me they’d send a new one. I was shocked, wondering what if I was lying and didn’t they want evidence? They replied they took it on trust but I could cut off the usb plug and put it in the trash if it made me feel better (that is, of course, a very easy repair).
- philjohn 5y ago
  I had a similar experience with Logitech - when I first got into sim racing I got their cheapest wheel and pedal set - it started not keeping a calibration so contacted them. They paid for me to ship it to them, and then just sent me the next model up as a replacement as mine had been discontinued.
  - Arrath 5y ago
    Same. I last bought a mouse in...damn, 2008. They've replaced it 3 times since, with the new equivalent model regardless of it being in or out of warranty.

sennight 5y ago

Back when IBM was making Thinkpads, I called their support number to get the FRU for a HD in a second hand laptop that was well out of warranty. The next day I had a package waiting for me with a new drive and prepaid postage for the return. Easily my best customer experience, without a doubt they made that money back - I went out of my way to direct my business their way for years.

copperx 5y ago
I remember hearing stories of Apple taking care of their customers like that, too.
- Operyl 5y ago
  They still do. Support will upgrade models of MacBooks every once in a blue moon (have had it happen before).
  - arcticbull 5y ago
    Happened to me once too. I got a lemon, it went in for service 3 or 4 times (this was right after the Intel transition) and eventually AppleCare just apologized and mailed me a new laptop - the next generation of them.
    - Operyl 5y ago
      Same thing, only two repairs, in store exchange to a newer model, price difference comped.
- lotsofpulp 5y ago
  One of my cousins went swimming with his new iPhone 3G 3 weeks after it came out, and they replaced it for free at the store. I dropped mine in water (pool if I recall) 2 times and had it replaced for free also (3G and 4 I think).
- sagarpatil 5y ago
  I’ve had the absolute worst experience with Apple. I wanted to buy Apple Developer Program subscription. It wouldn’t let me add any of my credit cards, saw an option to add payment via UPI (Unified Payments Interface) in India. Added $99 to my Apple account and was still unable to pay for the membership. Spent around 7-8 hours speaking to customer support but no one had a clue what was wrong. I asked for a refund and was told money added to Apple account as credit can not be refunded.

nmfisher 5y ago

I had a similar experience, something borked on my Radeon 9600 Pro (assuming a busted capacitor) a week or two after the warranty expired, but I figured I'd try my luck and ask if there was anything they could do. They promptly sent me a new card for free (though it was probably refurbished), didn't even ask for the old one in return. ATI was a great company back then.

wil421 5y ago

Apple, Ubiquiti, and Microcenter have all honored just expired warranties for me in the past 5-8 years. You just have to be polite.

lostlogin 5y ago
* or be covered by a consumer guarantees act that looks after you. New Zealand has a great bit of legislation there.
- Ueland 5y ago
  How long are you covered there? It's 5 years here in Norway for anything "you should expect to last five years", which means basically all computer parts and mobile devices.
  - m4x 5y ago
    The legislation just says products must last a reasonable amount of time. As you can imagine, retailers and consumers usually have different ideas about how long something should reasonably last. I've never had much luck getting products repaired or replaced once the manufacturers one-year warranty runs out.
    - vegardx 5y ago
      Directly from Forbrukerrådet (Consumer Council): "You have 2 or 5 years to make a complaint if you purchased from a professional vendor (Consumer Sales Act (in Norwegian)). The statutory warranty period depends on how long the product is meant to last when subjected to normal use. Sofas and mobile phones are examples of products with a 5-year warranty period. When buying from a private individual, the warranty period is 2 years (Sale of Goods Act (in Norwegian))." You can't have been trying very hard. I have never had any problem.
      - m4x 5y ago
        In case it wasn't clear, I was referring to the Consumer Guarantees Act in New Zealand

Tsiklon 5y ago

Just out of interest was yours a Sapphire branded 9800 Pro? The fan died in mine and the only bad behaviour it exhibited was that it overheated in games (Half-Life 2 and Unreal 2 were the big killers), for anything else it was perfectly usable in that crippled state.

xyzzy_plugh 5y ago
It might've been, I still have it somewhere probably. To this day it is still the hottest piece of hardware I've ever owned. I swear you could cook on that card. It definitely didn't help that the fan died, and it melted itself into a broken state not long after I suppose.

throwaway41597 5y ago

Compare this to 3Dconnexion, a maker of expensive 3D mice for CAD software. They rubberized their mice but the rubber decayed after a couple of years (spent $200+ in the 00's and got a gooey piece of junk 3-4 years later). For a decade, they've been ignoring customers and saying the issue was fixed in a later version.