PSA: Avoid GigaByte products

[unixronin]

I'll keep this short:

When I built a new babylon5 recently, the first video card I ordered was a Gigabyte card which was priced with a $20 mail-in rebate (outsourced to 4myrebate.com, by the way).  I filled in all the rebate paperwork and sent it in.  The rebate was declined because they claimed the included paperwork did not show the item purchased or the purchase date.¹  (I'd highlighted the item on the invoice with yellow highlighter.)  I forwarded them a copy of the NewEgg email invoice.  They refused to accept it.  I emailed them a PDF of the invoice.  They refused to accept it and said they couldn't open email attachments for security reasons.  I printed a new copy of the invoice directly from NewEgg.com and mailed it to them along with their resubmission form.  They have not acknowledged receipt.

At this point there is no doubt in my mind that GigaByte (or at least, 4myrebate.com) never for a moment intended to honor the rebate.

Oh, the video card?  It failed (stopped outputting video on its DVI port) after two weeks.  I couldn't get it replaced by NewEgg because I was required to cut the UPC code out of the box to get the rebate.  I still don't have an RMA authorization from GigaByte.

Needless to say, I won't be buying any more GigaByte products.  I advise others to follow suit.

[1]  I eventually learned, by the way, that all they filed was the rebate form (with attached UPC barcode from the box, as stipulated) and the page showing the item purchased (that's right, the "item purchased" data which they said they didn't have; it was right there in black and white).  They apparently threw away the first page of the invoice,with the purchase date on it, without bothering to scan it in.

Comments

[ithildae]

That leaves thin pickings. Asus will not support linux (or anything other than windows) on their motherboards. (At least, the last time I had a problem with their stuff they wouldn't even talk to me because I was not running windows. The board would not power up, at all.) I have had good luck with Gigabyte motherboards, but the last board I got was MSI.

I have some rebates pending with 4myrebate.com that have not even been acknowledged as received. I am also somewhat distressed that they send out the rebate as a visa card, so they can track where you spend the money. I don't know if it is growing pains, or deliberate discouragement with this new rebate service company. My response would be a polite, but strongly worded letter to the company using 4myrebate.com, with copies to the state AG and the BBB. That will get attention. (Complaints to the BBB must be responded to and be signed by a corporate officer.)

[unixronin]

I can't say I have ever had to go to a hardware vendor for a Linux-specific support issue on a motherboard. Personally, Asus is about the only brand of motherboard I've ever bought that I have not ever had a problem with. (Well, barring former-babylon5's motherboard, on which a capacitor leaked at about 8 years age.)

I was pretty pleased with the Gigabyte board in vorlon on the whole, up until the time I learned the hard way (a) that Gigabyte's Windows BIOS-flash utility is unsafe, and (b) that while Gigabyte's dual BIOS is a nice idea, its utility is rather diminished by the fact that if one BIOS image is bad, it doesn't fail over to the other.

[ithildae]

My issue with Asus was a failed motherboard, or, at least, partially failed. When I told them the specific failed circuit, they asked me to run a Windoze diagnostic on it. I told them I was not running Windoze. They refused to process the call further, no RMA, no acknowledgment that their product could be at fault, no, I can't talk to the manager, goodbye. For three calls. When the board failed completely, I finally got the thing replaced. True, their stuff generally works well, but...

I have been running Gigabyte and MSI for several years. No bad reports from me.

I am uncomfortable dinging Gigabyte for a failure of the rebate processor. (I leave aside the requirement for the bar code label for an RMA, when that is required for the rebate also. Someone has not thought this through. [Or, maybe they have thought it through...])