Buyer Beware!

 

This is basically an update regarding a previous message that was concerned with any sort of "Warranty" that comes with buying new products here in Thailand.

The important issue here is mainly when you purchase online rather than a physical shop, your THAILAND warranty might not be what you hoped for.

My situation has cost me a packet and in the end, ended up with nothing to show. The problems here really begin if the online store you purchase from closes or refuses warranty.

I bought a CORSAIR rm850X power supply for my pc. The PSU I believe had either a 5 year or 10 year warranty, my PSU was about 2 years old when the problems began.

The PSU suddenly exploded - flames shooting out from the back of the PC, I was there at the time and pulled the plug, it did not trip my breakers at this time, so was an obvious fire hazard.

After I was unable to return the PSU to the online store (gone) I contacted CORSAIR support. They checked all my warranty details and confirmed it was covered. They asked me to ship it to them in TAIWAN! (They have no support here in Thailand) In addition to shipping to Taiwan, they requested that it would be advisable to ship the PSU recorded delivery, which I did using EMS, and paid about USD $45 to ship it.

CORSAIR replaced this faulty PSU (It apparently is quite a common problem if you look online) and shipped me back a "Guaranteed Refurbished" PSU.

Now, the faulty PSU was away for about 2-3 weeks, so in the meantime, I bought another PSU as I needed to use the PC on a daily basis, so the refurbed PSU was put to one side for maybe 1 month.

My son has his own PC and the old 600 W Thermaltake PSU was getting a b it tired so we swapped it out with the refurbed unit. As soon as we powered on the PC the PSU kept switching off or dropping voltage, not actually switching off the PC and Windows, but almost shutting down and restarting on its own over and over again.

Eventually, there was another loud bang and the refurbed PSU exploded, luckily it tripped my breakers and we managed to keep the flames out of reach of anything that burns.

The PSU was replaced with the old Thermaltake and all was fine. We took the PSU and PC to a tech in the city and he checked, right on queue it blew up almost in his face with what looks to be the same problem as the original. (I spoke with CORSAIR and they assured me it was a replacement PSU rather than my old PSU repaired.

Now the fun begins! CORSAIR then expected me to pay EMS all over again another $45 to ship back again to Taiwan. After contacting their CEO and QA Manager, they did eventually send me a pre paid DHL shipping label... yes, sadly DHL, this becomes clear later.

At about the same time, because I complain a real lot, they did the right thing and jumped the shark and posted a new replacement PSU before receiving the faulty one.

Well, as it is DHL, they seem to work in cahoots with Thai customs, they are the only company I have known that makes sure 100% that anything you ship with them will be guaranteed to end up in Thai Customs, almost one would think there was a partnership to scam duty off people, if I didn't know better.

Well, that is exactly what happened, DHL "surrendered voluntarily" my PSU to Thai customs, who upon seeing an opportunity to rake in some free cash, decided to hold the package.

I luckily found this out by chance using the tracking details, as neither DHL, Thai Customs or CORSAIR had the decency to even contact me to inform me of the problem. Well, I won't be throwing anymore good money after bad, so they can sing as far as I am concerned, I will not pay 1 satang towards this garbage, and, in fact, CORSAIR should have made it 100% clear that this is a warranty replacement with no commercial value and is a replacement under warranty.

Whether CORSAIR did this or not (I have my doubts) but either way, Thai Customs appear to have seized it and are in the process of making it disappear or return to Taiwan.

So, no warranty, no refund, no repair and no power supply! CORSAIR do not want to know, so they are less than useful.

At the end of the day this PSU has cost a packet and all for nothing as CORSAIR are unwilling or unable to supply a warranty repair or refund and the costs are roughly as follows.

Original purchase circa $130, original return for warranty repair $45, so for the first repair I was out $170. If I was to send again with EMS, it is another $45, then there is the customs, not sure what the duty is, but even if it is 30%, then that is another $40, so a basic 850W PSU has ended up potentially costing about $260!

So, if the company you are buying from does not have warranty facilities here then beware. I had a similar problem a few years ago with Sony and PlayStation, they too thought that it was acceptable to cop out of their warranty responsibilities if the end user is from Thailand - and no this is not rubbish, most of the Thais where I am would never even think or bother to return an item under warranty, they know all too well how they get treated here, they just accept it, the very people who the warranty means the most. As I said, I bought a back up, how many locals can afford this or how many kids for their gaming PC? It frankly stinks.

 

In Thailand Synnex is the official distributor and warranty provider for Corsair.

27 minutes ago, CallumWK said:

In Thailand Synnex is the official distributor and warranty provider for Corsair.

 

Yup, I believe only for items bought in Thailand (I think they should have a Synnex sticker).

 

You can check your warranty status at https://www.synnex.co.th/Th/Components/Main/Home  using the serial number.

Interesting, I do need to purchase a new PC at some point and I can't justify it right now as the motherboards have not advanced since the last time I bought a new one which was back in 2019 - to get 256 GM of RAM I would literally need to buy the exact same motherboard model if I want to use an Intel CPU - which I do.

So I'm waiting with patience unless the damn thing breaks.

But my old PC is pretty much 100% MSI, not sure on the power supply though. Could be Corsair, the RAM is Corsair. I'll need to check now as that sounds dangerous

A good tip when purchasing a high power PSU is to look for one that is “single rail” output.

 

It’s even more important if you have multiple disk drives, a server for example.

2 hours ago, CallumWK said:

In Thailand Synnex is the official distributor and warranty provider for Corsair.

Whatever Synnex have to do with it does not come into it if the original place of purchase does not exist any more. Synnex is for the retailers like JIB to send their repairs to, Corsair will not entertain you via this method, I even asked if I could bundle my return with JIB's (whom I bought the replacement PSU from) 

Corsair refused to even allow me to hand over the faulty PSU to DHL, (it was pre paid and I was going to give it to DHL when they delivered the new replacement) Corsair refused and said it needed to be handed in (They even told me not to mention the exploding PSU to DHL when I drop it off - Don't worry, I keep every e mail!)

1 hour ago, ukrules said:

Interesting, I do need to purchase a new PC at some point and I can't justify it right now as the motherboards have not advanced since the last time I bought a new one which was back in 2019 - to get 256 GM of RAM I would literally need to buy the exact same motherboard model if I want to use an Intel CPU - which I do.

So I'm waiting with patience unless the damn thing breaks.

But my old PC is pretty much 100% MSI, not sure on the power supply though. Could be Corsair, the RAM is Corsair. I'll need to check now as that sounds dangerous

You are fine if you buy the PC or its components from somewhere like JIB that isn't going to disappear overnight, your warranty will be good, in fact JIB warranty can be called out at any JIB anywhere in Thailand.

 

If you are going for a new PC, maybe spend some time taking a look at the CPU sockets and how they are developing, as new packages come too frequently, but it might be worth taking a look at the 1854 pavkage.

1 hour ago, Crossy said:

 

Yup, I believe only for items bought in Thailand (I think they should have a Synnex sticker).

 

You can check your warranty status at https://www.synnex.co.th/Th/Components/Main/Home  using the serial number.

No mention of Synnex anywhere on either of the 3 Corsair junk heaps here.

1 hour ago, Vlada Floric said:

No mention of Synnex anywhere on either of the 3 Corsair junk heaps here.

 

You could still try entering the serial numbers into the Synnex warranty checker.

 

 

13 hours ago, Crossy said:

 

You could still try entering the serial numbers into the Synnex warranty checker.

 

 

I checked out the site, but it seems it is more for dealers and distributors, but I cannot find where to enter the serial number. Also though, no one is disputing the warranty, they just don't seem to have the mental capacity to put things right. End of the day a voucher to go to JIB and get a new PSU would have done, but no that was too easy for them, they prefer now to play the game where I copy their CEO on everything, everyone gets pissed off and Corsair lose the sales they deserve. I have been down this road with warranties in Thailand and even a couple of the biggest names will buckle after they tell you that the warranty is not valid in Thailand (yes, seriously, some major companies have tried this in the past. The trick is to check the warranty status for the exact same product with the exact same issue, just tell them you are in the USA or the UK. Then you copy them with the response from the USA/UK and just mention the words "Racist Policy" amazing how things suddenly change. (Well its worked for the Lefties for years, well worth a try).

I am pretty much accepting that this claim is dead in the water, so now it is simply "playtime" that will cost Corsair so much more than a PSU in the long run.

Synnex warranty check is here https://www.synnex.co.th/Th/Components/Service/CheckWarrantyExpiryDate if anyone needs it.

 

 

1 hour ago, Crossy said:

Synnex warranty check is here https://www.synnex.co.th/Th/Components/Service/CheckWarrantyExpiryDate if anyone needs it.

 

 

Thanks for that link Crossy, I have tried it and used various combinations of the "O" and "0" along with "1" and "I" and "l" but nothing works, all I get is that it is not in the system and that I need to telephone them. Thanks for your help, but it seems like I am stuck with this exploding house brick / paperweight, anyone want it? Nice ornament, cover the postage and it is yours to own forever!

Sadly I think you are correct.

You could try taking it to a Synnex branch if there's one near you.

 

Just a quick update - In the end, Corsair did the right thing. They contacted me again on Tuesday, (they had sorted out Thai customs with the "No Commercial Value on my Commercial Invoice)

 

I was supposed to get my "replacement - refurbished) PSU next Tuesday.

 

Well DHL delivered it yesterday. Only problem now is no one dares to plug it in in case it goes off with a bang.

 

Anyway, persistence paid off in the end, shame it took such a roundabout way to resolve issues.