Faulty graphics card from PC World?

bradyLAD

I was rendering a movie on Sony Vegas using my Sapphire Radeon HD 7770 and I left it to do its thing. Came back after 20 minutes and my monitor was blank. Tried moving the mouse but nothing happened. Ended up turning off my PC and rebooting and I didn't even get a BIOS screen. I took my card out and on board booted perfectly fine, tried to boot from both HDMI and DVI but no luck. I've also tried my GeForce 610 spare and it seems to work fine, so its defiantly the graphics card.

So I'm returning the card tomorrow, however I'm a media student and I'm in the middle of creating my final movie, which mean a lot of rendering. Problem is its in for the 18th (9 days away) and I'm struggling to use Vegas without the card, its so slow!

The card is only 2 month old and is under warranty. Can PC World exchange the card straight away or will I have to wait up to 21 days of repair time before they consider this?

Thank You

PS. Sorry if posted in the wrong section!

CoolHotCold

And JUST to make sure, you checked the Graphics Card Power requirements against your power supply for the PC.

That MAY be one reason as the 7770 draws much more power than the 610.


If not and the card is faulty PcWorld will just swap over, for all graphics cards it falls under what's call Code 5, which means replace or exchange, no repair route.

bradyLAD

CoolHotCold wrote: »

And JUST to make sure, you checked the Graphics Card Power requirements against your power supply for the PC.

That MAY be one reason as the 7770 draws much more power than the 610.


If not and the card is faulty PcWorld will just swap over, for all graphics cards it falls under what's call Code 5, which means replace or exchange, no repair route.

Thats a relief! I'm running a 650W power supply so that shouldn't be a problem. I'm guessing they'll test it before exchange, so I can make sure its the graphics card at fault?

CoolHotCold

Usually not, Installing the Graphics card and drivers and testing takes far too much time, simply describe your problem.

Aka, "I have a 650Watt PSU and this gfx was installed 2 months ago and been in use since, the monitor suddenly went blank and nothing was displaying, I removed the graphics card and installed my old 610 and that worked, and when the 7770 is installed it just goes blank"

If you're taking a replacement GFX and you explain the steps you've taken to diagnose the system fault most will take you at your word due to the time it takes to go through the same steps and get the same fault.

bradyLAD

CoolHotCold wrote: »

Usually not, Installing the Graphics card and drivers and testing takes far too much time, simply describe your problem.

Aka, "I have a 650Watt PSU and this gfx was installed 2 months ago and been in use since, the monitor suddenly went blank and nothing was displaying, I removed the graphics card and installed my old 610 and that worked, and when the 7770 is installed it just goes blank"

If you're taking a replacement GFX and you explain the steps you've taken to diagnose the system fault most will take you at your word due to the time it takes to go through the same steps and get the same fault.

Alright, thank you so much Put my mind at ease, I'm just frantically looking for the receipt now.

bradyLAD

Update on this if anybody can help:
I found the receipt which is for £94.97 (£84.97 in cash and a £10 off voucher). They said that they'd happily replace the item and the sales assistant went to go get another one. He scanned my receipt, then scanned the product and it said there was £30.02 to pay.

I complained about this, however was told I would either have to pay the difference or I could receive a £84.97 refund - neither of which took into account the voucher I had used. The employee stated that as the replacement product came with a "free" game now, it had a different barcode therefore the store treated it as a different product to mine, therefore they don't stock my product anymore (even though they are exactly the same!)

So supposedly the price has gone up due to a "free" game (not even a physical item, you have to email dixons who check your receipt and then email you a download code); and because of this it's a different product?! I'm guessing they changed the barcode to distinguish people who had already bought the card that weren't part of the promotion so when you email them your receipt number it's easy to tell the difference, but why the price difference when it's meant to be "free"?

Can they legally do this as the card is EXACTLY the same apart from the free gift? And also, if I can't replace it and take the refund, do they have to replace the £10 off voucher I used?

Thank you

PS Managed to borrow a spare card from a friend to ensure my coursework is completed on time so that's one less thing to worry about.

bod1467

Technically they can reduce any refund to account for usage, but to do so for only 2 months usage is churlish. IMHO they should be refunding the cash PLUS the £10 back to a card.

If they are offering to replace then they cannot insist on charging extra for the same model. Of course they can charge for betterment, but if they are not able to replace like-for-like (or equivalent) then they either offer a better model or they repair or refund (in full).

Jakg

bod1467 wrote: »

Technically they can reduce any refund to account for usage, but to do so for only 2 months usage is churlish.

They aren't doing this.

What voucher did you use? Was it something like a gift voucher, or was it a "£10 off your purchase" voucher? If the latter, I think their offer is fair (you can't expect to receive a refund for more than you actually paid!)

CoolHotCold

Jakg is correct, if it's a voucher or something like a O2 discount code then it's not actual tender or money, if it's a gift card then it's different.

If it's a different product (by which the SKU (look on the website it says product no at the bottom of the page) then it's a different product. Also you don't know if it was a special offer when you purchased the card or any supplier funding or perhaps they were clearing old stock etc etc.


In short yes, all they have to do is repair/replace/refund you may request one outcome over another but they can refuse due to cost, if it was exactly the same product (in which the SKU's were the same) then PcWorld/Curry's policy is to discount the product if it's being exchanged within the first year regardless of the price difference (if it's gone up).

bod1467

Jakg wrote: »

They aren't doing this.

I was merely offering a suggestion as to why the refund offered was less. You and CHC have subsequently asked questions to clarify the nature of the "card", based on your knowledge of PCW. (Which I, and many others, do NOT have).

I can only presume you weren't being deliberately critical of my response, but that's the way it came across.

Esqui

CoolHotCold wrote: »

If it's a different product (by which the SKU (look on the website it says product no at the bottom of the page) then it's a different product. Also you don't know if it was a special offer when you purchased the card or any supplier funding or perhaps they were clearing old stock etc etc.

I'd assume that if it's a .97p, then it would be a clearance product.