From: "Rich Gauszka" 

we won't honor the warranty and you can't tell anyone about it? EVGA parent
company of the NSA?

http://weblog.infoworld.com/gripeline/archives/2007/06/evga_rejects_wa.html

It's bad enough when a vendor stiffs you on warranty repair. But graphics
cards vendor EVGA recently added insult to injury with a form letter
telling a reader that its refusal to honor his warranty was confidential.

"You may want to warn your readers who might be considering an EVGA
graphics card -- my experience has not been good," the reader wrote.
"An EVGA GeForce 7600GS 256 MB graphics card failed after about one
month. Contacting their tech service, they readily recognized the problem -
artifacting -- and
'encouraged getting a RMA.' I got the RMA and sent the card, noting that one
small coil showed partial melting of its plastic covering."

"A few days later, EVGA tech service advised they could not process my
RMA because the card had been 'damaged due to mishandling.' I contacted
EVGA to ask about this and was told the PC board was damaged. I told them
it was not damaged when sent from here, and asked if the package showed
damage in shipping. This was never answered. I telephoned the Tech Service
Manager, discussed all the previous communications, and asked the RMA be
reconsidered, which he agreed to do. When no response was received, I
escalated my request by emailing the Customer Service Manager describing
the problem, but received no reply. I then emailed the Marketing VP, but
got no reply, so I attempted to telephone him, but was never able to make
contact. Several days later the card was returned to me with a form letter
listing many possible "reasons", none of which made any sense in
this case."

What made even less sense to the reader was the final paragraph of the form
letter, which read:


"Confidentiality Warning: This e-mail may be privileged and/or
confidential, and the sender does not waive any related rights and
obligations. It is intended for the named recipient(s) only. Any
distribution, use or copying of this e-mail or the information it contains
by other than an intended recipient is unauthorized. If you received this
e-mail in error, please advise me (by return e-mail or otherwise)
immediately and do not disclose the contents to anyone or duplicate."

Of course, one perplexing aspect of this was the fact that it wasn't an
e-mail at all, but a form letter. But whether in a letter or an e-mail,
what gives EVGA the right to tell the reader he can't share this
information? It would be a neat trick if you could get away with it - give
the customer some bogus as to why you're not going to honor their warranty,
and then tell them have to keep it a secret.

Fortunately, the reader decided he could indeed share his EVGA experience,
and not just with me. "I have had the card examined by two independent
tech service personnel, telling them only that the card had failed. Both
responded that at least one circuit component had overheated due to
overclocking by the card design. One commented that he recognized this card
as having a reputation of frequent failure due to the overclocking design.
I pointedly asked if the card showed any sign of mishandling or PC board
damage, and was advised it did not. It is my belief that EVGA is fully
aware of a faulty design, and has determined not to make any concession,
exchange, or replacement. I will not purchase anything further made by
EVGA, and will advise others to avoid them also."

--- BBBS/NT v4.01 Flag-5