EVGA
Posted: 18 Aug 2015, 17:21
EVGA is a company that manufactures nVidia graphics cards and Intel motherboards. They have been around since 1999 and remained mostly off my radar scope due to my lack of need for anything they sell. In the past couple years my needs have changed and their name came up as a supplier. In fact, my last video card was purchased from them because they had the best price.
A few weeks ago I ran across an ad for a "gaming" mouse EVGA produces. It looked interesting and I thought I'd be slightly extravagant and buy the top of the line mouse just to see what it's all about. It worked as advertised for the most part, but I'm writing this review because of the problems I had with this high end mouse. It's a Torq X10 Carbon model with pretty lights and a slippery bottom. I decided to purchase it from Amazon.com who in turn shipped it from a reseller. The tracking failed on the second day I used it and I contacted Amazon about a refund/replacement. They referred me to the reseller who was reluctantly willing to give my my money back but not pay for any shipping costs when I returned the mouse. They did suggest, however, that the manufacturer is typically the place to go for repairs and replacements. Thus I contacted EVGA through their web site.
The tech support process is pretty straight forward on the EVGA website. I filled out their support request form twice because it didn't work the first time, and received nearly an immediate response. The technician recognized that It was a recent purchase given that I had registered the product only a couple days previous. An advanced RMA was ordered which would allow them to ship me a replacement immediately after approval of the request. I was then required to send back the broken mouse at their expense. Since this would end up costing me nothing but time, and since I liked the design of the mouse, I decided to opt in for a replacement instead of getting my money back from the reseller.
The advanced RMA generation involves three steps, each requiring appropriate approval before proceeding to the next step. I had to upload a copy of the original invoice to show proof of ownership. I found this annoying because I already did that when I registered the mouse. Well I did the upload twice this round because it would not upload the first time. An e-mail was sent back to me within the hour to approve the upload. Next I had to provide collateral. Collateral is my credit card number that will not be billed unless I do not return the defective mouse in a timely fashion. Still irritated, I gave them the information because it seemed like a reasonable business practice. Approval of my collateral was received within the next hour. But then I was told now the entire RMA has to pass scrutiny and that could take 2-3 business days. Since I was doing this over the weekend, the process could have been delayed until Tuesday, but late Sunday evening (what are they doing working Sunday nights?) I received the approval of my completed request. An advanced RMA would now be generated ... BUT ... I had to create an account with United Parcel Service so that I could provide an electronic signature for receipt of the package. Apparently the final scan from the UPS truck driver was not good enough. I did not need a UPS account nor did I want a UPS account, but I signed up for one because I DID want that mouse.
Five days later the replacement new mouse arrived. It worked electronically, but the left click button was missing it's normal tactile feeling. The switch detents was broken right out of the box. I maintained my composure and opened a second tech support request for the broken switch mouse. Yes, I had to go through the entire process again. I refused to upload the invoice given that I did that twice already, and when I mentioned that fact to the tech support person he was very sympathetic and started the second advanced RMA process immediately. Five days later, the second replacement mouse arrived in perfect working condition. However, this was not a new mouse. This one was refurbished. So, I paid for a new mouse and ended up with somebody's discards. I was pissed to say the least.
Then EVGA made the fatal mistake by sending me an e-mail requesting my comments about their lovely tech support operation. At the very end of the survey was a single statement that gave me the e-mail address of the Director of customer service, or some such person, just in case I had more to say to somebody with a title. Well that I did. I was very cool, calm, and collected and provided Joe with a lot of detail about my experience. I expressed my dissatisfaction for ending up with a refurbished mouse instead of a new one, but was also happy that the hand me down at least was working as designed. I sent that out Friday night and didn't expect Joe to read it until Monday. Truthfully, I was skeptical that Joe actually exists, but I had to vent my frustrations somehow.
Late Monday afternoon I receive an e-mail from Joe, the Director of Product Branding (he got a promotion, obviously), which told me he tried to call but could not get through. Of course not. I don't give web sites my real phone number. But, Joe promised he would make amends and send me a tee shirt to boot. So, I gave him my real phone number and within minutes he was calling me. This totally impressed me. He was not peddling a bicycle in India somewhere and actually sounded like a corporate executive who cared about my experience. We talked a bit and he said he would be sending me a "new" mouse right out of the warehouse along with a tee shirt AND a copy of Duke Nukem software. I had to laugh at that last item because I used to play it on my Windows 98 machine. We parted when Joe thanked me for taking the time to write and giving him all that useful information. He said they had a meeting earlier in the day where my letter was discussed in detail. Changes would be forthcoming. The day ended after dinner when I received a message from the Tech Support manage who apparently personally got all those things Joe ordered for me and generated a shipping label with a tracking number.
Now I am totally impressed with EVGA. The quality of their mouses remains dubious, but there seems to be a genuine upper level management concern about their customers happiness. I don't know what I am going to do with two mouses now, but I will have a smile on my face when I'm play Duke Nukem and wearing my EVGA tee shirt sometime next week.
A few weeks ago I ran across an ad for a "gaming" mouse EVGA produces. It looked interesting and I thought I'd be slightly extravagant and buy the top of the line mouse just to see what it's all about. It worked as advertised for the most part, but I'm writing this review because of the problems I had with this high end mouse. It's a Torq X10 Carbon model with pretty lights and a slippery bottom. I decided to purchase it from Amazon.com who in turn shipped it from a reseller. The tracking failed on the second day I used it and I contacted Amazon about a refund/replacement. They referred me to the reseller who was reluctantly willing to give my my money back but not pay for any shipping costs when I returned the mouse. They did suggest, however, that the manufacturer is typically the place to go for repairs and replacements. Thus I contacted EVGA through their web site.
The tech support process is pretty straight forward on the EVGA website. I filled out their support request form twice because it didn't work the first time, and received nearly an immediate response. The technician recognized that It was a recent purchase given that I had registered the product only a couple days previous. An advanced RMA was ordered which would allow them to ship me a replacement immediately after approval of the request. I was then required to send back the broken mouse at their expense. Since this would end up costing me nothing but time, and since I liked the design of the mouse, I decided to opt in for a replacement instead of getting my money back from the reseller.
The advanced RMA generation involves three steps, each requiring appropriate approval before proceeding to the next step. I had to upload a copy of the original invoice to show proof of ownership. I found this annoying because I already did that when I registered the mouse. Well I did the upload twice this round because it would not upload the first time. An e-mail was sent back to me within the hour to approve the upload. Next I had to provide collateral. Collateral is my credit card number that will not be billed unless I do not return the defective mouse in a timely fashion. Still irritated, I gave them the information because it seemed like a reasonable business practice. Approval of my collateral was received within the next hour. But then I was told now the entire RMA has to pass scrutiny and that could take 2-3 business days. Since I was doing this over the weekend, the process could have been delayed until Tuesday, but late Sunday evening (what are they doing working Sunday nights?) I received the approval of my completed request. An advanced RMA would now be generated ... BUT ... I had to create an account with United Parcel Service so that I could provide an electronic signature for receipt of the package. Apparently the final scan from the UPS truck driver was not good enough. I did not need a UPS account nor did I want a UPS account, but I signed up for one because I DID want that mouse.
Five days later the replacement new mouse arrived. It worked electronically, but the left click button was missing it's normal tactile feeling. The switch detents was broken right out of the box. I maintained my composure and opened a second tech support request for the broken switch mouse. Yes, I had to go through the entire process again. I refused to upload the invoice given that I did that twice already, and when I mentioned that fact to the tech support person he was very sympathetic and started the second advanced RMA process immediately. Five days later, the second replacement mouse arrived in perfect working condition. However, this was not a new mouse. This one was refurbished. So, I paid for a new mouse and ended up with somebody's discards. I was pissed to say the least.
Then EVGA made the fatal mistake by sending me an e-mail requesting my comments about their lovely tech support operation. At the very end of the survey was a single statement that gave me the e-mail address of the Director of customer service, or some such person, just in case I had more to say to somebody with a title. Well that I did. I was very cool, calm, and collected and provided Joe with a lot of detail about my experience. I expressed my dissatisfaction for ending up with a refurbished mouse instead of a new one, but was also happy that the hand me down at least was working as designed. I sent that out Friday night and didn't expect Joe to read it until Monday. Truthfully, I was skeptical that Joe actually exists, but I had to vent my frustrations somehow.
Late Monday afternoon I receive an e-mail from Joe, the Director of Product Branding (he got a promotion, obviously), which told me he tried to call but could not get through. Of course not. I don't give web sites my real phone number. But, Joe promised he would make amends and send me a tee shirt to boot. So, I gave him my real phone number and within minutes he was calling me. This totally impressed me. He was not peddling a bicycle in India somewhere and actually sounded like a corporate executive who cared about my experience. We talked a bit and he said he would be sending me a "new" mouse right out of the warehouse along with a tee shirt AND a copy of Duke Nukem software. I had to laugh at that last item because I used to play it on my Windows 98 machine. We parted when Joe thanked me for taking the time to write and giving him all that useful information. He said they had a meeting earlier in the day where my letter was discussed in detail. Changes would be forthcoming. The day ended after dinner when I received a message from the Tech Support manage who apparently personally got all those things Joe ordered for me and generated a shipping label with a tracking number.
Now I am totally impressed with EVGA. The quality of their mouses remains dubious, but there seems to be a genuine upper level management concern about their customers happiness. I don't know what I am going to do with two mouses now, but I will have a smile on my face when I'm play Duke Nukem and wearing my EVGA tee shirt sometime next week.
