VegetaCreeper
Evga Mic Drop

That's a good one.  We'll see if the OP comes back and posts anything.  The response is pretty clear about why an RMA would be denied or questioned.  Photos of the damage when received would be interesting to see, but if the OP has photos of the GPU prior to it going to EVGA or clarifies if he did disassemble the card to change out the pads or install a waterblock since it wasn't mentioned in the original post about taking the card apart or changing out the thermal pads.  
 
This could be a good lesson for anyone who is thinking about taking apart their gpu.  Make sure to know what you are doing before you attempt to service your gpu.  Damages done to the gpu can and will void your warranty with good reason.  
 
I've had my 3090 for over 6 months now, converted it to a water block and have no issues with it.  I do have the revised PCB however so that could also help with the reliability of the gpu too.  Customer service and support is why I buy and recommend EVGA.  Their products sometimes may have issues or areas of concerns but if you look at the entire package they offer it really is hard to beat especially when things go wrong.  

Giving the OP the benefit of the doubt he didn't do anything to it, this is way you don't buy anything second hand.  There are a lot of cards that get sold as "NIB" that are really not and/or are scams.  Really good scammers can hide stuff, even go as far as tampering with the BIOS to hide what the card really is.

Well I'm glad I checked back on this thread.  That's a big ol' OOF for OP.  
 
F

ShawnB420

So buddy buys a card from a scalper where either the scalper took it apart and messed it up or the OP did and because of those we’re supposed to a avoid the 3090?

What a show all around. So funny

lets hope you dont end up in this situation.EVGA sent me a card with defects like i mentioned above.
so i believe a scalper could have done him wrong as well.not funny for me or anyone else getting 
these RMA cards back.
its like getting into a car everyday for work afraid its going to break down.so you hear 
every little ping or rattle.this is my life with this card.so laugh away im sure its halarious for you !

Guydodge1021

ShawnB420
So buddy buys a card from a scalper where either the scalper took it apart and messed it up or the OP did and because of those we’re supposed to a avoid the 3090?

What a show all around. So funny

lets hope you dont end up in this situation.EVGA sent me a card with defects like i mentioned above.
so i believe a scalper could have done him wrong as well.not funny for me or anyone else getting 
these RMA cards back.
its like getting into a car everyday for work afraid its going to break down.so you hear 
every little ping or rattle.this is my life with this card.so laugh away im sure its halarious for you !

Don’t buy from a scalper then.

ShawnB420

Guydodge1021

ShawnB420
So buddy buys a card from a scalper where either the scalper took it apart and messed it up or the OP did and because of those we’re supposed to a avoid the 3090?

What a show all around. So funny

lets hope you dont end up in this situation.EVGA sent me a card with defects like i mentioned above.
so i believe a scalper could have done him wrong as well.not funny for me or anyone else getting 
these RMA cards back.
its like getting into a car everyday for work afraid its going to break down.so you hear 
every little ping or rattle.this is my life with this card.so laugh away im sure its halarious for you !

Don’t buy from a scalper then.

mine was bought directly from EVGA

felixforever

Guydodge1021

ShawnB420

Guydodge1021

ShawnB420
So buddy buys a card from a scalper where either the scalper took it apart and messed it up or the OP did and because of those we’re supposed to a avoid the 3090?

What a show all around. So funny

lets hope you

mine was bought directly from EVGA 

Did you inspect the replacement card? Document everything you saw immediately? Contact evga immediately and work with them? Or just threw the card in, waited a few days/weeks and then noticed something... if i was getting a rma'd card i wouldn't accept it unless it met my expectations...

the scratch i noticed right away the pad i noticed a little later.it was not an issue with the tiny scratch.
and checking the temps the pad doesnt seem to be an issue either.what is an issue is i would have to pay 
to RMA again and who knows i could get one back in even worse shape they obviously didnt inspect this one
very well so whos to say it would get better.
easy to say for you if your not in this vicious circle,like i said hope your never here

redteamgo
People please keep in mind that there are two sides to every story. Card failures and cosmetic issues most definitely can and have happened with RMAs - myself included.

Let’s also remember that some people have hybrid coolers or water blocks direct from EVGA on their cards and removal of the backplate is required.

It is entirely possible that the fan harness was damaged before OP received the card. Due to subsequent heat problems on the factory reconditioned card, perhaps OP opened the card to cure the issue to avoid the $4000 (yes it is $4000+ to cross ship a 3090) cross ship charge / refund process. The consensus here seems to be that unless the card is perfect, don’t open it up. How is that realistic in today’s environment when an RMA means at least 1 month of down time?

Let us also keep in mind that if you order pads from EVGA to try to remedy heat issues , what you receive may not be complete. I ordered a set of replacement pads for a HC block and the VRM pads were not included. As it turns out , that was the only set of pads I really needed. When I called to ask , they said that’s all they have and tough cookies. It was only $10 so not a huge deal but the time lost was very annoying. Fortunately, other 3090 owners were generous with their knowledge and had posted what pad dimensions they had successfully used . If OP had roughly the same experience as me but a different outcome because of circumstantial factory build issues, that is completely plausible

Overall, I hope OP and EVGA find a good compromise. I also wish people here would not automatically assume all users with problems are bad actors trying scam evga, it’s tiresome.

Id say i agree but he said he paid 4k for the card, and has gone radio silent on answering anyones questions where he obtained it. Where there is smoke, bound to be some fire.

Good lord $4000 for a GPU and then that happens. My condolences. 

ShawnB420

redteamgo
People please keep in mind that there are two sides to every story. Card failures and cosmetic issues most definitely can and have happened with RMAs - myself included.

Let’s also remember that some people have hybrid coolers or water blocks direct from EVGA on their cards and removal of the backplate is required.

It is entirely possible that the fan harness was damaged before OP received the card. Due to subsequent heat problems on the factory reconditioned card, perhaps OP opened the card to cure the issue to avoid the $4000 (yes it is $4000+ to cross ship a 3090) cross ship charge / refund process. The consensus here seems to be that unless the card is perfect, don’t open it up. How is that realistic in today’s environment when an RMA means at least 1 month of down time?

Let us also keep in mind that if you order pads from EVGA to try to remedy heat issues , what you receive may not be complete. I ordered a set of replacement pads for a HC block and the VRM pads were not included. As it turns out , that was the only set of pads I really needed. When I called to ask , they said that’s all they have and tough cookies. It was only $10 so not a huge deal but the time lost was very annoying. Fortunately, other 3090 owners were generous with their knowledge and had posted what pad dimensions they had successfully used . If OP had roughly the same experience as me but a different outcome because of circumstantial factory build issues, that is completely plausible

Overall, I hope OP and EVGA find a good compromise. I also wish people here would not automatically assume all users with problems are bad actors trying scam evga, it’s tiresome.

I assumed the OP got scammed by a scalper and then when they tried to RMA the issues were discovered. I’m not blaming the OP for any of this. It’s where they blame EVGA or tell people to avoid the 3090 that have a complaint with. That’s what I called out.
Now if it was EVGA who damaged the card then OP is justified in his anger but from the sounds of it, they were scammed by a scalper

i agree but only for the reasons op stated.but i to would not recommend the EVGA 3090 to anyone as well
imo these cards are flawed and i think EVGA knows it.i would love to see the number of RMAs on the 3090
and yet we as customers are being charged as if we had anything to do with the defects in the MFG process.
i have bought 6 EVGA cards and i can assure you this will be the last one.dishonesty is not a buying point for
me.no i do not think they broke his card but i do think we as customers are being treated unfairly.

tattude69
Karma can be a beautiful thing.
 
From buying a card from a scalper to trying to blame Evga this person got what they deserved. The world would be a better place if this happened more often.

It would be a better place if EVGA got blamed more often for this mess. Some information, apologies, and press coverage would be nice.

ty_ger07

tattude69
Karma can be a beautiful thing.
 
From buying a card from a scalper to trying to blame Evga this person got what they deserved. The world would be a better place if this happened more often.

It would be a better place if EVGA got blamed more often for this mess. Some information, apologies, and press coverage would be nice.

So its evgas fault he paid 4k for his card and has no idea what happened to it before he took ownership? Who ya crappin

If we continue to ignore personal accountability, How will we ever hold a corporation accountable? Its made up of people  The sum of parts are only as good as the weakest part. We can choose to be part of the problem or part of the solution. Buying a product from scalpers at inflated price and then blaming Evga is the problem not part of the solution.

tattude69
If we continue to ignore personal accountability, How will we ever hold a corporation accountable? Its made up of people  The sum of parts are only as good as the weakest part. We can choose to be part of the problem or part of the solution. Buying a product from scalpers at inflated price and then blaming Evga is the problem not part of the solution.

agree and both parties should acknowledge their accountability.which is the lesser of two evils ? whats good for the 
goose is good for the gander comes to mind here.while its more likely than not this guy did this himself.
i feel EVGA is doing the exact same thing.

The op posted that "knows the card was unused" in one of his last posts so I would assume the package was factory sealed. For the price of 4k even from a scalper I would assume most people wouldn't buy a used 3090 with a msrp right under 2k.  
 
To me, the OP started this rant which EVGA did and should respond to.  I think their response was professional and gave him the option of contacting customer service.  If you are going to post something similar to the OP on EVGA's own forum, I would hope they would respond to give others piece of mind that if in the case they needed to rma something that the service we expect is going to continue.  If EVGA had not responded, I might have been concerned that maybe one of the main reasons why I buy EVGA is not as much a factor anymore.  In their response, it should strengthen that belief if anything.  No product is perfect and the 30 series have had issues I wish it didn't.  But EVGA's service is one of the reasons that help justify why you buy their products.  The damages mentioned by EVGA are not normally manufacturing issues but issues with disassembly.  Those fan ports are not easy to work with and to be honest is one of those points even for me when I open up a gpu I try to make sure I take my time so that I don't damage the fan headers.  That and the splitting of the radiator from the pcb without tweaking the pcb is where so many users have issues with the process.  
 
I honestly wouldn't mind seeing a response from the OP.  Not sure he will though now that the other side of this issue has been shared by EVGA. 
 
One thing I do wish that could change was that if the RMAs were found to be manufacturer defects that the shipping charges would be covered by EVGA.  To me, taking a credit card charge and providing the shipping label to the end user with the condition if the rma is found to be caused by faulty manufacturing that they would credit your account is a acceptable practice.  If the original source of the issue is unclear then the cost for the shipping would remain with the end users.   They could easily add it into the rma terms and conditions, but this is the main issue I have with the rma process is that the end user has to pay for the product to be covered under warranty issues caused by the manufacturer.