When I've done a RMA to them, I've always received like for like, let me know what you get back.

I protested an upgrade after 3 times I sent my 980 ti back to them.

@mhzmaniac whats the difference between b stock and normal?

It can be frustrating as I just shipped back a card that I got in May as a warranty replacement, that passed quality control yet overheated constantly while folding.  An upgrade would be great, but EVGA has to do something with all the old stock they have, and those of us with cards that are failing are pretty much stuck until our warranty runs out haha.
 
Just remember, EVGA will take care of us, and it's why we keep coming back :P

I just heard back, and they are sending me the same 980 Ti Kingpin, but with a different serial number which comes from a different "batch." I have severe doubts that this will make any difference, but they gave me no choice, so perhaps I can get more asssertive once this next one fails and go higher up the chain of command and get a 1080. i feel like the first guy I talked to via chat was really helpful, and the second guy was just feeding me a company line and didn't go out of his way to advocate for me. He pretty much dismissed the opinions of people on this forum as "only people who do extreme overclocking." I feel like EVGA knows thy made a bad product with the 980 Ti (Kingpin) and they are either in denial, or they just want to burn through their old stock.

I don't want to belittle anyone's hobby, but what's the point of getting a GPU that is only good for benchmark contests, and only if you have a liquid nitrogen cooling system? I need something that will handle long hours or 4K video playback and encoding, that can power dual monitors and won't crap out on me in the middle of a paying gig. I'd consider adding additional cooling for the GPU if I thought it would take care of the problem, but the Kingpin is reported to have problems under air and liquid cooling. I don't need overclock the thing, I need it to work properly in my workstation.

Next question, they sent me an e-mail asking if I want to buy in to the EAR program (which I'm assuming would be for when this new card they are shipping me fails and I need to RMA that). Should I bother? Will this help my case for an eventual upgrade?

Cheers!
Greyson

Leon538
i am getting the same model back. idk if it's the same card but what i do know is that my card arrived on Wednesday and the rma says: preparing to ship product, also since Wednesday. surely they would have sent it at max today. i have been without a gpu for almost a week and this isn't helping :(

 
They never send the same card back, just the same model when possible.  It will be a different GPU than the one you sent it. 
 
As far as processing time, Wednesday is Arrival, so Thursday, Friday and then up to next Monday for business days (1 to 3 business days). Tuesday is a holiday in the US, so that is not considered a business day for the US office.  The shipping usually updates around the end of the work day, when the shipping company picks up the product being sent out. The product will usually show preparing to ship until it goes out. 

I just got my package and it's a sealed gtx 1080 sc!!! Im so happy! Thank you evga!!