Experience with germanys Alternate.de? Worst customer Service EVER!
ngon master
Hey, my fellow Germans.
In September of 2019, I bought a GPU From Alternate.de.
A Sapphire RX 5700 XT pulse.
Sapphire offers 2 years of VGA guarantee.
And my card almost a year after I bought it, started to have really big issues, with gaming, streaming, working (UE4, Unity, Substance, and so on).
So I contacted Alterante.de telling them about my issue, which apparently many others all over the internet (same card) were having.
They told me to send in the card and if after 4 weeks, no status update was giving, I could write.
So I did. Asking them what's happening with my card and where it was on the progress.
Were Alternate responded to me, that they offer me 322 euro (i bought it for almost 500) for used hardware? Now, to clarify, I was not asking for a return of the card, my card is not properly working, I want an exchange or my full money back.
The answer was, "Have more patience". This was the 8th of January, It's now officially been over 12 weeks of waiting for something new to happen. But nothing, not one word from them. I contacted Sapphire, who said that the issue lies with Alternate and they should make the choice.
Me as a customer, I'm in limbo. No card, no money, no exchange. And I'm losing time and money on waiting. Cause this is what I do for a living, 3D. The home office has been hell, My boss borrowed me an older GPU. But it's so much slower than my older GPU was. He's an angel for being so fast to get stuff for our team, but this is honestly pissing me off that I can't do proper work. And no update at all from them.
Please guys, I really need help with this one =(
Replies
It makes sense that Sapphire can't do anything for you, since you don't currently have the card to send to them. If Alternate sends the card back to you without repairing or replacing it, you should be able to send it to Sapphire and I imagine they will be able to solve the problem. You may want to simply ask Alternate to send the card back to you so you can do that.
In any case, since this is how you earn a living and it is affecting your productivity, you should buy a new card in the meantime, and then sell the old card if/when you get it fixed or replaced.
Hey @Ear@EarthQuake, In my second mail (1 month ago) I actually asked them if they could send my card back to me so I could take it to Sapphire myself. And they did not reply. This is what got me confused. My cousin who's a lawyer basically asked me to ask them politely to send the card back. Which I Did, still no answer. And I've read so many reviews in the past weeks, where people are experiencing the same problem/Issue. Some of the critics/reviews are mentioning that Alternate also is not sending their products (RMA Or not) back.
Did write such a letter yesterday, my patience ran over. I feel sorry for the person seeing the letter and it's more towards the company than the person himself/herself. But I've never experienced such a bad service.
I may be a bit pessimist but 260 euro is better than zero.
Also true, bothers me that they don't follow the warranty. Can't buy a new card for a long time now, have a daughter, and my wife's parents both got fired during the pandemic (the state have still not decided if they are going to pay them or not, so they're living with us). Meaning that I'm paying for 4 grown-ups and one child! It's a hardcore moment as of now
To give you context I live in a country outside the EU/US/AU that's called from "emerging economy" to "shithole" depending on who you ask. When I went through a similar situation in which my laptop died twice while still in warranty I was offered the money I paid (3 years before) or an out-of-stock model. The first option would not pay for an equivalent laptop then, the second one was almost the same build but had just the 3 months warranty mandated by law. That's lower than the RMA extension and I certainly did not trust their products by then. They dragged their feet then eventually asked me to RMA it a second time. They provided the posting code and handled everything, being the ones responsible for sorting out the postal insurance, if any.
The laptop was lost on the way.
They still dragged their feet to reply. I had to pass over projects while using a piss-poor replacement, including an offer by an AAA company. Boy, I was pissed. I sued and as soon they were cited they settled for the cost of the original laptop adjusted for inflation + damages (due the loss of income in the meantime). After the lawyer got his share there was still enough to buy an upgraded PC version of that build.
I don't know how solid are consumer laws in Germany but they might be good enough it doesn't matter if the company has more money than you, with receipts in hand if it comes to the courts they'll want to cut the losses because they know they'll lose. My case was different because the retailer was also the manufacturer (thus retailer and manufacturer warranties coincided; that may not be always the case here), but that little detail in which they're refusing to return your card? That's absurd. As if jeopardizing your income wasn't bad enough!
Hey Neox, I've been told by more people to contact Verbrauchershutzzentrale. Some say for better and some for worse, but that's my next step! Thank you guys!
Try an association or at least this, a General Conciliation Body. Inferring from the little information on their site they can handle or at least inform you better in this sort of cross-border issues; and the retailer was supposed to refund you the full price. There's a situation in which it can be less, but it's a bit unspecific in English and sounds like something happening on a case basis. Seriously, get in touch with them. They'll know more about your rights and redirect you to the proper agency. I know it's upsetting and depressing, but don't let those assholes off the hook, take good care of yourself.
So I guess it depends.
sounds like they already sold your GPU and are just trying to buy you off..... glad you got them to respond through social media.