Bad BFG Customer Support Experiences

BFG Customer Support Experience

  • Top O' the Line

    Votes: 71 56.8%

  • Good

    Votes: 22 17.6%

  • Average

    Votes: 6 4.8%

  • Nothing Great

    Votes: 5 4.0%

  • Horrible

    Votes: 21 16.8%
  • Total voters
    125
Z

ZombieStomper

n00b
Joined
Jun 7, 2004
Messages
16
I know BFG Tech Support is supposed to be legendary-- one of the leading reasons I purchased a 6800GT a few weeks back.

3 days after welcoming it into my life, the card took a dump on me. First, the screen started flickering (even in the bios screen to which the Tech. Support person suggested it might be a virus :rolleyes: ) and then finally died.

OK, no problem. Lifetime warranty and 'legendary' customer service. I'll just set up an RMA and we'll be done with it. Now here's the part where it gets fun-- and I've read about 3 other posts with similar issues on the forum.

They tell me to RMA the package and then they'll send me a new one. I send it and UPS shows that it was signed for at the loading dock.

I give them a call to check on the status. They never recieved it. "Call back in a couple days. It takes time to track these down." I'm told.

I call back in a couple days, I am put on hold for 10 - 15 minutes. Told "The guys are trying to track this down. Someone will call you tomorrow with a status update."

Lather, rinse and repeat for 2 weeks.

Finally, I get on the phone and politely bitch someone out claiming to be a supervisor out. He says he tried to call 'The Guy' who handles RMA's but can't get ahold of him. Support Guy will have RMA Guy call me first thing Moday morning.

This Monday, I get a vmail from 'The Guy' saying that he's shipping it out that night.

Nothing in my email re: shipping or tracking. Alright, I'll cut them some slack. I'll touch base with them on Tuesday.

Call Tuesday, tech support guy says "Oh, it's being shipped out tonight." I ask for tracking number, tech guy: "It will be emailed to you tonight when it goes out." Sounds promising. I verify my email with him, wish him a 'good one' and hang up.

Tuesday night goes without an email or status and I'm at the end of my rope.

Where the hell is the customer support?

I read stories about people getting replacement cards within a week. WTF did I do so wrong to deserve this? Am I the only one? I find it hard to believe.

I'm curious how many other people have had similar Problems with BFG tech/customer support.

Even better, does anyone have any suggestions for what I can even do at this point? Seems like they can just yank me around there's not a damned thing I can do about it.

:mad:
*sigh*
:(
 
If every 99 out of 100 RMAs go smoothly, there's always going to be the one who rightfully complains. Your RMA got messed up, something that obviously doesn't happen very often or you would hear more about it.
 
I have had 2 great experiences with BFG's tech support....No RMA's....but always good tech support over the phone. I give them an A+
 
I have delt with them on a few things and havent had any probs. sounds like you just cought them on the bad day of the year. it happenes everywhere, just with BFG, alot less then most places.

Greg
 
Please keep us posted -- I would like to see how / when / if this gets resolved. There is no excuse for this one falling through the cracks. Clearly it sounds like you did everything correctly.
 
Just got off the phone. I called them back to get the tracking info.

And guess what?

There wasn't any.

Hmmm...suspicious. Was it even shipped?

Reply: "I don't know. Let's wait and see if it shows up on the list tonight."

Uh-oh. I asked if there was a customer compliant department, or some other contact besides them. I was put on the phone with a supervisor.

After talking with the supervisor, it seems that everything at BFG goes so well that they don't need a contact for dissatified customers. But if I did want to open an issue, I could send it to him.

Nice try. That dept. has dropped the ball 5 or 6 times already.

Asked what they do with dissatisfied customers, the reply was "Well, we ship out a card to them overnight express."

me: "So <supervisor> was the card shipped express overnight to me Monday?"

Supervisor: "No"

Me: "Oh, so you didn't know I was dissatisfied. Well I'd like to clarify that now and let you know that I am."

Supervisor: Silence

Me: "So <supervisor> how are you going to make me happy?"

Supervisor: "We'll overnight the card to you."

Apparently, after 3 weeks and repeated phone calls, they had no idea I was dissatisfied.

I know it's not the case, but this whole fiasco leads me to believe the BFG is just 3 guys running a business out of a garage.

Even if Santa Clause and Baby Jeebus showed up at my door and hand delivered my new card, I'm not going to be happy at this point. I don't even know if I can be made happy at this point, but that's my problem...

During the whole experience, I feel as though the angle has been that *I* should be understanding and grateful to them; like their doing me a favor. Their card died after 3 days!

I don't know.

10-to-1 odds the card doesn't get shipped today.

Anybody have a contact @ BFG I can direct this to? I don't feel comfortable routing this issue through support since that's the equivalent of having someone incriminate themselves.
 
you must have some real bad luck, never a problem with BFG. Great company.
 
ZombieStomper said:
Oh yeah...

Yes, I know I am a whiny bitch.
Click to expand...

No you're not. I'd be freaking P*SSSD if I forked over that much cash for one of their cards and hassled with their customer dis-service department for 3 weeks!
 
my card is still at rma sitting, shipped it off on the 20th of aug. they lost it and just notified me, so as of now they still dont know where my card is. however, im confident that i will recieve a new card, or they will not be getting my business or my friends or my customers business ever again.
 
I had to RMA my GT when they first came out. My only problem with them was having to wait for a card to become available. After they had a few in the RMA stock, it only took them a week to turn around.

In any case, bad BFG customer support is like a blowjob compared to Best Buy's customer aggrivation system (no matter how hard I try, I can call them "support").
 
I have had 3 experiences total, but never an RMA yet. But I have found the BFG tech support to be helpful and very quick. They allow me to get right to the point and skip all the bullshit, but I feel your pain. Right now though with the 3 BFG cards I have owned and the service I have got so far, I am still not hesitant to buy yet another.
 
You are jsutified in being pissed, but I'll take a bet that the following situation is what is going on.

1) UPS or receiving did something stupid and it resulted in someone signing for something not there or unidentifiable.

For example, UPS ran over it dragged it through the mud, then shredded it in a conveyor belt, but managed to keep the tracking number intact. REceiving signed for it, but the RMA number on the package was not intact.

2) BFG won't process an RMA without the RMA number in order to prevent pilfering and other problems.

3) BFG doesn't have a process in place for dealing with this paradox as their system is designed around UPS and receiving not screwing up at the same time.


The situation sucks, and you are right to be pissed. It COULD be worse. I have had a similar situation with another company in the past where I returned the product under RMA, UPS destroyed it, company accepted it but couldn't identify the RMA number on the package (why I now label every side of the package and masking tape it to a key item inside), and instnat limbo. The real kicker was that their RMA numbers expired. They finally found it and figured out what it was about a week after the RMA number was expired, wouldn't fix it, and their solution was to ship it back to me to get a new RMA number and re-ship it to them. Of course then they received the destroyed product, and said they can't warranty deliberate or incidental damages. All that and about $97 in phone calls (shipping on my end was about $30 by the end of it). I do not miss the days of really expensive hardware. So yeah, things could be a lot worse.

If they don't ship your card, file a BBB complaint against them. You can also follow that up with a complaint to your state attorney general if you want, but you also might want to look into local small claims court. I doub't BFG will send anyone out to attend the process, which usually means a summary judgement on your behalf. You can probably get the MSRP of your card, all shipping costs, time spent on the subject at some decent hourly rate, phone costs, and probably 200-300% of that total as punitive damages. You still have to collect it, but at least youa re working for profi at that point.
 
this regards a BFG 4200 128 I have

situation: artifacts at stock speeds even with case off and cold air coming in to case...... new drivers ect... tried everything

it was a monday evening
- called BFG
conversation went something like this:

BFG -"hello thank you for calling BFG how may I help you"
asked for name phone # e-mail ect....

ME- my card artifacts in all games no matter wheat I do even
BFG- does it cause odd characters on the screen even during POST
ME- YES
BFG- the memory on the card is bad we'll replace the card for you I'm sending you and e-mail now with shipping instructions and we will be shipping you a new card soon
ME- Thank you

ended call

checked e-mail and wala! there was the shipping directions
packed up card and shiped it out tuesday morning with tracking to watch when BFG received it..... via USPS

wednesday went by

thursday evening arived and so did my replacement card that installed and worked correctly right away....... curios if my old card had already arived at BFG; I checked the USPS tracking # and to my surpise they had not recived it yet, it was not even there yet

BFG sent me a replacement card in good faith before they received my defective card.... NOW THAT IS AWESOME!!!

If BFG goes ATI or I go back to buying an Nvidia based cards I wouldn't think twice before buying another BFG card..
 
When a product dies within the reseller's return window, I always return it to them. That way I'm covered by my credit card protection if the reseller doesn't come through with a working replacement.
 
We would like to make this situation better for you Zombie, so please send me your RMA information (if there is more than is already in your post). I will personally look into this and do my damndest to rectify the situation to your satisfaction as soon as possible.

Please send your information to: [email protected] and [email protected]
 
Mr. Malley, people like you are why I went with a BFG 6800 Ultra card.

I'll be watching to see the outcome though..... ;)

P.S I'm loving this card!!!
 
I recieved my replacement card today. Booting up the system it is in as I type.

(BTW for anyone interested, it's one with the big blower on the card, not the 2-fan variant that's I picked up at BB)

John-

I will email you with the RMA number, my phone number (as that's what the tech support issue appears to be under) and a recap.

I certainly appreciate the response and will definately work with you to identify the issues that occurred to ensure that whatever circumstances led to this poor situation can be prevented in the future.

The funny part about the whole thing is that there were 3 cards at BB that day. My buddy picked up another one, his is fine. If I had only chosen a different box, *he'd* be the one with this fiasco, not me!

Now, time to test this card... :p
 
John Malley said:
We would like to make this situation better for you Zombie, so please send me your RMA information (if there is more than is already in your post). I will personally look into this and do my damndest to rectify the situation to your satisfaction as soon as possible.

Please send your information to: [email protected] and [email protected]
Click to expand...


There he is :D, if you call for him, he will come
 
John Malley said:
We would like to make this situation better for you Zombie, so please send me your RMA information (if there is more than is already in your post). I will personally look into this and do my damndest to rectify the situation to your satisfaction as soon as possible.
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And that is why we like them so damn much. How many times has any company contacted you to fix something? Thanks for the commitment John! :)
 
Glad it was all resolved. Random question for John regarding BFG warranty: I bought a 6800 GT OC in the US from Best Buy. I live in Europe. If it goes belly up, do I have a warranty, if so what is it? Thanks - v satisfied with the card btw.
 
A BFG 6800 Ultra arrives tomorrow for my second pc (only paid regular retail price for it - check bestbuy.com in the mornings, they sell out quickly). Nice to know that great BFG support is available if needed! I've already got a 6800 Ultra in my main pc and the ATI X800XT PE that's currently in my second will be up for sale soon.
 
tamislan said:
Glad it was all resolved. Random question for John regarding BFG warranty: I bought a 6800 GT OC in the US from Best Buy. I live in Europe. If it goes belly up, do I have a warranty, if so what is it? Thanks - v satisfied with the card btw.
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You do have a lifetime warranty. We will support your card as long as you own it. For future reference, our lifetime warranty is at the bottom of this page: http://www.bfgtech.com/tech_redux.html
 
I'm probably going to sound like a S.O.B. but I don't think it's 'resolved'.

Just because I have a replacement card that I should have an a while ago without the aggrivation doesn't mean the problem is fixed.

I still have an unfavorable image of BFG's support and will continue to have one until I have a good experience working with them. A post on a forum doesn't make an issue disappear or fix everything that went wrong.

Hopefully, my problems will help them isolate just where in the support structure things got FUBAR'd and help them improve thier support system. But in no way is everything 'ok' just because they sent me a card that should have worked when I purchased it originally. I'm still out shipping, the cost of my time and phone charges along with all the aggrivation.

In the end, a $400 card probably cost closer to $500 or $600 dollars.

The other issue I have with this is why was my case so unique in the way it was handled? Alot of people say they were RMA'd the cards *before* they sent back the dysfunctional card. Alot of people said they had spectacular support experiences. Why was my experience so different?

Why was there no escalation procedure in place for issues such as this? (or even just for dissatisfied customers?)

Like I said, the main point is that hopefully this will give them the opportunity to examine and improve support and escalation procedures and the next time I have the need to use them (assuming I choose BFG again...) they will have the opportunity to redeem themselves with this customer.
 
spend the extra money... buy your card from bestbuy...


when it breaks, you deal with them, not bfg
 
OMG, Have you ever had to deal with Best Buy? I did buy my BFG card from Best Buy and when I had problems, the only way it got resolved was through BFG themselves. The first thing my local Beasy Buy store told me when I went to them, was that Best Buy stores and BestBuy.com are 2 different companies and that they couldn't help me with anything. I've had this happen to me more than once. Best buy is the reason I shop online retailers as much as possible.
 
John Malley said:
We would like to make this situation better for you Zombie, so please send me your RMA information (if there is more than is already in your post). I will personally look into this and do my damndest to rectify the situation to your satisfaction as soon as possible.

Please send your information to: [email protected] and [email protected]
Click to expand...

Thats Great Stuff. Love to see people like this. Make me glad I own a BFG
 
Ive had two contacts with support. The night I bought the card I called in at 11pm no problems at all the person there walked me though some things I wasnt sure on and got me up and running in a very short time.

Second I asked them about everyone doing different bios for cards and unlocking pipes and all that. Not only did I get information on that, but got a 12 page document sent to me on how to set the card up. IF youre having problems what they can be and how to fix them. I still have this doc and refer to it often.

I am totally and compleatly happy with BFG and as I sit here right now have no plans in changing my video card provider.
 
Taurus said:
Thats Great Stuff. Love to see people like this. Make me glad I own a BFG
Click to expand...
Did you miss the part where he got jerked around for 3 weeks first?
 
Sorry to hear that you've had a horrible time with BFG's tech support. I really hope they do something to finally resolve it like a small refund or something although I'm not sure what could be done to resolve those three weeks or so where you got jerked around.

With that said I've only had to talk with BFG's tech support over email once and I was more then satisfied with my experience so I think that maybe yours was one of those that just "falls through the cracks" so to speak. I hope so cause I'm planning to go SLI soon so I'm trying to decide between two 6800GTs either by the much cheaper EVGA or paying alittle more for BFG and feel confident in their lifetime support. If your case ist just a fluke and they make up for it then I can feel confident paying more for BFG.
 
*shrugs*

I don't know that I would pay more for them, though. I mean, the 'true lifetime warranty' only means that you get the same card replaced after a long period of time.

And, really, although a pair of SLI 6800s is going to set you back a grand or so....you know just as well as I do that 3 or 4 years from now, they will be a joke.

Really, four years ago, the GeForce3 was the sh*t-hot card to get - best that money could buy. If you had paid more for a BFG GeForce3 (if they existed at the time - they didn't) and it died now and they offered you a NEW GeForce3...how much would you think the warranty is worth then? True, there are tales of BFG GeForce4 users getting GeForceFX cards as replacements, but BFG was not an established company during the time of the GeForce4 (and even GeForceFX, to a less extent), so probably didn't have the means to build enough of them to cover future warranty replacements. I wouldn't count on that being the case with the GeForce 6-series cards.

I dunno, I haven't really seen their "true lifetime warranty" as worth quite the MASSIVE price difference between their products and their competitors. By the time it would matter, you'll have moved on to a new card, anyway. EVERYBODY offers at least a one-year warranty - and how many cards have you personally kept longer than 1 year? (LOL - how many cards have YOU kept longer than 3 months?! Heh. :p )
 
I kept my BFG Ti4600 for about 3-4 years before the fan died. They swapped it for an identical TI4600. I have a habit of keepign cards for a few years and then hopping a few generations of product at once.
 
lol wasup with all of the vampire, gargoyle, zombie names..

anyway.. my RMA with ATI was smoothly... they called me and checked on if i have recieved everything, and called another time to see if everything was working.
 
ZombieStomper said:
Oh yeah...

WAH WAH WAH!

Yes, I know I am a whiny bitch.
Click to expand...

You mean you are a girl? and you like to whine alot? err......... :eek:

Make an Ad with Google, then link the Ad to this review. BFG must learn a lesson from this.
 
raz-0 said:
You are jsutified in being pissed, but I'll take a bet that the following situation is what is going on.

1) UPS or receiving did something stupid and it resulted in someone signing for something not there or unidentifiable.

For example, UPS ran over it dragged it through the mud, then shredded it in a conveyor belt, but managed to keep the tracking number intact. REceiving signed for it, but the RMA number on the package was not intact.

2) BFG won't process an RMA without the RMA number in order to prevent pilfering and other problems.

3) BFG doesn't have a process in place for dealing with this paradox as their system is designed around UPS and receiving not screwing up at the same time.


The situation sucks, and you are right to be pissed. It COULD be worse. I have had a similar situation with another company in the past where I returned the product under RMA, UPS destroyed it, company accepted it but couldn't identify the RMA number on the package (why I now label every side of the package and masking tape it to a key item inside), and instnat limbo. The real kicker was that their RMA numbers expired. They finally found it and figured out what it was about a week after the RMA number was expired, wouldn't fix it, and their solution was to ship it back to me to get a new RMA number and re-ship it to them. Of course then they received the destroyed product, and said they can't warranty deliberate or incidental damages. All that and about $97 in phone calls (shipping on my end was about $30 by the end of it). I do not miss the days of really expensive hardware. So yeah, things could be a lot worse.

If they don't ship your card, file a BBB complaint against them. You can also follow that up with a complaint to your state attorney general if you want, but you also might want to look into local small claims court. I doub't BFG will send anyone out to attend the process, which usually means a summary judgement on your behalf. You can probably get the MSRP of your card, all shipping costs, time spent on the subject at some decent hourly rate, phone costs, and probably 200-300% of that total as punitive damages. You still have to collect it, but at least youa re working for profi at that point.
Click to expand...


Well I can tell you from your problems over a year ago to this week NOTHING HAS CHANGED at BFG. I bet the supervisor who recently LIED to me at BFG would have cussed me out after keeping him on the phone for 2 hours had he not sounded so scared. Eventually his LIES got me to let him call me back in 2 hours, and guess what.... He didnt call back and even left work without calling me back as PROMISED!!! I requested the next supervisor, was told I could NOT speak to one, and I was placed on a BS callback list. well that list takes UP TO 48 hours to receive a callback, MORE LIES from customer service. They will never call back and thus I have initiated a BBB complaint, Funny they respond to it within 2-3 hours of receiving it. They want the BBB to think they are pro customer service I guess.
 
NoMoreBFG4me said:
Well I can tell you from your problems over a year ago to this week NOTHING HAS CHANGED at BFG. I bet the supervisor who recently LIED to me at BFG would have cussed me out after keeping him on the phone for 2 hours had he not sounded so scared. Eventually his LIES got me to let him call me back in 2 hours, and guess what.... He didnt call back and even left work without calling me back as PROMISED!!! I requested the next supervisor, was told I could NOT speak to one, and I was placed on a BS callback list. well that list takes UP TO 48 hours to receive a callback, MORE LIES from customer service. They will never call back and thus I have initiated a BBB complaint, Funny they respond to it within 2-3 hours of receiving it. They want the BBB to think they are pro customer service I guess.
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Now i understand you might have som frustrations with a certian company, making an anti-company name, then spamming every thread concerning that company with negative things to say, does not make you come out as actually trying to make something constructive out of it. Have you thought about trying to be professional about it, or even explained what your problem was, because there has to be an obvious reason in why your "warranty" is now void. As with the usual thumb of online forums, more unsatisifed people than satisifed, since they are the people with something to ask/or say.
 
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