Customer Support?

What do you think?

  • Boycott!!!!1111oneoneone

    Votes: 65 41.9%

  • That's pretty bad, I'd like to hear from Sapphire about this.

    Votes: 71 45.8%

  • Easy there big fella, calm down a bit!

    Votes: 19 12.3%
  • Total voters
    155
Mr. Bluntman said:
Perhaps someone over at AMD should be told about this mess. Until Sapphire's tech support and RMA department gets a much needed enema, I vote to BOYCOTT.

And that prick Gr33ngecko needs to be put in his place.
Click to expand...




Dugg as well,and I agree and voted the same. :)
 
Someone else had said Sapphuire is doing as said, the card they are offering is what was made to replace the card they had, that series.... so in that sense Sapphire is not doing any wrong they are replacing the card with the card meant to replace that card / series / model

but what sucks is that card performs worse then the one they had.....




i am sure sapphire could find a store that had their card in stock and rebuy the dam thing back to make it better :"d
 
Spaxspore said:
well at lest they gave you an option to upgrade to a better card. They wont even give that to her.
Click to expand...

XFX gave me the option to pay a ridiculous amount to upgrade, although I cannot even pay to have the new card cross-shipped to me. I agree her ordeal is worse, at least XFX support is friendly and helpful. The real problem is company policy; they seem to care a lot more about keeping down costs than keeping customers.:(
 
In fairness, she appears to have been banned for making personal attacks, which will get you banned in just about every forum. And the person she's arguing with doesn't appear to be an employee of Sapphire. I don't care much for Gr33ngecko pov, regardless, he was just offering his opinion and didn't make it personal until she did.

Okay, now that that is out of the way, Sapphire does deserve some heat for passing off an inferior card to a customer as a replacement.
 
hagbard said:
In fairness, she appears to have been banned for making personal attacks, which will get you banned in just about every forum. And the person she's arguing with doesn't appear to be an employee of Sapphire. I don't care much for Gr33ngecko pov, regardless, he was just offering his opinion and didn't make it personal until she did.

Okay, now that that is out of the way, Sapphire does deserve some heat for passing off an inferior card to a customer as a replacement.
Click to expand...

take a closer look

browse through many of the other threads on those forums, you will find the same behavior from him with completely other people with completely other circumstances, don't try to equate her frustration as a customer with his arrogance as a Sapphire rep.

also follow the links in the various threads here to see where she spent weeks doing it the proper way to get completely blown off and such.....the forum posting over at Sapphire's site was simply the tail end of a customer getting customer "no service"
 
how do they rate diggs? theres more on ours than most on the "most popular" in hardware...??
 
The flame war was mishandled by both parties.
In LadyHawk's defense though, she probably had reached the end of her rope, seeing no one could fix her situation and she had tried everything else. Gr33ngecko chose the wrong time to engage in a flame war...because he is now infamous for it.
Is Gr33ngecko a mod at that forum? Sapphire should consider letting him go. It may be a user forum, but his behavior is inexcusable for a mod.


How can Sapphire justify an X1950Pro as a replacement, even if its the only X1900 series card left in stock/production? Complete utter Bullshit. I'm sure they have a few X1950XT's left in stock some where, and they are almost a direct replacement...
If they are indeed completely out of XT's, they could have handled this a little better. How about a X1950Pro and a coupon/voucher? Hell, its been long enough since her troubles started, they should be able to offer a HD3850. The 3850 would atleast be an upgrade in most respects, and would probably save Sapphire some money too.

Sapphire needs to respond quickly to this. How does that old saying go? One satisfied customer is worth 5 potential customers, but one unsatisfied customer is worth 20 potential customers LOST. Word of mouth works quickly, and people tend to be more vocal about negative experiences. In this case, Sapphire is going to lose a whole hell of a lot more than 20 customers, as well as some reputation (do they have any left?).
 
CaptNumbNutz said:
The flame war was mishandled by both parties.
In LadyHawk's defense though, she probably had reached the end of her rope, seeing no one could fix her situation and she had tried everything else. Gr33ngecko chose the wrong time to engage in a flame war...because he is now infamous for it.
Is Gr33ngecko a mod at that forum? Sapphire should consider letting him go. It may be a user forum, but his behavior is inexcusable for a mod.


How can Sapphire justify an X1950Pro as a replacement, even if its the only X1900 series card left in stock/production? Complete utter Bullshit. I'm sure they have a few X1950XT's left in stock some where, and they are almost a direct replacement...
If they are indeed completely out of XT's, they could have handled this a little better. How about a X1950Pro and a coupon/voucher? Hell, its been long enough since her troubles started, they should be able to offer a HD3850. The 3850 would atleast be an upgrade in most respects, and would probably save Sapphire some money too.

Sapphire needs to respond quickly to this. How does that old saying go? One satisfied customer is worth 5 potential customers, but one unsatisfied customer is worth 20 potential customers LOST. Word of mouth works quickly, and people tend to be more vocal about negative experiences. In this case, Sapphire is going to lose a whole hell of a lot more than 20 customers, as well as some reputation (do they have any left?).
Click to expand...

Very nicely said, NumbNutz! How was the flame war mishandled? Hardly a flame war since everybody seems to be on Lady's side (see all the Digg comments) versus a small group of forum moderators over at Sapphire / Althon Micro. If you think you know how it should be properly handled, why not ask Sapphire at their forums in the nicest way possible to send LadyHawk a HD 3870 or 3850?

The 3850 would still be considered a downgrade from her previous X1900XT if she likes to play with FSAA on (since the AA bug makes the 3850 approx. 20% slower overall). However, without FSAA, the 3850 is approx. 30% faster.
 
Bo_Fox said:
Very nicely said, NumbNutz! How was the flame war mishandled? Hardly a flame war since everybody seems to be on Lady's side (see all the Digg comments) versus a small group of forum moderators over at Sapphire / Althon Micro. If you think you know how it should be properly handled, why not ask Sapphire at their forums in the nicest way possible to send LadyHawk a HD 3870 or 3850?
Click to expand...
It was mishandled because BOTH of them exchanged insults regarding eachother's math abilities, etc. Your right, it wasn't much of a flame war. Maybe I missed some of the more rude comments by Gr33nGecko...maybe they (Sapphire Mods) edited some of the comments out?
I do believe that her "tone" was directly related to her ongoing frustration, and that Gr33nGecko's comments seem to be what set her off in the first place.
Do not misinterpret my post, I am 100% on Ladyhawk's side.
The whole thing is complete, 100%, BULLSHIT. NO CUSTOMER SHOULD HAVE TO DEAL WITH THIS.
That thread and her resulting banishment in the support forum was only the tip of a very large shitpile.
I for one will be avoiding Sapphire products in the near term, and indefinitely if they never respond to these issues.
I suggested the 3850 because they should have plenty of those in stock, and although its AA performance wouldn't quite keep up with the older X1900XT, It is DX10 capable and better Xfire performance with easier setup (and no external dongle). I believe the 3850 is the BARE MINIMUM Sapphire should be offering her right now. A X1950XT, XTX, or HD3870 would be the ideal choices for her replacement.
I don't know how it "should have been handled" since I believe even if she was overly polite she still wouldn't have gotten things straightened out due to Sapphire's incompetence on this matter. Maybe if she didn't trade insults even more people would rally to her cause? Maybe that fact has no bearing on the situation. I don't know, it was just a thought I had.

Also, are you making a sarcastic jab at me and my name? or are you actually complimenting me? Not offended or anything, just curious.:confused:
I was given that name by my ROTC drill instructor. Sometimes that name fits me too well...looks like I pulled another numb nuts move and didn't clarify my previous post.:eek:
Oh well c'est la vie.:cool:
 
While I don't approve of the offered "upgrade" , that's not an official support forum and it was Ladyhawk that went straight into personal attacks having failed to read the replies she got properly. The forum regulars rightly responded, as we would if someone turned up to make trouble and insult the mods.
 
JDAdams said:
While I don't approve of the offered "upgrade" , that's not an official support forum and it was Ladyhawk that went straight into personal attacks having failed to read the replies she got properly. The forum regulars rightly responded, as we would if someone turned up to make trouble and insult the mods.
Click to expand...

her exchange at the forums would have never been necessary if they would have taken care of her properly from the beginning, by the time she got on their forums, she had had enough, and then got the same old BS on the forums that she got through other channels so she lost it, guess what, i would have too at that point, but this isnt about her getting banned from the forums, this is about Sapphire as a company failing
 
Customer service is everything in this game. All the cards are pretty much the same so they only thing swaying my choice is warranty and customer service.
 
In that case. I'll bring the torches. Who's got pitchforks and rope? Also need lighter fluid for torches. Ran out last time.
 
I hate to have to say it but some people need to stop blowing things out of proportion.

Someone left a comment on the digg that what sapphire is doing is against the law and that we should all contact the BBB.

What sapphire did was wrong between trying to pawn off a slower, cheaper card on her and the way she was treated on the forums is disgusting but they have not broken any laws.

The BBB is not resellerratings.com it is not a place for people to bitch about what a company did to someone else. The BBB is a place for people like ladyhawk to make a formal complain because she was wronged by the comapny nobody but ladyhawk and the others here that have shared thier bad experiences should be making complants to the BBB.

Blowing this shit out of proportion and making rediculous claims is not helping the cause and in the end makes us look like a pack of raving morons. What is needed here is credibility if this is to ever be taken seriously.
 
i took ladyhawk's last message as "chill".

so i'm doin that... until there's an update, good or bad. we'll revive it again if she doesn't get any satisfaction.

i was more or less hoping for a quick resolve to ladyhawk's problem via a sapphire rep.... like i've seen happen around here before. it's good to know that alot of people really do care about this ongoing issue.

as moronic as some might look, sapphire looks worse, though i tend to agree with your last point.
 
whrswoldo said:
HA! XFX wanted to replace my broken 7900gt with an 8600gts since they were out of 7900gt's. It was either that or pay $150 to upgrade to the 320mb 8800gts. Also, they don't do cross-shipping, and the last time I sent my card in it took nearly 3 weeks to get a replacement. I wouldn't be so upset with them if not for the fact that my broken 7900gt was a replacement for my last broken 7900gt. They screwed up twice and still aren't doing anything to make up for it. I will never buy from that worthless company again. XFX sucks, stay away.:mad:
Click to expand...
It just proves this can happen with ANY company. I read a message from someone saying MSI did this to them also. Picking on just Sapphire here is stupid.

I don't think I've ever once in my life had a video card go bad on me. Unless I'm just lucky.
 
tc17 said:
It just proves this can happen with ANY company. I read a message from someone saying MSI did this to them also. Picking on just Sapphire here is stupid.

I don't think I've ever once in my life had a video card go bad on me. Unless I'm just lucky.
Click to expand...

What happened in those instances was very different. Whrswoldo was offered the opportunity to pay some cash for a better card (they wanted too much though) but thats leaps and bounds beyond what sapphire is doing.

Also when whrswoldo made his post XFXsupport hopped on and tried to help him even though it wasnt what he or i would consider an acceptable offer he at least wasnt treated like a piece of human trash.

What sapphire is doing sucks but sometimes these things happen. What happened over on those forums is absolute bullshit and what sets this apart from the normal RMA trouble.
 
CaptNumbNutz said:
Also, are you making a sarcastic jab at me and my name? or are you actually complimenting me? Not offended or anything, just curious.:confused:
I was given that name by my ROTC drill instructor. Sometimes that name fits me too well...looks like I pulled another numb nuts move and didn't clarify my previous post.:eek:
Oh well c'est la vie.:cool:
Click to expand...

LOL! No just a shortened nickname since I didn't feel like typing out the whole thing and thought that it sounded cool... I assumed that you choose it as an user name because you thought it was funny or cool or something like that. Interesting explanation, though..

Turns out that Althon Micro (Sapphire) has finally found an X1950XT 512MB for replacement but that was from email notification. The forum moderators still have not apologized or even notified that her RMA is being completed in an appropriate manner, rather adding further childish posts in a locked thread where the original posters (including me) are still banned. Offering LadyHawk a HD 3870 would have probably reversed the damage caused by gr33ngecko to Sapphire's reputation to a small degree (like 30% reversal), but since only an equal replacement was finally done after a 1 month RMA delay and a lot of commotion going on over the web it seems that all the damage that gr33ngecko has done is irreversible for at least several months. IMHO, the damage could be anywhere up to 10% of Sapphire's entire market share of video cards.

There you go, gr33ngecko.. (to gr33ngecko: better hope that Sapphire's own CEO does not dispose of you someday in revenge.)
 
snaggletooth - Thanks for bringing this to our attention. I am looking for a new ATI 3870 to go with my Crossfire board. Since I've always been an Nvidia guy I have been looking into the warranties and customer service of several of the companies that sell ATI cards. Customer service like this is not good.

I have a friend who had his 7900GT Superclocked die over a year after he purchased it. He called EVGA and since they didn't have any of that card left they sent him an 8800GTS! That is the kind of warranty that Enthusiasts can appreciate.

Good luck to ladyhawk.
 
contact one of the mods and/or kyle.

For all intensive purposes that guy has everyone working at every video card companies balls in a vice.

I learned a long time ago not to deal with sapphire. Snail pace RMAs, crappy service and board mods who are like "Well the slow turn around times are in the business model AND THE BUSINESS MODEL IS LORE. YOU CANNOT CHANGE LORE."

I sell power color and ATI direct products only because the tech support, while not steller, is decent.
 
Referring to the forum situation: I don't get it, every forum has rules, it looks like she was getting out of hand and got banned; nothing out of ordinary. Obviously she's just taking out her frustration on a public forum thats associated with sapphire. But in the end they don't have direct control over sapphire, so there was no need to get routy.

I think any of us acted like that here on hardforum we would get banned or vacation time.

Some advice for the card owner, speak to customer service, or someone higher up at sapphire, possibly put it in writing. It's definitely not fair, but don't go forum trashing because of it.
 
provoko said:
I don't get it, every forum has rules, it looks like she was getting out of hand and got banned; nothing out of ordinary. Obviously she's just taking out her frustration on a public forum thats associated with sapphire. But in the end they don't have direct control over sapphire, so there was no need to get routy.

I think any of us acted like that here on hardforum we would get banned or vacation time.

Some advice for the card owner, speak to customer service, or someone higher up at sapphire, possibly put it in writing. It's definitely not fair, but don't go forum trashing because of it.
Click to expand...

why are people so thick?

the episode on the Sapphire forums was the tail end of this ordeal.....if you took the time to read and follow all the links you would know this, as much as anyone here would have gotten in trouble for doing that, the same people would have also lost it at that point
 
wow I read the thread on the sapphire tech supoprt forum and that is just an example of inexcusable behaviour by a representative of a major company. I am never going to buy Sapphire products and advise against purchasing them to my friends and colleagues. Just very sad...
 
nobody_here said:
why are people so thick?

the episode on the Sapphire forums was the tail end of this ordeal.....if you took the time to read and follow all the links you would know this, as much as anyone here would have gotten in trouble for doing that, the same people would have also lost it at that point
Click to expand...

...so we're playing the game where we get mad and insult anyone who has a different opinion...

By the way, I was only commenting on the forum situation. I've just made that clear in my previous post so no one gets confused.
 
provoko said:
...so we're playing the game where we get mad and insult anyone who has a different opinion...

By the way, I was only commenting on the forum situation. I've just made that clear in my previous post so no one gets confused.
Click to expand...

well this isnt about the forum situation exactly, that was but one aspect of it, you should read and understand the entire time-line before you go commenting and making judgements on one small part of the equation is what i am saying, get offended if you want, but people keep doing that, replying to one thing instead of comprehending the whole picture and taking that one part in context instead of out of context ;)
 
The forum situtation is that they banned LadyHawk (Akasha) from Sapphire "help" forums, blaming it on me when I jumped in to help her out by reminding the moderator that it is really hurting Sapphire. Of course, the moderator took it the wrong way (too personally) and proceeded to do exactly what was considered unethical by businesses trying to sell to us consumers (by violating Sapphire's RMA-warranty fair exchange procedure).

It was too much for the moderator (gr33ngecko) to handle, most likely due to limited emotional control.

In all of its honesty, I do not think that LadyHawk did anything wrong on Sapphire's forums. She is a consumer who was clearly provoked by gr33ngecko's extremely unethical statements that have recently turned away *many and a many* would-be Sapphire consumers. LadyHawk's responses were not half as bad in language and tone as that of gr33ngecko's.

I just cannot help but think of all of those mafia movies with the theme of when a mafia business is being hurt by a lowly worker, then the mafia leaders quietly dispose of that dysfunctional worker. Guess I watch too many Al Pacino movies!
 
provoko said:
Referring to the forum situation: I don't get it, every forum has rules, it looks like she was getting out of hand and got banned; nothing out of ordinary. Obviously she's just taking out her frustration on a public forum thats associated with sapphire. But in the end they don't have direct control over sapphire, so there was no need to get routy.

I think any of us acted like that here on hardforum we would get banned or vacation time.

Some advice for the card owner, speak to customer service, or someone higher up at sapphire, possibly put it in writing. It's definitely not fair, but don't go forum trashing because of it.
Click to expand...



RTFA has never meant so much.
 
i have owned 3 sapphire cards and had them go bad and needed to RMA. I am glad that I bought them through newwegg and they refunded m money. I just bought a HIS HD3870 from newwegg from the reviews. I speak from experience when customer support is vital to the company and return customers. I have worked customer support for computer companies where they record what you say.customers is what gave me a job from a growing company. this kind of treatment is uncalled for and the offender reprimanded or fired. Abused customers should be compensated for their time, duress, and total lack of ethical treatment. just my opinion.
 
whrswoldo said:
HA! XFX wanted to replace my broken 7900gt with an 8600gts since they were out of 7900gt's. It was either that or pay $150 to upgrade to the 320mb 8800gts. Also, they don't do cross-shipping, and the last time I sent my card in it took nearly 3 weeks to get a replacement. I wouldn't be so upset with them if not for the fact that my broken 7900gt was a replacement for my last broken 7900gt. They screwed up twice and still aren't doing anything to make up for it. I will never buy from that worthless company again. XFX sucks, stay away.:mad:
Click to expand...

Thats not a bad deal, honestly (the upgrade to 8800gts for $150).
 
This has happened to me, over Christmas, because I complained about the abusive comments and uncontrolled flaming from the same mod. All this because I suggested that ATi's CCC should say how memory speeds are displayed. Sapphire doesn't have a customer services department for the UK, so I faxed Hong Kong. Suddenly everthing disppeared of the forum...;) I've been removed from the site, all threads and posts removed. When the abuse started I checked for information and because I made a comment here, they got annoyed and I was told to take a running jump. I won't say what else they said about [H], but the abusive language continued:(.
 
I know the thread is old but I thinks it's hilarious the boy finally got what he deserved and he deserves more of it if anyone feels up to being banned.

Ahh the fiefdom as someone so defined it somewhere in these relative tubes. I was a member of their forums for a while until guess what - I was banned. Still not sure for what?? It really is not to hard over there as I've seen people get banned just cause the green blunder wanted to start into them for not reading the stickies or not knowing where to find them. I try to lead the poster into giving the info I need on their next post which is unproductive sometimes but then you get a sense of who you are working with. Some of the post you didn't need any more info either because it didn't relate. I know most of us know how to post at forums but if you are just a user looking for help then you probably will not know what exactly it is you are doing. Plus if you start into me you better be ready to get it straight back to you. I never got into it with anyone over there but the support I gave was not up to Mr. Gecko's over ego'd standards I guess. I think he was mad too because my EPoX board w/ a 4000+ was putting out better then his system that he couldn't get working correctly and eventually had to put another together that mine was still doing better. Actually my barton system was doing better in stalker from what he had said. I've seen people banned on their third post for no reason but the geckster jester just had a bad attitude that day. I guess he believes in his little acorn that he fixes everyones computer with a new power supply.

I guess it was my help or comments that wasn't liked over there?? About in the same line as on any other forum when I say with any board/processor switch I've done using AMD that I have never had to do a reinstall on the first boot. I usually will later but first I'll check if system boots etc. and then use the system for a while then actually do a fresh install. I usually have to post that point whenever I see a post saying that it can't be done. A little harder nowadays with AHCI/RAID though but when it was IDE no prob. I believe they never liked my update escd over there either but some boards don't automatically do this and when something is added to the system then it is not detected unless you update the escd somehow. Depending on the board I would use that one sometimes, easy and quick to do and if it is wrong move on.

I have been in the restaurant business and done some telemarketing and customer service is the center of both those. It is a user supported forum ran by group of individuals who constantly berate and demean Sapphire's customer base. Too bad they probably don't even have anyone to look over the forums for there company. Hopefully they do though.
They have some decent products but I really can't see buying any of them being soured on the whole forum ordeal.

I seen a lot of people looking for really simple help and mostly the answer was get a new power supply. One person just had to unplug their USB hub but it was insisted her power supply wasn't up to par. I didn't find that out for her but worked with her long enough for her to try it on her own and it worked. We aint all perfect but a little confrontation, debate, or constructive critcism never hurt anyone that was sane.

Oh well I guess I'm getting a little long winded so I'll wind it up now. I really enjoyed this thread though even though it is an older digg.
 
Just registered with sapphire forums 2 days ago and was banned twice, not setting time zone- never seen such a bunch of aholes in my life. Finally found sapphire customer support phone # and they told me just to look at the closed/locked threads there and I would see why they are not affiliated with that forum.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top