MSI and Dynasty Express [Archive]

bigchin

06-15-04, 02:25 PM

This happen to my WD drive also. Three years warranty means 1.5 yrs. That all it last.

BombTek

06-15-04, 02:25 PM

Well, I was just reminded about this bad experience a few days ago. To give some background: I bought an MS-6301 mobo in June of 2000. The MS-6301 uses the Intel 820 chipset w/ MTH which for those who remember was massively recalled. I tried to return the board to both Dynasty and MSI and they denied the fact that it even had been recalled. After getting the run around for a few months I gave up. Almost a year later I found it in my workshop and put it in a system and gave it to my mom. The mobo died last week. Included are some email excerpts.. Unfortunately due to a crash I don't have the original emails from the 1st attempts. From me to MSI and Dynasty on April 13th, 2001: Greetings, I purchased a MS-6301 Last year (06/19/00) Order # 1171605 from Dynasty Express in Dothan, AL. That was right about the time Intel released info on the MTH issue. I made numerous attempts to get conformation that your MS-6301 MB was affected by MTH. I spoke with both companies and was treated with disrespect on almost every occasion, no one I ever spoke to seemed to have the knowledge to answer just a few questions or the courtesy to find out. Representatives from Dynasty Express claimed that there was no recall and that they would take no action until they were "told" to take recall action. Reps. from MSI told me that their MS-6301was not affected by MTH and that they would not recall the MB. (Although during this entire time the MS-6301 was no longer being sold and was removed from the MSI website as one of their products.) I wrote letters, sent e-mails, and made several long distance phone calls to both companies over a period of about five weeks. Not one phone call, letter, or e-mail was ever returned. I place blame on both the MSI corp., and Dynasty Express. After several weeks of frustration and disgust I decided to accept my loss. Until a few days ago, my past disappointment was a faint memory, while sorting through used computer parts I came across my MS-6301 MB still in its box. So after almost a year I decided to see if one more attempt to resolve this situation would work out. I would just like to find out what actions have been taken to compensate the numerous MSI and Dynasty customers who have been affected by the MTH issue. Your prompt response is appreciated. Their response: I have once again contact our Microstar distributor. Once again they have informed me that the board has not been recalled. Larry larry@dynastyexpress.com The first time I spoke with them, they said they wouldn't acknowledge the recall until MSI told them to... When the board died I again contacted MSI for help... From MSI: Please try to clear CMOS on JBAT1, and test the board outside the case, if these attempt has been made with no success chance are this board maybe defective please contact your reseller/vendor for exchange. My reply: John, Thanks for the quick response. The cmos was cleared and the mobo was tested out of the case with no results. I have had no luck in dealing with the original vendor. As a matter of fact after the big Intel MTH issue w/ the I820 chipset I tried returning it to them and they would not accept it. I made repeated attempts to contact both reps at the company and MSI with no luck. So after the board sat in its box for 10 months I finally put it in a system, tested it and sold it. So you see, RMA is the only viable option here. I believe your boards are warranted for a period of three years from the date of purchase and I still have my original documentation for the date of purchase which was on 6/19/00. I apologize if it seems I am putting this off on you, but my history with this board are very dark and I and tired of fooling with it. If you can help, I do appreciate it. Regardless please let me know what you can or cannot do. Also since this is the first time I have received a "formal" reply from MSI attached is a copy of the email I sent many times in attempt to fix the whole situation. If you could maybe pass it on to someone in customer service. The attachment is in Outlook *.msg format, if you need a .txt version feel free to contact me. MSI reply: I'm sorry Jeremy, I've checked with our RMA department and looking in their database record, this board shows that it has been out of warranty, If you need to send back this board for repair, it will be charge of $45 for the repair cost.(notice no reply to the other issue) I then asked how warranty period is calculated The warranty is from the date of manufacture. Not by the date of purchase because your vendor/reseller can have this board on the stock shelf for which time than sell it to his customer. Which makes no sense? I guess they don't trust their own products on the shelf... So I bought my mom a TUV4X and a 1.1a Celeron for $148... But I will never buy an MSI product again. I'd prefer not to hear how ppl like their MSI products, but if you must... Just figured I'd tell about my bad experience with both a manufacturer and a vendor.

Colin

06-15-04, 02:25 PM

BombTek thanks for sharing that. In all honesty, I have purchased quite a few MSI products myself and never had any problems. Maybe I'm just lucky. As bad as it may sound the run around MSI and Dynasty Express gave you was common among motherboard/distributors back then. One of my friends purchased an Asus P3C2000 (I think that's the model, don't remember anymore) and had the exact same problem you did. <img src="i/expressions/face-icon-small-sad.gif" border="0"> Both Asus and the computer store denied the problems even though Intel issued several statements about how every board withi the i820/MTH was affected! <img src="i/expressions/face-icon-small-sad.gif" border="0"> It's a shame that happened to you, but thanks for sharing your past experiences... I'm sure it'll help others!

zogmool

06-15-04, 02:25 PM

Good luck getting through to any company! I was having trouble, and I tell you getting answers from Creative is impossible. (Annihilator 2, and soundblaster live.) They rout you enlessly through different areas of their online support section. (the reply was where to ask a question online...) I could never get any info on an Asus board either. It seems they don't even have costomer support in the US. Asus had NO support. Oh, but they did have a message board... I took my system to the store that I bought the parts from, and they changed the video settings. They dropped the screen resolution to 640x480 and switched fast writes off, then charged me $200. They fixxed nothing, and I quickly reset the options to my liking. It was a T-Bird 800Mhz, so they wrote "AMD alert" on the invoice... Obviously well informed. That's great business! Make fun of the customer! How stupid of me to believe everyone else over them who had nothing but good things to say about the Athlons... (Maybe they sold me a bad board just because 'I'm an idiot' for buying something they don't like...) If you are having trouble with a computer, you have NO choice but to fix it yourself! I sure did get alot better before my computer worked... It turned out to be a bad motherboard from Asus who is so perfect in every way that they don't need to give tech support. "You can't go wrong with Asus!" --Said the guy at the store... --On a lighter note: Hi-Val actually has free 'live' online support... In this day and age, that's absolutely unreal!