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I bought the Dota 2 bundle some months ago and last month the right click started getting stiff on me to the point where I'll be playing Dota and not turn the direction I planned on because the right click didn't go down. I'm not one to make a fuss so rather than heading to the forums I google SteelSeries phone support. They don't have it, this to me is a red flag. I email them, no reply. I make an account with them on their website and get a ticket, the ticket gets passed around between not two but three different reps and none of them answer the majority of the questions I ask.
They then inform me I am approved for RMA, I figure this means they are shipping out a replacement. They tell me to read the guidelines, so I do. Their version of an RMA is that you mail the product out to California, and they then decide which parts are or aren't broken and issue a full or partial replacement or....your defective product back to you in the mail. I keep trying to ask them how I can be sure I will get a full replacement, no answer. I check the tracking, it arrived to their warehouse Friday morning. They haven't replied since then, so I am now asking the community if you have had a recent experience with SteelSeries was it similar to this, did you receive a full replacement, and how long did your replacement take?
I apologize if this seems like an empty complaint, I am asking specifically because I want to know if I need to buy a new mouse to game with in the mean time if this is going to take them several more days to reply. Since they require you to pay for your own shipping when sending the product back to them, I'm now about 85$ invested in a mouse with a bad right click, and a smudgy mouse pad that is sitting in a warehouse on the other side of the country.
This is not meant to be a jab at SteelSeries as their Siberia headset was a very good purchase, but this latest purchase and customer support can be described as delayed and unresponsive at best.
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You typically have to mail your product to the company with an RMA. I recently had to return a Cooler Master headset (which sucks, don't buy one) to be replaced. Wait another week before you complain to the company.
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I RMA'd a SteelSeries keyboard. Full replacement, very quick response and no issues that I remember. Bought direct from their website.
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Thanks for the info, it's been over a week now since according to my tracking it has been in their warehouse and zero replies. I'll just assume that this is an exception and that I've been unlucky. Without a phone number to call I don't know anything else to do unless a rep could post here.
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On April 25 2013 04:26 Oakenshield wrote:
Their version of an RMA is that you mail the product out to California, and they then decide which parts are or aren't broken and issue a full or partial replacement or....your defective product back to you in the mail.
As far as I know, this is how the RMA process works in every single company. I had to RMA a GPU to EVGA and the process was exactly the same and it went well, even tho the GPU they sent me back was defective but at least the 2nd time they took care of all the shipping cost. It took a while for my card to get there and received my new one. It can takes weeks sometimes. I think I've read a couple of posts here about RMA process to steelseries (can't remember which post exactly) and most people usually never had problems with it. Steelseries will usually just replace your defective product and send you back a new one. If you're lucky, you might even have a response from one of the steelseries rep here, I've seen that in another post, can't remember which one too sorry. Hope you get through this without any problems, I know it can be frustrating. Good luck!
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It taking weeks would be more understandable if a rep would reply to my ticket more than every eight days, but your post is appreciated anyway. Maybe not paying shipping is something companies you have dealt with do often, but in the world of boots and axes at least they pay shipping. I'm not sure what makes computer hardware companies not need to follow those decent ideas, along with not having phone support is another really unfortunate and cheap thing to do to customers.
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I had binding issues with my Sensei, created a ticket on their website and customer support replied to me the same day. Even though the issue was fixed they still offered to replace my mouse if I was afraid that the problem could come back. I was surprised how responsive and nice they were.
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It's been 10 days since my two day shipped package arrived at their warehouse and 10 days since I got so much as a one sentence reply from their support either. Truly bogus customer support, I can't pretend I'd buy from them again or recommend them to my team or friends until some kind of explanation is given. If you don't want to pay for phone support...pay someone to check your web support more than every two weeks.
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On April 25 2013 04:26 Oakenshield wrote:
I bought the Dota 2 bundle some months ago and last month the right click started getting stiff on me to the point where I'll be playing Dota and not turn the direction I planned on because the right click didn't go down. I'm not one to make a fuss so rather than heading to the forums I google SteelSeries phone support. They don't have it, this to me is a red flag. I email them, no reply. I make an account with them on their website and get a ticket, the ticket gets passed around between not two but three different reps and none of them answer the majority of the questions I ask.
They then inform me I am approved for RMA, I figure this means they are shipping out a replacement. They tell me to read the guidelines, so I do. Their version of an RMA is that you mail the product out to California, and they then decide which parts are or aren't broken and issue a full or partial replacement or....your defective product back to you in the mail. I keep trying to ask them how I can be sure I will get a full replacement, no answer. I check the tracking, it arrived to their warehouse Friday morning. They haven't replied since then, so I am now asking the community if you have had a recent experience with SteelSeries was it similar to this, did you receive a full replacement, and how long did your replacement take?
I apologize if this seems like an empty complaint, I am asking specifically because I want to know if I need to buy a new mouse to game with in the mean time if this is going to take them several more days to reply. Since they require you to pay for your own shipping when sending the product back to them, I'm now about 85$ invested in a mouse with a bad right click, and a smudgy mouse pad that is sitting in a warehouse on the other side of the country.
This is not meant to be a jab at SteelSeries as their Siberia headset was a very good purchase, but this latest purchase and customer support can be described as delayed and unresponsive at best.
You seem really unfamiliar with the RMA process, so I can give you some info on how it works, as I've pretty much RMA'd every type of component and with almost every company one way or another. Basically how it works is that if your product is faulty in any way, they'll replace it for you for no charge (just ship it out to them, obviously). So what you have going on, is definitely a faulty product, but you have to realize that so many dopes try to RMA things that are working as intended, and a lot of people try to RMA things that they broke on their own.
Usually, physical damage is not covered under RMA - so a mouse sensor being really glitchy, would be grounds for an RMA, water damage would not. The mouse not being picked up or responsive when plugged in is grounds for an RMA, you using your mouse so much that the button stops working after a reasonable amount of time is not. But a mouse button not working like that is a bit ridiculous, and grounds for an RMA.
Just start an RMA ticket, as you have, mail it out and follow the instructions. You should generally expect a month wait period, but some companies are great and do it in less. You can also ask about an Advanced RMA, where the company will check a credit card to make sure you have enough to cover the full MSRP of an item, and then send you the replacement in advance, and then when you get it, that's when you send in your faulty product.
There are faulty products with everything, it's just how it is. Even the best products, 1-5% will always be faulty. Don't worry, it's just how it is - I've had to RMA about 2/8 components on average out of every computer I've built. As long as the company replaces it within a month and makes it smooth, which they should, it should be fine.
You won't get an answer on RMA time because it takes time. Steelseries, like many tech companies, are just small companies, with small staffs. They have to keep prices low somehow. They will take care of you, but don't wig out if it takes a bit of time. You can mail a mouse under first class shipping, which is $2.07 to like $3.50 at most, if you can keep the package under 13oz (just ship the mouse, nothing else). Worse case scenario it weighs more than 13oz and it'll cost you like $5 for priority mail (priority flat rate is a bit more expensive at like $5.35 or so). It's really not expensive to ship out... only power supplies are expensive to ship out and that's still under $10 most of the time.
I know it sucks but it's just how manufacturing is. You don't get this much support with most products. Steelseries will guarantee all of your steelseries stuff for a few years, so if your replacement breaks even, it's covered. It might suck to wait or the shipping cost, if you think it's unreasonable, then ask steelseries about it, but it really isn't.
Remember, Steelseries is a small company, just like most of these companies are. You should expect a couple days for them to reply to you, but if you upset about this, then try to contact them again. Don't be hasty and post negative reviews everywhere or tarnish the reputation of a company that has contributed a lot to the tech and gaming communities, believe me, they are just as upset as you are about this. A little bit of patience will go a long way. And if you ever are upset, please, let the company know and I've never had an instance where they didn't work to fix it right away and compensate you.
Just don't try to weasel yourself from free shit (except maybe stickers  ), and understand that they need to protect themselves too.
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That was a massive amount of text to justify poor customer support via ticket, and zero customer support via phone for a product that cost well over what my more dependable 30-50$ mice have cost and some have lasted 5 years with a good quality for gaming. I am familiar with other companies warranty policies, I once bought an axe which had a handle crack on me, the company sent me a new one in the mail in...three days. I can't even get a "keep waiting" response from SteelSeries every 10 days. When you say I should expect a couple days for them to reply to me and should try to contact them again, did you not read the part where I mentioned multiple questions and ticket responses being ignored by SteelSeries for the last 10 days?
I'm not expecting "free shit", at this point I am wondering if I'll even get a replacement period.
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It was a massive amount of text to try to pussyfoot around the fact that you are expecting way too much and don't get it. Yes, I saw you had waited 10 days, you keep spamming them, and they DO have a line and they DO have to check the product out, they've told you as much as they can really tell you.
Steelseries has done a TON for the enthusiast and gaming communities. I don't know what you expect dude, lemons exist. It happens with cars all the time, there are even laws and protections in place for them. Likewise, just with any electronics or manufactured goods or basically anything that isn't handcrafted 100% of the way, there is going to be defects and faulty products.
Take CPUs (or ram, or gpu, or PWMs, or fans, or psu's, really, anything that runs at a frequency) - they bin. The company arbitrarily picks 3.9ghz for the i7-3770k at it's turbo boost. Now we all know that i7's can do basically 4.4ghz guaranteed at least, but there will be a 1% that is just flawed and can't do that. Instead of selling the i7 for a higher price for the higher speed and eating that 1% return cost, they'd rather have a .001% return rate and sell the i7 for a lower price. Not to mention, that means less people like you who are completely unreasonable monsters who will just complain, complain, complain, and never be pleased and deter customers who don't know any better.
They tell me to read the guidelines, so I do. Their version of an RMA is that you mail the product out to California, and they then decide which parts are or aren't broken and issue a full or partial replacement or....your defective product back to you in the mail. I keep trying to ask them how I can be sure I will get a full replacement, no answer. I check the tracking, it arrived to their warehouse Friday morning. They haven't replied since then, so I am now asking the community if you have had a recent experience with SteelSeries was it similar to this, did you receive a full replacement, and how long did your replacement take?
Right, your RMA is underway, and they can't promise anything because they don't know if you are another 15 year old monster who spilled coke all over the mouse and is whining for a replacement. It sounds like your claim is legit, so don't worry, you should have your replacement in under a month but they can't promise anything, because honestly they don't know if you are another lying customer. But they can't say that - the customer is always right - so it's a diplomatic way to say 'we're going to cover our asses here'. You should have your full replacement within the month, quit bothering them.
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Are you implying that 11 days now isn't enough time for them to open up the box or reply to an email? If that is true, they either make too many shoddy products or hire too few employees. Given that they don't have phone support and most companies do, you can guess which one I am suggesting could be a problem. I've given you examples of other companies that are tenfold as effective, so for you to suggest that I am asking too much sounds very silly, fanyboyish or even like you work for them yourself. To say that my RMA is underway when I have no guarantees of what I will get $85 dollars later (this 30 dollar replacement mouse is working perfectly by the way) is ridiculous.
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The average turnaround time for an RMA is a month man, I don't know what to tell you. Quit being turky jerky. If it takes a little longer than a month, that's just below average (OCZ, NZXT). If it takes less (Corsair, Mushkin), that's awesome. I wouldn't say a company is worse because they are slower, as long as they get around to it, that's all you can ask for. Why didn't you buy a Dell or HP if you hate small companies so much who strive to keep prices low?
Most companies do NOT have phone support, let alone a phone number. You've given ONE example for your 'axe'. Chill out. Your question has been answered - the company has to give a vague answer to protect itself, how could you not figure that out yourself? Your claim is obviously legitimate, you'll have your full replacement soon, hopefully within a month.
Yea, it kinda sucks to wait. You should have asked for an advanced RMA if it bothered you.
And they DONT make 'too many shoddy products'. You don't listen - when something is mechanical, electrical, or manufactured, there's always going to be a percentage that are faulty or flawed. That's why RMAs and warranties exist. The excellence of a product is determined by the quality of a product when it is not flawed, the excellence of a company is determined by the quality of the service when it is flawed.
You are complaining because you spam them with emails and they don't answer every single question? You already were approved for an RMA, you already know you are guaranteed to get your replacement (barring if you were an idiot and did something like spill coke or broke it yourself, but you know you didn't do that so don't worry, but they don't know that). RMAs generally take a month, that's all there is to it. You are in a line, they are a small cmopany.
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Being in line doesn't really mean being in line though, because "approved for an RMA" could mean rejected for an RMA and getting a defective product back a month later, and 85$ later. It's simply too much time and money for a mouse with at best the quality of less expensive products, and I sincerely hope they send you a tshirt, a sticker, or whatever it is you're needlessly writing this one sided novel for. As far as only using one source, do you really want me to type up a list of American companies with phone support? I don't have a year to kill or I'd do that.
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Being in line doesn't really mean being in line though, because "approved for an RMA" could mean rejected for an RMA and getting a defective product back a month later, and 85$ later.
It doesnt... approved for an RMA means you are approved. It literally means the exact opposite of rejected for an RMA. There are always faulty products, even with the highest quality components from the best companies, a certain percentage is always faulty with manufactured and electrical goods, but the chances of getting such <1% faulty component twice in a row is extremely unlikely, especially since RMAs are usually refurbs (which are tested before being deemed worthy to resell).
I can't imagine how you treat waiters.
ps: phone support /= phone number. Corsair, AMD, Intel, Kingston, i think that's it for phone support, and a few more have numbers. You have got to be the only person in the world with a problem with how RMAs work due to such ridiculous expectations. Sorry not every tech company is like your multinational axe company.
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Your definition of RMA differs from what their support told me in the ticket then, I wish they would adopt your version, but they apparently have not. I tip pretty well, and I imagine your waiters ears are more full than their wallets when you leave (if you want to throw baseless dining jokes into a thread about a case of poor customer support).
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It has nothing to do with a definition of an RMA. Your RMA was accepted when they told you to mail it in. How can your RMA be rejected if it was accepted?
And your complaints are absurd, that's the problem. It's like complaining that you've already waited 15 minutes for a pizza delivery when everyone know's a pizza delivery is 30minutes-hour (depending on where, time, who, etc). You can google how long steelseries RMA's generally take for most people.
See there is no case of poor customer support going on here. You're just a turky jerky.
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You're full of endlessly long winded and irrelevant fantasies and analogies. By SteelSeries definition of RMA you pay to mail your product back and then in a month they mail you your own damaged product back again if they don't determine it to be flawed enough.
And you're wrong again, I don't order pizzas. I hope they sponsor you the sausage pizza you're seeking for your efforts here though.
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As long as you didn't spill coke all over it or completely lied in your application form, they aren't going to determine it to be rejectable. The guy who actually does the RMA, is not the same guy who takes the form. He's not going to be looking for coke stains or give a damn. Like you already were accepted, you are being insanely paranoid. And it only costs $3.77 at the most to mail a mouse domestic...
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Thanks for the shipping quote, I must have accidentally shipped them a boulder by mistake. Post somewhere you're wanted, if that place does exist.
User was warned for this post
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EPT
