I wanted to get this issue known to the public. I have had a horrible experience (as have many others) with ABIT's RMA process. People have been having replacement boards come in DOA, money getting lost, and total breakdown of communications with the company (no email / phone calls returned)

Personally, I have been in this process for 6 months trying to get a board replaced.

I will put my first post from their forum board in a sec, but here is the direct link: http://forum.abit-usa.com/showthread.php?t=89302

Also, here is the entire eRMA forum for other's experiences:
http://forum.abit-usa.com/forumdisplay.php?f=15

------Begin post from ABIT forum:

I just want to start off by saying I have used ABIT motherboards for over 10 years and have been extremely satisfied with the product. Also, when there has been a problem, things have been resolved quickly without complication.

That was until now...

Here is the story. I recently bought two AN8 motherboards to fill orders for customers. Everhing went well with the builds -- windows installed, the system ran great, and even benchmarked awesome. This was until I installed more than one PCI card in the systems. After two were installed, the PCI bus stopped working all together. Everything that was on it suddenly dissapeared from the systems. So, I contacted ABIT for a Cross-ship RMA and everything went as planned.

The two boards arrived the next day and I installed them. The first system was great. I filled up the PCI slots and tested the crap out of the system. I moved them around, got different cards -- the thing was rock solid. So, I shipped that system off and all was well.

The 2nd system, however, had more problems. The board refused to post when I was running dual channel DDR. Keep in mind that both systems are identical. When I removed 2gb of the 4gb of ram, the system would run, but it was highly unstable.

At this point I contacted the RMA department, but got no response. I called, and left emails, but nothing. It wasn't until I started getting nasty did they respond -- and told me I needed to get another RMA for the bad board. So I did, and sent everything in. This was Week 1.

The next week, I wait 2 days after they received everything to try to make contact. Again, no response. So, many voicemails and emails go by. Still nothing. Finally, by Thursday, they say that the board will ship that day. So wait. This is week 2.

Week 3 starts out by me waiting anxiously for my board to arrive.. so I ask for a tracking number. They promptly respond with one. However, it is for the FIRST shipment 2 weeks ago. So, I email, I call, I email... and still nothing. It took me sending a message to the RMA department and copying in the sales and marketing department to get any action out of them. I still didn't get a return call however. All that showed up was a UPS ship notification in my in-box. The kicker is that they sent it GROUND. End Week 3.

Week 4 starts by me waiting again for the board to arrive. So, today, it shows up and I re-install it with a barebones config -- CPU, RAM, Vid card. IT POSTS!! I'm elated.. and am starting to think my troubles may be over. So, I eagerly put in a PCI card... Nothing. Not even the firewire shows up. Actually, the firewire controller doesn't show up in the bios either. So, after the standard clear CMOS and flash bios, nothing. This board is acting like the first board I sent back. I even checked the serial numbers to make sure they didn't just send my other board back and hope I didn't notice.

I have tried for 2 hours today to get ahold of someone in the RMA department and was met with Voicemail or being put on hold for an indefinate amount of time. After 20 minutes I hung up and tried to call back.

So, Seeing how this system HAS TO be delivered Friday, I ordered another board from Newegg. If it doesn't work I'm going to have to go local to get something that is close.

Like I said in the beginning of this message, I love ABIT products. However, if this is the kind of support I am to expect, I can not and will not keep providing these boards as solutions for my customers. I doubt all of my customers will have the patience to wait an extra month for their systems to be complete.

I just wanted to share my experience to see of others have had anything similiar happen. Also, in the event this gets "removed" from this forum, I will make sure it is on other forums around the net. Others need to know what they might be getting into when dealing with ABIT's RMA department.

----- End Post:

To give an update, The board I got back from ABIT didn't work. So, I have a dead replacement of a replacement (2 rma's) and this is the board I have been fighting with them for 6 months to replace.

Read the entire thread if you have a chance, it is very enlightening.

I recently rmad a ic7-g.....I cross shipped and received the replacement very quickly. Installed it to find the LAN is trashed. So yes i know how you feel. instead of rmaing it again i just stuck a pci ethernet adapter in it. bastards.

Yea,

I know what you mean, I got back a dead AL8 after 3 months. I gave up on them and bought an Intel, works great. So far I have posted in Sharkeyextreme, Tomshardware, epinions.

I sent them a mail about my situation telling them I wanted my money back but I haven't heard anything yet.

It sounds like Abit just sends previously RMA'd boards out as replacements.

I won't be buying any boards from Abit anytime soon...

-mpjesse

I sent in an IC7-G and got an IC7. NO THANKS for the down grade. Now I have to prove that i got an IC7. I don't care that the stickers say's it's an IC7-G, The MB is clearly say's IC7 printed on the MB. They need to go to thier own website to learn the difference between the two motherboards.
I lost sata 3 & 4 Si raid, which was my boot drive (2 raptors). goodbye intel gigbit LAN. Which was being used for a home network.
What do i do?? Kiss off postage 2X?, $ 15.00 for express shipping the first time. What about cross shipping, Do i want to play that game.
Also the replacement board look like hell. how many times was this board shipped out?
I am getting VERY MAD.

That's shocking news to me.
During mid-2005 Abit still had the best customer support including RMA over DFI.

I was THIS close to committing to Abit's KN8 SLI board. So many good features...but only on paper, apparently. The more reviews that were posted to NewEgg, the more RMA and defective-board comments I found. It's a pity; I'd heard such good things about the company's motherboards.

I'm just glad I found out about Abit's current level of quality before making a purchase.

uhh... i feel right at home here. I have 2 Abit boards that i couldn't get replaced. These boards started to fail part by part just like the crust of a pizza im eating.

I've already voted Abit out of my future shopping list for mobos.

I sent in an IC7-G and got back an IC7. No thanks for the cheap replacement. I have to explaine whay this cheaper MB is not an IC7-G.
I sent ABIT RMA 12 hi res pics of missing options. NO intel gigabit chip or jack, there is a nice empty pad for the intel gigabit chip there. No sata 3 & 4 plug, but there is labled empty contact pad. How about the printing on the MB that says IC7, no G printed there . But all the stickers says IC7-G.
It's not like i am trying to get a better MB like an IC7-Max, but that would be nice.
To ABIT RMA fanboy. My DFI lanpary 875 never died on me yet.

Right now I'd still go ahead myself and buy a AN8 Ultra or SLI.
Fatal1ty and the boards I mentioned above are currently still in top quality AFAIK. You won't need to RMA them.

Hey, go to newegg, They have a bunch of refurb abit MB, the one you are thinking of buying. Great deal? HA HA

REFURBISHED: ABIT AN8-ULTRA Socket 939 NVIDIA nForce4 Ultra ATX AMD Motherboard - OEM $78.40

REFURBISHED: ABIT FATAL1TY AN8 Socket 939 NVIDIA nForce4 Ultra ATX AMD Motherboard - OEM $129.50

Wow, that's just super!
In case you don't know 99% of those refurb stuff are RMA in perfect condition by n00bz.

Could abit be selling refurb MB on newegg to get cash because the earning reports are in the tank. Thier earing report are down. Selling thier rma stock would raise cash. This could be why I got a cheap IC7 MB,Did they sell of all of there IC&-G MB? Or are there stupid people in the RMA dept.
Really pissed of RMA customer.

If I can't get any thing done with abit RMA, My brother live in Castro valley ca, and i will let him go to Abit head offices. It is not much fun talking to a DOJ DA. He owes me a favor for getting him window blinds. (Mapquest 24.3 miles) It is the principle of the point.
Too bad i am in phoenix az, temp 79 and loving it.

Did this person get an IC7, Downgrade. Is sata 3 & 4 missing. No intel gagabit chip on the MB. Please check to see if you got ripped off.

no i got an ic7-g back but the lan was dead, abit is on my *%#@ list now!!! Customer support has never even responded to my complaint.