Ideas for a Supermicro RMA?

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Zac_K

Member
Nov 24, 2015
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Hamburg/Germany, Graz/Austria
Hey folks,
I bought a Supermicro board (X10 DRD-iNTP) here at the STH sales thread a couple of month ago.

For several reasons I couldn’t test the board immediately after receiving it, until now. Turns out the board was DOA.
I checked this with a Supermicro technician and I am 100 % about this because I have a second board on which everything (CPU, RAM) works like a charm.

When I called Supermicro Europe to request a RMA a friendly woman told me at the phone that the only way to RMA it is over a distributor, which is impossible for me since my main SM dealer only RMAs stuff he sold (I asked him already, but he is strikt at this point).
I filled out the online RMA request but it was denied, with the argument that I am a private person.

Should I just fill out the online RMA request and lie about the dealer? (I think SM has a record of this.)
I don't know how to handle this situation, does somebody have an idea how I could RMA the board?

Any help and suggestions would be highly appreciated.

Thanks,
Zac
 

asintado08

Member
Sep 16, 2014
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I bought a supermicro board here that was bricked when I attempted to flash the BIOS. I just filled up the RMA form and I was asked to send it to Taiwan.

Three weeks later, I received the same board with the new bios chip.
 

asintado08

Member
Sep 16, 2014
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I'm located in asia but the board was bought from US.

They didn't even ask me to troubleshoot. I just fill up the RMA form and put all the troubleshooting steps that I have done. After I do that, I received RMA instructions in my email.
 

sovking

Member
Jun 2, 2011
84
9
8
Sorry for resurrecting an old thread: I'm in the same situation of previous people.
In August I bought a brand new Supermicro motherboard from an ebay shop, but after some time it resulted not working. and now is too late for asking for a return or substitution.
I contacted Supermicro Europe (NL) and they kindly wrote me:

Please note that we're ONLY able to process the RMA request from our authorized local resellers and distributors currently. So please submit your RMA request directly to your distributor (where you bought the item from). You could check our Homepage for more information about all the SMC authorized local resellers and distributors. Europe | Where to buy - Super Micro Computer, Inc.

To speed up the process, you only need to ask your distributor to submit the RMA request for you, and fill in your address as the shipping address. Then, after we receive the request from your distrubor, we’ll issue a RMA#. With the RMA#, you can send the defect part directly to us for repair. After repair, we’ll also ship it directly back to you. Hope it clears the procedure.

Of course that shop is not an authorized reseller, and the seller is not able/will assist me.
I undestand that Supermicro want to limit the number of get in contact for RMA process, but you can buy these products everywhere, even on Amazon without know that the RMA process is only allowed to authorized reseller and distributors. This is a very annoying policy.

Trying to RMA to Supermicro US or TW could have better chance ?
Any suggestion to solve this problem ?
 

mmo

Well-Known Member
Sep 17, 2016
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you can try to fill out the RMA form online and see if they accept it. I am not sure in EU, but in US, SM usually they don't ask for anything else besides MB info and what's wrong with it. But they might charge you if the warranty is expired. but good luck to RMA your board!
 

sovking

Member
Jun 2, 2011
84
9
8
I filled out the RMA form online in EU, and they answerd me 20 minutes later, with that message.
It's difficult to say about the warranty: I'had a regular invoice of August-2018, so for European laws it's under warranty, and if it's a manufacturing defect they should repair for free: if it is not, I'm willing to pay for the repair.
Sometimes happen that shop stock large quantity of products, and takes some time (more than 1 year) to sell it. But the invoice should be enough for warranty at least for private person. (the warranty should be honored by the seller not to the manufacturer, but sometimes, the seller forward you to the manufacturer).

Probably I'll re-try the RMA with US, as last chance.
 

PigLover

Moderator
Jan 26, 2011
3,184
1,545
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This is really simple.

SuperMicro will almost always decline an RMA that is just submitted cold off their website. If its warranty they'll push you back to your distributor (as experienced above) and if its out of warranty well, too bad...

However - there is a way. Sign up for an on-line support account. Don't go straight to RMA. Don't call their support center. Open an on-line support ticket, explain your issue, ask for help, etc. Be nice, not demanding. You'll go back-and-forth a couple of times with the support team. Based on my experience, unless your request is unreasonable, their support script is to just tell you to open an RMA after two or three "back-and-forth" with a support tech.

After they tell you to do it, open the RMA and reference the ticket number. Viola, your RMA gets approved.

Has worked every time for me (at least 5 in the last 3 years).
 

sovking

Member
Jun 2, 2011
84
9
8
Hi PigLover,
actually I did this: I sign up at their online support: and after "a nice" back-and-forth message with the support team, they answered me: "there is one conclusion left the mainboard has failed, please request RMA via your supplier." So even the online support team asked the same.
In the RMA request, I wrote that I contacted the online support (but I missed to reference the ticket number).
The problem is if the first people who read the RMA request, check the sender before the content.
 
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PigLover

Moderator
Jan 26, 2011
3,184
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Hi PigLover,
actually I did this: I sign up at their online support: and after "a nice" back-and-forth message with the support team, they answered me: "there is one conclusion left the mainboard has failed, please request RMA via your supplier." So even the online support team asked the same.
In the RMA request, I wrote that I contacted the online support (but I missed to reference the ticket number).
The problem is if the first people who read the RMA request, check the sender before the content.
Hmm. Must be different with EU distribution. Sorry then.
 

Robert Fontaine

Active Member
Jan 9, 2018
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Our friends at SM are under a bit of financial pressure at the moment but I suspect they are anxious to please their dealer network. Is anyone here on the list that can reach out and make the request on the OP's behalf to someone past tier 1? SM has generally been great with warranty work and just as good with out of warranty work. One of my reasons for preferring them to asus or other manufactures that focus on retail.
Yes I am a Supermicro fanboy.
 

Rand__

Well-Known Member
Mar 6, 2014
6,626
1,767
113
It would be great to get hardware support for in warranty items in EU.
They are happy to support with all remote options up to building new bios versions whether one is an end-user or a company. They even send out parts if asked nicely.

But they won't accept sending in directly at all (in EU):(
Really wonder why they are so picky about that... and wonder whether Public Relations would comment on that if asked by say a big reviewer site (@Patrick), or could even come up with a solution for end-users.
Not sure that would be possible though?
 

MikeWebb

Member
Jan 28, 2018
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Just had an issue with a new X11sph MB failing a DIMM location. Even though I bought from an eBay seller in the USA I had no issues getting a RMA back to Supermicro in Taiwan (I'm in Australia).