This is going to be a long post - but it's important. Important because this is about a brand we have all associated with hassle free RMA and premium products.
******* THS IS AN ONGOING NIGHTMARE & I WILL UPDATE THIS THREAD REGULARLY******
So, I've been putting together rigs since over 18 years now & I've had my fair share of less than ideal RMA experiences, but never did I think that I would have a pretty pathetic issue with none other than Corsair! Yes, that's right - Corsair!
Goes like this :
1. Purchased a H100i GTX in May 2016 from Prime ABGB. Loved the cooler and its performance. My system was running stock without any OC and the cooler was more than good enough.
2. Sometime on the 27th of June one of the pipes separated from the waterblock and leaked over my motherboard and out the rear of the chassis. Thankfully my system was off. I wasn't home that day till noon and when I returned I noticed an odd odour in my study room (window near my desk was closed) and a pool of liquid at the rear of my case caught my eye. At first I though I'd left my window open and the rain somehow came through the open window, but a quick glance at the window and the floor immediately ruled that out since the window was closed and there was no other leakage from anywhere above.
3. It immediately dawned on me that my cooler had possibly leaked, and when I opened the case - that was confirmed. Unsure of what to do, I took a minute and something told me to take photographs of the state of my rig for records, anticipating I might need it in the future (and boy was I right about NEEDING it).
4. Once done with the pictures, I disassembled the entire PC and checked the board for damage as well as the PSU below. Thankfully barring a drop on the CMOS battery slot and the PCI slot below, most of the liquid leaked onto the PSU and out the back.
5. Being reasonably satisfied there wasn't likely to be any issues and that I anticipated a straightforward RMA for the cooler, I decided to leave the PC disassembled after cleaning the spill on the board and the PSU. I immediately logged on to Corsair's Customer Support portal, put in an RMA claim, attached the pictures and the invoice copy and left for the UAE as I was scheduled to travel the next day.
6. Corsair support immediately reviewed the ticket and approved the RMA online initially asking me to proceed for RMA through Kaizen Infoserve. However since I wasn't sure if there was any damage to the mobo and PSU, they asked me to wait before processing because in case I decided to claim damages for other parts affected, they had a separate set of forms and details to fill. I told them I'd only be returning in 3 weeks time before I could check the PC and let them know.
7. In the next few weeks Corsair changed their customer support portal to a new platform and my ticket was migrated but now had a new ticket number and the new portal didn't show the earlier attachments.
8. I returned to BOM in July and put my PC back together with a CoolerMaster Hyper 212 air cooler as the cooling option and initially the PC didn't start. When I began troubleshooting - voila! noticed the CMOS battery had rusted slightly in the 3 weeks I was away, so a quick change of battery and the system started. Stability tests followed and my system was fine.
9. I updated my RMA ticket and informed Corsair I'd be proceeding to only RMA the cooler as there was no damage to the PSU or the mobo. This time I didnt get a reply for them when I asked them if there were any other forms required.
10. Assuming there was nothing further needed as the RMA was approved and that I just required to RMA the cooler I went across to Kaizen Infoserve on the 26th of August - and that's where the REAL NIGHTMARE began.
THE KAIZEN INFOSERVE Drama:
1. On Saturday I get to Kaizen's center in Mumbai at Parekh market and there are 2 guys there. 1 elderly chap handling the main desk system and another guy that I call the lazy oversmart guy sitting in the inner room doing sweet nothing.
2. On telling them I need to process the cooler for RMA, the elderly guy asks for the bill copy, my contact details and the cooler. Checks everything and calls to the other guy.
3. Mr Oversmart arrives, sits on the other chair at the desk and proceeds to examine the cooler like he's a freaking Phd in visual diagnostics. He then actually proceeds to examine the waterblock by peering into it and then begins to fiddle by trying to "reattach" the pipe to the block.
4. At this point I was annoyed and asked him not to do anything further unless he was qualified to deal with coolers or knew what the f*ck he was doing. To which he gave me an annoyed look. He then asks me the most ignorant and idiotic question - "Did you remove the pipe?". Boy was I pissed. I asked him what made him think I'd remove the pipe? Or for what purpose would I remove a pipe in a closed loop AIO cooler?
5. That was when I first had a doubt, he was looking for reasons to reject the RMA. Right enough he calls up someone in the "back end" and within 45 seconds puts the phone down and in a very dismissive tone, tells me "Nahi hoga" and I'm like what "nahi hoga?".
6. His next words shocked me "Cooler has been damaged Sir" "RMA is rejected" and I couldn't believe my ears.
7. Over the next hour I had lengthy arguments with him and the back end people including a conversation with Kaizen's backend team with a person called "Naveen" located in Bangalore who first asked for the pictures to be mailed to the mumbai email address of kaizen who then shared it with them - THE SAME PICTURES I UPLOADED to my Corsair RMA ticket on the basis of which they approved the RMA.
On questioning this genius Naveen as to how he arrived at the conclusion that it was "damaged" just by looking at the pictures, he responded they were "Trained to examine" these things. When I called his bluff and said that these pictures were the same which were shared with Corsair on the RMA ticket and was APPROVED for RMA by them, he didn't have a clear answer and deflected saying even if they accepted, Corsair would reject it with them.
8. I asked for a response in writing - he said they can only give a response saying "rejected due to damage" which I contested and said there was no way I'd accept that. At this point I asked for the corsair India helpline number to which they gave me the number posted in their service center and I called up thinking I'd able to get in touch with someone directly from Corsair - Guess what?? No such luck. Because apparently, even that number goes to a team in Bangalore that's basically again Kaizen and the guy who answered this line - a Mr. Satyam - first claimed to be Corsair but when I explained that I was having an issue with Kaizen in Mumbai - he revealed he was aware of the case and that he was also Kaizen and that they were "handling" matters on behalf of Corsair in India.
9. That's when I realised there was no point arguing and I left to return home and get on a call with Corsair USA on their US helpline. This time I spoke to a rather nice and patient guy at the helpline (which subsequently now turns out is the call center located in the Philippines!). Anyways, he aplogises and says he will take notes and check if a prepaid shipping label can be approved for me to ship the cooler for RMA to Taiwan. I said ok & was told to wait till Monday for an update.
10. Didn't get an update on Monday - Tuesday was a disaster (literally in Mumbai) and so I later then reached out to them on Skype on Wednesday - again on the same US helpline number *yes you can skype them* and this time spoke to another guy Clay - who after a long hold - informs me that the prepaid label was approved with DHL and I could ship the cooler within 30 days. I was relieved. I received an email and my ticket was updated with the new shipping label.
11. I finally thought everything was settled until suddenly I received a DM via twitter in reply to a message i sent them for an update on my RMA ticket on Tuesday when I didnt get anything in reply by Monday.
I was WRONG - Now the service associate who messaged on twitter apologies for the wrong updates, and says I shouldnt proceed to ship it because the cooler had to be RMA'd in India and through Kaizen itself and that he had sent them an email asking why it was rejected.
12. I had to explain the whole damn experience as brief as possible to them this Corsair rep on twitter. He apologised for the confusion and the bad experience but said he'd asked Kaizen for details and requested that they accept the cooler for RMA. He said he'd get back to me with an update once they responded to him and asked me to wait. This was Wednesday.
13. Thursday - DM to Corsair for update on twitter - response - no reply for Kaizen
14. Friday - DM to Corsair for update on twitter - No Response.
That's where things stand now.
But here's the SHOCKING part - When I questioned Kaizen's experts - the knowitall Dr. Quack at the counter on if there were cases of such failures in the past and what they did with those RMA requests?
The Answer - We reject them. All are considered damage and they are rejected.
That my friends is how a premium brands image/reputation/goodwill and trust with customers who pay top dollar (in my case the approximate worth of the H100i GTX was 100 USD in INR equivalent when bought) is ruined in an instant.
I am completely and utterly shocked at what I've been going through with Corsair India and Kaizen. But more importantly, I know that there are fellow members here and a lot of us who have moved to AIO coolers recently - be warned. Let this experience be a reminder to you that as consumers in India - even the most premium of brands have appointed less than ideal distributors and service providers who are outright anti customer in their approach and behaviour.
Lastly - I urge you'll, if you'll are facing/have faced such issues with disgusting practices in RMA with such service providers - DONT GIVE UP. Please DO NOT ACCEPT THEIR nonsense. In this case - I will continue to knock on Corsair's doors until I get a resolution one way or the other.
I did not take kindly to being questioned with the insinuation that I had damaged the cooler and was now seeking a wrongful RMA as was evident with the way the question was asked at the start and the attitude of Kaizen Infoserve's personnel.
If anyone here happens to know of Corsair's reps (I now doubt anyone in India is directly on Corsair's rolls) or brand manager for India or any other channel where they even give darn about their customers or their premium reputation - please feel free to link this post to them!
If anyone here are active members on other boards and forums and on reddit - I am a hermit when it comes to being at the forefront of online platforms - PLEASE! Share this thread with them! More than trying to solve my situation - I really want to prevent other buyers, especially in India - from falling prey to such pathetic ploys employed by distributors and service providers who handle brands like Corsair in India - with or without the brand being aware of this. These parts cost us significant amount of money here. If we are required to ship these big and heavy component to a foreign location just to save us the hell of going through Indian service providers appointed by brands, the cost of shipping alone will pay for an entirely new part! That's how absurd and insanely pathetic the state of customer service and consumer protection in India is.
I will continue to update this thread & if perhaps it helps someone avoid a similar pitfall - I'll be happy!
******* THS IS AN ONGOING NIGHTMARE & I WILL UPDATE THIS THREAD REGULARLY******
So, I've been putting together rigs since over 18 years now & I've had my fair share of less than ideal RMA experiences, but never did I think that I would have a pretty pathetic issue with none other than Corsair! Yes, that's right - Corsair!
Goes like this :
1. Purchased a H100i GTX in May 2016 from Prime ABGB. Loved the cooler and its performance. My system was running stock without any OC and the cooler was more than good enough.
2. Sometime on the 27th of June one of the pipes separated from the waterblock and leaked over my motherboard and out the rear of the chassis. Thankfully my system was off. I wasn't home that day till noon and when I returned I noticed an odd odour in my study room (window near my desk was closed) and a pool of liquid at the rear of my case caught my eye. At first I though I'd left my window open and the rain somehow came through the open window, but a quick glance at the window and the floor immediately ruled that out since the window was closed and there was no other leakage from anywhere above.
3. It immediately dawned on me that my cooler had possibly leaked, and when I opened the case - that was confirmed. Unsure of what to do, I took a minute and something told me to take photographs of the state of my rig for records, anticipating I might need it in the future (and boy was I right about NEEDING it).
4. Once done with the pictures, I disassembled the entire PC and checked the board for damage as well as the PSU below. Thankfully barring a drop on the CMOS battery slot and the PCI slot below, most of the liquid leaked onto the PSU and out the back.
5. Being reasonably satisfied there wasn't likely to be any issues and that I anticipated a straightforward RMA for the cooler, I decided to leave the PC disassembled after cleaning the spill on the board and the PSU. I immediately logged on to Corsair's Customer Support portal, put in an RMA claim, attached the pictures and the invoice copy and left for the UAE as I was scheduled to travel the next day.
6. Corsair support immediately reviewed the ticket and approved the RMA online initially asking me to proceed for RMA through Kaizen Infoserve. However since I wasn't sure if there was any damage to the mobo and PSU, they asked me to wait before processing because in case I decided to claim damages for other parts affected, they had a separate set of forms and details to fill. I told them I'd only be returning in 3 weeks time before I could check the PC and let them know.
7. In the next few weeks Corsair changed their customer support portal to a new platform and my ticket was migrated but now had a new ticket number and the new portal didn't show the earlier attachments.
8. I returned to BOM in July and put my PC back together with a CoolerMaster Hyper 212 air cooler as the cooling option and initially the PC didn't start. When I began troubleshooting - voila! noticed the CMOS battery had rusted slightly in the 3 weeks I was away, so a quick change of battery and the system started. Stability tests followed and my system was fine.
9. I updated my RMA ticket and informed Corsair I'd be proceeding to only RMA the cooler as there was no damage to the PSU or the mobo. This time I didnt get a reply for them when I asked them if there were any other forms required.
10. Assuming there was nothing further needed as the RMA was approved and that I just required to RMA the cooler I went across to Kaizen Infoserve on the 26th of August - and that's where the REAL NIGHTMARE began.
THE KAIZEN INFOSERVE Drama:
1. On Saturday I get to Kaizen's center in Mumbai at Parekh market and there are 2 guys there. 1 elderly chap handling the main desk system and another guy that I call the lazy oversmart guy sitting in the inner room doing sweet nothing.
2. On telling them I need to process the cooler for RMA, the elderly guy asks for the bill copy, my contact details and the cooler. Checks everything and calls to the other guy.
3. Mr Oversmart arrives, sits on the other chair at the desk and proceeds to examine the cooler like he's a freaking Phd in visual diagnostics. He then actually proceeds to examine the waterblock by peering into it and then begins to fiddle by trying to "reattach" the pipe to the block.
4. At this point I was annoyed and asked him not to do anything further unless he was qualified to deal with coolers or knew what the f*ck he was doing. To which he gave me an annoyed look. He then asks me the most ignorant and idiotic question - "Did you remove the pipe?". Boy was I pissed. I asked him what made him think I'd remove the pipe? Or for what purpose would I remove a pipe in a closed loop AIO cooler?
5. That was when I first had a doubt, he was looking for reasons to reject the RMA. Right enough he calls up someone in the "back end" and within 45 seconds puts the phone down and in a very dismissive tone, tells me "Nahi hoga" and I'm like what "nahi hoga?".
6. His next words shocked me "Cooler has been damaged Sir" "RMA is rejected" and I couldn't believe my ears.
7. Over the next hour I had lengthy arguments with him and the back end people including a conversation with Kaizen's backend team with a person called "Naveen" located in Bangalore who first asked for the pictures to be mailed to the mumbai email address of kaizen who then shared it with them - THE SAME PICTURES I UPLOADED to my Corsair RMA ticket on the basis of which they approved the RMA.
On questioning this genius Naveen as to how he arrived at the conclusion that it was "damaged" just by looking at the pictures, he responded they were "Trained to examine" these things. When I called his bluff and said that these pictures were the same which were shared with Corsair on the RMA ticket and was APPROVED for RMA by them, he didn't have a clear answer and deflected saying even if they accepted, Corsair would reject it with them.
8. I asked for a response in writing - he said they can only give a response saying "rejected due to damage" which I contested and said there was no way I'd accept that. At this point I asked for the corsair India helpline number to which they gave me the number posted in their service center and I called up thinking I'd able to get in touch with someone directly from Corsair - Guess what?? No such luck. Because apparently, even that number goes to a team in Bangalore that's basically again Kaizen and the guy who answered this line - a Mr. Satyam - first claimed to be Corsair but when I explained that I was having an issue with Kaizen in Mumbai - he revealed he was aware of the case and that he was also Kaizen and that they were "handling" matters on behalf of Corsair in India.
9. That's when I realised there was no point arguing and I left to return home and get on a call with Corsair USA on their US helpline. This time I spoke to a rather nice and patient guy at the helpline (which subsequently now turns out is the call center located in the Philippines!). Anyways, he aplogises and says he will take notes and check if a prepaid shipping label can be approved for me to ship the cooler for RMA to Taiwan. I said ok & was told to wait till Monday for an update.
10. Didn't get an update on Monday - Tuesday was a disaster (literally in Mumbai) and so I later then reached out to them on Skype on Wednesday - again on the same US helpline number *yes you can skype them* and this time spoke to another guy Clay - who after a long hold - informs me that the prepaid label was approved with DHL and I could ship the cooler within 30 days. I was relieved. I received an email and my ticket was updated with the new shipping label.
11. I finally thought everything was settled until suddenly I received a DM via twitter in reply to a message i sent them for an update on my RMA ticket on Tuesday when I didnt get anything in reply by Monday.
I was WRONG - Now the service associate who messaged on twitter apologies for the wrong updates, and says I shouldnt proceed to ship it because the cooler had to be RMA'd in India and through Kaizen itself and that he had sent them an email asking why it was rejected.
12. I had to explain the whole damn experience as brief as possible to them this Corsair rep on twitter. He apologised for the confusion and the bad experience but said he'd asked Kaizen for details and requested that they accept the cooler for RMA. He said he'd get back to me with an update once they responded to him and asked me to wait. This was Wednesday.
13. Thursday - DM to Corsair for update on twitter - response - no reply for Kaizen
14. Friday - DM to Corsair for update on twitter - No Response.
That's where things stand now.
But here's the SHOCKING part - When I questioned Kaizen's experts - the knowitall Dr. Quack at the counter on if there were cases of such failures in the past and what they did with those RMA requests?
The Answer - We reject them. All are considered damage and they are rejected.
That my friends is how a premium brands image/reputation/goodwill and trust with customers who pay top dollar (in my case the approximate worth of the H100i GTX was 100 USD in INR equivalent when bought) is ruined in an instant.
I am completely and utterly shocked at what I've been going through with Corsair India and Kaizen. But more importantly, I know that there are fellow members here and a lot of us who have moved to AIO coolers recently - be warned. Let this experience be a reminder to you that as consumers in India - even the most premium of brands have appointed less than ideal distributors and service providers who are outright anti customer in their approach and behaviour.
Lastly - I urge you'll, if you'll are facing/have faced such issues with disgusting practices in RMA with such service providers - DONT GIVE UP. Please DO NOT ACCEPT THEIR nonsense. In this case - I will continue to knock on Corsair's doors until I get a resolution one way or the other.
I did not take kindly to being questioned with the insinuation that I had damaged the cooler and was now seeking a wrongful RMA as was evident with the way the question was asked at the start and the attitude of Kaizen Infoserve's personnel.
If anyone here happens to know of Corsair's reps (I now doubt anyone in India is directly on Corsair's rolls) or brand manager for India or any other channel where they even give darn about their customers or their premium reputation - please feel free to link this post to them!
If anyone here are active members on other boards and forums and on reddit - I am a hermit when it comes to being at the forefront of online platforms - PLEASE! Share this thread with them! More than trying to solve my situation - I really want to prevent other buyers, especially in India - from falling prey to such pathetic ploys employed by distributors and service providers who handle brands like Corsair in India - with or without the brand being aware of this. These parts cost us significant amount of money here. If we are required to ship these big and heavy component to a foreign location just to save us the hell of going through Indian service providers appointed by brands, the cost of shipping alone will pay for an entirely new part! That's how absurd and insanely pathetic the state of customer service and consumer protection in India is.
I will continue to update this thread & if perhaps it helps someone avoid a similar pitfall - I'll be happy!
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