ATI Customer Service sucks

  • Thread starter Thread starter John Capriotti
  • Start date Start date
J

John Capriotti

I pre-ordered my 9600 XT well over a month ago and it still hasn't shipped.
Oh well, I thought, I guess they underestimated the demand and I was cool
with that.

What I wasn't cool with was finding the ATI 9600 XT - the exact product that
I ordered, HL2 certificate and everything - sitting available and for sale
on the shelf at Best Buy this afternoon.

What's the point of pre-ordering? Why is ATI shipping out cards to
retailers and telling me that it's unavailable? Why could some schmoe
wander into Best Buy and buy that card on a whim, yet I'm sitting around
waiting on a card I already paid for?

Or am I completely wrong in my understanding of what a pre-order is? I
assumed I'd get some of the first ones available.

I'm really irritated. I just cancelled my order for the 9600. As soon as
the money appears back on my credit card I'll be purchasing a GeForce 5700.
The last ATI card I bought was around 1995, and they lost me as a customer
due to poor service back then. I thought that the company had undergone a
refocusing on customer service in recent years, but apparently I was
mistaken.
 
I'm an ATI booster but they have notoriously low customer regard, so I
can't blame you for shunning them.

Only creative is worse in the customer service department.
 
I agree. I dont understand why take pre orders and I see it all over
including Comp USA...

I may cancel mine as well..

Bill
 
You are correct that you should get yours the day it is available but this
is nothing new from ATI. Many of us have just learned that you just don't
pre-order this stuff from ATI if getting the card fast is what you are
after.

3dfx had similar issues too but I don't think this problem is a reason to
snuff ATI and go to the 5700 which is a slower graphic solution than the
9600XT. I'm sure nvidia would have the same problem is they actually made
their own cards anyway.

-Tim
 
So what you're saying is that you ordered the ATI product because you
thought it was the best. However, since ATI has disappointed you, you're
going to get even by purchasing a product you thought was inferior - and now
you're going to hold your breath until you turn blue? That'll show 'em ;-)
I'm sure you will be happy with your 5700 - at least I hope so <s>.
 
I wouldn't say the 5700 is inferior to the 9600XT. Overall they're fairly
well matched and I think anyone would be happy with either.
 
I didn't say that at all, you read that into it. Both cards seem to have
very similar performance when I look at the reviews, neither one appears to
have a huge advantage over the other one. Really the deciding factor
between the two was the copy of Half Life 2, and that isn't much of a factor
anymore. ATI''s antics with the preorder, however, tipped the scales in
favor of a 5700.

All other factors are pretty much equal. I guess it's possible I could go
out and buy a Nvidia card and have a worse experience that would give the
"advantage" back to ATI. I'm not too sure what could be worse that not
delivering a product in a reasonable time and fashion. Maybe shipping a
defective product and refusing to exchange it, or shipping an empty box or
something.
 
I pre-ordered my 9600 XT well over a month ago and it still hasn't shipped.
Oh well, I thought, I guess they underestimated the demand and I was cool
with that.

What I wasn't cool with was finding the ATI 9600 XT - the exact product that
I ordered, HL2 certificate and everything - sitting available and for sale
on the shelf at Best Buy this afternoon.

What's the point of pre-ordering? Why is ATI shipping out cards to
retailers and telling me that it's unavailable? Why could some schmoe
wander into Best Buy and buy that card on a whim, yet I'm sitting around
waiting on a card I already paid for?

Or am I completely wrong in my understanding of what a pre-order is? I
assumed I'd get some of the first ones available.

I'm really irritated. I just cancelled my order for the 9600. As soon as
the money appears back on my credit card I'll be purchasing a GeForce 5700.
The last ATI card I bought was around 1995, and they lost me as a customer
due to poor service back then. I thought that the company had undergone a
refocusing on customer service in recent years, but apparently I was
mistaken.
Click to expand...

Preorders are for suckers. Never preorder anything from anyone. This
situiation happens all the time. Preorders purely serve to get some money
in the bank for the seller.
 
Preorders are for suckers. Never preorder anything from anyone. This
situiation happens all the time. Preorders purely serve to get some money
in the bank for the seller.
Click to expand...


the problem in the world is just that, people are always bordering on the extreme of everything, one- two or 100 companies are
Customer service nightmares and ALLL are. Not so.........I could give 1000's of company's names that treat their customers like
kings....although the ranks of the undesirable are growing it's never 'always' 'everyone' take a breath and relax, and don't
be an extreme doom sayer
 
Hi John,
Now I understand - sorry for the unnecessarily sarcastic response. Don't
give up on ATI because of your understandable frustration. Just chalk it up
to experience and *don't* pre-order. I have had to contact ATI once or
twice and I call them and get decent advice. Of course I have a great long
distance plan (10 cents a minute to Canada) <s>. If you decide to give ATI
another shot, please let us know how you like the 9600XT. I'm using a 9500
Pro and I'm thinking of upgrading - CYA
 
the problem in the world is just that, people are always bordering on the extreme of everything, one- two or 100 companies are
Customer service nightmares and ALLL are. Not so.........I could give 1000's of company's names that treat their customers like
kings....although the ranks of the undesirable are growing it's never 'always' 'everyone' take a breath and relax, and don't
be an extreme doom sayer
Click to expand...

The best advice I can give you is; never trust anyone.
 
Well when it came down to it - when I was standing in the store with the
9600XT in one hand, the 5700U in the other, and a debit card in my wallet -
I ended up going with the XT. I'm of the opinion that both cards are very
similar right now, but get the feeling that the 9600 is a little more future
proof.

Oddly, the 9600XT ships with a 9800 manual. I had to open the case up again
to make sure I didn't miss the power connector. The HL2 certificate is
scratch-off, like an instant lotto ticket, in case you decide to return it.


Of course, I remember thinking the same thing when I bought my GF3. Not
many games were using DX8 at the time, and by the time they did the game
engines had evolved to the point where there were other deficiencies in the
card. I've got a growing "retired" video card box, with a recently added
GF3, a Voodoo 3, a Banshee, that crappy Intel Chip ... eh, the curse of the
PC gamer. But we wouldn't have it any other way.

I mainly wanted this card right now because I wasn't happy with the way
KotOT was running. I'm glad I'm not getting the problems other 9600 users
are reporting, other than some corruption in the menu screen. Of course,
one of the first things I did was fire up a bunch of games to see how they
run. I'm surprised at how many games required reconfiguring of some sorts,
deletion of confi files, etc. I thought the whole point of DirectX was not
having to worry about that kind of nonsense, where the game talked to one
layer and the drivers talked to another. Oh well, no major problems yet so
thus far I'm pretty happy with the decision, although I'm disappointed that
the ATI fog issue in the Combat Mission games is still present. And I'm
still pissed at ATI for selling something I pre-ordered, but I guess I'm
just that much wiser or jaded now. But it's faster than what I had before,
probably a good value for the money, and KotOR in full detail looks great.
 
Bilar Crais said:
He's not paranoid...he just has an acute sense of reality.
Click to expand...


Here's some more advice!

As soon as you saw the card in the shop you should have run home, cancelled
the order and then the next day when you received confirmation, buy the card
from the shop.

Deals are always made with shops etc and I am sure ATI would rather PLEASE
retailers by delaying their own sales by a few days or even weeks. Shops
have to make money as I am sure ATI makes money either way! I see no
problem at all.

But then again, I'm not in your position so it's easy to say the above.
 
Hi John,
Thanks for the update, I'm glad you're happy and I think you made the right
decision. When I build my new box I may upgrade from my 9500 Pro to the
9600XT. I will be tempted to go all the way to the 9800XT but I don't think
the difference is worth the price delta. $400-$500 for a vid card is
ridiculous when you consider the slight performance edge from the second
best. AAMOF, $400 is a bit high in any event - I'll spent my shekels on CPU
and/or memory. Good luck -
 
I agree. I dont understand why take pre orders and I see it all over
including Comp USA...

I may cancel mine as well..
Click to expand...

Pre-Orders work oddly... but don't mean you'll always get it super
fast. ATI should give you an ETA on the card.

A lot of times when a new card comes out, so many people are buying
them that it takes 2-3 months extra TO BUY the card... SOLD OUT...
etc.

But ATI should have had the XT in your hands within a week of shipping
out to the resellers.

I've seen the 9600XT box over 2 weeks ago.
 
The best advice I can give you is; never trust anyone.
Click to expand...

Not even the girl your having sex with... supply your own condoms...
never throw them away into the trash. Toilet & flush.
 
Well when it came down to it - when I was standing in the store with the
9600XT in one hand, the 5700U in the other, and a debit card in my wallet -
I ended up going with the XT. I'm of the opinion that both cards are very
similar right now, but get the feeling that the 9600 is a little more future
proof.

Oddly, the 9600XT ships with a 9800 manual. I had to open the case up again
to make sure I didn't miss the power connector. The HL2 certificate is
scratch-off, like an instant lotto ticket, in case you decide to return it.
Click to expand...

Sign up now and you get 2-3 additional games...

http://www.ati.com/gitg/promotions/hl2offer/index.html

I never played Half Life... but I have my "coupon" too... so I will
play it...
 
are reporting, other than some corruption in the menu screen. Of course,
one of the first things I did was fire up a bunch of games to see how they
run. I'm surprised at how many games required reconfiguring of some sorts,
deletion of confi files, etc. I thought the whole point of DirectX was not
having to worry about that kind of nonsense, where the game talked to one
layer and the drivers talked to another. Oh well, no major problems yet so
thus far I'm pretty happy with the decision, although I'm disappointed that
the ATI fog issue in the Combat Mission games is still present. And I'm
Click to expand...

When I went from my Ti4200 > 9800Pro, I have not removed any config
files... but I did have to remove the Nvidia drivers of course (for
the hell of it, I left them on... yep - Game play was CRAP) and I
reinstalled DX9.x.

So far, all games work without changes - other than cranking up the
details. ;)

HALO looks like shit with AA or AF turned on.
 
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