BFG Bails on Its Customers, Refuses Warranty Repairs
BFG Bails on Its Customers, Refuses Warranty Repairs
Posted 08/16/2010 at 8:34am
| by Paul Lilly
31
Comments
Print
Say it with us, folks: "Boo! Hiss!" That's how we feel about BFG ending its legacy by punking its customers who supported the once enthusiast-oriented videocard maker.
A quick history lesson is in order here. BFG blazed a trail in the videocard market by introducing the concept of a true lifetime warranty for GPUs, and not one of those bogus ones that were good only for the life of the product so long as it was still being sold in the marketplace. This proved a major advantage in BFG's favor, and not long after, EVGA and XFX would follow suit, adding twists of their own (like the ability to overclock and swap out heatsinks without voiding the warranty, so long as no physical damage occurs).
BFG also built a legacy for itself by taking care of customers in other ways. In late 2008, the videocard maker began offering free PCI-E upgrades for AGP card owners -- all a user had to do was send BFG an "AGP card in good, working condition" and they'd send back a "PCI Express equivalent at no cost."
If that weren't enough, BFG around the same time voluntarily offered rebate relief for users burned by bounced checks from Continental Promotions Group, a third-party rebate handling company that mishandled funds.
More recently, BFG fell on hard times, ultimately deciding to bow out of the graphics card business, and it only got worse from there. Now it's come to our attention that BFG is refusing to accept RMAs, leaving loyal followers to go pound sand.
"BFG Technologies, Inc. is winding down and liquidating its business," BFG states in a letter to customers seeking an RMA. "Unfortunately our major supplier would not support our business. As a result we are returning your graphics card without being able to repair it. We apologize for the inconvenience."
So what's the real scoop? According to reports, Fermi is partly to blame for BFG's sudden downfall. As the story goes, Nvidia is the major supplier that wouldn't support BFG's business by denying allocation of Fermi parts to the graphics card maker. Once Best Buy learned that BFG was not going to put out new graphics cards, the retail chain drop kicked BFG from its stores altogether, including no longer carrying the company's power supplies.
It's all kind of sad, really, and a sobering reminder that those awesome lifetime warranties and other promises are only as strong as the company behind them.
More like this
31
Comments
Comments are closed on this article
MASTERDJCHRIS
October 12, 2010 at 2:11pm
My card's onboard cooling fan is really noisy. I have only used this card for 18 months! When I went to the website, it was "under construction". When I called the phone number from my instruction manual, the phone rang for 5 minutes, then the computer put me "on hold" with music for another 20 minutes. Then I get a real person that tells me I am out of luck because BFG is out of business and that another company bought the name out. So, no repairs and no more warranty!! This is crazy! I would not buy any more BFG Tech. products if I were you, you may not get service later.
guyvii
August 17, 2010 at 3:16pm
It is interesting, but it seems to make since the me that BFG can not replace people's cards any more, they are going out of business. I am sure they would love to stay in business and continue to support their life time warrenty but that wouild be hard to do with no cards to send or no company to process your request.
I am not sure how a person can be mad at a company going out of business for not continuing to support warrenty's. If some one knows how to do it, I am sure the company would like to hear from you, then we can send you to Washington to fix the mess we are in economicly in this country, LOL.
More unemployed people in the bread line. bummer.
Lhot
August 17, 2010 at 5:49am
....from the get go....their Vid cards had the worst fans I've ever seen....when you go to a hardware manufacturers website and ONE click deep in the Nav bar, you see fan replacement....well thats when I switched to EVGA.
MASTERDJCHRIS
October 12, 2010 at 2:14pm
The service rep. on the phone for my noisy graphics card fan told me that Evga bought out BFG, and that they are not going to cover their warranties. The fans are actually quite cheap, and easy to replace. Why can't they send me one for free and I will clip it on myself?
mono
August 16, 2010 at 7:23pm
I've been w/ Max PC since Boot Mag #1 arrived at my newstand in its silver plastic shrink wrap. This is the first time I've had a gripe (albeit pretty minor) with your editorial content.
Yep, potential customers need fair warning that BFG is going under, and current BFG customers deserve sympathy if they suddenly can't get warranty repair.
That said, when a company, which has always put customers as their #1 priority is going under, despite all their efforts to save the ship, it's a bit unfair to charactierize them as bailing on customers. No doubt if they weren't liquidating and going out of business, they'd do their best to honor warranty/RMA requests. If there's no money, and no parts from their supplier, there's just nothing BFG can do.
I've only had 1 or 2 BFG cards over the years, and don't have any particular loyalty, but I bristled a bit at this article. It seems to be using outrage to troll for hits.
MASTERDJCHRIS
October 12, 2010 at 2:17pm
MY fan on one of my cards is so noisy, it sounds like a model airplane flying around my room. It is for sure thier card. If I take the PC cover off and stop the fan with my finger, the noise goes away. When I let go, the noise is back. The fans are small and cheap and just clip on the aluminum heat sink. Why can't they send me a little fan and I will clip it on myself?
By the way, I purchased both of these 18 months ago. Isn't this pretty soon to have problems?
Jox
August 17, 2010 at 6:54pm
I've only had 1 or 2 BFG cards over the years, and don't have any particular loyalty, but I bristled a bit at this article. It seems to be using outrage to troll for hits.
This is a surprise to you? Paul Lily's articles are of consistently poor quality. Spelling errors and incorrect usage of terms are par for the course in much of his writings. He's one of those hack writers who depends entirely on spell check rather than proof-reading his own articles. Personally, I think Maximum PC can do better.
-Jox
Rogue74
August 16, 2010 at 7:09pm
I don't have anything but good things to say about BFG. It sucks they were burned like that. Earlier this year I had a problem with one of my two BFG 8800GTX cards and they replaced both with GTX285 cards! It's very rare nowadays to find a company that will back their products like that.
violian
August 16, 2010 at 3:52pm
We have to wind back a little before we sympathize for BFG here. The reason for their huge downfall is because NVidia is no longer letting BFG manufacture Nvidia cards - we all know that part. And the reason for that is because BFG, while they were manufacturing NVidia cards, decided to also partner with ATI, Nvidia's enemy, looking to make some extra "buck". I don't know, but if I was running NVidia, I'd do the same - drop BFG as my partner if all of a sudden they were jumping "ship". So yeah, BFG should've did some analyzing or hired some consultants before they decided to work for NVidia's enemy. They deserved what they're getting.
mesiah
August 17, 2010 at 12:56am
Thats bullshit. Unless BFG signed some form of exclusivity agreement with nvidia, then there is nothing wrong with them making cards based on both ati and nvidia technologies. Other companies do it. The problem is, nvidia can't afford to lose some of the other companies.
I'm sorry, but nvidia continues to work their way further and further down my shit list. Right now they sit just above apple at the bottom. It is a real shame when a good company like bfg is forced out of business by arrogant companies like nvidia that want to play hard ball. Between their big mouth CEO, breaking physix on machines with ati cards, and shit like this, I will never buy another nvidia product again. I don't care if they come out with a video card that grants wishes, I want no part in supporting this company.
They bitch about intel running them out of the chipset business, but if they keep making enemies like this, they will have a lot more to worry about than just chipsets.
somethingelse
August 16, 2010 at 5:44pm
Largely depends on the kind of agreement BFG and Nvidia had to begin with. I'm not sure about the details, but if they had an exclusive agreement where Nvidia let them use their chips only, then you'd think BFG would approach this differently. But then you got Asus who has an AMD line of video cards and an Nvidia line and. Likewise they have Nvidia chipset boards and AMD chipset boards (and Intel of course). Nvidia is not saying anything to them (largely because Asus is a big source of revenue)
So violian does have a point, perhaps BFG broke the terms of their agreement, but I don't know, still smells kinda fishy...you'd think after working with Nvidia for all these years the two would work something out if BFG felt like extending their product portfolio?
dimgeoch
August 16, 2010 at 3:43pm
This email has been sent to inform you that BFG RMA number ***********, originally
created on Aug 13th 2010, has been cancelled.BFG Technologies, Inc. is winding down and liquidating its business. Unfortunately our
major supplier would not support our business. As a result we are cancelling your RMA
without being able to repair your product. We apologize for the inconvenience.If you have already sent your product it, it will be returned to you.
No card plus waisted packing and shipping money
Kamicrit
August 16, 2010 at 3:38pm
Sad to see them go. I never bought from nivida, but its still sad. Never fun to watch industry giants fall.
Tedster
August 16, 2010 at 3:02pm
I had 2 BFG GTX 280 OC's. both couldn't stand up to the rigors of 24/7 folding, same situation as Mr. McCord. I forgot to register them, so I was out of the warranty period. They are great cards, so I baked them. Work fine.
Ted
gendoikari1
August 16, 2010 at 2:58pm
Oh hell. My secondary machine has a BFG 9800GTX+, I wonder what I'd do if the card tanks after this. Who else has lifetime warranties other than BFG now?
Blues22475
August 16, 2010 at 1:30pm
Even the greatest companies have to fall short when their products aren't be sold by a seller. By the looks of things, BFG went up and beyond their requirements as a Video Card maker. It's all too sad how I came across these folks too little too late.
I've never used BFG, but I kind of regret it now. They seem to know how to keep customers by doing the right practices.
lunchbox73
August 16, 2010 at 11:08am
Very interesting. Virtually all of the comments here are positive with regards to BFG. It goes to show you how respected they are and it's sad they are on the way out. Any other company turning down warranties like this would have resulted in oodles of bashing comments riddled with expletives.
Muerte
August 16, 2010 at 11:02am
So basically Nvidia killed BFG.
Is there a reason for this? What did BFG do to piss Nvidia off?
I'd like to hear the rest of the story.
Laszlo44
August 16, 2010 at 11:00am
It's hard to soar like an eagle when you're supplier is a turkey but I wonder if they would have had any more luck with ATI. If so, then they could've made their company work by offering ATI products. If not, then there really is a problem with the two graphics giants.
I never owned a BFG since they didn't supply the card I wanted but if they had, they would've been my first choice.
nasipes
August 16, 2010 at 10:35am
I've been a customer of BFG since the 90's the the nvidia 5600 fx. They had treated me great up until this April when i tried to get my 680-i mb fixed and it took the 2 months to get it back to me. During this time I had to call them in order to find out what was going on and was told that they could not fix the motherboard so they would give me a graphics card instead so i bought a new mb. I then call them a few weeks later to find out what was going and and they said that had shipped my mb back to be fixed. Now it sits in the box they sent me and I can't do anything with it.
Baer
August 16, 2010 at 10:32am
I have bought BFG cards for years, literally dozens of them. The few that have failed were always replaced and their service was excellent. If they can't make it due to lack of support rthen, long term, who can?
I am really sorry to see them go.
alexc
August 16, 2010 at 10:22am
The last three generations of videos cards I've owned have all been BFG. I've been using a 9800 GTX for over two years now and only recently have I considered upgrading. It will be strange not having a BFG part in my next system.
Michael McCord MD
August 16, 2010 at 9:40am
It also is noteworthy that after BFG got out of the graphics card business, EVGA changes their warranty to no longer have a lifetime guarantee. Shows the effect of competition in the marketplace. I have an RMA ticket open on a BFG card right now, it is pending and haven't yet gotten the brushoff, but this article says it may be coming. We'll see. Tragic as I thought they were a fine, stand-up company and own quite a few of their products....it just the GTX 280 can't stand up to the rigors of 24/7 folding by ANY mfr that I've found. RMA'd 4-5 cards from different cos. of the 280. More of a design/engineering problem of that particular model card.
avenger48
August 16, 2010 at 8:36pm
EVGA has several warranties. Anything that has a product code starting with an A, C, S, F, or DX (the last two digits) is a lifetime warranty. 5 Year the last two start with G, 3 year is K, 2 year is L or T, 1 year is B or DR. It is explained at EVGA's warranty site:
http://www.evga.com/support/warranty/
As long as I can remember, EVGA has had less than lifetime warranties on some products. ATM, they have some identical products with different warranties, for example:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130566 Lifetime
and
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130565 2 Year.
or
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813188039 Lifetime
and
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813188046 2 Year.
NeuBreed
August 16, 2010 at 9:14am
I've been a believer in BFG since i got into PC gaming few yrs back. having bought 2 of their cards in the past 3yrs and power supply. really hate to see em go down like this.
dimgeoch
August 16, 2010 at 9:11am
I sent my 9800 GX2 for RMA on Friday. Will see what happens.
I liked BFG
emzfrendcrisis
August 16, 2010 at 9:06am
It seems that nVidia is giving people the Intel treatment that nVidia itself got by being denied the ability to build core i7 motherboards.
OneLove
August 16, 2010 at 8:57am
I have nothing but good things to say about BFG. A few months back my old water cooled (dual pcb) 295 GTX just stopped working. BFG accepted my GPU without any hassles and in just a few short days sent me another 295 GTX (single pcb). (water cooled gpu's void warranty, I was very impressed).
They are in trouble now and I wish i could help them. :(
somethingelse
August 16, 2010 at 8:43am
Bah, this sux...I liked BFG. But a lifetime is a really long time. I have two BFG 7900GTX cards (in SLI :P ), but if either of them take a dump I'd probably be getting a new PC altogether and not probably not bothering to RMA them. I'd be pissed if I had any of their newer cards though; sucks that they had to go down like this.
Connect with MaximumPC
Featured Content
The gang discusses the GTX 690, Trinity, Ivy Bridge, Amazon, big-box stores, MMOs,...
This month's issue
Feature
Build a PC On Any Budget
Feature
Cloud Services Showdown
How-To
Encrypt Your External Drive
Build It
Upgrade an X58 Rig
Most Commented Articles
Latest Max PC Tweets
- maximumpc: Original RickRoll Video Returns to YouTube After 24-Hour Copyright Hiatus http://t.co/MaH9Sxyy23 hours 11 min ago
- maximumpc: Corsair has decided not to go forward with its $78 million IPO, citing weak equity market conditions http://t.co/A5a4DAzj23 hours 21 min ago
- maximumpc: Want to work at Maximum PC? Our Online Managing Editor, Alex, is moving away, so we need a new one. http://t.co/9Z7JCh0E2 days 21 hours ago
