Owner of Raptor Lake CPUs has RMA denied by Intel, which claims evidence fraud

After denying the RMA of its Raptor Lake processors, and then backtracking, Intel has now given a headache to a user, owner of two Core i9-14900K sent back due to known instabilities.. After checking the products, Intel called them fake.

A redditor, in a long post on r/hardware, recounts his experience in trying to return two top-of-the-line processors. According to “jerubedo”, Intel even said that if “reserves the right to retain the product and/or destroy such product as appropriate” after checking them.

This response came after the owner of the Raptor Lake Refresh CPUs had already contacted customer service in an attempt to trigger the RMA. Even with the photos sent by the user, Intel said that those were SKUs with a voided warranty.

An Intel Core i9-14900K was purchased from the Micro Center store, and another from Amazon. The processor from the first store was reportedly rebranded and had false information, according to Intel, and the second was part of an integrated system (OEM). This alone would have caused the direct RMA with the company to be lost.

Later, after reviewing new photos, the company changed its mind and concluded that the product had been sold by a retailer. Intel said that the owner of the two high-end Raptor Lake CPUs could continue with the RMA process if they wished, but if it found evidence of counterfeiting, those units would be seized and confiscated, and no replacement or refund would be issued.

The company’s solution to its customer was to continue with the exchange at the store, with a letter written by Intel itself, which would be delivered to the seller. This way, the frustrated customer would have a greater chance of successfully exchanging their processors.

In the end, jerubedo managed to exchange his Raptor Lake processors with Micro Center and Amazon, since he did not want to proceed with the RMA with Intel. He posted in his Reddit post the screenshots of emails exchanged with the company, as well as photos of the processors proving that they were not altered.

A few days ago, when asked by The Verge what proof users of 13th/14th generation processors should present when requesting an RMA, Intel did not respond. Now, it has only said that Raptor Lake CPUs affected by the instability issue will have their warranty extended by two years.

The question that remains, based on this situation, is: what proof will they require for this increase in the guarantee?

Via: Tom’s Hardware