ATI changes warranty to 1 yr

[WaltC]

Withdrawl, what are they on a 13 step program?

Nice conspiracy theory but if ATI wants to get out it is silly to reduce their warranty in the hopes people dont buy their product so they can grow an inventory but allow their partners to wipe their ass with ATI's warranty.

If ATI is serious about getting out of the retail card business they would drop it cold turkey. By the amount of made by ATI cards I see on the shelves of BB, CompUSA, and other shops. I dont think ATI is moving away from retail card sales anytime soon.

Thus dropping the warranty is a bad thing for consumers and ultimately ATI.

Again, there's no hoping or conspiracy about it whatever. ATi announced in '03 (IIRC) that it would ultimately be exiting direct retail sales as soon as it satisfactorily completed the change in its business model from exclusive retailer to an AIB-partner model. That kind of massive shift takes time and, frankly, only an idiot would do it cold turkey. Before ATi can do a retail exit stage left it has to be sure that its AIB partners are up and running on solid footing. At any rate, it's undeniable that the reduction in its warranties will effectively and favorably contrast the products its retail AIB partners are making. The point is the consumers you worry over aren't limited to just ATi for the ATi-based products they buy, are they? That's the whole point of this it seems to me.

 

[Sxotty]

It is not established that this is a cause and effect thing. It is just as likely that ATI just doesn't want to deal with flashed cards and such.

When we spoke to ATI about the warranty changes they explained that it was done for a number of reasons. After studying the average "return rate over time" charts it was discovered that nearly 90% of all video card returns were done in the first 60 days. This means that consumers very seldom used their warranty on the second and third years per the old warranty plan. Since ATI’s warranty plan covers production cards for three years a large inventory of cards has to be kept on hand for warranty work. This inventory is nothing more than a money pit for ATI, as the cards lose value each and every day. ATI is a publicly traded company on the Nasdaq stock market

This is such damn bullshit. I hate it when companies do this. If 90% are in 60 days then they don't need to keep a huge stockpile on hand for potential returns that will not exist. Further they could always give a newer card to someone whose card broke if they did not have an inventory on hand. ARg... Just pony up and say that you don't want to deal with it. The $$ spent on staff to deal with warranty issues are probably just as significant if not more so. (In other words to check if they were tampered with and such.)

 

[Maintank]

Again, there's no hoping or conspiracy about it whatever. ATi announced in '03 (IIRC) that it would ultimately be exiting direct retail sales as soon as it satisfactorily completed the change in its business model from exclusive retailer to an AIB-partner model. That kind of massive shift takes time and, frankly, only an idiot would do it cold turkey. Before ATi can do a retail exit stage left it has to be sure that its AIB partners are up and running on solid footing. At any rate, it's undeniable that the reduction in its warranties will effectively and favorably contrast the products its retail AIB partners are making. The point is the consumers you worry over aren't limited to just ATi for the ATi-based products they buy, are they? That's the whole point of this it seems to me.

Well according to you it has been 2 years since they started this venture. Not exactly a quick exit.

 

[Jimmers]

Ed over at overclockers.com has a good take on ATI's new "less is better" wrt warrenties here.

 

[Maintank]

Ed over at overclockers.com has a good take on ATI's new "less is better" wrt warrenties here.

Pretty much sums up my thoughts.

ATI's line about helping out their partners is a line of crap and some people bought it hook line and stinker.

 

[PatrickL]

Good news !

ATI warranty will be 3 years in France (and i bet in the rest of Europe ) according to ATI france.

 

[CMAN]

Good news !

ATI warranty will be 3 years in France (and i bet in the rest of Europe ) according to ATI france.

I thought ATI cards were only sold in North America.

 

[gunblade]

I thought ATI cards were only sold in North America.

That is probably Ati's way of getting out of retailing business by expanding to more country in Europe.

I believe they started expanding retail product to Europe after the announcement of exiting direct retail.

 

[Arty]

http://www.nvitalia.com/stories.php?story=05/10/07/1639715

 

[WaltC]

Well according to you it has been 2 years since they started this venture. Not exactly a quick exit.

Well, as ATi has been selling graphics chip exclusively for a long time (~15 years?) I'm willing to leave the timing issues up to them... Personally, I don't mind whatever they do in this regard--I'm just telling you what I think it means.

Also, I find the remarks about inventory write down to be right on the money, as longer warranties do require them to maintain stocks of older cards for a longer period, and there comes a time when you have to write off the unused inventory as a loss, as we saw them do just recently. Proper accounting rules just don't allow for companies to stock obsolete hardware indefinitely as assets.

 

[CMAN]

Well, as ATi has been selling graphics chip exclusively for a long time (~15 years?) I'm willing to leave the timing issues up to them... Personally, I don't mind whatever they do in this regard--I'm just telling you what I think it means.

Also, I find the remarks about inventory write down to be right on the money, as longer warranties do require them to maintain stocks of older cards for a longer period, and there comes a time when you have to write off the unused inventory as a loss, as we saw them do just recently. Proper accounting rules just don't allow for companies to stock obsolete hardware indefinitely as assets.

Some how I doubt their inventory write off was due to their warranty period.

 

[WaltC]

Some how I doubt their inventory write off was due to their warranty period.

I agree, but I don't think ATi was talking about all of their write offs--just a portion of them. Inventory turn around is a critical factor for all hardware companies, and this particular problem is not one shared by nVidia, since nVidia stocks chips, not whole graphics cards, because nVidia doesn't sell or warranty graphics cards at retail. I think this is one reason of several why ATi wants to transition out of the retail-direct sector eventually. We know that a significant portion of their inventory write off this year was due to having overbuilt early for a PCIe demand that did not materialize as rapidly as ATi had hoped. But it is undeniable that if you sell and warranty your cards for years then you must have at least some of them on hand to satisfy whatever warranty claims materialize during the warranty period.

 

[CMAN]

I have to say, my Dad RMA'd a 9800 Pro Mac card, and ATI was very quick. They also seemed to send him a new card when only his fan was going bad. So kudos to them on that front.