MP 1,1-5,1 Macvidcards Card Theft

[ranges]

Hello
I had a Sapphire Pulse RX580 Dual Bios card I purchased for my Mac Pro. After using it for a few hours I reinstalled my GTX 680 as I wanted the boot screen back. I decided to send the Sapphire Pulse RX580 Dual Bios card to Macvideocards to have it flashed. On 10-8 the GPU was sent via FedEx over night to Macvideocards and the package was delivered on 10-9. I tried to reach out to Macvideocards on 10-6 to get their phone number for the FedEx shipper but they would never respond. I should have smelled something then.

I sent an email requesting an update on the card and this was the reply I received back on 10-17:

Hey Randy.

I went up and spoke to our Tech department regarding your order,
they’re having a bit of difficulty flashing your card,
should we be unable to flash it, we will send it back along with a full refund.
Thank you!

-MacVidCards


On 10-21 I received a message my card had been shipped back.
On 10-23 the package was delivered. What did I pull out, an earler generation 580 with out the duel BIOS. From the looks of the card it had been around the world 5 or 10 times.
Probably has thousands of hours on it.
I did not bother to even test it as I would basically like my as new 580 back with a refund of the payment they took for flashing MY RX580

I did send them a photo I took of the serial number I had highlighted with a highlighter before it was shipped. Also sent them a photo of the Retail box which I shipped it in which I took a photo of the serial number I had highlighted with a highlighter. The retail box was shipped in another box. Double boxed.

I will get my money back from VISA but will probably be stuck with a POS card.

Theft, Fraud or both.

 

[defjam]

At this time I'm unsure I would chalk this up to dishonesty. Have you given them an opportunity to correct the problem? According to the timeline you posted the card was delivered to you just three days ago at which time I assume you sent your e-mail. Have they responded? If not I would give them a few more days and if they don't follow up again. I have read where they've been difficult to reach. IMO it's still too early to conclude one way or the other.

Having said that I have read a number of postings on this forum about them and I can say I wouldn't trust them with any video card which I cared about. A number of people have posted about difficulty in reaching them but, ultimately, I think everyone got their cards back (either flashed or just returned). I get the impression he's trying to do right but there's something going on there that continues to get in the way.

Anyway I hope you get it resolved to your satisfaction.

 

[ranges]

I emailed them the morning of 10-24 with no response.

 

[MIKX]

Don't they register cards they receive ? eg: Put a sticker on it with the consignee's contact details, order No. etc. ?

If the OP's info is correct then that is very serious indeed.

 

[defjam]

I emailed them the morning of 10-24 with no response.

I think it's a little too early to conclude they've "run off" with your video card. I would give them a couple of more business days to respond and if they don't then follow up again. This is not to say that ultimately they will but, IMO, it's too early to reach such a conclusion.

 

[majus]

I have read where they've been difficult to reach.

It's a one-man operation (maybe two) working out of an apartment. He gets his emails on his phone so he's NOT difficult to reach, just difficult to get an answer if he doesn't feel like it.

Given all the people who have had negative experiences with him, I think he might be a bit more responsive if he received a letter from the California Attorney General.

 

[defjam]

It's a one-man operation (maybe two) working out of an apartment. He gets his emails on his phone so he's NOT difficult to reach, just difficult to get an answer if he doesn't feel like it.

My point is we don't know what's going on with him and, IMO, declaring he's a thief is a bit premature merely because he hasn't responded to an e-mail after a couple of days.

Given all the people who have had negative experiences with him, I think he might be a bit more responsive if he received a letter from the California Attorney General.

Which is why I said:

Having said that I have read a number of postings on this forum about them and I can say I wouldn't trust them with any video card which I cared about.​

Personally I would never do business with them unless I absolutely had to.

 

[ranges]

Thanks

That's what I figured after reading other post on forums.
I will give him a few more days to reply. In the mean time I will be trying to figure out the most effective agency, agencies to file a complaint with.

 

[MIKX]

Not receiving back the original increasingly rare 'dual bios' RX 580 that was sent is beyond the pale.

Speculation only : The original dual bios RX 580 bricked in the flashing process ?

========================================================

QUOTE from OP's 1st. post

"
On 10-21 I received a message my card had been shipped back.
On 10-23 the package was delivered. What did I pull out, an earler generation 580 with out the duel BIOS. From the looks of the card it had been around the world 5 or 10 times.
Probably has thousands of hours on it.
I did not bother to even test it as I would basically like my as new 580 back with a refund of the payment they took for flashing MY RX580

I did send them a photo I took of the serial number I had highlighted with a highlighter before it was shipped. Also sent them a photo of the Retail box which I shipped it in which I took a photo of the serial number I had highlighted with a highlighter. The retail box was shipped in another box. Double boxed.

I will get my money back from VISA but will probably be stuck with a POS card.

=========================================================

Hopefully, just a stupid mistake. Time will tell.

 

[ranges]

Them bricking the card also went through my mind earlier !

 

[Soba]

I emailed them the morning of 10-24 with no response.

I have an online business (unrelated to anything high tech) and demanding 1-day turnaround on correspondence is not reasonable.

In a situation like this where stock gets mixed up, it takes time to figure out what happened. Going back to review a customer’s earlier correspondence, then clarifying internally what equipment was received and where it is now all takes time to do.

It’s been my experience that sending short acknowledgement emails like “I’m sorry about this. Let me look into it and I’ll get back to you soon” in fact (and counterintuitively) often makes the customer more upset. I only do this when the situation is complex and I expect a response will take several days to work out.

People make honest mistakes. Give them a chance to respond and make it right before declaring them thieves in a public forum.

 

[ranges]

Sorry
Simple communications mean a lot to me.

 

[crjackson2134]

A blind guess leads me to think your original card became unusable beyond his repair abilities, and he sent you a replacement he had on hand. You should probably check it, it's likely flashed. If you get your money back for the flashing service, I'd call it a "disgruntled even", and move forward.

I had to RMA my 1st RX580 (unmodified) to Sapphire. The one they returned to me looked like it was in a WW3 combat zone. I didn't like that at all, I felt cheated...

I was wrong. It has worked so perfectly, I got over it. You can't look at the scuffs/scratches when it's installed with the case side-cover on anyway.

I paid for a working card, not a pretty card. Mine works great, see if yours does too...

 

[ranges]

I understand your point but it is not my card and defiantly has many many more than a few hours on it.
If he can't perform the service he advertises he should shut his doors and not mislead customers.
Above all communicate (honestly) with people before taking their money.
He said at one point (see above) that if he could not flash MY card he would return and refund my money.
Should I pay him for trashing my card.

He could at least have replaced the gpu with the same generation 580 period. That would have been a little more palatable to me.

 

[ranges]

Ha Guys
Enough said here. I manly wanted to get this out here to let others know what my experience was or still is.
Hopefully others will read this before doing business with these people and can make their own decision if they want to do business with them.

 

[DavNeil]

I bought straight up RX 480 flashed from him. Card was not new, I was expecting a new one, still not a big deal. I have heard delay but never theft or something on those lines. I will never send a card for flash because I calculated the total was always what it will be if buy used and get flashed. Why send card, receive card. He did change the BIOS chip, I can see that. I have two cards from him, second is GTX 680 4B. I don't think he is a thief but something is fishy. As side note when mining was at peak someone stole my GPU from my drive through (could be postman I did file a complaint) and power adapter for PSU. That is another aspect that someone stole your card from his drive through and he had no idea what to send to you. People are in general pissed off at him that he does not give free his IP (I don't know what is best reply).

 

[Flint Ironstag]

Not this again...

 

[jameslmoser]

I ordered the flashing service from him. I had questions and he never responded. I decided not to send my card and requested a refund from Paypal and he responded through them IMMEDIATELY. Its was in the middle of the night. He was also extremely rude about it. The guy clearly just doesn't care, has no concept of customer service.

 

[flyproductions]

I get the impression he's trying to do right...

Yes, he's "trying" to do right eversince the days of the 7800GS AGP...

...but sadly all he gets managed to do right is blaming others for stealing "his" work.

 

[flyingmanatee]

I've had interactions with Dave, he's an ******* but he's also the guy putting in the work. It's take or leave it, but with the cMPs eventually to be past tensed, it's likely the 2019 Mac Pro won't need the goofiery of needing to be flashed and thus services like this for better or worse fading.

 

[ActionableMango]

it's likely the 2019 Mac Pro won't need the goofiery of needing to be flashed

Why is this likely? Did I miss some news about Macs switching from Mac EFI GPUs to standard UEFI?

 

[jeanlain]

I think all recent Macs use UEFI.

 

[tsialex]

Why is this likely? Did I miss some news about Macs switching from Mac EFI GPUs to standard UEFI?

All Macs since 2013 are UEFI, but it's not EFI versus UEFI. It's UGA versus GOP pre-boot configuration support - all Macs since 2014 are GOP, some 2013 are hybrid.

A Mac mini 2018 has boot screens with a RX 580 eGPU and Catalina.

 

[ActionableMango]

Thanks, that's good to know.

 

[DearthnVader]

Hopefully Apple will use an UEFI firmware that allows standard Graphics Output Protocol cards to work at boot time, however, knowing Apple they will likely throw us some kind of wrinkle.

Even if we gain GOP boot screens, we have already lost half the graphics card choices, as Apple and nVidia have some sort of tiff going, that I don't think anyone understands.

So nVidia cards will likely work with GOP boot screens, but no drivers for the macOS means they will only work in frame buffer mode in the GUI, if at all.

Here is to hoping nVidia sues Apple for anti-competitive trade practices, or enough mMP users complain to get Apple to stop this stupid policy.

I know, speaking for myself, I'll likely put off my mMP purchase until I know standard GOP cards work, and maybe, until Apple and nVidia come to some better understanding.

Tho a word of caution, you won't be able to modify the protected bios tables on an AMD card, because the GOP driver checks the vbios part of the ROM and will refuse to load if you modify the protected tables.

This means no over/under clocking and no over/under volting. Basically no "hand tuning" of your AMD card.