Action against Amamax for selling bad power supply

[blindxp]

This is posted on amamax.net, but reposted here so Amamax can't delete it when they realize they're in trouble.

I bought the $17 Power Magic PSU and it fried my computer, the power supplies are no good:
Start pulling out cards. I had to pull my floppy drive and pull out my sound card to boot in, why... because the power supply fried them both. Try it, if this is the case we'll have to file a claim with the BBB to get our computer parts replaced by amamax or their supplier.
Email me at [e-mail] with the subject: "Amamax Case" and tell me your case, and if this fix works for you. Your motherboard could be fried. I'm sure my controller is, and my Hard Drives keep losing files, so my RAID controller or an HD (or both) got toasted. But I can boot if I pull the floppy drive and the soundcard.

The world's longest email again:
[e-mail]
Subject:
Amamax Case
Tell me what you bought (a whole system, a case or just the PSU). What happens to your computer now, when you bought the unit, etc.

I figure if there's enough of us they'll do something about their problem.
I can't get anyone to answer a phone and they've yet to reply to any of my emails. (not that I'm surprised).

[feigned]

I'm sorry, but I'm going to have to call you an idiot for posting that on their site.

You don't threaten legal action for a sound card and floppy drive that can be replaced for a total less than $50.

I bet if you would have phoned them up, told them that you think it was the PSU, they probably would have sent you a new one, had you ship the old one back, tested the old one, and if found to be faulty, I'm sure they would have refunded your money without you even asking.

Instead, you're like the little honeybee that thinks the man with the mower is here to destroy your hive. Instead, he just wants to plod along and get his grass cut so he can enjoy a cold beer in air conditioning, not swat away your little busy bee ass to keep you from stinging.

They're going to laugh at you. You bought a cheap PSU without doing your research and you got burned. Be prepared for them not to answer. If they take you seriously with your "lawsuit," then that would be a first. Never come out swinging.

[Dani]

He said he was unable to contact them despite trying multiple ways. In any case, I agree that a power supply powers your entire system and has the capability of frying it. It's just a fact of life. You get what you pay for with a really cheap one. Personally, I won't touch anything other than Antec.

However, that doesn't fix your problem, now does it. I don't think you should start running at them with threats of lawsuits. If emailing and phone both don't work, and you're sure that they fried your PC components, I'd start by doing an online search for how much the fried components cost (retail value). I'd put together a list and try once again to email or phone them. If that doesn't work, perhaps contact the BBB and inform them that you're unsuccessfully trying to reach this company and ask for their (or a similar organization's) assistance in simply contacting customer support.

[blindxp]

I *AM* going to the BBB. But I think the case will be better if it's: *ALL OF US* vs Amamax instead of: *ME* vs Amamax. So that's why I'm collecting info. It looks like there is some time from the first complaint until the time I've bought mine, and a few in between, and I haven't seen them stop selling them yet. So my problem is they are selling a PSU that is burning up people's computers. Thanks for the input though cscgal, it's always apreciated!

Hey Techie Whiz, I didn't know that:

I figure if there's enough of us they'll do something about their problem.

was a lawsuit threat. And you act like I'm trying to get compensation for my emotional damage or something. I just want what's broke... replaced. No more, no less. Especially if they knew this PSU was killing people's computers and were still selling them. Can you follow that or do you need a lawnmower/bee story to follow.

[Dani]

Can you follow that or do you need a lawnmower/bee story to follow.

Whoa, calm down a bit ;)

[f575gtc]

HAHAH lawnmower/bee story HAHAA....I dont get it...

[feigned]

I *AM* going to the BBB. But I think the case will be better if it's: *ALL OF US* vs Amamax instead of: *ME* vs Amamax. So that's why I'm collecting info. It looks like there is some time from the first complaint until the time I've bought mine, and a few in between, and I haven't seen them stop selling them yet. So my problem is they are selling a PSU that is burning up people's computers. Thanks for the input though cscgal, it's always apreciated!

Hey Techie Whiz, I didn't know that: was a lawsuit threat. And you act like I'm trying to get compensation for my emotional damage or something. I just want what's broke... replaced. No more, no less. Especially if they knew this PSU was killing people's computers and were still selling them. Can you follow that or do you need a lawnmower/bee story to follow.

You certainly filled out your ID 10 T forms correctly!

It's a Power Magic PSU, not Amamax. You need to contact Power Magic for your problem. Resellers usually offer a limited warranty for parts they sell, not the events that happen beyond their scope of liability.

I don't have a problem with Amamax so you can go on your little crusade all alone. Tip for the future: Don't buy shitty components.

[blindxp]

You certainly filled out your ID 10 T forms correctly!

It's a Power Magic PSU, not Amamax. You need to contact Power Magic for your problem. Resellers usually offer a limited warranty for parts they sell, not the events that happen beyond their scope of liability.

I don't have a problem with Amamax so you can go on your little crusade all alone. Tip for the future: Don't buy shitty components.

Who said it was an Amamax PSU? I said there were selling a product that was burning up people's computers. And they had been contacted several times about this problem, but they're making money so they'll continue to fry people's computers.
I don't need to crusade alone, last time we checked there was 13 people who'd emailed that email account. So 14 of us so far. Not too bad. Thanks for the tip, I *WILL* research what I buy from now on, as you can imagine. Here's a tip for you: Go outside, get some sun, your frying brain cells staying inside all day :cheesy:

How about you research my next purchase for me. What PSU do you suggest? What 21" monitor? I loved my Viewsonic P815 so something similiar. I don't like the trinitron or diamondtron because the two lines accross the screen. Thanks feigned, you Techie Whiz, you :D :D :D

[feigned]

Who said it was an Amamax PSU? I said there were selling a product that was burning up people's computers. And they had been contacted several times about this problem, but they're making money so they'll continue to fry people's computers.
I don't need to crusade alone, last time we checked there was 13 people who'd emailed that email account. So 14 of us so far. Not too bad. Thanks for the tip, I *WILL* research what I buy from now on, as you can imagine. Here's a tip for you: Go outside, get some sun, your frying brain cells staying inside all day :cheesy:

How about you research my next purchase for me. What PSU do you suggest? What 21" monitor? I loved my Viewsonic P815 so something similiar. I don't like the trinitron or diamondtron because the two lines accross the screen. Thanks feigned, you Techie Whiz, you :D :D :D

14 isn't bad, but I don't know if that would be enough for a class action suit. Good luck with it though, whatever happens, happens.

:)

Antec TruePower PSU with whatever case you want to purchase.

I would say you'd be much happier with a Dell 1800fp. 18", flat panel, a superb response time = little to no ghosting in games, and not quite as large as a 21" CRT, but close enough for any practical application.

[Amamax]

Okay,

Time for some common sense and a rebuttal.

1. When your vcr dies two days after you got it, and eats your one and only copy of Flatliners, do you start a class action lawsuit against Sears for selling you the vcr? No. You return the vcr and buy a new copy of Flatliners. (I know, as this happened to me. :) )

We sell "CHEAP" power supplies. The design specs on our PS's are for average load stuff, not the bleeding edge of overclocking. For that, we sell more hardcore equipment designed to operate under a higher load with greater tollerances. It's the same thing as trying to skate on a stock ToysRUs skateboard in a Van's skate park. You might make it around once, but pretty soon, that stockie is just going to fall to pieces, because it was never designed for heavy use, and is more prone to failure. We sell literally thousands of these power supplies a month, and get maybe 30 back / a month, which is actually phenomonally lower than our video card return rate for instance.

2. You never once emailed [e-mail], so I'm not entirely sure who you did email, as my email address is literally at the bottom of every page of our website all hyperlinked and everything as feedback. I don't answer every email that goes to that address, but I do read them all, as well as archive them just incase I need to reference something, because most of the time another employee has already responded to the email.

3. You spent 17 dollars on a power supply shipping included. I don't know what you expected it to do besides work, or what you hooked up to it (raid controller and how many hdd's exactly?) but honestly, it was designed to run a basic PC with a highend processor, and not Racer X's dream machine.

4. You haven't sent it back to us for replacement or refund, and that system is automated, so where is your excuse there? You don't even have to talk to someone to send it back to us, just fill out the form and mail it back. Simple stuff.

I'm not trying to be overly harsh here, but you really are going to a little rediculous extreme.

and finally, is the disclaimer from the bottom of our website, which specifically covers your 'extended grievance' which you claim is our responsiblity. Note that you agreed to our store policies when you placed your order, and this is part of what you agreed to.

LEGAL STUFF

I LIMITATION OF LIABILITY

IN ALL CIRCUMSTANCES AMAMAX/MHL COMPUTER SYSTEMS INC'S MAXIMUM LIABILITY IS LIMITED TO THE PURCHASE PRICE OF THE PRODUCTS SOLD. AMAMAX/MHL COMPUTER SYSTEMS SHALL NOT, UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES, BE LIABLE UPON A CLAIM OR ACTION IN CONTRACT, TORT, INDEMNITY OR CONTRIBUTION, OR OTHER CLAIMS RELATING TO THE PRODUCTS IT SELLS WHICH EXCEEDS THIS LIABILITY LIMIT. AMAMAX/MHL COMPUTER SYSTEMS SHALL NOT BE LIABLE FOR THIRD PARTY CLAIMS FOR DAMAGES AGAINST THE CUSTOMER, OR FOR MALFUNTION, DELAYS, INTERRUPTION OF SERVICE, LOSS OF BUSINESS, LOSS OR DAMAGE TO EXEMPLARY DAMAGES, WHETHER OR NOT AMAMAX/MHL COMPUTER SYSTEMS IS APPRISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH CLAIMS OR DAMAGES.

Even though it's past the time you could get a 30 day moneyback return, if you DO send it back, you WILL be refunded, just make sure you put it to my attention.

Sincerely,

Russell Irving

[blindxp]

Thanks for the VCR story! This isn't the first thing I've had problems with (which is why all my emails thus far have been printed and the latest were CCd to a couple other email addresses). I understand returning the $200 VCR to get a replacement and forking out $19 for the new video. But I lost a $17 PSU that I can replace (yeah right) and then fork out the $600 in parts burned up. A little different.

My PC has never been overclocked and its no where near a dream rig. So its not like I was maxing out the PSU all the time. Its just an average PC. (I'm curious if the skating story was a personal experience as well? =P).

Out of the thousands you sell and 30/month you get back; how many more do you think are dead and just not sent back? It's like a rebate, the percentage of people who send stuff back are small. And my issue isn't that the PSU was defective, I understand electronics can do that, it's that it's frying people's computers and you're selling them still. Probably still buying as well. I'm seeing like when Ford Explorers where having their tire's blow out. It wasn't a tire made by Ford, but they took care of the problem. That's what I'm trying to get at.

2. I have all my emails and the one (VERY LATE) reply all saved. This isn't the place to post them, but feel free to email me for a copy of my assets.

3. Since I don't need to buy PSU's very often but needed one ASAP, I looked through pricewatch.com and found that this was about the going rate. I have 2 HDs on a raid card and 512 PC3200 RAM and a Athlon XP1800. Not exactly impressive. (The reason I used RAID was those rare occasions I needed to do a 5' graphic that was 400MB or so)
I have no lights, no extra fans, just a plain PC.

It's $17 shipped to me, and it cost me another $8 to ship it back :)
Also it was a 550watt PSU. What generic PC *NEEDS* 550watts? In fact point me out a couple on the web if you would.

4. I sent it back the day after I called Amamax for three hours and got your support staff's voicemail every time (he has a pretty-decent recorded voice, mine sounds way different when recorded), which was in January. I used UPS to send it back so I could look up the shipping details if needed. Also how do you know if I sent it back? Did you look through the packages for a Mr. Blindxp? Or did you do some homework and get my name and look for that?

Extreme? I'm just bettering my side. The numbers of people that have emailed me aren't impressive, but enough to show that I'm not alone. I really don't expect you to buy me a whole new computer. However, the customer service was not anywhere near par, heck not even on the same [golf] course. I went weeks w/o a reply, but I got what I wanted by you replying here. I can now show that there is someone behind the storefront and that I should be able to get a reply. So I guess Im just disgruntled that I had such a devastating experience and no one cared. Which is just the real world so I better get used to it.

I had read the legal stuff by the way. Also, because you are not liable to help me out, doesn't mean that you can't. At your own will you could replace all my computer parts.

I shipped the PSU weeks ago so I couldn't put your name on it now, but as you might expect, I don't want another one of those PSUs. But $17 to take the bite out of the $600 I had to come up with would be nice.

[TheOgre]

Personally, I think you should be taking this up with Mr. Irving, since he was kind enough to post his e-mail address and offer to replace the unit for you, even though it's passed the 30-day limit. If you want to post your rants about it, get some free space on GeoCities and have at it. This forum is for questions and answers, not for badmouthing a company that sold you a a cheap part that happened to be defective.

That being said, there's the old addage, "You get what you pay for."

[blindxp]

It was not past the 30 days. Can't you READ? It was sent in WEEKS ago. It was the last paragraph of the last post before yours... that's sad.

If you don't like what's said, don't read it! And definelty don't reply to it.
You're one of those people that go around looking for something to complain about aren't you?

First) re-read and make sure you understand what you read so you don't look like an idiot(like you do now)

Second) if I wanted your opinion I'd ask for it

Third) If you had lost an entire PC to an item that was being sold even after it had burned up other people's computers, you'd be just as mad as we are. I have a list of people that are in the same boat as me. The list is bigger than the few of you that posted here.

If you want to carry on with YOUR ranting get YOU some free space on Geocities and give me the link, I'll go at this all day long with you.

For those of us that this thread was made for, it's been great. For those of you that think you are a smart 13 year old, find a new one.

[twilli227]

Quote:
But I lost a $17 PSU that I can replace (yeah right) and then fork out the $600 in parts burned up.
I have 2 HDs on a raid card and 512 PC3200 RAM and a Athlon XP1800. Not exactly impressive.

To me that is a decent system, to you, I guess it isn't if you put a $17 psu in it. As far as being a 13 year old, I don't think so, that was many years ago, and even at that age, my parents had taught me that you get what you pay for. Oh well, good luck.

[WEATHER CHANNEL]

Well, this wins thread of the year.
Can I have all the links to where you have posted similar thoughts............I think this a calculated, conspiracy, plotted by a rouge comminust counrty or planet. Worth looking into! I will report this to the Art bell radio show. For now I will suggest, you dumpster dive behind BEST_BUY and gather new parts. And if you find a Power Magic PSU, report the findings right away to Art Bell.

[blindxp]

I still don't get why you guys are posting here. Did I mention I have a 9800 pro in my system? Or that I had an Audigy2 that literally exploded? I have the Audigy sitting on the shelf (just in case some nerd comes over and wants to see that sort of thing). Again, the going rate on a PSU was around $15-20. Had I had more than just a few minutes to buy one (I needed it to be at my house when I got home that week so I could be back up and running and I was no where near computers other than the sip n' surf in town), I would have read up on them instead of just price shopped. Then this might not have happened.

Thanks for your concern about the $17 PSU in my system, as you might can imagine, this won't happen again. In fact I have a $42 dual fan with speed selection (and bright annoying LEDs, which I don't care for, but the fans can be silent when you put it in that mode which is nice). Once I replace the other HD and the mobo I'll have my system replaced! :cheesy:

Do I need to say anything about radio shows? I'm glad you can admit that you even know the name of one (Art Bell). that's the first step in recovery! :lol:

[WEATHER CHANNEL]

In all seriousness, if someone ripped you off in the US, you need to report it to the BBB *ASP
Well, did you?
& I would like the url's of other sites that you posted to.
& if you did not report it, I gather the conversation is over!
I do want to read those other post.

[blindxp]

I'm waiting to get 4 more people to email me and then I'm going to the BBB. I figure I've got a good enough number that at least I can get my $17 back. I highly doubt it takes a month (or more) to recieve a lightweight power supply, via UPS, and get the refund taken care of. Anyone check to see if AMAMAX is still selling these things? The Power Magic PSUs?

[TheOgre]

-I'm not the idiot who shelled out $17 for a crappy PS to go into a system with a RAID card, a high-end ATI card, and an Audigy II card.

-You get what you pay for.

-If you don't like the replies you get when posting, don't read them. You GET opinions when you post, or haven't you realized that yet?

-I've never had a system get fried due to a lousy part that I put in it, and if it did, I'd be mad at myself for being so stupid.

If you want to post your rants about it, get some free space on GeoCities and have at it. This forum is for questions and answers, not for badmouthing a company that sold you a cheap part that happened to be defective.

[WEATHER CHANNEL]

I still want all the links!!!! I was not joking!

cheers

[Amamax]

He mainly ranted in the amamax.net forum, which had a significant security flaw, and has been temporarily frozen.

[steosaur(oWn)]

hi, im steve

[nightwave]

Im not gonna rant here but i am having a similar situation with a PS from amamax

I bought a case that came preinstalled with a 500w power supply in november. Everything seemed to work fine until this month when i started hearing a buzzing noise from my PC. I called amamax support and when i finally got through to them they said that it's normal for the PS to "buzz"(it was more like rattle) so i let the lady listen and she said it was normal.

So i left it like it was. Then i was working last week on my PC and it just died. The system was getting power, but would not run. When the IDE cables were plugged in, the drives were dead... but if i unplugged the cables, they would get power again.

I thought it was the mobo but possibly could be the PS so i switched the mobo to another PC (roommates) and it didnt work.

So we put my roommate's old PS back in.. long behold his PC doesnt boot anymore. Turns out that the PS fried my Mobo, Processor, VC, SC, Network Card, RAM, and his Mobo, Processor, and sound card.

I dont blame Amamax for this, but i do wish that they would start putting higher quality PS's in their cases (even though you really Cant beat their prices, but at the time you had to call to get the information on the PS)

[nightwave]

ok maybe i did rant a little... but i am out lots of money for my stupid mistake :D

[blindxp]

As of today Amamax still hasn't replaced my PSU which I sent in within two weeks of purchase. So they either figured out who I was, or they are just REALLY bad at honoring their warranty. Good Amamax. I only had 17 people complain and I was told to have 25 minimum before pursuing any further. I think my fun's over though. So all, stay away from AMAMAX!

[DMR]

<end rant>

Sorry folks, but this forum is for discussing members' hardware problems and helping them resolve those problems.

It is not a venue for airing grudges or for verbal jousting between dissatisfied customers and representatives of the "accused" corporation.

We are indeed done here.