Newegg promises ‘no questions asked’ returns on CPUs and motherboards after YouTube scandal

Newegg logo box (1020)

Newegg says it will now accept returns of open box CPUs and motherboards with “no questions asked,” according to a report by Windows Central. This comes after popular PC hardware review YouTube channel Gamer Nexus posted videos claiming Newegg knowingly sold them a defective open-box motherboard and then refused them a refund.

In a post on Twitter, Newegg says that “a very small number of returns may not have been thoroughly inspected before being routed for returns, liquidations, or e-waste recycling and were accidentally resold as ‘open box’ merchandise. It also says these cases were “unintentional process errors and isolated incidents” and that it has developed a new “hassle-free” procedure to handle returns. Newegg specifically told Windows Central that its new process would involve a “no questions asked” return policy.

Things started to unfold after Gamer Nexus, which has 1.58 million subscribers on YouTube at this time of writing, posted a video titled “Newegg Scammed Us.” Steve Burke, the editor-in-chief at the channel, explains that he purchased a $500 open-box Gigabyte motherboard from Newegg and later realized he no longer needed the board. Burke says he never opened the motherboard (nor did he even open the shipping box it came in) and sent the board back to Newegg.

Shortly after, Burke received word that his request for a return had been denied by Newegg. The company said there was damage to the board — which is pretty absurd given that Burke never even took it out of the box — and initially refused to give Burke his money back. The company only offered a refund after Burke tweeted about the situation from his Gamer Nexus Twitter account.

But the story doesn’t end there.

Burke received his refund and got the board back. He uploaded a video of its unboxing and found several bent pins on the CPU socket, rendering it useless. Burke also noticed that the board had a very curious return merchandise authorization (RMA) sticker from Gigabyte. After examining the label and giving Gigabyte a call, he learned that Newegg had actually sent the board to Gigabyte for repair. A Gigabyte representative allegedly told Burke that Newegg was notified about the bent pins and didn’t go through with the $100 repair. Newegg instead had the board sent back to its warehouse — where it was later sold to Burke as an open-box item.

As Burke notes in his videos, this isn’t the only time something like this has occurred. He says a number of Newegg customers have reached out to him in the past, complaining that Newegg refuses to accept their returns or give them their money back for similar reasons. Gamer Nexus’ huge social footprint is large enough to motivate Newegg to make a change, and that’s obviously pretty unfair to everyday customers who weren’t able to get their money back.

Burke says he’s headed to California to meet with Newegg at the company’s headquarters for an interview, and I’m waiting in anticipation to hear what they have to say about this whole situation. The Verge reached out to Newegg with a request for comment but didn’t immediately hear back.