Sherri L Smith
Intel has spent the better part of two weeks under fire for the instability of its 13th and 14th Gen desktop chips. If you haven’t been following the news, a microcode algorithm has affected the series above of chirps. It’s been sending incorrect voltage requests to the processor, resulting in users’ computers crashing. That was already bad, but then came Tom’s Hardware reporting that any damage incurred was permanent.
Intel announced it was releasing a patch to fix the problem, which is set to hit sometime in mid-August. This is well and good, but what about that permanent damage? According to PC Gamer, Intel is trying to make things right by extending the warranty of the affected boxed chips by two years. Now, if your chip is in a prebuilt system, Intel recommends consumers “contact the system manufacturer’s support team.”
And while it’s a good move, don’t assume it’s out of the goodness of Intel’s heart. There are reports that a law firm has started investigating and filing a class-action lawsuit against the chipmaker. It is extending the warranty to cover when the chips could be a great way to cut angry consumers off in the past.
But not so fast. It seems that Intel is even having a problem with the warranty extension. There have been rumblings from some Redditors that Intel isn’t holding up their end of the deal. Jerubedo posted in the r/hardware subreddit details the disappointing back-and-forth with Intel Customer Support. Intel’s RMA. Despite giving the company all the documentation requested on the RMA (Return Materials Authorization) form, they haven’t gotten any satisfaction.
Instead, Intel told Jerubedo that the products they purchased were “‘re-marked’ and not genuine.” This is despite purchasing two boxed 14900Ks, one from Amazon and the other from Microcenter. Berube went above and beyond, taking one chip back to Microcenter and getting the retailer to confirm that the chip had not been tampered with and was the genuine article. Intel refused to back down and said that the chips were, in fact, fraudulent.
In a letter to the Redditor, Intel said, “Please be advised as part of Intel’s ongoing efforts to prevent fraud in the marketplace, in the event the product you submit for warranty support is found to be re-marked or otherwise fraudulent product, Intel reserves the rights to retain the product and/or destroy such product as appropriate.”