Returned or Open Box products sold As Brand New?

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LostBoyNZ

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#1576224 18-Jun-2016 15:00

Glad I could help dejadeadnz :) If potential buyers are looking into the company, I guess they'll come across this thread and the GPForums thread too.

mattwnz: Yeah all I could find out so far was the graphics card was an NZ one. For the suppliers, I doubt Jimmy will give up the name, if he responds at all again, but I did email a number of suppliers yesterday to inquire. Having worked with Ingram Micro before for example though, it would be extremely unusual behavior for a supplier to have acted that way. For smaller suppliers however, I can't really speak about from any experience however.

On Monday I could always call Asus again, and see if they have a record of which supplier purchased that serial number graphic card.

These are photos of the box by the way:

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Andib

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#1576227 18-Jun-2016 15:07

It could be a coincidence but that product sticker looks identical to the ones PBTech use.

Also if you google that product code PBtech site is the one that shows up.

This however could just mean PBtech is their wholesaler.

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LostBoyNZ

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#1576228 18-Jun-2016 15:30

That would be interesting! Their main Auckland branch is just down the road. I sent them an email with the serial number of the card, and the serial number on the box, to see if it came from PB Tech.

Just got a reply from Jimmy regarding me having sent it back to him; "sweet, i will keep you posted once it arrives and refund should be processed within 24hr upon arrival."

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LostBoyNZ

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#1576231 18-Jun-2016 15:45

The manager of the PB Tech down the road replied, wow that was fast. He confirmed that is indeed the PB Tech white label on the box. He also confirmed they wouldn't have sold a 2nd hand card as brand new, that they would tell the customer first, and there'd be a "big discount price" on used product as well. Also, he confirmed they'd never open a video card for testing a system, they always use their own buffer cards for that.

I gave him the serial numbers just to see if they have a record of either the one from the box or the one from the card being sold there. If they do, I think that just about wraps up the mystery.

He's going to check on Monday when he's back at work (he was replying to my email on his day off even, wow, 10 points to PB Tech for epic customer service... even though I wasn't a customer this time!)

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nigelj

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#1576572 19-Jun-2016 15:10

LostBoyNZ:

The manager of the PB Tech down the road replied, wow that was fast. He confirmed that is indeed the PB Tech white label on the box. He also confirmed they wouldn't have sold a 2nd hand card as brand new, that they would tell the customer first, and there'd be a "big discount price" on used product as well. Also, he confirmed they'd never open a video card for testing a system, they always use their own buffer cards for that.

I gave him the serial numbers just to see if they have a record of either the one from the box or the one from the card being sold there. If they do, I think that just about wraps up the mystery.

He's going to check on Monday when he's back at work (he was replying to my email on his day off even, wow, 10 points to PB Tech for epic customer service... even though I wasn't a customer this time!)

You know, I'm curious as to what that yellow label was. Makes me think of a 'restocked' label. Does anyone recognise it?

LostBoyNZ

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#1576588 19-Jun-2016 15:46

nigelj:

You know, I'm curious as to what that yellow label was. Makes me think of a 'restocked' label. Does anyone recognise it?

I wonder, yeah. It looks like the smaller text on it on the left may have said "Checked" and there's space for a tick to the left of it.

Although this is still the box from a different card, since the serial number on the box doesn't match the card. This might mean Asus exchanged the card at some point, because I know they re-use the old box if it's provided, when replacing cards.

Hopefully tomorrow we'll know if either or both serial numbers (from the card and where the box originally came from) were sold by PB Tech.

If anyone does recognize the yellow label on the box though, I'd be curious to know what it once said too :)

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gzt

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#1576732 19-Jun-2016 20:28

Reminds me of the discounted returned/demo/missing stock items bins in Noel Leeming, old Dick Smith, etc.

blakamin

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#1576735 19-Jun-2016 20:32

gzt: Reminds me of the discounted returned/demo/missing stock items bins in Noel Leeming, old Dick Smith, etc.

I was thinking the exact same thing!

edit: I googled the part number from here in Oz, and it's a PBtech part number for sure.

Unfortunately, google couldn't match the ripped sticker to anything :(

nigelj

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#1576736 19-Jun-2016 20:33

gzt: Reminds me of the discounted returned/demo/missing stock items bins in Noel Leeming, old Dick Smith, etc.

That is exactly what I was thinking, and why I mentioned it, if anyone recognises it, it could lead to some interesting clues for the OP to follow as to the origin.

LostBoyNZ

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#1577332 20-Jun-2016 18:00

Thanks! If anyone does recognize it, that's be great to know. Thanks for trying if google could match it blakamin :)

I know it didn't come from Ingram Micro now; they don't stock that model, and they thought the situation sounded very odd too.

Will post when I hear news from PB Tech too.

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richms

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#1577474 21-Jun-2016 00:57

I have seen yellow stickers at pb tech on returned goods, not sure if its 100% like that one or not.

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LostBoyNZ

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#1583860 1-Jul-2016 08:59

I received a refund for the item plus some of the postage.

PB's warranty department keeps serial number records, so I just sent them a follow up email just in case they had any luck with those serials.

Once that comes up, I'll put everything through to the commerce commission.

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