Customer ordered an RTX 5080, got rocks instead, and no solution from retailer
Another day, another GPU scam. The latest unfortunate news comes from a customer who chose Best Buy for getting their new flagship Nvidia GPU. Instead of the GPU, they were sent rocks, and now the retailer says it cannot do anything. There have been quite a lot of GPU and CPU scams with people getting not the right product or DOA cards but this seems to be one of the more outlandish scams.
The information was shared by the unfortunate user GnarDead on the pcmasterrace subreddit. They had ordered a $1,200 Asus TUF Gaming RTX 5080 from their local Best Buy on November 25 and received it on November 28. Upon opening the suspiciously handled box that had no generic brown box packaging, the user found rocks instead of a new GPU. As per the images shared, the rocks were placed in the cutout for the GPU in some plastic and bubble wrap.
What’s even more unfortunate is that Best Buy seems to have wiped its hands off this delivery. The user immediately filed a complaint to which Best Buy responded by saying a replacement was on the way. However, on December 2, the user received another update stating that Best Buy, after conducting its investigation, will not replace or refund the purchase.
Commenters have showed their sympathy for the user and suggested they file for a chargeback with their credit card company. Since the original poster has not responded, it is unclear if they were able to do the same or if they even used a credit card for the purchase in the first place.
This has added to a long list of scams in the GPU and CPU space. Back in June, a user received their order of an RTX 5090 GPU with crossbody backpacks inside the box, while another received rice, macaroni, and a random old GPU. Another user bought an RTX 5090 for $2,000 only to find out later that it had no GPU core or GDDR7 memory chips. More recently, a reviewer ordered a Ryzen 7 9800X3D CPU from Amazon but received an AMD FX 4100 with a sticker on top. Most of these customers were able to get a replacement or refund and hopefully GnarDead can also find a way to get their money back.
Source(s)
Reddit posts (1,2,3), northwestrepair on YouTube
