Forgive my French but b****ks!!! I've just spoken to 'Scam' and have been told that my board works fine and I have to now pay them £10 for testing and £10 for delivery plus VAT.
However, in a moment of sanity I've asked them to tell me what components they have test it with so I can see what they have to say.
I would agree that it seems hard but on the other hand if your board was ok and they have doen what they say then they are out of pocket too. They still have to pay their technician for his time in hooking it all up and checking the motherboard and then they have to get it back to you. To be honest I would say that their charges are reasonable in the circumstances. Try and get it done locally and see what the charge would be. I am sure that this is not what you want to hear right now but we have to be fair and take a balanced perspective.
It's more the fact they didn't tell me when I requested the RMA and the delivery costs for sending it back are higher than when I bought the board. They mention at the end of the long T&Cs they will charge a 'fair' cost for the return of the board, so the cost will be higher than when it was sent with other goods.
Anyway, I'm just pissed off with them and have a history of being pissed off at them (I stopped buying from them after another issue with a more recent purchase). This thread isn't about my ranting anyway, it's about the boards!!
So, which options should I look at? Getting more of the Corsair RAM that 'Hello People' bought or look at the processor? Even though that's passed loads of Intel Burn tests without the merest hint of a fault.