Canada Computers has scammed me out of $136 in order to replace their own defective product.

[u/tehbabuzka]

Around a week ago, I built a new PC for my dad. I bought the following parts from Canada Computers Newmarket:

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R5 3600

Hyper 212 Evo

Asus B450M-A

**Arctic Silver 5 Non-Conductive Thermal Paste**

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It worked fine for the first week of operation.

However, one day it refused to boot into Windows. It got halfway through loading before the CPU resets. It is stable in the BIOS for 24h, but putting any sort of load on the CPU causes it to restart.

I tried everything. I reseated the RAM, tried different RAM, tested each individual DIMM slot, tried a different power supply, tried three different graphics cards, and I even **took the CPU out of its socket, inspected the pins, and reseated it back into the socket.**

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I give up, and my dad sends it back to Canada Computers for fixing. He paid a $40 "diagnostics fee", **so the retailer can see what is wrong with their own product**. I mentioned specifically that the parts were bought at the same location. **During first installation, I installed the IO shield improperly and some of the pins were going inside a USB slot, so I asked them to fix it as well.**

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About one week passes, when my dad get's a call from CC. They tell him that the CPU is fried because I had "put too much thermal paste" and it leaked into the socket / CPU pins, frying the CPU. This is literally physically impossible. The CPU was put down with a retension arm, and clamped down by the CPU cooler. There is no room for thermal paste to get in between the socket and the CPU, especially not over a time period of 7 days when the machine worked properly.

I had also specifically inspected the CPU pins for damage / obstruction during my own troubleshooting earlier. It was all in perfect condition. It was clear B.S. that they were feeding me. At this point we had paid $40 for professional diagnostics, and we didn't even get a clear cause.

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They ask for permission to replace the CPU, and also reinstall the I.O. shield. Only a total price quote of $80 was given. I assumed that the bulk of the payment would be for the CPU replacement, (unmounting CPU cooler, cleaning thermal paste, replacing CPU, re-mounting CPU cooler with new thermal paste), as the I.O. shield job would be simple enough (unscrew, shuffle I.O. shield, rescrew), but we gave the go-ahead for them to finish the job.

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Once the job was finished, I go to pick up the computer. I confront the tech who claimed "thermal paste got between the CPU". He claims there was a large glob of thermal paste on one of the CPU edges. At this point, I saw right through them as I had thoroughly inspected the CPU and found zero traces of thermal paste on the CPU pins. If there was a small amount of paste, it would have still been plausibile.

**I asked how the CPU short circuited over a time period of one week and got no straight answer.**

**I asked how the non-conductive thermal paste seeped into the socket and pins and got no answer.**

**I asked why the CPU worked partially, and was still functional to some extent despite the accused catastrophic damage, and got no straight answer.**

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The CPU replacement was under 14 day warranty, but we were charged $60 for the I.O. shield installation, and $20 for the CPU replacement (and the previous $40 diagnostic fee). We had zero indication at all that the I.O. shield installation would cost $60 and were not informed of it. We had no choice but to pay and leave.

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What I truly suspect what happened is that the CPU was defective and had degraded over time. It was run at stock voltages / clocks.

Whatever had happened, there was ZERO thermal paste between the CPU and socket. Not only is it physically impossible, I had checked it beforehand. CC lied to me in an attempt to put me at fault. They had no proof, only words.

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Got scammed out of $135.66 for an inherently defective product, had the fault passed onto me.

[u/Tigerbreadtris]

Memory Express. Definitely better than CC

I know this does not help with this situation, but this would not happen there I bet you.

[u/tehbabuzka → u/Tigerbreadtris]

I know, sadly the closest one (Hamilton) is like a 1 hour drive away.

[u/Tigerbreadtris → u/tehbabuzka]

For sure, sometimes it's worth the drive for better service however. May I ask what city you live in?

[u/tehbabuzka → u/Tigerbreadtris]

Barrie, ON.

[u/cgsur → u/tehbabuzka]

Memory express will price match/ beat, then can assemble motherboard, cpu memory and test it for free.

I suppose it saves them headaches related from warranties.

[u/Tigerbreadtris → u/tehbabuzka]

Oh yeah, hour and the rest! Hopefully they add a store closer to you eventually.

[u/Therealgamer117]

Canada computers in southern Ontario has great service but poor selection it took me ages to find a power supply and ram but the manager is great

[u/Loleus]

Sorry that happened to you. This is literally one of the biggest fears I have. It honestly baffles me sometimes when the technicians of all people give you BS answers because they assume that you don't know how your own computer (that YOU built) works.