BrosTrend: A Company That Doesn't Honor Their Warranties

I've written previously about the budget gaming PC that I made and how happy I was with the overall performance of it. One of the last components which I purchased was a BrosTrend AC1200 Long Range PCI-e Wifi Card A6 to be exact. When I first got it I was very impressed by it's performance. It had both strong 2G and 5G signals with impressive speeds. I could have purchased the device either through Amazon or an eBay seller, but I chose to go with the eBay seller because the device was still brand new (factory sealed), but came with a slight savings over the one on Amazon. The card was highly rated and people who's cards had issues were promptly taken care of by the company. For all intents and purposes, it seemed like a great WiFi card.

The issue with my card started roughly a week ago. Anytime that my graphics card would be doing anything, the WiFi would suddenly cut out. While it wasn't as bad at first, only happening when playing graphically intense games, the problem got worse over time. The past few days the card will cut out randomly even when I'm not doing anything. Since I'd heard that BrosTrend customer service was top-notch, I decided to reach out to them when I first started to notice the issues a week ago.

The customer service department seemed very friendly and they asked me to provide basic information to them regarding my OS as well as the driver version that was installed for the card which I did. I seemed to have caught them at a bad time as it was Chinese New Year and they stated that they couldn't reach out to their lead tech until after the holidays which was understandable.

Today, they sent me a reply giving me further troubleshooting steps to try, but stated that if that didn't work that they couldn't repair or replace the device since it was purchased in "non-original" condition according to them. I'm assuming this is because I purchased the device through a reputable eBay store instead of through Amazon, but that doesn't mean that the device was in "non-original" condition. Non-original condition would be if I purchased it refurbished, but this wasn't the case, not even close. It was factory sealed, had no signs of any previous use, and came with everything including the original driver CD.

It would seem that they're simply not wanting to honor their warranty for whatever reason which actually violates consumer protection laws here in the US. I sent them an email stating that none of their troubleshooting methods that they suggested resolved my issue and that if they did not honor their warranty that I'd be filing a formal complaint with both the FTC and the BBB which I fully intend to do. I'm awaiting their reply, but I'm not hopeful at this point that anything will be resolved. I'm disappointed to say the least.

For the time being, I've switched to using my really cheap $2 USB WiFi adapter because while it is TERRIBLY slow, it doesn't cut out on me and actually works.

I'm not one to get upset at companies often. In fact, this is only the second time that I can remember being upset at a company with the other being the phone carrier Straight Talk. With the latter though, that was simply a matter of them not giving me my full data allowance that I paid for and cutting me off before my scheduled end date compounded by the fact that their customer service department was the worst that I've ever dealt with in my life.

I'm hoping this issue gets resolved soon. If so, I'll write an article providing an update to this situation. Otherwise, I will be filing a complaint with both the FTC as well as the BBB to pursue further actions against their company. Consumer protection laws exist for a reason and even if my device doesn't get repaired/replaced, then hopefully a formal investigation (or two) into the matter may help future customers of their's be protected.