Posted on 03/08/2010 2:37:51 PM PST by Ernest_at_the_Beach
On Friday, two sites reported that online e-tailer Newegg seemed to be inadvertently shipping out counterfeit Intel CPUs to punters. A storm of letters from my learned fiends has ensued.
HardOCP reported that one of its forum members, a Vincent Waller from Oregon, had had the misfortune of unboxing his Core i7-920 only to discover it was a rather horrid fake. Waller took pictures and posted them on the forum. HardOCP reposted the photos in an article.
From the outside, the box looked completely legitimate, it was only when Waller got to the inside that, he said, things started to look fishy. It even contained a booklet of blank pages loosely stapled together to pass as the instruction manual. So someone went to remarkable efforts here.
HardOCP also reported that another source told its reporter that 300 counterfeit processors were purchased by Newegg". Fakes were delivered last week in a shipment totalling 2,000 pieces, it reported.
HardOCP also said its source said that Newegg had now "discovered" all 300 counterfeit processors.
Tech community site, Icrontic, picked up the HardOCP story and noted that Newegg had shipped replacements for the fake CPUs quickly to affected customers and that both the e-tailer and Intel were in the process of investigating where the chips came from.
A company called D&H Distributing doesnt consider it legitimate for the free press took umbrage to this. In fact, the legal beagles over at D&H Distributing got so worked up over the horrifying gall and chutzpah of Icrontic and HardOCP for daring to ask a question that the company slapped both publications with a cease and desist order.
Sent by the lawyers representing D&H, Creim Macias Koenig & Frey, it reads in part:
It has recently been brought to our attention that you are responsible for publishing on the internet, and specifically on your websites, untrue statements respecting allegedly counterfeit Intel Core i7 processors which you allege were sold to Newegg by D&H.
This letter places you on notice that these statements are false. You have no basis for publishing these false and malicious statements about D & H. These false allegations are defamatory and disparaging to D&Hs business and business relations and have caused grave and irreparable damage to our client.
At this point, we feel compelled to point out that neither publication stated anything, both simply reported what they had been told by their sources, and asked a legitimate question. In public. Which the media does from time to time.
D&H, however,threw its toys out of its pram, demanding that both sites IMMEDIATELY (i) cease and desist posting such defamatory material about D&H.; (ii) remove the contact and any reference to D&H from your website; and, (iii) post an immediate retraction and apology which shall remain posted for not less than thirty days.
Er, anything else? Would you like a hug to go with that? Or a journalistic promise never to quote sources or investigate legitimate problems ever again?
The letter comes with an or else too.
If you fail to do so by 5 p.m., pst., on March 6, 2010, D&H will pursue all of its rights and remedies, including, without limitation, an action for libel, will seek full recovery for the damages caused by your untrue statements including punitive damages, as well as seek injunctive relief.
Injunctive relief, eh? Sounds like something a few senna pods in Mssrs. Creim Macias Koenig & Freys tea could sort out.
Well, Brian Ambrozy, editor of Icrontic shouldnt be overly worried. Mostly because the lawyers couldnt even spell his name correctly on the threatening C&D letter.
They aren’t actual, functioning chips, just a piece of plastic moulded in the shape of a chip.
Counterfeit Intel CPU Saga Comes to a Close
**************************************
This is hopefully our last installment of covering this debacle. We cover where we were right and where we were misinformed.
Newegg has sent HardOCP the following statement.
Hi Kyle,
Following is Newegg.com's official statement reguarding the Intel shipping story:
"Newegg is currently conducting a thorough investigation surrounding recent shipments of questionable Intel Core i7-920 CPUs purchased from Newegg.com.
Initial information we received from our supplier, IPEX, stated that they had mistakenly shipped us "demo units." We have since come to discover the CPUs were counterfeit and are terminating our relationship with this supplier. Contrary to any speculation, D&H Distributing is not the vendor that supplied us with the Intel Core i7-920 CPUs in question.
Neweggs top priority is to proactively reach out to all customers who may have been affected to ensure their absolute satisfaction. We have already sent out a number of replacement units and are doing everything in our power to resolve the matter promptly and with the least amount of inconvenience to our customers.
We have always taken pride in providing an exceptional experience for each customer, and we apologize for any inconvenience to our valued customers. We take matters like this extremely seriously, and are working in close cooperation with Intel and the appropriate law enforcement authorities to thoroughly investigate this incident."
Thanks,
Scott Meaney
DBA Public Relations
We are extremely happy to see Newegg come clean in this instance and we hope to see it continue to provide great customer service to the enthusiast that use its services.
Now onto a more pointed issue and let me requote from the above statement.
Contrary to any speculation, D&H Distributing is not the vendor that supplied us with the Intel Core i7-920 CPUs in question.
At no time did HardOCP speculate as to what company was supplying the counterfeit processors to Newegg. Our source that informed us of the supplier being D&H Distributing came from within Newegg's organization. We belived the information to be accurate and reported it to our readers. Newegg is stating that IPEX shipped it the counterfeit processors. I am not sure as to why we would get conflicting information, and we will further investigate that.
At this time we offer our apologies to D&H Distributing for naming it as the supplying distributor. HardOCP was simply reporting the information that we believed to be accurate. We would NEVER "speculate" on something of this nature, as there is NOTHING for us to gain by misinforming our readers. We will be investigating further as to why we were misinformed on this detail.
Again, my apologies to D&H Distributing. Our number one goal at HardOCP is to provide our readers with accurate reporting.
HardOCP said: “HardOCP was simply reporting the information that we believed to be accurate.”
Unfortunately, that’s not good enough. Kyle, the owner of HardOCP, did not call NewEgg to verify the distributor. He didn’t even call the supposed distributor. He heard a rumor from someone that works at NewEgg and proceeded to make slanderous accusations.
This is what happens when you believe that you can get “news” from anyone with a blog or website. The owner of HardOCP sounds very contrite for a guy that 48 hours ago was VERY VERY sure of his facts. I mean, look at how many of you just automatically assumed that anyone issueing a Cease and Desist order meant they were guilty.
Unsubstantiated rumor mongering causes harm to the reputation and bottom line of a perfectly innocent corporation. D&H could sue his ass to oblivion, but they probably won’t.
Oh, and this “I was just reporting what someone else said” BS doesn’t fly. It’s a trick that the MSM plays all day long and its just as reprehensible on small websites as it is on NBC News.
Oh, look. Suddenly no more posts about crying babies and shyster lawyers and countersueing for defamation. (Btw, ya can’t countersue if you haven’t been sued.)
So the moral of the story is: Know what you’re talking about before running off half-cocked and doing damage to a perfectly innocent person or company.
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