Two days ago, we reported on a complex case in which a ROG Astral RTX 5090 was damaged by a leak from a NZXT AIO watercooling kit. We had reached the stage where the customer, unhappy with the brand’s proposal for a refund, announced that he would take his case to court… However, it would appear that he has presented the case to his advantage. The brand’s version is… Different.
Customer vs. NZXT, a reminder of the facts:
A reminder of the customer’s version!
It all starts with a simple case of an AIO that starts leaking. The result: liquid everywhere, dripping onto the motherboard and graphics card. As a result, the hardware is damaged. The customer then turns to the AIO manufacturer’s after-sales service, which agrees to replace the watercooling kit without a hitch. But when it came to discussing compensation, things got sticky.
In the customer’s version, he sent his card to the brand for analysis. Apparently, the brand scrapped the card without informing the customer, and produced contradictory reports on the damage it had sustained. With this, the customer complains of an after-sales service that puts the pressure on and demands a response within 24 hours, ending with a proposed compensation of $2855.99 deemed insufficient.
NZXT’s version:
According to the brand, yes, there was an initial refund offer of $2855.99, however, this offer corresponded to the initial purchase price of the card. Subsequently, the brand reassessed its offer in light of market realities. The re-evaluated offer came to $4161.90, enough to cover the purchase of a new card at the time.
But all in all, the company would make five different refund offers, before finally accepting a counter-offer of $4378 from the customer.
Finally, NZXT stated that it had returned the equipment to the customer (on March 6) after he had refused all compensation. On March 10, he updated the file with a new offer: $4807.90. In any case, this is a case that has been going on for several months now, since, according to the customer, the leak occurred in August 2025. The refund offer of $4368 was initially accepted on February 27. Still according to the brand, it took him 2 months to provide valid proof of purchase and another month to send photos of the damaged components.
How to interpret this?
Clearly, there’s some bad blood here. On the one hand, we have a customer who seems to be upping the ante by accepting and then reneging on agreements made with the brand (sounds eerily familiar). If a ROG Astral RTX 5090 is currently going for $3899.99 at NewEgg, in January/February, prices were on the rise, hence the high amounts.
On the other hand, we have an after-sales service that would like to close this case, reimburse its customer for the damage caused by the leak in one of their AIOs and move on. However, we regret the short response times required, which can force a hasty response.
All things considered, given the additional information provided by NZXT, we still get the impression that this customer fabricated a negative scenario with the aim of creating “negative buzz” to make the brand pay the (extremely) high price. But NZXT says it has documented every stage of the dispute with its legal department. It’s also up to us to be lucid about these misadventures, which have been multiplying in recent months. The days of all-powerful brands are over. Many take advantage of the power of social networks to change the face of an ordinary story for their own benefit. Often, brands capitulate to put out a fire or a procedure with no stakes that will last. Some smart guys have figured this out.
