After finally deciding on my watercooling components, I placed a few orders on Performance-PCS.com. My understanding was that they were one of the best places to purchase watercooling components from, especially for things like EK to avoid high cost/long time shipping and other cross border charges.

I received the first order which was a GPU waterblock, and I am pretty dissapointed at the shape at which what was delivered to me. The box has seen better days, and it seems to be pretty obvious that this has been opened before and "resealed." (see pics) The components sound loose in the box (screws, etc) but I haven't yet opened it. It just seemed to not be secured within the box by the way it sounds and moves. It was packed relatively well, and the outside box didn't seem damaged, so this doesn't seem to have occurred during shipping.

Is this the normal experience? Is this something I should be concerned about? Is this a used product?

Any feedback would be appreciated.

First let me start off by saying, I've bought a lot of stuff from Performance PCs, especially since FrozenCPU went under. I constantly tweak my build with new parts, and always need new watercooling supplies. So far, after over ~30 orders with both companies, I've only gotten 3 defective items (mind you, over $6000 in parts so far, so a pretty good track record). However, two of these were with FrozenCPU. One was an issue with a molex connector that I received as broken from the package, and the other was a D5 pump that simply wouldn't turn on. Both times, FrozenCPU sent me a new one, free of charge, saying they apologize for the inconvenience. I offered to send back the old parts, but they didn't want 'em. Pretty good customer service, right?

So now, after a good 4-5 orders with Performance PCs, I finally get one defective product...my Titan-X waterblock (used on my shiny new 980 TI). When screwing down the card to the block, I noticed that one of the screw posts broke off (you may have seen my post a couple weeks ago about it). And it broke CLEAN off, without any thread beneath it to replace the standoff with.

This picture [here] (http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y3/Vittra0/74615685-494d-47ec-977d-99cf6eb82a7b.jpg) is VERY similar to what happened to mine, but I didn't happen to snap a picture of my own, mostly because i was in panic-mode at the time.

I first talk to EK, the manufacturer, and they're happy to RMA it, but that takes a few weeks at the minimum, especially due to international shipping. So, I decided to go through Performance PCs. After many emails, they said they don't believe me that it broke, and that they're willing to send me a standoff if I prove it to them with pictures that the thread is not present on the block where the standoff was. They refuse to send me a new one (even though I offered to buy the 2nd one outright, and send back the old one, after which I can be refunded once in their hands).

Many emails went back and forth, but ultimately, they still refuse to help me, saying that they dont see HOW the standoff could simply break off..and that it was my fault. I (mostly kidding) compared them to Amazon, and said that if I got a defective Amazon item, they'd send me a new one, no questions asked. But, they're reply was "We are not a gigantic billion dollar machine like Amazon and so it's unfair to compare any store to them."

It's a shame too. I don't expect to receive many defective items, but it happens. And in such a small, niche community like watercoolers of PCs, we need to make sure we're shopping at stores with good customer service. This may just be my experience, or just that they don't like my face, so take this for what it's worth. But I just wanted to share a story of what happened to me for anyone who is looking to purchase their items in the future. Downvote if you must.

TL;dr Performance PCs will not send you a new item if the one they sent was defective. "Pics or it didn't happen