Reader Chris may have found the answer to the U.S. Postal Service’s woes: they just need to convince gadget maker Corsair to bring all of their warranty return business over there. A recent return had Chris sending enough incorrect items back and forth via UPS to Corsair that the shipping bills now exceed the original cost of the headset. At this rate, they could single-handedly bail out the Postal Service.

Back in January I started having problems with a Corsair HS1 USB Headset I purchased last year on Amazon. Since it was still under warranty through Corsair, I contacted them about getting a replacement and received a RMA. I was asked to ship the old headset back (at my expense), which I did that same day.

A month passes and a box arrives from Corsair containing a brand new headset. Because they no longer have the HS1’s, they sent me Corsair Vengeance 1300 headset. Unfortunately, that is an analog headset which has analog headphone and microphone jacks and not a USB headset. Checking Corsair’s site, I see they make a USB based version of the Vengeance headset, the 1500. I contact them again, tell them I received the 1300 version of the headset, which is analog, and I request that they send me the 1500, which is USB based, like the original one I RMA’d. They agree and tell me to ship the 1300 back to them, at my expense of course.

Another month passes and a new box from Corsair shows up on my doorstep. I open it up and have a nice brand new….Vengeance 1300 analog headset. Once again, I call Corsair and explain what’s happened. The customer service rep says it was a mistake on their end and to ship back the 1300 (they pick up the shipping on this one) and they’ll get the 1500 right out to me. They email me a shipping label, I box it up and ship it back to them.

Three weeks go by when another box arrives. I open it up (while holding my breath) and inside find a nice new Vengeance 1500 USB headset. There was much rejoicing.

A month passes, I’m enjoying my new 1500 headset when another box shows up on my doorstep from Corsair. I open it up and find a brand new 650 Watt Corsair ATX power supply (CMPSU-650TX) in the box. Confused, I look at the packing slip shows no reason why I receivedd it. Assuming the worst and that I’ll end up with a bill or a lien on my house for the power supply, I call them up. I explain what’s happened to the customer service rep. He isn’t sure what’s happened, but maybe they’ve sent it to me in reimbursement for the aggravation. He has to transfer me to another group though, and they should know for certain.

Once I get transferred here’s my conversation:

Corair Customer Support Rep #2: “Hi Chris? I hear you received a power supply for a headset or something to that effect?”

Me: “Yes, not sure why I received it. I originally RMA’d a headset, and we got that squared away about a month ago. Then today the power supply showed up on my doorstep and I just want to make sure I don’t get charged or end up with a bill for it.”

Corsair CS: “So, you didn’t return a power supply to us? Our system says you returned a power supply.”

Me: “No, I sent back a HS1 headset, but there you guys sent me the wrong replacement a few times, but I got the good replacement about a month ago. I’ve got no idea why this power supply showed up.”

Corsair CS: “I see…hold on…” “You’ll be receiving a shipping label through email to send the power supply back to us, please put the label on the box and drop it off at a local UPS store.”

Bravo, Corsair, bravo! You managed to ship me 4 different products and between the two of us we’ve paid over $100 for 7 UPS shipping labels (Me: 2, You: 5) to replace a single bad $99 headset. well done indeed!

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