LMG Sponsor Complaints

[CPotter]

Hey everyone! Rest assured we're working on the ASUS stuff, and will report our findings back when our contact gets back to us. Our collective team monitors this thread very closely, and we will keep everyone updated.

 

Want to take a second to thank everyone for their critical feedback. Please continue to voice sponsor concerns as you have them, and we will listen, but please stay on topic.

[Drakinite_]

Hiya,

 

Not sure if you're still being sponsored by PIA. I've been using PIA for years and my yearly charge has always been around $39.95 around the end of January. But just yesterday (April 26), I got charged $69.95 by PIA, through PayPal. It's a really strange charge because it isn't even in my account history. I already opened a dispute with PayPal, and I'll update you guys on what's going on if and when I get more information.

 

EDIT: False alarm. Looks like the charge was for a 24-month plan I apparently signed up for on another email address, in January 2021, without remembering. Since the account name / account email address is not included in the PayPal statement, and it's pretty difficult to view PayPal statements from 2 years ago, that fact flew under my radar until I got an email from PIA that the second account (the one with the 24-month plan) was automatically terminated. I then signed in with that user ID and found both $69.95 charges.

[sea_via_phl]

Looking for help with issues with Asus.

 

So, quick summary:

• Bought an x670e motherboard that was bad

• Waited 3 months for Asus to give me an advance RMA

• They put a $770 hold on my card while processing the RMA

• The RMA board they sent me also had issues

• Now while dealing with a "bad' replacement motherboard. I send back the original board I had bought so Asus can remove the hold from my account using a label they provided.

• They send me an email saying they haven't received it back and will charge me if it's not returned by the specified date. The tracking shows they received it, so I call them to confirm this.

• The rep on the phone confirms they have the product back in their warehouse & I will not be charged for the RMA

• 2 Days later they charged me $770!

All in all, I have paid around $1,500 so far to Asus, and all I have to show for it I one faulty motherboard. it's been a week since they charged me for an RMA after I sent them their board back and no resolution. They said they would call me in a day, but it's been 3 days already. Unfortunately its a very large amount, and its not something I can just cover for a week.

[Genzong]

On 4/26/2023 at 8:32 PM, CPotter said:

Hey everyone! Rest assured we're working on the ASUS stuff, and will report our findings back when our contact gets back to us. Our collective team monitors this thread very closely, and we will keep everyone updated.

 

Want to take a second to thank everyone for their critical feedback. Please continue to voice sponsor concerns as you have them, and we will listen, but please stay on topic.

 

On 4/25/2023 at 4:29 PM, LMGcommunity said:

We're still working on it! We will follow-up when we have more info.

Thanks for the updates. Let me know if you guys want copies of the emails back and forth and the stupid NDA they tried to make me sign so I wouldn't publicly disclose my experience with them and was "now needed" to get the NIB Replacement I was told had already been approved, a refund, and/or the motherboard back from the RMA Facility. 

[sea_via_phl]

On 4/26/2023 at 8:32 PM, CPotter said:

Hey everyone! Rest assured we're working on the ASUS stuff, and will report our findings back when our contact gets back to us. Our collective team monitors this thread very closely, and we will keep everyone updated.

 

Want to take a second to thank everyone for their critical feedback. Please continue to voice sponsor concerns as you have them, and we will listen, but please stay on topic.

Hopefully you can bring up my concern to them as well.

 

The RMA and facilities team there is unduly charging customers and is not addressing core customer concerns due to their frustrating process.

[spaghet rat]

why did ltt accept an asus sponsorship for todays video? with everything in this thread from @Genzong and others i kind of thought that at least temporarily asus spots would be put on hold? i still like many asus products but i think clarity is needed and the sponsor spots kind of retract on what i hope is an ongoing investigation?

[Genzong]

3 hours ago, spaghet rat said:

why did ltt accept an asus sponsorship for todays video? with everything in this thread from @Genzong and others i kind of thought that at least temporarily asus spots would be put on hold? i still like many asus products but i think clarity is needed and the sponsor spots kind of retract on what i hope is an ongoing investigation?

I'm just gonna leave this here. Also, I just noticed from going back through everything the "upgrade" was not only a downgrade but it's D4. I have a ProArt. And DDR5. So they tried screwing me in another way hoping, praying, andf thinking I was a typical shopper that wouldn't know the difference in a D4 board vs a DDR5 mobo. Never really noticed it because it wasn't at least a MAXIMUS FORMULA which is the closest comparison to features to the ProArt. So yeah, there's that. 

Thanks for the ding @spaghet rat. fr. Otherwise I wouldn;t of even bothered posting these today and I agree... Combined with the sponsor slot today and with the 2 HUGE post by myself and @97hummer. Which from looking at past responses and speed of responses to post in thif forum, it seems Asus is probably ignoring LTT about this as well. 

 

 

 

READ THE NDA THEY WANTED ME TO SIGN.

 

THEY LITERALLY TRIED TO SWEEP EVERYTHING UNDER THE

RUG. ALSO, "PLEASE ALLOW UP TO 18 WEEKS" FOR SHIPPING

IN THAT NDA. ASUS WAS EXTREMELY MALICIOUS IN THIS WHOLE SITUATION.

"Our STRIX line is top of the line and this motherboard specifically offers features which the ProArt line does not." 
Yeah.. Less features and it's a DDR4 board when I have DDR5 ProArt.

UPGRADE BABY!!!! WOOOOOOOOO.


NGL, this sponsor, and going back thru emails for screenshots, has gotten me mad at this whole situation all over again. 

 

 

 

PS, Also, Please note they quoted California Law. I am located in Virginia. A company a large as ASUS knows they must follow both State and Federal Laws. Any kind of laws or anything would by state law be required to be litigated and dependent on VA and/or Federal Law due to long standing Virginia Laws that force the company to come to the consumer to litigate due to Virginia being a Commonwealth State and actually caring about it's citizens unlike most other states which do not have such protections. Because of this, even if I signed that NDA, it wouldn't be valid nor enforceable which just shows even more incompetence on Asus' behalf. 

PSS, Any update yet by chance? As stated in my original post, it's a finally resolved now but still, the whole adventure I was put through combined with what the other long post complaint about ASUS which still is not resolved it seems is absolutely WILD. 

 

PSSS, I also want to point out the biggest issue I have here with Asus. Asus made an attempt to and possible broke at minimal 50 laws. One in each state which legally requires companies and government entities to notify the affected person(s) that their data is out there in the way that it is and their legal requirement to investigate any claims of such. Instead they decided to try and scare me into signing an NDA, ripping me off, and then when I called them on their shit and started quoting specific laws both state and federally ONLY THEN did they finally "find" a ProArt replacement but Priority Overnight shipped it because they knew they had screwed up bad and since then have still not returned my calls requesting someone who I can report the data breach too. Amazing at how they required the NDA. Then after they are told very specific legal text that's applicable and makes them in the wrong, instead of ceasing communication and sending their lawyer information like literally any other business would do once you start making legal threats. Asus just backed down and here we are today. Overnight Priority from California to Virginia ain't cheap. The only reason this happened is because I threatened them with a lawsuit in which I was titled to up to $2,500,000USD in damages if I decided to proceed that way and then provided the laws that would make that possible. Without that, there is no way in hell that this would of been over with Asus by now. 

 

PSSSS, I jsut wanna point out this as well with ASUS atm. So it's not just me and the other person. Granted my failure was different but STILL. Yet ANOTHER issue from Asus. There is some serious issue with Asus atm. Dying boards left and right, one of which was mine minus the explosion, except it was Intel rather than AMD. So... Yeah. Please drop Asus or something. Which sucks because IMO Asus is still some of the best hardware out there just... They have issues right now 

 

[spaghet rat]

45 minutes ago, Genzong said:

Thanks for the ding @spaghet rat. fr.

no problem. when i was first starting to get into pcs and stuff like 2 years ago i thought asus was like the big brand that could do no evil but now with the amd mbs going boom and the racketeering type bs you went through i feel like i should rethink stuff. now im prob gonna get an msi carbon motherboard for my setup instead of a strix board

[spaghet rat]

On 4/19/2023 at 11:50 AM, Genzong said:

Any update or response from Asus as well as any update on someone reaching out to me so i can go in depths about the massive inavion f data rpivacy I can discuss with a team member to give them the details since LMG is part of this privacy breach? As it stands I'm pretty sure  Ihave personal information for about 17 LMG employees that I found for sale online and from what I can tell the information is highly accurate just I'm not trying to call peoples cellphones cause that mess is weird

@LinusTech have you seen this?

[Genzong]

4 hours ago, spaghet rat said:

no problem. when i was first starting to get into pcs and stuff like 2 years ago i thought asus was like the big brand that could do no evil but now with the amd mbs going boom and the racketeering type bs you went through i feel like i should rethink stuff. now im prob gonna get an msi carbon motherboard for my setup instead of a strix board

Honestly, I genuinely feel that my situation and the other individuals are low case one offs. HOWEVER.. These, in my opinion, "one off cases" are so extreme. Plus the fact that even still Asus refuses to contact me or discuss anything with me. I have an idea if I needed to do another RMA I probably can't as I'm pretty sure I am blacklisted by Asus. 
 

EVGA gave me a discount code3 for 50% off any EVGA products off Newegg up to $2,500 USD jsut because I reported this to them and they freaked out at how bad it was and thanked me. That's awesome. Not needed and I wasn't expecting it. Asus though? Nah. We're gonna break laws possibly, scam you, rip tyou off, and make life hell because how dare you find a previously not known data breach that puts our families at risk and goes as far as to even LISTING THE SCHOOLS THAT COMPANIES EMPLOYEES GO TO AS WELL AS THEIR CHILDRENS PHONE NUMBERS AND SOCIAL MEDIA ACCOUNTS. Because that's not weird. 

Not like disgruntled people with a mental disorder has ever done anything before. Nope. Louisville, Nashville, Las vegas, and even YouTube HQ never had anything happen or done to them by crazy people. Which is why I am so disappointed in Asus. 

I mean, It's not like the FBI contacted me after Intel or EVGA or one of the other affected companies that took what I said seriously or anything @spaghet rat... 



............


........

....

 

 

 

 

................................

Oh wait, they did. 


PS, I still gotta recommend ProArt if you're spending more than $250 but less than $750 uinless you need some specific feature. I'll need to rtry and maybe find a replacement when I upgrade in a few months  

[spaghet rat]

9 minutes ago, Genzong said:

Honestly, I genuinely feel that my situation and the other individuals are low case one offs. HOWEVER.. These, in my opinion, "one off cases" are so extreme. Plus the fact that even still Asus refuses to contact me or discuss anything with me. I have an idea if I needed to do another RMA I probably can't as I'm pretty sure I am blacklisted by Asus. 
 

EVGA gave me a discount code3 for 50% off any EVGA products off Newegg up to $2,500 USD jsut because I reported this to them and they freaked out at how bad it was and thanked me. That's awesome. Not needed and I wasn't expecting it. Asus though? Nah. We're gonna break laws possibly, scam you, rip tyou off, and make life hell because how dare you find a previously not known data breach that puts our families at risk and goes as far as to even LISTING THE SCHOOLS THAT COMPANIES EMPLOYEES AS WELL AS THEIR CHILDRENS PHONE NUMBERS AND SOCIAL MEDIA ACCOUNTS. Because that's not weird. 

Not like disgruntled people with a mental disorder has ever done anything before. Nope. Louisville, Nashville, Las vegas, and even YouTube HQ never had anything happen or done to them by crazy people. Which is why I am so disappointed in Asus. 

yeah it really paints asus in a bad light

[spaghet rat]

16 minutes ago, Genzong said:

I mean, It's not like the FBI contacted me after Intel or EVGA or Some other company that took what I said seriously contacted them contacted them or anything @spaghet rat... 

wow...

[Milkze]

Outrageous customer service from asus my mother board has been gone from me for 3 weeks hardly kept in contact about anything 0 updates and 0 urgency to please customers. I sent my mother board in absolutely fine free from physical damage just needed a pcie clip cause mine fell off. Just to find out it arrives at the facility and they claiming that i damaged it so theyre trynna charge me for a whole new board plus shipping and labor. 390 canadian dollars when a new board costs only 220. I messaged the ceo cause i got tired of dealing with support and even then the ceo told me it would only take 24-48 hours to get a response from the facility and that he cant do anything until the facility gets in contact with him. Its been a week later still no response i have to initiate the updates and the ceo still has yet to get a response from the facility. They keep blaming shipping damage but i 100% believe they damaged my board on purpose and are avoiding having to send pictures to ceo so that they dont get introuble/caught for their bulls***. This is absolutely discouraging/depressing ontop of just feeling totally disrespected and like they do not care about my outcome at all. I will refuse to ever buy a asus product again based on this support it doesnt help anyone they pretend to be their for you but you gotta go through such a headache and constant check ups to get anywhere with this company. TERRIBLE    

[RTX 3090]

23 hours ago, Milkze said:

Outrageous customer service from asus my mother board has been gone from me for 3 weeks hardly kept in contact about anything 0 updates and 0 urgency to please customers. I sent my mother board in absolutely fine free from physical damage just needed a pcie clip cause mine fell off. Just to find out it arrives at the facility and they claiming that i damaged it so theyre trynna charge me for a whole new board plus shipping and labor. 390 canadian dollars when a new board costs only 220. I messaged the ceo cause i got tired of dealing with support and even then the ceo told me it would only take 24-48 hours to get a response from the facility and that he cant do anything until the facility gets in contact with him. Its been a week later still no response i have to initiate the updates and the ceo still has yet to get a response from the facility. They keep blaming shipping damage but i 100% believe they damaged my board on purpose and are avoiding having to send pictures to ceo so that they dont get introuble/caught for their bulls***. This is absolutely discouraging/depressing ontop of just feeling totally disrespected and like they do not care about my outcome at all. I will refuse to ever buy a asus product again based on this support it doesnt help anyone they pretend to be their for you but you gotta go through such a headache and constant check ups to get anywhere with this company. TERRIBLE    

Just some advice on getting a refund, if you paid with a credit or debit card, create a chargeback claim with your bank. Screenshoot all the emails, and attach them to reference. Also if they're blaming shipping damage, they've admitted it was dead on arrival, so use that against them

[Evergrace]

The Corsair K100 keyboard has had a fatal flaw since early August of 2022 (possibly even sooner, this is the earliest posting I could find on Corsair's user forums was August of 2021 regarding this issue, OP in that post claims to have bought the board in December of 2020 first documented use of the firmware version was August of 2022, so regardless it's been an issue for at least 10 months) where seemingly the board will randomly record a macro without user instigation and will randomly execute said macro without the user hitting that macro button. This prompted the release of firmware update v1.11.39 which then seems to exacerbated, or introduced a slew of issues. For example, the board will randomly drop connection to the user's computer, requiring a full unplug/replug of the peripheral to restore function (this can happen as rarely as once-twice a week, to multiple times within a half-hour, it's entirely random frequency). As well as "ghosting" but with the added headache of the usual "push ghosted button to exorcise the ghost" fix does not work as the board will cut connection at the same time. Corsair has released subsequent firmware updates that have not fixed the issue, and at one point made the issue worse (Corsair has rolled back that particular firmware version 1.11.39, to their credit) but still refuses to acknowledge there is a problem with the keyboard and directs you to sit on customer support repeatedly, sometimes resulting in a RMA that just sends you another board with the same issue (but an earlier firmware v1.9.26 which touts a user-reported "less frequency of failure rate"). The entire issue is also exacerbated by the refusal to have a firmware repository for any devices under Corsair's umbrella, while I could understand the hesitation due to hardware conflicts, trying to flash the older firmware (I have a copy of v0.30.257) onto these new v1.xx boards results in an "incompatible firmware" error, which would (in my humble opinion) keep the instances of catastrophic firmware incompatibilities to an absolute minimum.

 

Older versions of the board to the communities knowledge used a different controller mainboard and does not have this issue, but is running an extremely old version of firmware (v.0.32.262) and are from purchases prior to seemingly Q2 of 2022 (I have a K100 purchased in January of 2021 with the old firmware and no issue, and recently rebought the board for a friend in March of 2023 which is having the issues still to this day). Corsair recently (March 29th '23) released firmware v1.13.53 which had no noticeable change in behavior, but in some instances has caused the issue to become more frequent (again, going off frequency of Forum posts). 

Corsair has completely dropped the ball on this keyboard from a customer and community support angle and should be pressured to be transparent with the process of how they are planning to fix this issue, and keep the (flagship $280 USD) faulty boards from ending up in consumers hands (at least in the state that they have been for the last 300 days). 

 

Thank you LTT team for all your hard work.

[Exty]

could someone from LMG team look in to secretlabs and the whole company as a whole? they seem like a scam company, or at least something really shady there.

 

like all their reviews are botted. their subreddit is owned by them and most negative posts get deleted.

 

 

Also they have so many reviews. but how do you even leave one?

[LifeofPies]

15 hours ago, Exty said:

could someone from LMG team look in to secretlabs and the whole company as a whole? they seem like a scam company, or at least something really shady there.

 

like all their reviews are botted. their subreddit is owned by them and most negative posts get deleted.

 

 

Also they have so many reviews. but how do you even leave one?

This is a great point.  Secretlabs is also embroiled in a consumer class action for their business practices, specifically fake discounts that result in improper price fixing.  They tried to get the case dismissed saying everyone who buys a chair from them and has a complaint must file their complaint with the Singaporean courts.  A U.S. District Judge rejected Secretlabs' attempt to dismiss the case based on this shady practice.  The case is 22-cv-08944-VC in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California.  The Court's Order is attached

Secretlabs order.pdf Secretlabs Complaint.pdf

[Colty]

I've been watching this thread regarding the Asus issues.

Then I see the Asus sponsored PC build with Esther. Perhaps the video was filmed before all of this was brought to light, I'll let is pass.

Then I watch one of the WAN show clips, LTX '23 is "brought to you by Asus"? Yikes 

 

That was probably all sorted out ages before this came to light, but I sincerely hope it's the last Asus integration with LMG. This isn't the first horror story I've heard from them and I've personally had a few distasteful, but not horrorific encounters with them. (both personally as a consumer and as a repair tech at an authorized service center)

[Genzong]

@LinusTech @LMGcommunity @CPotter @mynameGeoff 

Hello. While I understand that sometimes it takes a bit sometimes for sponsors to reach back out to you guys 2moro will be 21 days after I originally posted my complaint/horror story with Asus. Since then I have posted more information showing what all had happened including a NDA they tried making me sign which is illegal due to the contents of it. 

The NDA if you read it is carefully crafted to try and silence me on the lack of support, blatant attempts to scam me/rip me off, and to try and sweep the fact under the rug that I was able to compile a list oof thousands of Asus employees personal phone number, work phone number, personal emails, work emails, and social media accounts which from the beginning I've been trying to report to them and to this day Asus still has yet to reach back out to me over how I came across this information. 

The fact of the matter is that while the website has existed for a long time the recent LinkedIn data breach made the website in questions data they're selling even more accurate to the point where I was even able to use it to find employees children, parents, spouses, home addresses, license plate information, and more. I posted screenshots showing Intel and EVGA taking this threat extremely seriously after I discussed things with them and told them about the website and how the data they sell is now scarily accurate and correct. 

As stated in other threads and even within this thread, I have been a die hard Asus fan since 2009 or so. Without FTW3 cards STRIX are the best on the market now, there's no denying that. As stated in other threads I still believe that if you are spending more than $250USD but less than $750USD on a motherboard then the ProArt line is hands down the best one to go with unless you want/need some very specific feature not already on the ProArt. If you're spending more than $750 then either your dumb and/or you are doing extreme overclocking which is fine and not dumb. I have a few ProArt monitors and I love everything about them. A bit expensive but totally worth it for what you get if you need a monitor like that. In fact I also have a STRIX version of every GPU released since the 1st STRIX card(Nvidia GTX 780). I have a Z490, Z590, Z690, Z790, X570, and a X670 ProArt Motherboard. It's quite literally all I've used for years now. 
As much as I hate the word... I would even go as far as to say I am, or at least was, borderline an Asus FanBoy. 


I know that Asus is sponsoring LTX and that LMG probably doesn't want to rock the boat this close to the event cause Asus but... This boat needs to be rocked and my caring and understanding is running out. However.... Since there is no response as I have seen and as how @97hummer has seen from Asus, it's time to transition to a way that will 100% get a reply...

[Spotty]

Please keep discussion related to sponsor complaints and stay on topic.

 

While LMG encourages you to share any negative experiences you have had with any of their sponsors, and they may pass your complaint on to their company contacts, please keep in mind Linus Media Group staff are not able to act as mediators to resolve disputes.

 

If you are having issues with a business that you cannot resolve by contacting the company please reach out to your relevant consumer affairs agency for further assistance.

 

USA: https://www.usa.gov/state-consumer  |  https://www.bbb.org/

Canada: https://www.canada.ca/en/services/finance/consumer-affairs.html

UK: https://www.gov.uk/consumer-protection-rights  |  https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/office-of-fair-trading

EU: https://commission.europa.eu/  |  https://www.eccnet.eu/

Australia: https://www.accc.gov.au/about-us/contact-us/report-a-consumer-issue

[Schuasda]

Dbrand
Can you maybe shout out dbrand's bullshit customizer at some point? There really is no "customization" at all besides choosing the actual skin.

How can i not "customize" to have a different skin on the trackpad of a laptop than on the lid?

Why do i have to either order the full set, or only get the lid skin? Maybe i want the lid and the inside/keyboard but not the trackpad.

 

The old skin picker was way better in every regard, it also showed you the part of the device you were currently changing. And again, my main point, you could specifically select which skins for a device you wanted and which you don't. Now you can't even choose if you want a logo cutout or not!

[QwertyChouskie]

1 hour ago, Schuasda said:

Dbrand
Can you maybe shout out dbrand's bullshit customizer at some point? There really is no "customization" at all besides choosing the actual skin.

How can i not "customize" to have a different skin on the trackpad of a laptop than on the lid?

Why do i have to either order the full set, or only get the lid skin? Maybe i want the lid and the inside/keyboard but not the trackpad.

 

The old skin picker was way better in every regard, it also showed you the part of the device you were currently changing. And again, my main point, you could specifically select which skins for a device you wanted and which you don't. Now you can't even choose if you want a logo cutout or not!

They went over thus in a blog post or something, basically it comes down to the fact that managing 2 billion SKUs for individual components just wasn't really feasable anymore.

[QwertyChouskie]

On 5/8/2023 at 11:26 AM, Spotty said:

Please keep discussion related to sponsor complaints and stay on topic.

 

While LMG encourages you to share any negative experiences you have had with any of their sponsors, and they may pass your complaint on to their company contacts, please keep in mind Linus Media Group staff are not able to act as mediators to resolve disputes.

 

If you are having issues with a business that you cannot resolve by contacting the company please reach out to your relevant consumer affairs agency for further assistance.

 

USA: https://www.usa.gov/state-consumer  |  https://www.bbb.org/

Canada: https://www.canada.ca/en/services/finance/consumer-affairs.html

UK: https://www.gov.uk/consumer-protection-rights  |  https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/office-of-fair-trading

EU: https://commission.europa.eu/  |  https://www.eccnet.eu/

Australia: https://www.accc.gov.au/about-us/contact-us/report-a-consumer-issue

I agree that LMG can't act as a mediator for every dispute, but if customers are having to resort to getting the government involved, maybe LMG shouldn't accept sponsorships from them anymore?

[CPotter]

On 4/16/2023 at 3:04 PM, Genzong said:

The Ballad Of Asus

 

An In Depth Look At The Failure of, Total Lack of Care About Employee Security & Safety, Attempt to Scam Me, Attempts at ripping me off, & Overall Lack of Customer Service

 

This all started when I began an RMA process for an Asus ProArt Z690 CREATOR motherboard. On February 27th my computer began doing some funky stuff. On Feb. 28th the motherboard died. I tried multiple combinations of RAM, CPU, SSDs, NVMes, GPUs, etc. etc. etc. Took my hardware to a local shop and they used my hardware on their test bench, Booted right to bios and then after that it booted right into windows. Cool. They tried another test bench they have which has their own hardware with my motherboard. Same issue. Failure to boot. Gets to DRAM check and reboot loop. 

My Components: 
4 P41 Platinum NVMes
Asus TUF 3090 Ti
128GB Kingston Fury DDR5 6000MT/s

Nvidia A100 80GB

80+ Platinum 1600W EVGA PSU

 

I called Asus and started an RMA procedure. After my motherboard arrived in their warehouse it took approximately 4 days to even get an update saying that they had received it and when I called within those 4 days they tried telling me on the phone,
"Regardless of what the tracking number says all packages are individually taken off the truck and scanned before entering our warehouse. The mail carrier, FedEx, just marks it as delivered by the truck load so it's possible that even though it was marked as delivered we never received it and thus you need to open a claim with FedEx. As outlined in the shipping instructions Asus is not responsible for any lost or stolen packages." 

Eventually, they found the package alleging it had "fallen between the conveyer belt and a wall." Cool! no worries they got it. I'm told that now they found it they will need up to 10 business days excluding weekends and holidays to repair it, test it, and have it sent back to me. Cool. No Problem. Two days later I get an email stating something along the lines of "blah blah blah. Covid. Blah Blah Blah. Lockdowns and shipping restrictions around the globe are affecting out supply chain. Blah Blah Please allow up to 5 additional weeks excluding weekends and holidays so we can get parts and fix your motherboard."  

1. There was no lockdowns affecting anything anymore. 
2. Shipping has returned to normal. 
3. Prices for PC Components started going up insanely overnight and continue to get more and more expensive even to this day. When I bought the motherboard brand new it was $409.99US as of writing this if you can even find it in stock the average price for NIB(New In Box) is around $530.99US.

4. I had already been told by a "tier 2 customer support expert" that it would quote "take no longer than 10 business days to fix and have it shipped back to me as since due to what happened and the failure on their part it would be rushed and "given priority." 
 

So I do what any irate customer would do. I call them up and raise hell about being told one thing and then another and knowing what the market was doing I was offered a "buyout" where Asus pays me what I paid for the motherboard including tax and shipping & handling. I refused this and instead quoted local and federal laws(Magnusson-Moss Warranty Act & Virginia Consumer Act) and how a time frame was provided and thus needs to be met. 

The following day I get another email, "You're m,o0therboard has been fixed, tested, and shipped back out to you. Here's the tracker # thanks for choosing asus blah blah blah"

Motherboard arrives. I open it up and go to start tossing components on it and I notice Asus has ripped off the thermal pads for the NVMes. Okay.. No problem the repair tech probably though it was something I added rather than something that comes with the motherboard. Plus, in all fairness they do very clearly state any user things attached can and will be thrown away in bright red letters in the PDF they email for the RMA process to get started. No problem, just give em a call and have them overnight ship me replacements. While on hold waiting for an agent to pick up the phone I open the CPU latch and see there are bent pins. Now I'm pissed. There was no bent pins before I sent the motherboard in. Now there is. Not only that but thermal pads for the NVMes have been removed. 

While waiting on hold I think about it. I quoted state and federal law that holds them liable for things their agents say whether they mean to or not. 100,000,000% this is intentional damage by the RMA Facility. They stated they didn't have parts to fix my motherboard. Why was it sent back to me the day after I get an email saying they need 5 weeks to get a new shipment of parts. FINALLY, the agent answers the phone. 

I explain what has happened and ask to speak to a manager and/or senior support agent. I get transferred to a "Tier 3 Senior Customer Support Agent." I then explain the situation thus far, voice my concerns over how this seems very intentionally done. They request photos of the shipping box, motherboard, and anything wrong with it which I email them over and the agent sees them while still on the phone. After getting the photos the agent grumbles and makes a comment under their breath which I was only able to make out " Unintelligible this is the 3rd one Unintelligibe Same pins are bent as the others." I then am asked if I could be put on hold and that "Regardless of what happened or who damaged it, Asus is willing to cover the shipping cost and repair cost to fix the motherboard again. I reject this offer because for one Asus is legally required to cover shipping cost for in warranty claims by law and that Asus just basically admitted that someone in the warehouse is purposely damaging stuff. Also informing her that I heard the agent saying that something about 3rd one and same bent pins and that because of this I want a NIB replacement. The agent becomes flustered thinking that she had put me on hold but did not. She then says that she needs to talk to her supervisor. She comes back from hold and says that her supervisor is busy at the moment and will call me within the next 48 business hours.

On the 3rd day I call Asus again. I am told that my case has been transferred to "Tier 4 Senior Management Customer Support and Relations" and as such no Asus agent is allowed to transfer me, discuss the status of my case, nor are they at liberty to even add notes to my case number as it could put their jobs at risk. I'm told that someone is supposed to be contacting me within 48 buisiness hours of the case being elevated and that "each non holiday week day is treated as an 8 business hour period. This was a Tuesday at this point. Okay, whatever I get it. Senior management can be a nightmare and no one under them dares to try and go over their heads. Whatever I'll just wait to full "48 Business Hours."

Day 16. A Friday. No call. No email. Nothing. At this point I'm furious. Support Agents say that my case says someone is supposed to be contacting me. They claim they cannot discuss my case with me at all. Furious, I go to BingChat and ask it for some stuff so I can bitch, whine, and complain on every social media Asus is part of, which leads me down a rabbit hole where now I find stuff that list employee personal information. Being that no one will contact me I decide send out a massive multi text text message to 100 Asus senior level employees. Within minutes I am called by the person handling my case. They demand to know how I was able to contact employees directly and they then threaten to cancel my warranty for the motherboard and warranties for all other Asus products registered to my Asus account if I don't comply. Taken aback b this threat and demand, I quote the Magnusson-Moss Warranty Act and The Virginia Consumer Protection Act which makes that outright illegal to even consider canceling my warranties like that and inform Asus that if they want to try that is be prepared to take them to court.

I explain everything that has happened thus far. I also give the person a bit of info on how I did that and inform them that from the data set I found for sale without telling them the website what all the data has or anything. On this matter I make clear that I want to speak with Asus' Data Protection Team and/or Asus' Legal team because the data leads to irate customewrs being able to find employees' children and where they go to school. As I'm explaining that since Asus' purposely and had admitted that someone  in the warehouse damaged my motherboard the only acceptable recourse now is a NIB Replacement. I explain that I use a NVidia A100 in the machine and since they showed their hand already and they cannot 100% promise NIB advertised speeds under applicable laws a NIB or Buyout must be offered and the customer has the legal right for any reason to refuse one for any reason and if they do then the company is required to honor the other option since two instead of one option was offered.

The agent says they need to talk with their boss and the legal team to see if these laws apply to Asus or not and that within 24 hours not business hours I'll be getting back in touch with you on this case." The following morning, like 14 hours later, I get an email followed by a phone call. They claim that California state laws allows them to choose themselves which solution of the offered ones is followed through with and that because of this they are only willing to offer a buyout and a "$25 coupon code good on New Egg for Asus Products." I once again quote the Virginia Consumer Protection Act and inform them that I am well enough aware of the law and that due to my work I can literally hit a button my PC and just walk away for days and have it work for me if need be and that under VA state law the Company is required to come to the customer and defend themselves their using VA laws, not California laws and that I will gladly represent myself and draw out this legal battle as long as I need to especially since an agent admitted that the damage was done purposely. That infact Asus would end up spending thousands of dollars to defend this and at the end of the day under state and federal law I could claim up to 2.5M USD in damages and emotional Distress and planned on going for the full amount. 

Agent stays quiet for about 15 seconds and says she needs to contact her superior and ask to place me on hold. After being on hold for approximately 45 minutes she comes back and says Asus is "considering their options and will contact me via email from now on and that any agent who gets this case number has been instructed to just hang up the phone immediately without saying anything more after pulling up the case file" and that "you should receive an email within the next 48 hours with an adequate resolution." I say that's cool and request to be put in touch with Data Security and/or Legal over how I was able to get all these employees cellphone numbers like this because while I just want my RMA to be completed and to not be screwed over which Asus has clearly shown they want to do and that I am thankfully a sane person, that this information potentially poses extreme risk to employees' their families and friends. I mention that just the day before how some psycho committed the Nashville School Shootings. The agent says "That's not important. What is important is resolving this case." After the typical Corpo-Spiel she says "Well that's everything I'm at liberty to discuss. Please remember any and all future communication for this case numbr MUST BE done through email." and she hangs up before I can do anything. 

Within minutes I get an  additional email explaining that "If you have any further comments, questions, and/or concerns to please reply this email thread as any and all communication MUST go through this channel. I once again voice concerns over the data now in my possession. Not once through the remainder of this does Asus acknowlege nor care that some random is claiming they were able to get the records of just over 3,000 Asus employees.

2 days later I get an email saying that Asus does not have a ProArt Z690 CREATOR available and instead would like to offer me "a complimentary upgrade our STRIX line of motherboard" to a "ROG STRIX Z690-A Gaming WiFi" motherboard but that in order to move forward with the "NIB Replacement and Upgrade" I would need to sign a NDA that says Asus is not responsible nor liable for anything after I receive it and I would not be allowed to talk about the fact I was able to so easily access employee information and that if I did then Asus would have the legal right to sue me i9n California dn that I agree that any court proceeding resulting would have to be in California through Arbitration." I laugh. Inform them that this NDA is not legal under the Magnusson-Moss Warranty Act and/or the Virginia Consumer Protection Act. After looking at the motherboard in question they offered I see that NIB it is $199.99, has none of the feature that comes on the ProArt line of motherboards, and is very clearly another attempt at Asus banking on me being an uninformed customer who doesn't know anything about computers so they can rip me off and make it go away. They even resorted to trying and bully me with a NDA. I've already told them what my specs are and the initial agent that asked me for this evewn commented on and spent about 10 minutes discussing AI and large-scale machine learning done on the A100. So Asus knows that even for extreme homework stations that I am in the 0.01% of extreme high end consumer work station and that I know specs.

At this point I am beyond furious. I again express my concern over the data I came across. Expressing my concerns that it could easily fall into the hands of an irate customer who is not all there in the head can use it to do serious harm. They never acknowledge this. Still to this day. I express concerns over Asus blatantly trying to offer me downgrade and daring to try and call it a "a complimentary upgrade our STRIX line of motherboard."

 

The agent responds after a day and quote "apologizes that I feel that Asus is trying to rip me off" and that quote "in fact the ROG STRIX line, even the entry models, are better than any other motherboard they offer including the ProArt Z690 CREATOR" which is demonstrable false and easily provable to be false. They apologize for trying to force me to sign an NDA and once again offer me a full refund sayiung that this will be the only other option available to me. 

I reply to the email informing them they already offered a NIB ProArt Z690 CREATOR and that since it was offered they legally are bound to provide that NIB replacement and/or something of equal or greater value due to applicable state laws. Understanding that the Z790 chipset is now full swing and last gen motherboards are not being produced like talking about I inform them that if they are unable to get a ProArt Z690 CREATOR then they can actually do a "complimentary upgrade" and send me a NIB Z790 ProArt CREATOR. If not then I guess we can do the refund however I also want to be refunded the loss of Adobe subscription that needs to be proRated for every day I'm missing out until either the subscription runs out and/or until the day that a full refund check comes in and  I mention that Asus for some reason advertises that subscription of being valued at "A $238.47 VALUE" and do the math figuring out how much "value" the remaining subscription(47 days) would be starting on Feb 28th when the PC first died until the subscription ended would also need to be refunded and sent the applicable .gov websites outlining these laws and regulations. 

5 days pass. I get an email saying that Asus no longer needs me to sign an NDA and that they quote "found a ProArt Z690 CREATOR in the warehouse that was NIB" and told me that I need to pay for a shipping label to send the damaged one I still have in and that then they will cross ship the replacement. I push back on this mentioning that in my state the company is responsible for shipping cost not the consumer.

2 days later I get another email with a shipping label. An apology that they had "forgotten that the company was responsible for shipping cost." Meaning they tried ripping me off AGAIN. As well as a tracking number because they went ahead and shipped the NIB Z690 CREATOR replacement as well as upgraded me to Overnight Before Noon Next Day Delivery which came and worked amazing since then.

I again express concerns over the data I came across and at this point I respond to the agent assigned to my case with her @Asus.com email account. Her Personal email account. Both work and personal cell phone number, spouses name, bother her and her spouses parents names, and her home address explaining that all this is available online and since first bringing it up with Asus i had contacted multiple tech industry companies because after an even deeper look into the data I found out that this affects a lot of the tech industry companies and not just Asus.

I include screenshots where companies have reached out to me with follow-up emails thanking me for adamantly demanding that Legal and/or Data Protection contact me directly and that I would only talk about the details with them after those departments contacted me and I provided them with the full rundown of what I came across, how I came across it, the ease of which the data is gotten, where it may of came from, how it could of been made to be so accurate and they agreed with literally everything including how the data wwas obtained, why it was probably so accurate, & agreed that this presented an insanely high risk legally, financially, and morally to their employees and family. Those very same emails with personal identifying bits are linked with this post.
 

Sor far I have either talked with or emailed back and forth with
AMD, Intel, EVGA, MSI, Dell, Microsoft, Google, Amazon, HP, Apple, Nvidia, LG, Samsung, & More. Asus was the first ones I told. They have consistently ignored my concerns over this matter. I went as far to tell an employee basically everything needed to know everything about them that was in this data. I've called multiple times to request someone contact me from a proper department so I can discuss this with them. Asus is the only one that has not cared whatsoever. 


None of the data will be shared, transferred, nor disseminated in any shape way nor form publicly nor privately except with either a companies Data Protection and/or someone from their Legal Team being present and/or CC'd into the email chain. LMG is also affected in this as well as other Youtubers who have effectively a company and teams of people. Again, if someone from LMG that's either Yvonne, Luke, Linus, and/or Legal/Data protection team wants to contact me privately about this, I will gladly share details but I will not be sharing the data and you can get it yourself and it's claimed to be updated weekly.



Below is EVGA's response to my concerns after talking with their proper departments I was willing to disclose this too and their responses after looking over it with some information redacted showing they too take extreme concerns over what I found and outright say they are determining future actions or actively investigating it at the highest of levels yet Asus knowing this just does not care. If you don't acknowledge it does it exist? Nope. Not until someone who is mentally unstable and just wants to harm people comes across it and then uses it to cause serious harm to innocent people. But nope Asus tried to scam me, rip me off, admitted to an employee purposely damaging my motherboard, and when presented with a security threat and evidence of other major tech companies taking my concern highly serious they just close their eyes and pretend everything is alright rather than having someone from their departments I requested reach out. 

To sum it up, I've always loved Asus and honestly nevedr had a problem with them before but this time.. They have completely disgusted me with how they handled this process and the total lack of care about the concern I mentioned meanwhile everyone else I talk to seems to be of similar mindset as me on how bad this is...
 

   

 

Q: Well if you know personal and professional emails like @Asus.com why not contact those departments directly?

A: There needs to be a means for reporting these things. EVGA has dataprotection@evga.com for example. Other companies that don't have an email setup to report these kinds of things and/or bugs I called customer support and/or their HQ phone number if they publicize it. Briefly explained my concerns without giving details. Told them I would only discuss this with the prior mentioned departments and in every instance. My concern had worked it's way to those departments and then they had someone contact me by the provided email and phone number I provided to customer support who said they'd pass along my concerns and request to be contacted. I shouldn't have to use a data breach to find an email  or cellphone number to contact someone about this. By this logic, I should call Linus, Yvonne, Luke, and other LMG Employees directly since I have I found a scarily accurate dataset online. Not like some random person contacting you personally and being like "I have data all about you and know of a data breach that completely PWNs you and leaves you open to easy social engineering and targeted attacks" is horrifying AF probably.
 

 

Q: If you don't think contacting employees directly is okay and that instead you should try and go through proper channels first then why did you admit to texting 100 Asus Employees?

 

A: I fully admit I probably shouldn't of done that but I also ask you to put yourself in my shoes. At this point I was pissed off and I just wanted a working motherboard. Having an A100 down for the entirety of March until April 4th was a nightmare. So much lost profits and the reduction in work flow capabilities. 

Q: Wait. You said you have LMG Employee personal data too?! 

A: Yes. Please have Linus, Yvonne, Luke, LMG's Legal Team, and/or Data Protection Team Equivalent contact me. If needed DM me and request a good email address and/or my phone number so they can contact me to discuss this since as stated if forum DMs is not proffered method.

Regardless, I'd like to report this to the LMG folks since you guys actually have the industry contacts to put this directly on peoples desk rather than me contacting Customer Support/Tech Support.

 

PS, Staff check edit history for additional screenshots

 

Hey everyone,

 

I'm sorry for the delay, we did get an update from ASUS. They've informed us that as of 4/11, this specific issue has been resolved. The customer has an exact board replacement and was able to receive a free Adobe subscription with it. The reason why it took so long was due to inventory transfer, which is why the ASUS service team offered a similar replacement first before starting the process to secure the exact board.

This is also from their team:

 

Dear Genzong,

 

We certainly understand the inconvenience this may have caused, and please accept our apologies. We take all customer service complaints seriously and we can assure you this is not a normal reflection of how our company handles customer service. Please note, your feedback will be forwarded to the related department to avoid the same issue in the future. In the meantime, please feel free to reach back out to our ASUS Support Team if you’re still experiencing unresolved issues with your motherboard.

 

ASUS Customer Services

 

Normally, we definitely wouldn't talk about people's private interactions with another brand, but this particular case seems to be generating a lot of discussion, and we felt its an important piece of information to share. Also, I do want to reiterate, that we have zero tolerance for doxxing here.

 

We're here to help our community with these issues, so please bring them up as they come, and we will do our best to help. Sorry for how long we took to get back to you all here.
 

[CPotter]

22 minutes ago, QwertyChouskie said:

I agree that LMG can't act as a mediator for every dispute, but if customers are having to resort to getting the government involved, maybe LMG shouldn't accept sponsorships from them anymore?

That's very true, yes. I think Spotty is just offering that as an additional resource, but please voice your concerns as you have them, and we'll do what we can.