LMG Sponsor Complaints

[QwertyChouskie]

14 hours ago, Sitta said:

Why I will never buy anything from Asus again.

So let me give everyone some background information. I have been building computers for about 13 years, with my first PC running a Haswell 4690k on an Asus Z97-E mobo with a very high and stable OC. I was hooked after my experience with the Asus bios and just how easy that border was to work with. For all the builds I did after that, I always used Asus products, whether their GPU, Mobos or such. And I never had any issues regarding troubleshooting or concerns with reliability or customer services. However, that changed when I did my most recent build with one of my good friends. My current build has an X570 Strix motherboard with a 3900x CPU and an RTX 3080 strix 10GB non-LHR Card. 32 GB of Trident Z neo ram Running at 3600mhz with a Lin li 360 AIO in a Lin li O11 D case, with another two sets of 3 Lin li uni fans. For the most part, I have had no issues with the Mobo. I found that it's effortless to overload the rear USB Bus to where I can't have some of my USB devices connected to the same line as others, and I'll run into issues. And I can't seem to get the RGB to sync correctly.

Both of these are annoying in themselves but manageable. I would RMA my Mobo, but I can't afford not to have a computer right now. However, for my GPU, about six months ago, I had to RMA it because one of my fans stopped working; it felt like the bearing had become impacted because when I spun it by hand, I could feel it grinding, and it was very stiff. I could turn it by hand, and it would continue spinning while the GPU was on for a few seconds until the mooter got overwhelmed and would stop the fan from spinning. The RMA process was relatively painless; I just filled the form out on the website and followed their instructions on packing and shipping the GPU. The only problem was that they wanted me to pay the 100$ shipping. I am not going to lie; this bothered me. If the product is under warranty, then I believe the manufacturer should be paying for the shipping. After all, if you are willing to back the product and think it will last past the user's warranty, you should also be helpful to front the shipping cost if there is an issue. I voiced my concern about the shipping cost but was ignored. During the RMA process, I was updated via email on what was going on and what they could do for me. I was informed that my original model was no longer in stock, so they would have to send me an LHR version. Although I was a bit annoyed by this, I was also understanding since they had not been making the no LHR models for a while now. I would say I had my new GPU back within about a week. Well, I say new as that's what I thought it was.

 

Fast forward to the present time, My "New" 3080 started to have issues. I would let my computer go into standby mode by not using it, and it has the screens go black, or I would power off my screens and then come back later; I would wiggle my mouse to wake up my PC, and if my screens were then all I would see is a light line on the bottom of my screen but no display past this. The same issue would happen if I had my screens off and turned them back on. This happens about 80% of the time. Sometimes, my screens would still be on; however, they would be locked up, and by looking at the time on the clock, it would be completely wrong. Before I started the RMA process, I did troubleshoot my PC. I DDUed from safe mode twice. I downloaded the Nvidia drivers from the Asus website and another time from Nvidia directly, but this never fixed the issue.

Removed any overclock settings from the GPU, IE the auto overclock function from Asus's overclocking software and set it back to factory settings and that also did nothing. I used Hardrive Sentinel to see if I had any issues with my storage drives, and they were fine. I also did a full ram check, and that came back fine. I also double-checked all the cables in my PC with no success. So, I decided to RMA  the GPU. I filled out the form as before and again had to pay the shipping cost to send my GPU in. Next, I was again annoyed that I had to pay a shipping cost on something that I believe Asus should be covering. If only I knew then that this was the least of my concerns. When I got to the Fed Ex location where I was going to drop the GPU off, I discovered the label they gave me was unusable since the barcode was broken. After struggling to get ahold of someone at FedEx I could talk to (a problem in itself), they told me I needed to contact Asus to get a new label. Once I got ahold of someone at Asus, I knew my problems were only about to worsen. I say this because the person I was talking to was not listening to what I was saying at all. Not only did I have to repeat myself probably about six or more times on just what my name and address were, including spelling them out very slowly and in Phonetic Alphabet, but the individual on the phone was still getting it wrong; I also had to let him know that I lived in Canada a good amount of times, remind him that we don't use zip codes, states, and counties. But I also had to explain that BC is a provider in Canada and that Victora was the town I lived in, not just some name. At this time, the individual informed me that he could not just resend the email with the shipping label but had to file a complete new RMA form. During this process, I also had to repeat myself many times about what was happening, and my issues were... You know, instead of copying and pasting what was on my original form that he said he had up on his screen... It was to the point where the shipping person was blown away with how bad this experience was going for me, and I even had other people who were sending stuff laughing at how just asinine this situation was. While on the phone with the Asus employee, I informed them I would like a refund on the shipping cost since I should not need to RMA another brand-new GPU within six months of getting it. It was not until this point that I discovered that my current GPU was used but a "fixed" GPU that they sent me. The individual then informed me that they had a no refund policy and said I would probably receive another used but "fixed GPU. I let the person know that under no circumstance were they to send me another used GPU that's been "Fixed" since it was very apparent that they did not know how to fix something. and that I expected a brand new 3080 strix. If they did not have any more 3080 strix, GPU's then I would expect a brand new 4080 strix since that's what I had paid for. I told the individual that I paid for a brand new 80 series Strix card, so that's what I expected in return. If I had wanted a used or refurbished card, that is what I would have gotten at the time of purchase. I also let them know that at no point in time was I informed that I had received a used GPU, but instead, via email, I was informed that I was getting a new one beforehand. If I knew I would get a used GPU before then, I would have ensured I got a new one the first time I had to send it in. The individual on the phone informed me that I could trust their repair center when it comes to them fixing a GPU and sending it out to another customer as a refurbished and restored card. I informed him that he was wrong or I didn't think we would be here right now. The person on the phone also told me that Asus was one of the top 5 brands for PC hardware; I let him know that when there are only really five brands in NA, to begin with, Asus, MSI, Giga, EVGA and Asrock saying that they are in the top 5 is not saying much. I also mentioned that their hold recording says they have received over two thousand acclaims for their products. I told them that they really should not be saying that any longer since the recording states that they are from 2013... which was over ten years ago. A lot has happened since then, and their quality control has fallen hardcore. They are now stripping fetchers from their cost products and even midrange and high-end products, and only putting them on their highest-priced products is anti-consumer, so saying they are consumer-focused is not a true statement. At this point, I informed the rep that I would like to speak to a supervisor. The rep I was talking to was shocked that I may want to speak to a supervisor since he thought he had done an excellent job supporting me. He then asked multiple times why I wanted to speak to a supervisor, and again, I had to repeat myself several times. I brought up how often I had to repeat myself, spell things out and just my general experience with his service to me. The call was over, and the next time I expected a call back was when a supervisor was ready to talk to me. I was wrong; the same guy called me again, asking if I needed to speak to a supervisor. I finally got to talk to a supervisor who, this time, did listen. He read me out what the previous representative had put on the form, and I noticed that he had missed about 75% of what I had said the issues were, what I had tried, and everything about the product that I had repeated I don't even know how many times. This individual also informed me that Asus had a zero refund policy and that since they were no longer making 3080 strix GPUs, I would most likely receive a used card again, and he assured me it would be fixed and not have any issues. I told the supervisor this was unacceptable and wanted to speak to someone who could do something. I let the individual know that I expected a manager or something to call me within 24 hours of this phone call, along with a tracking number for my brand new GPU, whether it be another 3080 Strix, 3090 Strix, 4080 Strix or 4090 Strix. Since I had gotten an 80 series card, I expected that or better if they did not have any. 

Well, it has now been about a day and a half, and I have received no phone call, tracking number, or contact from Asus.


I brought up my bud computer that also had a 3080 Strix in it earlier. His 3080 has also been having issues; within three months, one of the display ports just stopped working. He also got a Strix B550- E mobo; the bios flashback button had nothing behind the button, but in fact, it was just a piece of plastic that, when pressed, broke and shot back into the button housing. His wifi/Bluetooth also stopped working within a year as well.

Today, my friend and I will never buy from Asus again. This has been the worst experience when dealing with customer support that I have ever had to deal with. I would rather deal with the Canadian government's customer support lines over Asus's. Even dealing with MSI's Customer support was better than this was.    

How many more horror stories until LMG drops Asus?  (I ask this as a generally happy owner of a 2021 G14.). It's extremely apparent that Asus is just not a safe recommendation anymore, which is sad, given how good some products like the G14 are.

[Haredeenee]

19 minutes ago, QwertyChouskie said:

How many more horror stories until LMG drops Asus?  (I ask this as a generally happy owner of a 2021 G14.). It's extremely apparent that Asus is just not a safe recommendation anymore, which is sad, given how good some products like the G14 are.

Asus is pretty big, and I cant imagine the paycheque is small 

[Sitta]

2 hours ago, Haredeenee said:

Asus is pretty big, and I cant imagine the paycheque is small 

Regardless of the paycheck, they did state in a video that they would reconsider their sponsors if they get enough backlash for how they are doing business. 

[Sitta]

2 hours ago, QwertyChouskie said:

How many more horror stories until LMG drops Asus?  (I ask this as a generally happy owner of a 2021 G14.). It's extremely apparent that Asus is just not a safe recommendation anymore, which is sad, given how good some products like the G14 are.

I know right, next to always finding the products to look appealing, bar the look of the Strix 4000 series, in my opinion. The quality of the product and the ability for me to tell some one who does not know much about computers to just buy one and it will be plug and play is now gone.

[jubjub]

 I think at this point if Asus aren't even willing to publicly admit they have serious warranty issues that need addressing it's not feasible to keep them as a sponsor. At the very least give them an ultimatum to act in some meaningful and visible way then drop them when they don't comply. Not some wishy washy we're going to pause sponsorships something more along the lines of "We won't work with Asus at all until they have solved warranty concerns and currently recommend against buying Asus products". Also add a pinned comment recommending against buying Asus products on the sponsor secret shopper video. That video is currently causing active harm for your community and by keeping it as is LMG is acting contrary to the way Linus describes LMG sponsor relations. LMG as a whole has been relatively good at dropping sponsors who don't respect the trust the community have with LMG but with Asus that precedent has been thrown out the window. If the Asus situation continues as is I feel bad for other sponsors because their sponsor spots are directly being devalued as trust is continually eroded by Asus and LMG's inaction towards Asus. I'm willing to wait it out a little longer but I just don't see how Asus have earnt the significant good will LMG are giving them. I don't buy that it's the money, sure they're probably a large sponsor but LMG has diversified massively specifically so they aren't beholden to a single entity. I don't think the business team or Linus himself are stupid enough to intentionally choose money over the community but I have a suspicion that personal relationships between Asus and LMG are causing some of these issues to drag on longer than they otherwise would. At the very least that's a conclusion LMG haven't done anything to rule out and that itself is troubling.

I used to buy Asus products and really enjoyed them but their products and warranties have taken a dive and they're not going to change while the largest pc tech channel is still on their side. If they were going to change anytime soon it would have actually started by now.

Also it's gotten so bad that I open this thread and expect new Asus horror stories. It's like a magazine subscription from hell that unlike actual magazines is still going.

[Sousuke]

Talking about Influencer Stuff, if I was you guys I'd want my logo taken from their website:

 

 

[Sitta]

9 hours ago, jubjub said:

 I think at this point if Asus aren't even willing to publicly admit they have serious warranty issues that need addressing it's not feasible to keep them as a sponsor. At the very least give them an ultimatum to act in some meaningful and visible way then drop them when they don't comply. Not some wishy washy we're going to pause sponsorships something more along the lines of "We won't work with Asus at all until they have solved warranty concerns and currently recommend against buying Asus products". Also add a pinned comment recommending against buying Asus products on the sponsor secret shopper video. That video is currently causing active harm for your community and by keeping it as is LMG is acting contrary to the way Linus describes LMG sponsor relations. LMG as a whole has been relatively good at dropping sponsors who don't respect the trust the community have with LMG but with Asus that precedent has been thrown out the window. If the Asus situation continues as is I feel bad for other sponsors because their sponsor spots are directly being devalued as trust is continually eroded by Asus and LMG's inaction towards Asus. I'm willing to wait it out a little longer but I just don't see how Asus have earnt the significant good will LMG are giving them. I don't buy that it's the money, sure they're probably a large sponsor but LMG has diversified massively specifically so they aren't beholden to a single entity. I don't think the business team or Linus himself are stupid enough to intentionally choose money over the community but I have a suspicion that personal relationships between Asus and LMG are causing some of these issues to drag on longer than they otherwise would. At the very least that's a conclusion LMG haven't done anything to rule out and that itself is troubling.

I used to buy Asus products and really enjoyed them but their products and warranties have taken a dive and they're not going to change while the largest pc tech channel is still on their side. If they were going to change anytime soon it would have actually started by now.

Also it's gotten so bad that I open this thread and expect new Asus horror stories. It's like a magazine subscription from hell that unlike actual magazines is still going.

I know, right? I just got an email from Asus stating that due to supply train issues caused by COVID-19, they did not have access to the parts to fix my card. This felt like a slap in the face since it was against what I talked to the reps on the phone about. There was also no way to talk to them about it since when I Emailed them back, it just got my email bounced back to me, stating they don't accept emails. Talk about a crock of shit. I feel so used right now. It does not help that I also just got let go from work, and I need my computer to help look for a new job.... that being said, my 3900X does not have a GPU, so I have to use friends' computers and my phone and such to do all of this work.

[Sitta]

2 minutes ago, Sousuke said:

Talking about Influencer Stuff, if I was you guys I'd want my logo taken from their website:

 

 

I'm curious about what they have done for LTT, since LTT says they do there own adds and vet who they use. 

[LMGcommunity]

1 hour ago, Sousuke said:

Talking about Influencer Stuff, if I was you guys I'd want my logo taken from their website:

 

 

 

1 hour ago, Sitta said:

I'm curious about what they have done for LTT, since LTT says they do there own adds and vet who they use. 

Hey, James addressed this in last week's Weekly Sponsor Concerns Update.

[Anne Keeper]

Hello, this is Anne from Keeper and we thank you for sharing your feedback.  I'd like the opportunity to respond to a few of your concerns.  Our compliance reports are, in fact, available to the public.  Our SOC2 reports require NDA, but our ISO27001 certificate may be freely shared and is available upon request.  We do not post it publicly per industry best-practices.  We also encourage security researches to take an active role in ensuring our cybersecurity solutions are the most secure on the market.  Keeper performs quarterly application penetration testing of all of our products and systems with 3rd party pen testers, including NCC Group and Cybertest. These include red-team style penetration tests of both internal and externally-exposed systems with full source code access. Keeper has also partnered with Bugcrowd to manage its bug bounty and Vulnerability Disclosure Program (VDP). The Keeper Security VDP can be found at bugcrowd.com/keepersecurity. To increase transparency, Keeper publishes detailed release notes across every platform. Again, thank you for your honest thoughts. If you have any questions, or if you'd like to request those compliance reports, please email security@keepersecurity.com.

[Sitta]

1 hour ago, LMGcommunity said:

 

Hey, James addressed this in last week's Weekly Sponsor Concerns Update.

Do you guys know what I can do about my Problem with Asus? From what I see on the forms, it seems like a rather common problem. As a user, I'm feeling very helpless since they don't seem to care about the people who buy their products.

[randy123]

13 hours ago, jubjub said:

 I think at this point if Asus aren't even willing to publicly admit they have serious warranty issues that need addressing it's not feasible to keep them as a sponsor. At the very least give them an ultimatum to act in some meaningful and visible way then drop them when they don't comply. Not some wishy washy we're going to pause sponsorships something more along the lines of "We won't work with Asus at all until they have solved warranty concerns and currently recommend against buying Asus products". Also add a pinned comment recommending against buying Asus products on the sponsor secret shopper video. That video is currently causing active harm for your community and by keeping it as is LMG is acting contrary to the way Linus describes LMG sponsor relations. LMG as a whole has been relatively good at dropping sponsors who don't respect the trust the community have with LMG but with Asus that precedent has been thrown out the window. If the Asus situation continues as is I feel bad for other sponsors because their sponsor spots are directly being devalued as trust is continually eroded by Asus and LMG's inaction towards Asus. I'm willing to wait it out a little longer but I just don't see how Asus have earnt the significant good will LMG are giving them. I don't buy that it's the money, sure they're probably a large sponsor but LMG has diversified massively specifically so they aren't beholden to a single entity. I don't think the business team or Linus himself are stupid enough to intentionally choose money over the community but I have a suspicion that personal relationships between Asus and LMG are causing some of these issues to drag on longer than they otherwise would. At the very least that's a conclusion LMG haven't done anything to rule out and that itself is troubling.

I used to buy Asus products and really enjoyed them but their products and warranties have taken a dive and they're not going to change while the largest pc tech channel is still on their side. If they were going to change anytime soon it would have actually started by now.

Also it's gotten so bad that I open this thread and expect new Asus horror stories. It's like a magazine subscription from hell that unlike actual magazines is still going.

ASUS is the primary sponsor of LLT. They get hundreds of thousands of dollars from them every year.

Criticizing ASUS will hurt LTT.

No, LTT wont ever drop ASUS.  Stop thinking they will.

 

LTT is a business. Money first. 

[jubjub]

54 minutes ago, randy123 said:

ASUS is the primary sponsor of LLT. They get hundreds of thousands of dollars from them every year.

Criticizing ASUS will hurt LTT.

No, LTT wont ever drop ASUS.  Stop thinking they will.

 

LTT is a business. Money first. 

I think you drastically underestimate how much money (revenue) LMG makes. The overhead for that many employees is not small. But I'm not interested in arguing about it because exact numbers aren't public so you can believe whatever you want I just find money to be the least likely reason for the softball treatment of Asus.

[LingBaneUltra]

On 9/14/2023 at 11:37 AM, Livin said:

@LingBaneUltra @Haredeenee I'm surprised that they would be denying warranty on that armrest issue.  I have 2x Titan 2020 chairs and one of them had some damage like what you have pictured (rips along the side of the arm cushion).  Both times that I opened a support ticket I explained that they were caused by our own damage (wife had keys catch while standing up and yes, this happened on two separate occasions) and they didn't give me any fuss about replacing once the invoice and chair serial number were verified.  Just my support experience with them.

They said the armrest covers are cosmetics and the policy is that they decide what is eligible or not.
I just don't understand how can it be cosmetics and not functional. Given their logic, if your cushion (seat) rips, they can say it's cosmetics as well. After all, who needs cushions or armrest covers when you have the hard metal to sit on and the hard plastic to lean on it with your elbow? lol
In the end, they offered to "help" me, as they said, and proposed that they'd send me the armrest covers if I paid the shipping cost to Japan which costs almost the same thing as the new pair of PlushCell armrests.
When I buy a product "premium" as this chair, I expect prompt replacements with no questions asked, like even the cheapest gaming chair brands do.
 

[Livin]

2 hours ago, LingBaneUltra said:

They said the armrest covers are cosmetics and the policy is that they decide what is eligible or not.
I just don't understand how can it be cosmetics and not functional. Given their logic, if your cushion (seat) rips, they can say it's cosmetics as well. After all, who needs cushions or armrest covers when you have the hard metal to sit on and the hard plastic to lean on it with your elbow? lol
In the end, they offered to "help" me, as they said, and proposed that they'd send me the armrest covers if I paid the shipping cost to Japan which costs almost the same thing as the new pair of PlushCell armrests.
When I buy a product "premium" as this chair, I expect prompt replacements with no questions asked, like even the cheapest gaming chair brands do.
 

100% agree, armrests serve a function and are beyond a "cosmetic" feature and should be covered if there are issues.  I was fully expecting my cases to be denied since I was up front about being the cause of the damage, but if it had cracked/torn under normal use and it was denied I would be very unhappy.  Like you said, these are a premium product and should come with a level of support to match.  I am in Canada and went through the Canadian support channels, so I don't know if there is some sort of a difference there from your case.

I dug a little deeper in to it actually and found that they make available different warranty documentation based on the sale date (Canadian link again, but read on regardless).  When putting in my sale date I get a warranty document dated effective February 24, 2020 where as the current one is dated February 27, 2023.  That's fine, I get that there needs to be revisions and updates to documents to cover different products, etc., but I think what specifically speaks to your case is a clause that reads different between the 2020 and 2023 versions:

2020 (link for reference, screenshot in case it's removed)
https://assets.secretlab.co/docs/2020-02-24/warranty/warranty-statement_US-CA-UK-EU-AU.pdf

 

2023 (link for reference, screenshot in case it's removed)
https://assets.secretlab.co/docs/2023-02-27/warranty/warranty-statement_CA.pdf


The language is clearly steered towards giving them as many escape routes as possible now.  If you aren't covering wear and tear due to aging over the span of your warranty period what are you even covering?  That basically leaves it to DOA and defects discovered upon arrival?  They added the "aesthetic defects" to that minor deviations line as well which I think is what they're trying to lean on in these arm rest cases by the sounds of it. 

 

I don't know when these changes to their warranty policies occurred but it is far different messaging than when I bought.  With this type of warranty wording I would be much less inclined to spend the type of money they're asking for their chairs, premium product/construction or not.  If you did buy your chair at an earlier date, see if you can pull the warranty docs specific to your sale and if you can fight it back.  Something you shouldn't have to do, but may give you some leverage.  In both 2020 and 2023 documents it does specifically say "Secretlab's warranty service enables you to service your own Product. For defects in faulty parts, we will ship the replacement parts to you free of charge, and provide you with the necessary installation or assembly instructions."  They did this for me and even sent the necessary screwdriver to replace the armrest, so it is 100% possible in their support channels....

Sorry to hear of your situation and looking in to this more is definitely going to play in to any future purchase decisions I have with them.

Tagging @Haredeenee in case any of this extra information can help them with their case as well.

[kirashi]

On 9/15/2023 at 11:45 AM, Anne Keeper said:

Our SOC2 reports require NDA, but our ISO27001 certificate may be freely shared and is available upon request.  We do not post it publicly per industry best-practices.  We also encourage security researches to take an active role in ensuring our cybersecurity solutions are the most secure on the market.  Keeper performs quarterly application penetration testing of all of our products and systems with 3rd party pen testers, including NCC Group and Cybertest. These include red-team style penetration tests of both internal and externally-exposed systems with full source code access. Keeper has also partnered with Bugcrowd to manage its bug bounty and Vulnerability Disclosure Program (VDP). The Keeper Security VDP can be found at bugcrowd.com/keepersecurity.

Between this response and a lack of response to my concerns, that's enough for me to blacklist Keeper from my business IT clients for now.

If you ever decide to publish your pricing in a way that doesn't require I fork over my personal information, change your stance on locking SOC2 reports behind an NDA, publicly publish the SOC2 reports alongside your ISO27001 certification, and reverse your stance against journalists who are simply doing their jobs, feel free to let me know!

[Skipple]

1 hour ago, kirashi said:

If you ever decide to publish your pricing in a way that doesn't require I fork over my personal information

Once again, they don't require you to do so. Their pricing is available right here: https://www.keepersecurity.com/pricing/personal-and-family.html

[Sdogga]

11 hours ago, kirashi said:

Between this response and a lack of response to my concerns, that's enough for me to blacklist Keeper from my business IT clients for now.

If you ever decide to publish your pricing in a way that doesn't require I fork over my personal information, change your stance on locking SOC2 reports behind an NDA, publicly publish the SOC2 reports alongside your ISO27001 certification, and reverse your stance against journalists who are simply doing their jobs, feel free to let me know!

I think you misunderstand the NDA; I would assume the NDA here relates to the two companies and the process undertaken to reach this SOC2 status and likely involves both private processes and sensitive information. Publishing the report would expose both companies, and sanitizing it would likely drain it of any reasonable usefulness. They can't quite just go "you're right, why did we write that NDA? Here you go!" and I think the publication of the ISO27001 helps prove this.

 

Additionally, when I looked into Keeper a while back, I found a simple plan-vs-plan page very easily. It might not be on their affiliate link, but websites be doodoo sometimes.

Go to keepersecurity.com and click on "Pricing" then select either personal or business. Boom - big boxes with dollar values. The "you haven't published your pricing" thing is a complete non-issue IMO.

 

That said, the moral issues with suits and censorship do stand for something, and while it doesn't mean the whole company is rotten, it is something to keep an eye on. I also feel that, if there's any truth the vulnerabilities found before, we should be wary of a company that doesn't actively and gratefully respond to and fix potential vulns and bugs. If those can be proven or disproven, it would add the biggest weight to this scale. Remember that open source can be a double-edged blade as well, so let's keep an open mind on that one and see if the Keeper representatives can respond to the problems mentioned here.

These are all rather old at this point and there's no reason they should not have been fixed; if they have been, and are currently clean against new attacks and pentests, then I see no issue.

[Francisco Pinsaro]

This is a much smaller Asus frustration, but I wanted to share my own issue as well. I had the experience while building a new PC in March of discovering that their RAM verification lists aren't accurate. I purchased an exact model number of RAM listed specifically as verified for my motherboard only to discover after assembly that it's so unstable at the QVL's listed speed that MemTest starts showing errors literally five seconds after I start it. I had to downclock it 400 mhz to not see errors. And then another 200 (for a total of 600 mhz) after a BIOS upgrade made it unstable at that speed too.

 

I didn't do anything because it's not that big a deal and with Asus's reputation I wouldn't expect anything anyway, but it was definitely frustrating that I wasted money. I think the only tests they do for QVL, if there are any at all, is seeing if it will still boot.

[Sitta]

14 hours ago, Francisco Pinsaro said:

This is a much smaller Asus frustration, but I wanted to share my own issue as well. I had the experience while building a new PC in March of discovering that their RAM verification lists aren't accurate. I purchased an exact model number of RAM listed specifically as verified for my motherboard only to discover after assembly that it's so unstable at the QVL's listed speed that MemTest starts showing errors literally five seconds after I start it. I had to downclock it 400 mhz to not see errors. And then another 200 (for a total of 600 mhz) after a BIOS upgrade made it unstable at that speed too.

 

I didn't do anything because it's not that big a deal and with Asus's reputation I wouldn't expect anything anyway, but it was definitely frustrating that I wasted money. I think the only tests they do for QVL, if there are any at all, is seeing if it will still boot.

Yep sounds about right. Let's Just plug it in see if it works, and give it the check mark. Nothing like the Old Collage try, right? Who needs to actually do their job nowadays when you are big enough that you can just burry the concern and act like the person is crazy to want what they paid for? 

[Sitta]

Well, it has been one week since I contacted Asus about my GPU. One automatic reply blamed COVID-19 for not having the parts to fix my GPU, even though I informed them that I did not trust their repair center and just wanted a brand-new card. When I tried to reply to said email, I got one saying they don't accept emails to this email address. This was the first email I got since telling them on Monday that I wanted someone to call me within 24 hours. Needless to say, I did not get that email till Friday of that same week. I then got an email at 5:56 p.m. on Sunday from someone named Devonna J. stating that someone would be in contact with me within the next 24-48 hours. Devonna thanked me for my patience... Devonna, I had no choice since your company does not care about the customer. Devonna did say that "we," who's we? "We will work diligently to reach a resolution" I believe I was very direct on my first phone call with what the resolution needed to be.  If you were working Diligently, then I would not be out of my GPU for a week now. In my first phone call, I said I was not interested in a repaired GPU since I no longer trust your ability to fix something. especially after I got a "Fixed" broken card already when I sent my GPU in the first time. The resolution is very easy. Send me a brand new 3080 strix, if you don't have any more of them, then a 3090 strix, 4080 strix, or 4090strix will be a fine replacement. I also said I wanted my shipping cost refunded since I believe it's anti-consumer to charge a shipping cost on something that's under warranty. Especially when the product costs so much to begin with. 

I mean, does my request sound reasonable or outlandish? 

I mean I know its outlandish to ask a company like Asus to actually support their products and customers... but this just seems so pathetic to me.  
I know that both Jay and Steve from GN have stopped working with Asus for similar reasons. But I think I'm going to try and reach out to them and see if they can help in any way. I know there both very busy and I honestly don't expect a reply but it cant hurt to try right?

[Boomyman]

Pretty cumbersome service from Dassault Systems, the owners of SolidWorks. 

 

Upon purchasing a one-year subscription to their "Maker" subscription tier, after making an account with them, they failed to provide me with access to the software suite. Whenever I try to log in it just redirects me to a sign that says I do not have access to the 3DEXPERIENCE platform. When I try to use the link that they have sent me in my email, it directs me to the same sign.

 

Their FAQ page is listed as a place to find a solution, but even after attempting all of their suggested fixes I still do not have access to the platform. They do not have a way to contact them directly, and I had to fill out a form, where this issue is directly selectable as a category. I have seen other people complaining about this same problem online in other forums. 

 

The crux of the matter is that I have already paid, and as of yet do not have access to the software that I have paid for. Furthermore, the subscription is for a year, so will they be compensating me for the missed days due to not having access to the platform? Their response time is not nearly timely enough, and if access is not granted soon I may just have to take this issue up with my credit card company. 

 

The whole software as a service system really just seems like a racket to make loads of money and provide a subpar experience to the user. 

[Haredeenee]

On 9/16/2023 at 1:21 PM, Livin said:

100% agree, armrests serve a function and are beyond a "cosmetic" feature and should be covered if there are issues.  I was fully expecting my cases to be denied since I was up front about being the cause of the damage, but if it had cracked/torn under normal use and it was denied I would be very unhappy.  Like you said, these are a premium product and should come with a level of support to match.  I am in Canada and went through the Canadian support channels, so I don't know if there is some sort of a difference there from your case.

I dug a little deeper in to it actually and found that they make available different warranty documentation based on the sale date (Canadian link again, but read on regardless).  When putting in my sale date I get a warranty document dated effective February 24, 2020 where as the current one is dated February 27, 2023.  That's fine, I get that there needs to be revisions and updates to documents to cover different products, etc., but I think what specifically speaks to your case is a clause that reads different between the 2020 and 2023 versions:

2020 (link for reference, screenshot in case it's removed)
https://assets.secretlab.co/docs/2020-02-24/warranty/warranty-statement_US-CA-UK-EU-AU.pdf
 

 

2023 (link for reference, screenshot in case it's removed)
https://assets.secretlab.co/docs/2023-02-27/warranty/warranty-statement_CA.pdf


The language is clearly steered towards giving them as many escape routes as possible now.  If you aren't covering wear and tear due to aging over the span of your warranty period what are you even covering?  That basically leaves it to DOA and defects discovered upon arrival?  They added the "aesthetic defects" to that minor deviations line as well which I think is what they're trying to lean on in these arm rest cases by the sounds of it. 

 

I don't know when these changes to their warranty policies occurred but it is far different messaging than when I bought.  With this type of warranty wording I would be much less inclined to spend the type of money they're asking for their chairs, premium product/construction or not.  If you did buy your chair at an earlier date, see if you can pull the warranty docs specific to your sale and if you can fight it back.  Something you shouldn't have to do, but may give you some leverage.  In both 2020 and 2023 documents it does specifically say "Secretlab's warranty service enables you to service your own Product. For defects in faulty parts, we will ship the replacement parts to you free of charge, and provide you with the necessary installation or assembly instructions."  They did this for me and even sent the necessary screwdriver to replace the armrest, so it is 100% possible in their support channels....

Sorry to hear of your situation and looking in to this more is definitely going to play in to any future purchase decisions I have with them.

Tagging @Haredeenee in case any of this extra information can help them with their case as well.

Secretlab continues to refuse to even acknowledge the email I sent to them well within my product's warranty period and has now told me for only ~$500 CAD (I initially bought the chair for less than that!) I can get almost everything fixed. I've told them it's unacceptable as per the warranty they're quoting they should replace the parts and send them to me for free.  

 

[Livin]

2 hours ago, Haredeenee said:

Secretlab continues to refuse to even acknowledge the email I sent to them well within my product's warranty period and has now told me for only ~$500 CAD (I initially bought the chair for less than that!) I can get almost everything fixed. I've told them it's unacceptable as per the warranty they're quoting they should replace the parts and send them to me for free.  

 

 

Based on the e-mail screenshot you sent, you got a Titan Stealth in 2018.  Is that what you actually purchased?  If so, your chair only had a 2 year warranty.  That's consistent with this Techpowerup article from late 2017: https://www.techpowerup.com/review/secretlab-titan/.

Would I expect a premium chair to last longer than 5 years?  Yes.  If the information in your screenshot is accurate though, this isn't a warranty issue (it's even beyond the 5 year warranty period if yours was a "2020" model somehow bought in June of 2018).  Piecemeal replacement parts are always going to be expensive compared to a full package price (try building a car out of the parts catalog vs price tag on the lot), so yeah, it's not cheap.  As a (potentially 3 year) outside of warranty option I don't know how much more I would expect beyond the free shipping.

Not trying to stir the pot, just going off what I'm seeing in the screenshot.

[coolcakes64]

I'm not sure where to put this, but GoToMyPC, one of LTT newest sponsors, has appeared on Tech Linked. It barley works at all, therefore I'm curious whether anyone in the team has ever used the app on their phone. Let me clarify. I downloaded and installed the desktop and mobile apps in the mistaken belief that they would replace Team Viewer. My first problem was with the smartphone app. When you tap "password" to attempt to log in using your account, it returns you to your email. To actually login in, I had to spam it and paste my password. The desktop application was less complicated but still cumbersome because I had to access the taskbar to handle anything. The interface was hot garbage and it was really difficult to connect through Wi-Fi 6e. How can sponsors like these get past LTT's Sponsor check before they accept a check from them is my query. Does anyone else have this similar experience or is it just me?