ASUS HORRIBLE Support and ANTI-Consumer

[lorodoes]

So, last year I bought a pre-built ASUS desktop for around $1000 that included a Pheonix 3060, a Ryzen 5700G, 128 GB NVMe, and 1 TB HDD. At the time not a bad price when GPUs where going for double for what they were actually worth. So, to get the point. The Pheonix all of a sudden had a fan issue where the fan wouldn't turn on at all. When I contacted ASUS for a warranty replacement they told me I would have to return the ENTIRE pc, but I've been using it for a year. I have replaced the NVMe 128GB with a 1TB. Upgraded the RAM from 16 GBs to 32 GBs. When I asked if there was any way I could not send in my entire computer they said no. When I asked if I could send it without the storage I was told again that I that I would be most likely be charged if I didn't send in the storage too. One of the reasons that I went with an ASUS was because LTT does work with them from time to time, but having to return the entire pc with storage seems a big issue. There is PII on my desktop now that I've been using. I have it password protected and everything like that, but it makes me really upset that they won't work with me replace just the video card.

 

Anyway, I said screw it and leaned in. I bought a 120mm fan and removed the shroud (yes I reapplied thermal paste since I had to remove the heat sink to get the fan and shroud off, but not the thermal pads yet) and put the 120mm right on the heat sink. It works, but isn't great. I have bought a replace fan from a gpu fan replacement website (I've got a shipping notification from Chinese shipping company, so hopefully not a scam LOL).

 

Sorry for the rant, but ASUS really pissed me off when they wouldn't work with me at all. When all is said in done I guess I can't complain to much since I got a CPU, GPU and memory for alittle over a grand during the chip storage. LOL silver linings.

 

Hopefully, someone from LTT will see this and at least ask ASUS about this type of warranty practice as it can be expensive if the customer has to pay for shipping the entire computer back to a warranty center and not to mention the possible loss of data or the theft of it.

 

Last thing, I bought Thermalright Thermal Pad 12.8 W/mK to replace the thermal pads on the GPU, but I'm not sure if those are correct or will cause issues. (First time re-applying thermal paste to a GPU please forgive a newbie).

 

Rant over sorry for being all of the place.

[suedseefrucht]

I didn't even know you could open a prebuild, replace components and still get warranty.

I mean... If you install bad components and it stops working, it's your problem, right?

 

Can't you go to the store where you bought the PC and return it in person?
This way you wouldn't have to pay for shipping.

[Fasauceome]

25 minutes ago, lorodoes said:

One of the reasons that I went with an ASUS was because LTT does work with them from time to time

Asus has sponsored a bunch of LTT videos, but I don't know if they've "done work" together. For the most part, the occasional LTT build just uses really expensive Asus parts. The ROG rig reboot series doesn't really grant Linus a hotline to help alter Asus' warranty servicing woes.

 

And trust me when I say you're not alone. Plenty of us on the forum (including myself) have had massive headaches with Asus and their embarrassment of an RMA department.

2 minutes ago, suedseefrucht said:

didn't even know you could open a prebuild, replace components and still get warranty.

Imagine replacing a standard fan in a whole desktop PC and having your warranty rejected. That's like replacing a screw. But OP is not complaining about not being able to use the warranty, OP is complaining about the type of service Asus offers.

 

3 minutes ago, suedseefrucht said:

Can't you go to the store where you bought the PC and return it in person?
This way you wouldn't have to pay for shipping.

The desktop was bought last year there's no way the original retailer would take it. Especially minus the storage which is what OP wanted to hang on to

[lorodoes]

@FasauceomeI'm not saying help in this situation, I'm more talking in the lines of calling ASUS out on their shitty RMA/warranty process. I guess I should have read the form more to see how ASUS handled RMAs. I wasn't aware that their RMA process was a complete embarrassment as I've come to find out. I will give Dell one thing that on desktops if you are feeling up to it and agree to pay for the part it doesn't fix the issue they will let you do the repair yourself for the most part and even on laptops sometimes, but sending a whole PC in on a mostly functioning computer that can run without a GPU since it's a 5700G is stupid and laughable to me. I mean I get it if they were like send in the GPU and will we take a look on a known good system and make sure everything is perfect, but just a no send us everything is a huge facepalm.

[spartaman64]

37 minutes ago, suedseefrucht said:

I didn't even know you could open a prebuild, replace components and still get warranty.

I mean... If you install bad components and it stops working, it's your problem, right?

 

Can't you go to the store where you bought the PC and return it in person?
This way you wouldn't have to pay for shipping.

adding more ram and putting in a new ssd can cause the gpu fan to fail?

[Blue4130]

2 minutes ago, spartaman64 said:

adding more ram and putting in a new ssd can cause the gpu fan to fail?

Yes. An errant slip with a screwdriver can damage lots of things. 

[lorodoes]

@Blue4130while true the memory replacement was of course tool-less (unless you count me) and the NVMe replacement while yes close to the GPU was on the other side near the backplate and no lost screws. From what I have been reading it's a thing with the Pheonix 3060 fans going bad, which is unfortunate since it's a 3060 with a single and even a 3060 gets very toasty very fast.

[Donut417]

1 hour ago, lorodoes said:

Rant over sorry for being all of the place.

ASUS's shitty customer service and warranty is practically a meme at this point. Back in the day, like the early 2000's they were considered to have great stuff, but the joke was if you had issues good luck. 

[MageTank]

1 hour ago, suedseefrucht said:

I didn't even know you could open a prebuild, replace components and still get warranty.

I mean... If you install bad components and it stops working, it's your problem, right?

 

Can't you go to the store where you bought the PC and return it in person?
This way you wouldn't have to pay for shipping.

Don't know how it works internationally, but in states, you can upgrade and swap prebuilt components and still have a warranty as long as your parts or labor did not damage the system. For example: I can swap the CPU on my prebuilt and run it just fine without voiding the warranty on my pre-installed GPU. However, if my processor is a higher power draw, runs outside of system specifications and damages my board, warranty is voided on the board. Same goes if I damage a pin while installing the CPU.

 

2 hours ago, lorodoes said:

So, last year I bought a pre-built ASUS desktop for around $1000 that included a Pheonix 3060, a Ryzen 5700G, 128 GB NVMe, and 1 TB HDD. At the time not a bad price when GPUs where going for double for what they were actually worth. So, to get the point. The Pheonix all of a sudden had a fan issue where the fan wouldn't turn on at all. When I contacted ASUS for a warranty replacement they told me I would have to return the ENTIRE pc, but I've been using it for a year. I have replaced the NVMe 128GB with a 1TB. Upgraded the RAM from 16 GBs to 32 GBs. When I asked if there was any way I could not send in my entire computer they said no. When I asked if I could send it without the storage I was told again that I that I would be most likely be charged if I didn't send in the storage too. One of the reasons that I went with an ASUS was because LTT does work with them from time to time, but having to return the entire pc with storage seems a big issue. There is PII on my desktop now that I've been using. I have it password protected and everything like that, but it makes me really upset that they won't work with me replace just the video card.

 

Anyway, I said screw it and leaned in. I bought a 120mm fan and removed the shroud (yes I reapplied thermal paste since I had to remove the heat sink to get the fan and shroud off, but not the thermal pads yet) and put the 120mm right on the heat sink. It works, but isn't great. I have bought a replace fan from a gpu fan replacement website (I've got a shipping notification from Chinese shipping company, so hopefully not a scam LOL).

 

Sorry for the rant, but ASUS really pissed me off when they wouldn't work with me at all. When all is said in done I guess I can't complain to much since I got a CPU, GPU and memory for alittle over a grand during the chip storage. LOL silver linings.

 

Hopefully, someone from LTT will see this and at least ask ASUS about this type of warranty practice as it can be expensive if the customer has to pay for shipping the entire computer back to a warranty center and not to mention the possible loss of data or the theft of it.

 

Last thing, I bought Thermalright Thermal Pad 12.8 W/mK to replace the thermal pads on the GPU, but I'm not sure if those are correct or will cause issues. (First time re-applying thermal paste to a GPU please forgive a newbie).

 

Rant over sorry for being all of the place.

Unfortunately you are experiencing what the rest of the PC industry has been complaining about for years. ASUS has by far one of the worst customer service experiences and its 100% a culture issue. Their workplace culture is one where company/profits come above all else and it has earned them a horrible reputation for that alone. They are the #1 reason why Newegg and other online retailers ever made money on retailer warranties because people wanted to avoid ASUS and their awful warranty process.

 

As for trying to get ASUS to change their warranty status, that just won't happen. My company has tried to push back on them and we do a ton of business with them. We send cards that we test ourselves before processing them through RTV and still get them returned, unfixed and with a sticker citing "no issues". You basically have to go through accounting to get their warranty team to address something, because money talks...

 

ASUS is very aware of the reputation they have when it comes to customer support, they just don't care enough to change their ways because regardless of their poor customer service, they still offer some of the best engineered products on the market and enthusiasts/OEMs don't care about warranties anyways.

47 minutes ago, Donut417 said:

ASUS's shitty customer service and warranty is practically a meme at this point. Back in the day, like the early 2000's they were considered to have great stuff, but the joke was if you had issues good luck. 

Yup... Sad part is, I work with ASUS directly and their engineers are amazing. Great people, quick to respond and address firmware issues, but the people in charge of the warranty decisions just don't care.

[wanderingfool2]

This might sound mean, but I don't really blame Asus; and overall I don't think that that policy is really that bad.

 

Yea sure, it sucks having to send the entire case instead of a video card...but look at it from their perspective. [Below I offer a few, not everything]

 

If lets say you have software that prevents the fan spinning, it would become an issue.

 

Other reasons why it's sending a full computer instead of video card.  They likely won't know the serial number etc for the card they originally sent you (they likely won't be tracking that).  So if they allow a single part like the video card to be sent, they could
 

If lets say the powersupply/MB is sending bad voltages to the video card and that the fan situation is just the start of the issue.  The general thought, never trust the user to make their own diagnostics because often times the user gets it wrong (so many times getting told by the person who use to sit next to me when I first started, my computer keeps powering off I need a new one only to tell them the issue was because they insisted on putting their purse right on the power strip so they were hitting the button on/off)

 

Actually that last one can be a major driver as well.  At my place of work, someone came in with a broken laptop...figured the power was blown to it or something.  Handed them another laptop and charger.  It was like a week later and they returned a now dead laptop.  Went to their location and found that they were also using a secondary charger...that happened to be sending bad voltages occasionally to the laptop frying it.  So that is why I can understand why they want the entire computer...no fan spin can be a result of many things, not just isolated to the video card.

 

Other factors could be sending a video card that is broken (lets say your friend has the same model of video card and theirs is broken).  Sending the entire computer means less likely to just try pulling a switcher-roo.  Or you know, pulling it out and damaging the card (not shipping it correctly).

 

 

 

The one thing I would say as well in a situation like that, did you try just contacting Pheonix directly?  I'd imagine their general purpose warranty might also cover it

[tikker]

I would guess this is mostly a logistical issue, but I am not that surprised and am not aware of my local shops having a different policy except to not send in any storage with it as that may be wiped as part of the troubleshooting process. Logistically the prebuilt is the item that was bought, so the prebuilt is what you would have to send in for warranty and what would be repaired. A broken GPU would count as a repair to the whole system. The other side is that it's the system as it is that is having a problem. However small, there is the chance of "works fine on my setup" and that the GPU would function in another system. They would then need to ask you to send the rest anyway for further testing, so for them the easiest is to just have you send in the entire system in the first place so they can run their procedures.

[spartaman64]

On 8/15/2022 at 9:12 AM, Blue4130 said:

Yes. An errant slip with a screwdriver can damage lots of things. 

i mean if you are going to assume that then it can happen without the person replacing anything. maybe he picked up the pc and shook it really hard? guess you just never accept RMAs and always assume its the buyer's fault

[lorodoes]

31 minutes ago, spartaman64 said:

i mean if you are going to assume that then it can happen without the person replacing anything. maybe he picked up the pc and shook it really hard? guess you just never accept RMAs and always assume its the buyer's fault

Isn't that what some Manufactures do? LMAO

[Blue4130]

5 hours ago, spartaman64 said:

i mean if you are going to assume that then it can happen without the person replacing anything. maybe he picked up the pc and shook it really hard? guess you just never accept RMAs and always assume its the buyer's fault

I never assumed anything. Just saying that replacing ram and an SSD can lead to user errors/accidents. 

[lorodoes]

So, the story gets even better. I just got off of chat with ASUS technical support and they actually said that the pre-built systems aren't intended to be user upgradable. That only the parts that were sent from the factory will be supported in the system. The stupid part about this is first of all the motherboard is essentially a PRIME B450M-A II, but with only select BIOS updates released. Secondly EVEN DELL ALLOWS YOU TO UPDATE THE CPU. Dell will send updates for new CPUs and stuff like that on their pre-builts, but ASUS says nope. ONLY the CPU and memory that are installed are supported. Period. I contacted them because I was curious about two things.

1) The XMP profile for my new memory wasn't being picked up, not a big issue just really annoying

2) Where is the BIOS update for the 3800X3D, so I can update the BIOS and be ready for when it gets here.

 

I was told we don't support either of those items on a pre-built system. I have the entire chat. I need to clean it up a bit to make it readable, but this is worse than I thought.

[lorodoes]

The included image is the the response from ASUS regarding their pre-built desktops. Apparently you aren’t allowed to change out parts on an ASUS pre-built. This means more e-waste as people may want to swap out CPUs and even memory, but according to ASUS that isn’t allowed. I would love to see LTT stop working ASUS like the headphones video they just released, but I know they won’t. @LinusTech

 

This is the biggest anti-consumer move I have ever seen from a company.

[WhitetailAni]

Just an FYI we can see the name of the representative.

[jaslion]

This is just default answer we cannot guarantee functionality we have no liability thing.

 

You totally can do all the things mentioned here.

[CyberneticTitan]

2 minutes ago, lorodoes said:

The included image is the the response from ASUS regarding their pre-built desktops. Apparently you aren’t allowed to change out parts on an ASUS pre-built. This means more e-waste as people may want to swap out CPUs and even memory, but according to ASUS that isn’t allowed.

They're saying you get no support from ASUS if you decide to put your own components in their PCs, which is totally reasonable.

[bmx6454]

i mean, why are you buying a prebuilt to customize it anyway?

[TheGlenlivet]

What is the model of the motherboard?  That's where I would start.

[lorodoes]

Actually it’s worse than that. The motherboard is a re-badge B550M-K, but it doesn’t get all of the updates that motherboard does. It only gets the select updates. The G10DK hasn’t had a motherboard update since January, but the B550M-K has had one as recent as May. They are saying that they BIOS will not be updated to support any CPU other than the one that is included. This is horrible. DELL even gives BIOS updates to support new CPUs on their systems. How can ASUS just toss the consumer aside. I would get it if it was like yeah we aren’t going to help you upgrade, but here is the latest BIOS version for your motherboard. That isn’t the case. They only give select updates. I have tried using the original motherboards updates, but they have customized the BIOS to stop that. 

[LIGISTX]

11 minutes ago, lorodoes said:

The included image is the the response from ASUS regarding their pre-built desktops. Apparently you aren’t allowed to change out parts on an ASUS pre-built. This means more e-waste as people may want to swap out CPUs and even memory, but according to ASUS that isn’t allowed. I would love to see LTT stop working ASUS like the headphones video they just released, but I know they won’t. @LinusTech

 

This is the biggest anti-consumer move I have ever seen from a company.

As others said, I’d determine what mobo is in it, and go from there. 
 

What RAM is currently in it, and what are you trying to upgrade to?

[Skiiwee29]

@lorodoes I have merged your threads together. Please keep the samething to a single thread. 

[LIGISTX]

4 minutes ago, Skiiwee29 said:

@lorodoes I have merged your threads together. Please keep the samething to a single thread. 

Yea this confused the hell out of me. Lol. Thanks for merging them.