Asus RMA Destroyed my Z690 Formula and blame me!

[tawak]

Asus RMA Destroyed my Z690 Formula and blame me. DONT BUY ASUS!

Just like the title said, ASUS RMA Blame for physical damage despite how i documented and packed safely my item. RMA in ON send me an email that my product was bent which to my surprise after all the precautions i made. It was supposed to be a buy back due to the VRM corrosion issues. I took videos and pictures,After few email back and forth ASUS still rejected my Claim and Rejected even a claim to FedEx like they are best friends. Upon a quick google search will tell you this has been happening for a while now, specifically on that RMA ON branch like it was some sort of scam for easy money. Did RMA to few manufacturer in the past including ASUS before, i know how to safely packed an RMA. Upon No more ASUS for me no more! This is just frustrating sending a perfectly working $900 board for ASUS to break it and asked me to pay for it. i asked for a video with time stamps since they claimed it was on me. No reply yet, some can just make a video putting it back and unboxing it.
BEWARE OF RMA TO ASUS.

“ Hello again. Sorry to bother you again so soon but I just got a response from our team in Canada. They provided some additional information about this case. When our repair facility receives a package for RMA they place it in front of an HD camera in order to document the opening of the package so that it is clear what the package looks like, what is in the package, and what condition the item is in. We have reviewed the video of our technician opening this package. There does not appear to be any damage to the outside of the box. Nothing seems out of order until they unwrap the bubble wrap and the broken corner on the becomes clear. There is a triangle of PCB that is broken and bent upward on the corner of the motherboard. There is no indication, external or otherwise that the package was mishandled.

From the video it appears that the damage was there when the item was packed. It may be possible that this damage resulted from insufficient packing materials to protect the item during transit. However, under the terms for FedEx shipping this case does not qualify for a shipping claim because the damage is inside the package with no indication of mishandling or damage to the outside of the package.

I understand how this news would be frustrating and I am sorry. The terms of the warranty do not cover physical damage that occurs after purchase. Because of the circumstances the quote that you received for repairs is valid and will need to be paid in order to complete the RMA process. Please let me know how you would like to proceed. I am here to help if you have further questions. Thank you for your time. Please have a nice afternoon. ”

Item Total (Pre-Tax) 937.90
e-Waste Fee 0.00
GST 46.90
HST 0.00
QST 0.00
PST 0.00

Total (CAD) 984.80

 

 

UPDATE 03/31/23

 

Thank you for your response. I understand how you feel. You are currently communicating with the CEO's Office which is the highest level of support offered by ASUS and I am happy to continue to assist you. While I can understand your point with the carrier, as you can see in the video, the outer package was intact so there is no indication that the item was mishandled by the carrier. That is why we're not able to open a FedEx claim. I can definitely understand how this would be frustrating. We have to make a determination based upon the information and evidence we have available and in this case the only thing we have to go by is that the board arrived to our facility with physical damage and there is no indication that it was caused by the carrier. 

 

I want to help in any way that I can. In this case I can request that the item be returned to you unrepaired if you would prefer to not pay the repair fee. I can understand not wanting to pay for the repairs considering the circumstances and I am sorry. Please take your time to make a decision and let me know what you would like to do when you are ready. I am here to help if you have further questions. Thank you for your time. Please have a nice weekend

[Shimejii]

The picture in the box does nothing to prove it wasnt bent The corner in which its bent is still covered by the box.

 

Generally they know you are not gonna persue anything legal wise, so they will often just deny it for pretty much any reason they can. Sometimes they will do shit like this on an expensive board. If you arent a famous youtuber, or client, you are not gonna get help by most of these companies.

[tawak]

23 minutes ago, Shimejii said:

The picture in the box does nothing to prove it wasnt bent The corner in which its bent is still covered by the box.

 

Generally they know you are not gonna persue anything legal wise, so they will often just deny it for pretty much any reason they can. Sometimes they will do shit like this on an expensive board. If you arent a famous youtuber, or client, you are not gonna get help by most of these companies.

should be seen from the screw holes alone, also i got a  full video.  its supposed to be a buy back. i guess they dont want to pay me but rather they want me to pay them instead, so someone grab a pillers and bent it (problem solve). also someone mention in another forum that this has been happening for awhile now. 

[HenrySalayne]

24 minutes ago, tawak said:

 

What? You bubble wrapped the board, shoved it in the box (not designed to handle a bubble wrapped board) and you wonder why it got damaged?!? Dude...

Just use an anti-static bag for the motherboard. That's how it comes to you. And wrap the box in bubble wrap if you want to. But not the board...

[starsmine]

22 minutes ago, Shimejii said:

The picture in the box does nothing to prove it wasnt bent The corner in which its bent is still covered by the box.

 

Generally they know you are not gonna persue anything legal wise, so they will often just deny it for pretty much any reason they can. Sometimes they will do shit like this on an expensive board. If you arent a famous youtuber, or client, you are not gonna get help by most of these companies.

what do you mean, the corner that is bent isnt covered by the box

[tawak]

3 minutes ago, starsmine said:

what do you mean, the corner that is bent isnt covered by the box

yes. partially compared the pictures. i have other pictures as well. long story short RMA is now becoming a scam and source of a easy money. imagine if i didnt take any video or photos. but in the end ASUS still insist it was me. i been a asus Fan for a long time no way i would try to play this games  

[tawak]

8 minutes ago, HenrySalayne said:

What? You bubble wrapped the board, shoved it in the box (not designed to handle a bubble wrapped board) and you wonder why it got damaged?!? Dude...

Just use an anti-static bag for the motherboard. That's how it comes to you. And wrap the box in bubble wrap if you want to. But not the board...

you mean the skinny one from dollar store?

[starsmine]

saying RMA is becoming a scam because there is miscommunication and and issue in shipping is a tall claim. It feels bad you are out money, but channel your anger more productively 

[tawak]

1 hour ago, starsmine said:

saying RMA is becoming a scam because there is miscommunication and and issue in shipping is a tall claim. It feels bad you are out money, but channel your anger more productively 

When something similar keeps happening for awhile to different people does it say something about a suspicious practice? I do apologize if some people see this a negative thread to channel my frustration,it is true but also like to warned to be cautious about doing RMA. Anyhow, I would love to hear how to channel my anger productively at the same time warning to fellow Asus customers like me. 

[dilpickle]

I didn't read your post but all of the motherboard companies suck. This just seems like an unfortunate reality that DIY PC builders have to put up with. 

[TetraSky]

If as you say you got plenty of proofs, initiate a small claim against them. Will cost you something like $100, but you'll get everything back once you win.

Or lose everything in the process if they rule against you.

[Godlygamer23]

The board was not meant to be bubble wrapped inside that box. It's kind of obvious given the clearances. Then you add bubble wrap, and shove the board into the box. If there's no damage to the box, then it was probably something inside the box - the packaging that was used. It put too much strain on the board, and caused it to bend.

 

How hard did you have to push the board into the box with it wrapped in bubble wrap? 

 

FYI, just because a board is wrapped in bubble wrap and packaged doesn't mean it can't get damaged. Sometimes the packaging itself can cause damage. As an example, at my workplace, we have very serious and strict internal packaging procedures to prevent damage, and we use ESD mailer boxes with thick foam inside. Our assembly team removed one of the layers of foam to make room for something they wanted to put in the box to store in our stockroom area - the item was a large potted inductor with a board bonded to the top with a bunch of terminals swaged and soldered to it. Well, our training department got wind of it, and made them put those assemblies inside of the boxes with thick foam on the top and bottom, making it really difficult to close. What happened? A bunch of terminals were bent from the foam layers sandwiching the assemblies together. 

[HenrySalayne]

9 hours ago, tawak said:

you mean the skinny one from dollar store?

That doesn't really matter. Bubble wrap is also a little bit sticky and the board can get wedged on a corner. And if you put the weight of this whole board on a corner, it might get snapped off if somebody handles the box roughly.

This is definitely not properly packaged and I would strongly advise to not do this.

 

However, you bought a high-end product from Asus and you had to return it because they shipped a defective unit. Even if your packaging method contributed to this damage, Asus should show a gesture of goodwill. You would not be in this situation, if Asus would have shipped a product without a flaw.

Maybe you should hit them up on social media - not in rage mode - and tell them that you are disappointed in their products and their service.

[DoctorNick]

Dang sorry to hear that. Had a similar experience a long time ago with a HD 5870 matrix card that was artifacting after a month or so. Sent in for RMA 3 times where Asus didn't recognize the error, even sent them a guide how to replicate the error. The whole thing took over 8 months. Got the card back the 3rd time without the crossfire bridge attached. They blamed me for the damage. End of story

[Erioch]

11 hours ago, dilpickle said:

I didn't read your post but all of the motherboard companies suck. This just seems like an unfortunate reality that DIY PC builders have to put up with. 

It's probably the nature of the beast.  I can imagine that a lot of returns are from people who screwed up their MOBO (bent CPU pins, etc) and try to RMA it.

[Mark Kaine]

honestly that sounds like your mistake,  you put bubble wrap around the board (why??) and then shoved it in a box, which also appears to have some damage/ smudges (not sure) already...

 

granted it shouldn't bend this easily, but still not a great idea to begin with as there likely wouldn't be enough space in the box for mobo *and* bubble wrap (common sense fact)  So what do you do, im not sure tbh, but thats why both companies refuse the compensation apparently. 

[Blue4130]

Anyone who says that the bubble wrap caused this is being ridiculous. Try to bend a corner of a motherboard. I just did with a scrap board. The bubble wrap would have torn or the box would have been damaged. There is something else going on here. Not sure if it is OP or Asus, but I can say that it wasn't bubble wrap that caused it.

[Mark Kaine]

1 hour ago, Blue4130 said:

Anyone who says that the bubble wrap caused this is being ridiculous. Try to bend a corner of a motherboard. I just did with a scrap board. The bubble wrap would have torn or the box would have been damaged. There is something else going on here. Not sure if it is OP or Asus, but I can say that it wasn't bubble wrap that caused it.

with that we can close the case, wrong, insufficient packaging,  chances to find a court that thinks otherwise 0.0000001%

 

 

[tawak]

i believed there is a misunderstanding in here, i didn't jammed the bubble  wrap inside the white box. but regardless i do believed you cant damage that much on a regular handling unless fedex tossed it out in a 2 storey building or someone on RMA doesn't want me to get my buy back and whack it. its a very expensive lesson for me. 

next time i will just pay the shipping myself with insurance.   

[QuantumSingularity]

Seen a lot of damaged mobos during my time as a courier. Never EVER use bubble wrap directly on your mobo. Just put it in the antistatic bag which it came in and the original box, THEN wrap the entire thing in bubble wrap. A LOT of bubble wrap. That's the only way to ensure it will arrive undamaged. It's probably not ASUS who broke your board, but FedEx, although it's kind of a shared fault between them and you. If that was in the EU, it would've been as easy as writing them an email with the pics you took, sending them a copy of the invoice for the price of the mobo, sending them the tracking number for your shipment and in usually less than 3 days the money for the mobo plus the money for the shipment arrive at the bank account you designated. It will cost less for any logistics company to pay $1000 to a customer, than having their entire business inspected by the CPC and paying lawyers and employes to assist them. Unfortunately as far as i am aware, things aren't like that in NA, where you are basically on your own. The only thing that can usually help is if you have used one of the shock stickers which show if the box has been exposed to a significant shock/drop.

As to how get your money now... well... probably no way other than master negotiator with FedEx. 

 

P.S

As for Asus i'd say it's also weird for them to reject the claim IF they saw that you have purchased a number of top grade items and this is not your one shot attempt to make money or cover your own mistake. Maybe try that approach, especially if you never RMA-ed anything to them before. Explain in calm and mannered tone that you've been a loyal customer for some time and you really respect and like their products and that you believed that their quality of service was as good as the products, which you so much like. Something like that. Being calm and mannered worked wonders for me in such situations. I've had closed rejected tickets being reopened again, by going the smooth and calm approach. 

[tawak]

1 hour ago, QuantumSingularity said:

Seen a lot of damaged mobos during my time as a courier. Never EVER use bubble wrap directly on your mobo. Just put it in the antistatic bag which it came in and the original box, THEN wrap the entire thing in bubble wrap. A LOT of bubble wrap. That's the only way to ensure it will arrive undamaged. It's probably not ASUS who broke your board, but FedEx, although it's kind of a shared fault between them and you. If that was in the EU, it would've been as easy as writing them an email with the pics you took, sending them a copy of the invoice for the price of the mobo, sending them the tracking number for your shipment and in usually less than 3 days the money for the mobo plus the money for the shipment arrive at the bank account you designated. It will cost less for any logistics company to pay $1000 to a customer, than having their entire business inspected by the CPC and paying lawyers and employes to assist them. Unfortunately as far as i am aware, things aren't like that in NA, where you are basically on your own. The only thing that can usually help is if you have used one of the shock stickers which show if the box has been exposed to a significant shock/drop.

As to how get your money now... well... probably no way other than master negotiator with FedEx. 

 

P.S

As for Asus i'd say it's also weird for them to reject the claim IF they saw that you have purchased a number of top grade items and this is not your one shot attempt to make money or cover your own mistake. Maybe try that approach, especially if you never RMA-ed anything to them before. Explain in calm and mannered tone that you've been a loyal customer for some time and you really respect and like their products and that you believed that their quality of service was as good as the products, which you so much like. Something like that. Being calm and mannered worked wonders for me in such situations. I've had closed rejected tickets being reopened again, by going the smooth and calm approach. 

Well said, i do regret  not double  or triple boxing it and not paying with insurance my self. I RMA stuff from apple products, ps4’s and  computer parts all the way south to US. never had this issue  before always doing the same thing, never has problems.

Anyhow, ASUS as a multi billion dollars company,  there should be a middle ground not just throw the blame to the consumer alone. It’s not like i just put it to a bubble envelope and call it a day.  i did tried, and  the very best i thought would be enough based on the past experience i had through the years of RMA’ing stuff..but here i am i took a big L just like that.

thanks for the input 

[Mark Kaine]

42 minutes ago, tawak said:

Well said, i do regret  not double  or triple boxing it and not paying with insurance my self. I RMA stuff from apple products, ps4’s and  computer parts all the way south to US. never had this issue  before always doing the same thing, never has problems.

Anyhow, ASUS as a multi billion dollars company,  there should be a middle ground not just throw the blame to the consumer alone. It’s not like i just put it to a bubble envelope and call it a day.  i did tried, and  the very best i thought would be enough based on the past experience i had through the years of RMA’ing stuff..but here i am i took a big L just like that.

thanks for the input 

thats the thing,  here in Germany u have to send rma stuff at ur own cost usually,  sucks, but has the advantage u can have assurance for the packet...  and ASUS is kinda known for scummy customer service... not putting blame on u but something to learn for the future and other than keep trying as post above suggests there isn't really much u can do. 

[Jerakl]

I may have to rma to Asus for an I/O issue soon and this is not giving me hope. 

 

2 hours ago, QuantumSingularity said:

 P.S

As for Asus i'd say it's also weird for them to reject the claim IF they saw that you have purchased a number of top grade items and this is not your one shot attempt to make money or cover your own mistake. Maybe try that approach, especially if you never RMA-ed anything to them before. Explain in calm and mannered tone that you've been a loyal customer for some time and you really respect and like their products and that you believed that their quality of service was as good as the products, which you so much like. Something like that. Being calm and mannered worked wonders for me in such situations. I've had closed rejected tickets being reopened again, by going the smooth and calm approach. 

 

As someone who periodically has to work in customer service this is pretty much the best advice. Generally a CS rep will put far more effort into helping you if you're kind and pleasant with them. This can be incredibly frustrating to maintain at times depending on what's at stake for you, but it works wonders. 

[HenrySalayne]

38 minutes ago, Mark Kaine said:

thats the thing,  here in Germany u have to send rma stuff at ur own cost usually,  sucks, but hss the advantage u can have assurance for the packet... 

That's not true. Warranty is generally a voluntary service by the manufacturer and they can dictate that you have to pay for shipping. There is also a mandatory 2 year warranty for defects (EU wide) for the retailer, but after 6 month you may have to prove the defect was already present when you bought the product. Which is obviously the case here. All expenses have to be paid by the retailer (and you should also contact the retailer first which will then mostly do the RMA process themselves).

Also retailers or manufacturers have to bear the risk of shipping, not the consumer. In Germany it would have been enough to use the original box and packaging material or basic standards for packaging (a box and a little bit of cushioning material) to send the motherboard back.

[Mark Kaine]

15 minutes ago, HenrySalayne said:

That's not true.

yes it is. costumer has to pay for shipping (manufacturer/ seller has to pay for shipping the item back)

 

 

15 minutes ago, HenrySalayne said:

Also retailers or manufacturers have to bear the risk of shipping, not the consumer.

this might be a new law im unaware  of, but until recently no that wasn't the case. 

 

 

15 minutes ago, HenrySalayne said:

but after 6 month you may have to prove the defect was already present when you bought the product. Which is obviously the case here

... whats the case now? the board  certainly wasn't bent when bought,  and if there was a manufacturing defect or not is unclear, but also irrelevant because now there is a shipping damage  - which is the thing we'd need to figure out who's actually responsible for that (ie caused it) to get anywhere. 

 

 

I gotta say its certainly a weird way to damage a motherboard,  pretty sure a forensic investigation would possibly find the cause (but who pays for that? )