Asus will f*** you over warranty and support as soon as it can - do not buy notebooks from them

[d3rf3l]

A little over one year ago I bought an Asos ROG Zephirus G14 while on a business trip in the US. I did so because I live in Japan and, while the same model is sold here, it is only with Japanese keyboard layout - which I find impossible to use due to the extra keys taking over the spacebar.

 

Conscious that buying internationally can make things difficult for servicing, I checked the product page on Asus's site and in particular the policy linked in the warranty section.

Since it states clearly in section 11 of the policy that the warranty is international and that both Japan and the US are countries where it is applicable (source), I pulled the trigger and spent over two thousand dollars.

 

Fast forward almost one year - still during the 12 month warranty coverage - and the notebook starts malfunctioning (almost impossible to turn on, and unusable even then).

 

I reach out to Asus Japan multiple times (via web and phone) and am told that not only they refuse to service the laptop under warranty, they refuse to repair it at all, claiming they do not support "international models" even though Asus sells the exact same model in Japan.

 

Due to this back and forth, I cannot get the device serviced within the 12-month warranty coverage.

 

At this point I post my experience on Reddit and Asus's own account asks me to PM them to provide assistance.

When I do as instructed, however, I receive no reply.

 

A couple of weeks later I have to go to Italy for unrelated reasons, so I decide to take the notebook with me and see if I can get it repaired there.

 

I reach out to Asus Italy and explain my situation, only to be told that the notebook is out of the 12 months warranty window as well as that the warranty would only be valid in the US anyways.

After a bit more discussion (with a local repair shop which, while an Asus authorized reseller/support centre, is not Asus itself; nonetheless, the most help I got so far), it seems likely that that the repair would take longer than my time in the country and I decide against getting it repaired there (shipping would cost quite a lot on top of a likely motherboard replacement).

 

This leaves me with a brick that I have no way to get fixed, even at cost, from a company that advertises international warranty coverage for the product in question.

 

I do not know if this meets the legal definition of fraud - I suspect it does - but it's at the very least blatantly false advertising.

 

To anyone who made it this far: do not buy anything Asus. They are more than happy to lie to you repeatedly, even in writing.

[Razzee]

Interesting.

 

I thought that laptops were called "notebooks" only in Brazil. I was greatly mistaken, then.

 

Do you call UPS as nobreak too, by chance?

[Unhelpful]

Watching Asus' fall from grace over the last 7 years has been very interest. They used to be a bit of a golden child.

 

10 minutes ago, Razzee said:

Interesting.

 

I thought that laptops were called "notebooks" only in Brazil. I was greatly mistaken, then.

 

Do you call UPS as nobreak too, by chance?

AFAIK "notebook" is a pretty universal term for laptops nowadays. Historically there was a different in the terms that was mainly defined by the size of the device, but now the terms are becoming pretty interchangeable. 

 

I'm just referring to primarily English-speaking countries. My knowledge for colloquialisms for anybody else is completely non-existent. I've never heard nobreak for a UPS.

[Applefreak]

24 minutes ago, d3rf3l said:

A little over one year ago I bought an Asos ROG Zephirus G14 while on a business trip in the US. I did so because I live in Japan and, while the same model is sold here, it is only with Japanese keyboard layout - which I find impossible to use due to the extra keys taking over the spacebar.

 

Conscious that buying internationally can make things difficult for servicing, I checked the product page on Asus's site and in particular the policy linked in the warranty section.

Since it states clearly in section 11 of the policy that the warranty is international and that both Japan and the US are countries where it is applicable (source), I pulled the trigger and spent over two thousand dollars.

 

Fast forward almost one year - still during the 12 month warranty coverage - and the notebook starts malfunctioning (almost impossible to turn on, and unusable even then).

 

I reach out to Asus Japan multiple times (via web and phone) and am told that not only they refuse to service the laptop under warranty, they refuse to repair it at all, claiming they do not support "international models" even though Asus sells the exact same model in Japan.

 

Due to this back and forth, I cannot get the device serviced within the 12-month warranty coverage.

 

At this point I post my experience on Reddit and Asus's own account asks me to PM them to provide assistance.

When I do as instructed, however, I receive no reply.

 

A couple of weeks later I have to go to Italy for unrelated reasons, so I decide to take the notebook with me and see if I can get it repaired there.

 

I reach out to Asus Italy and explain my situation, only to be told that the notebook is out of the 12 months warranty window as well as that the warranty would only be valid in the US anyways.

After a bit more discussion (with a local repair shop which, while an Asus authorized reseller/support centre, is not Asus itself; nonetheless, the most help I got so far), it seems likely that that the repair would take longer than my time in the country and I decide against getting it repaired there (shipping would cost quite a lot on top of a likely motherboard replacement).

 

This leaves me with a brick that I have no way to get fixed, even at cost, from a company that advertises international warranty coverage for the product in question.

 

I do not know if this meets the legal definition of fraud - I suspect it does - but it's at the very least blatantly false advertising.

 

To anyone who made it this far: do not buy anything Asus. They are more than happy to lie to you repeatedly, even in writing.

Not wanting to defend ASUS here but the procedure go like this:

 

1. Contact the shop you bought the laptop from

2. RMA in the Country you've purchased the device

3. The RMA department will ask you for your address and suggest a service center near you.

Only at that point would you want to mention you are residing in Japan at the moment.

4. If they aren't willing to return the laptop outside the country of origin, use a PO box company to collect and send it to you. 

Devices that are being sold to specific markets may not show up on their RMA list of compatible devices, which only causes confusion and the workers are not paid well enough to really care for you. That is the industry, not an ASUS thing but yes, some companies go the extra mile like Lenovo with ThinkPads and EVGA in general. 

 

Have you at least figured out what the issue with the laptop is? Maybe you can fix it yourself? 

[d3rf3l]

On 9/14/2023 at 12:38 AM, Applefreak said:

Not wanting to defend ASUS here but the procedure go like this:

 

1. Contact the shop you bought the laptop from

2. RMA in the Country you've purchased the device

3. The RMA department will ask you for your address and suggest a service center near you.

Only at that point would you want to mention you are residing in Japan at the moment.

4. If they aren't willing to return the laptop outside the country of origin, use a PO box company to collect and send it to you. 

Devices that are being sold to specific markets may not show up on their RMA list of compatible devices, which only causes confusion and the workers are not paid well enough to really care for you. That is the industry, not an ASUS thing but yes, some companies go the extra mile like Lenovo with ThinkPads and EVGA in general. 

 

Have you at least figured out what the issue with the laptop is? Maybe you can fix it yourself? 

I tried going through Asus US's support/RMA procedure, only to be blocked when entering the serial number: Asus wants me to contact Best Buy for support (wtf???)

 

As for the issue, it's not software/OS or BIOS related (upgraded to latest BIOS version, reinstalled Windows already from scratch as well).

The notebook does not even turn on if just pressing the power button (on a full battery too), only way to do so is unplug it from AC, hold the power button for 10+ seconds and *then* plug in.

This gets it to start, but when the GPU driver loads the screen goes blank and never displays anything (looking online for similar symptoms, people mention it could be a faulty GMUX). In any case, it seems something is wrong with the motherboard, and not a trivial fix.