Tips for getting past low-level tech support?

[Popmandoop]

Hey guys,

Long story but I recently found that my ASUS Zephyrus M15 laptop has a lot of factory defects that are making it ridiculously hard and expensive to repair. I want to talk to a higher up support tech at ASUS to see if I can get it replaced or repaired quickly, but I keep getting stuck with the low level support that don't really have power to help at all. I've called all morning and can never get past a level 2 "supervisor".

Does anyone have experience actually getting to talk to someone that isn't limited to a script, and that can offer me more than a 20% discount on a repair I shouldn't have even had to make? Don't get me wrong, 20% discount is good, but it just sucks that I would still have to play $100+ for a manufacturing error.

Thanks!

[Agall]

1 minute ago, Popmandoop said:

Hey guys,

Long story but I recently found that my ASUS Zephyrus M15 laptop has a lot of factory defects that are making it ridiculously hard and expensive to repair. I want to talk to a higher up support tech at ASUS to see if I can get it replaced or repaired quickly, but I keep getting stuck with the low level support that don't really have power to help at all. I've called all morning and can never get past a level 2 "supervisor".

Does anyone have experience actually getting to talk to someone that isn't limited to a script, and that can offer me more than a 20% discount on a repair I shouldn't have even had to make? Don't get me wrong, 20% discount is good, but it just sucks that I would still have to play $100+ for a manufacturing error.

Thanks!

I've found that if you overwhelm lower level support with information that they would otherwise ask you, you'll be far more effective than the latter option, being a Karen strategy. This would involve having done far more than the lowest level support can possible do and simply front loading the agent with it. If you don't give them anything to try with their script, they'll pretty much have to elevate it.

[Kilrah]

 

But seriously, no.

And if you want help you should probably give more details. 

[Popmandoop]

11 minutes ago, Agall said:

I've found that if you overwhelm lower level support with information that they would otherwise ask you, you'll be far more effective than the latter option, being a Karen strategy. This would involve having done far more than the lowest level support can possible do and simply front loading the agent with it. If you don't give them anything to try with their script, they'll pretty much have to elevate it.

Gotcha, that's been my strategy so far, but it only gets me to around the level 2 support people that I've talked to all day. Thanks for the tip regardless!

[Popmandoop]

8 minutes ago, Kilrah said:

 

But seriously, no.

And if you want help you should probably give more details. 

Lol if only it were so simple. Essentially ASUS sent me a defective laptop in 2020, but when I tried to RMA it they never even opened the laptop to find the defects. Now the defect is worse and it's out of warranty, but I think they should still fix it since the laptop is obviously defective, and when I tired to do it their way I was ignored. It's been a real pain and is stressing me out since my classes start again on Monday and I'm out a laptop. Thanks for your reply!

[Wardus]

Is it a defect where components need to be replaced or is it an issue that might be fixed with some tinkering?

[Kilrah]

What's the actual problem? 

[Brando212]

honestly, I think you've waited too long at this point to push it; you should have been on them as soon as you discovered it wasn't really fixed the first time.

[WildDagwood]

Curious what the actual problem is and how long you've owned it for.

[Brando212]

17 minutes ago, WildDagwood said:

Curious what the actual problem is and how long you've owned it for.

I'm curious on the issue as well. But he said he got the laptop in 2020 in his last reply above, so it's well past warranty period at this point.

[Popmandoop]

53 minutes ago, Wardus said:

Is it a defect where components need to be replaced or is it an issue that might be fixed with some tinkering?

 

51 minutes ago, Kilrah said:

What's the actual problem? 

 

48 minutes ago, WildDagwood said:

Curious what the actual problem is and how long you've owned it for.

 

31 minutes ago, Brando212 said:

I'm curious on the issue as well. But he said he got the laptop in 2020 in his last reply above, so it's well past warranty period at this point.

Sorry it this took a second, dog rolled in some poop and needed cleaned lol.

The problem started with bad thermals and a faulty fan bearing. The laptop would hit 100C really quickly and would throttle itself down significantly to avoid those temps which didn't align with other reviews or tests I had seen. Additionally one of the fans made a really loud intermittent grinding noise.

 

I sent that in for an RMA and after 2 weeks ASUS told me the temps were fine and nothing was done. I was starting my first semester of college and got really busy so I decided to just undervolt it to make it work until I had more time to fix it. Recently the grinding noise became much more constant and even started happening in class so I decided to replace them.

 

I took it to a repair store that opened it up and then pointed out a screw that was totally stripped and ridiculously tight. He said he couldn't get it out and so the fan couldn't be replaced. I took it to another repair store that tried to get the screw out with a drill and extractor bits, but they could only get the head of because the bolt was so locked to the threads. They then were able to lift the cooler and found that most of the liquid metal on the CPU had oozed out (no damage from that, just in the gasket) which would explain the thermal issues. The CPU also had a large black mark on it that looked like something had burned onto it. 

So yeah thats the pickle I'm in. I realize now I should've returned it sooner but I was much less tech savvy when I bought it, and had so many other things going on like moving out and starting college. 

[Popmandoop]

51 minutes ago, Brando212 said:

honestly, I think you've waited too long at this point to push it; you should have been on them as soon as you discovered it wasn't really fixed the first time.

I agree, I was just busy at the time so I just trusted ASUS and assumed I was crazy and that they were right. Plus I was starting college that week (lots of online classes because covid) and didn't have any other options for a computer to use while I waited to replace or fix this one. Mistakes were made. 

[Wardus]

OMG!!! I work at a repair shop and I had a laptop come in just like that with a slightly different mark on the chip. Once again, bad thermals. I replaced the liquid metal and cleaned the fans and it seemed better. Never experienced the grinding noise. You can sort of see in the pictures that there was a matching mark on the cooler and the chip that stuck out a little from the rest of the silicon. I believe it was an ASUS laptop very similar to what you described.

[Mark Kaine]

Say your uncle works for Nintendo! 

[Mark Kaine]

1 hour ago, Popmandoop said:

I agree, I was just busy at the time so I just trusted ASUS and assumed I was crazy and that they were right. Plus I was starting college that week (lots of online classes because covid) and didn't have any other options for a computer to use while I waited to replace or fix this one. Mistakes were made. 

dumb question,  cant you go through the seller?

 

 

i got a full refund from Amazon for a (shitty) asus router after asus wouldn't help me (they just played dumb) for example 

[Popmandoop]

22 minutes ago, Wardus said:

OMG!!! I work at a repair shop and I had a laptop come in just like that with a slightly different mark on the chip. Once again, bad thermals. I replaced the liquid metal and cleaned the fans and it seemed better. Never experienced the grinding noise. You can sort of see in the pictures that there was a matching mark on the cooler and the chip that stuck out a little from the rest of the silicon. I believe it was an ASUS laptop very similar to what you described.

LOL yep thats crazy, good to know someone else has seen this. Right now I think I'm going to try undervolting the cpu and just putting regular thermal paste on it and only tightening the 3 screws I can. I feel like getting the rest of the stuck bolt out may be really tough with my lack of tools and experience. Maybe the second repair shop will be up for the challenge, but I feel like the standoff will be destroyed. The worst part is I have the fans and everything, it's just that one screw causing loads of issues.

[ToboRobot]

Some companies have an executive email you can use to bypass.

Being polite but persistent can be effective, but ultimately you can only ask, until you get a lawyer or go to court and have a real case.

Every company is different as to the escalation path, but they can always just say no, and assume you can't generate a meaningful impact to their sales.

[Popmandoop]

3 minutes ago, Mark Kaine said:

dumb question,  cant you go through the seller?

 

 

i got a full refund from Amazon for a (shitty) asus router after asus wouldn't help me (they just played dumb) for example 

I don't think that a dumb question, but I bought it through BestBuy who are also not know for their amazing support. Their best suggestion was to bring it in for repair and try to convince the techs not to charge me. Thanks BB.

[Popmandoop]

1 minute ago, ToboRobot said:

Some companies have an executive email you can use to bypass.

Being polite but persistent can be effective, but ultimately you can only ask, until you get a lawyer or go to court and have a real case.

Every company is different as to the escalation path, but they can always just say no, and assume you can't generate a meaningful impact to their sales.

Yeah, that what I've been trying to because I feel like it's a really understandable issue that could be resolved if I could reach someone without a script. I found this link that supposedly sends a message to the "CEO's Office" but I am yet to get a call back. Other than that, the 2nd level techs seemed to be pretty done with me, I stayed polite the whole time though so at least they don't hate me.

[ToboRobot]

2 minutes ago, Popmandoop said:

Yeah, that what I've been trying to because I feel like it's a really understandable issue that could be resolved if I could reach someone without a script. I found this link that supposedly sends a message to the "CEO's Office" but I am yet to get a call back. Other than that, the 2nd level techs seemed to be pretty done with me, I stayed polite the whole time though so at least they don't hate me.

everyone calling customer support feels this way. 

[ToboRobot]

7 minutes ago, Popmandoop said:

I don't think that a dumb question, but I bought it through BestBuy who are also not know for their amazing support. Their best suggestion was to bring it in for repair and try to convince the techs not to charge me. Thanks BB.

Nothing wrong with going to Best Buy to get it fixed. 

[Popmandoop]

5 minutes ago, ToboRobot said:

Nothing wrong with going to Best Buy to get it fixed. 

Yeah I have no problem going there for a fix, I just don't have a lot of time since I'm moving back out to school soon and I don't have a lot of money to pay for a repair if they do need payment to fix the defect (which I'm pretty sure they will). Who knows though, I could be pleasantly surprised.

6 minutes ago, ToboRobot said:

everyone calling customer support feels this way. 

Yeah fair point.

[Kisai]

4 hours ago, Popmandoop said:

Hey guys,

Long story but I recently found that my ASUS Zephyrus M15 laptop has a lot of factory defects that are making it ridiculously hard and expensive to repair. I want to talk to a higher up support tech at ASUS to see if I can get it replaced or repaired quickly, but I keep getting stuck with the low level support that don't really have power to help at all. I've called all morning and can never get past a level 2 "supervisor".

Does anyone have experience actually getting to talk to someone that isn't limited to a script, and that can offer me more than a 20% discount on a repair I shouldn't have even had to make? Don't get me wrong, 20% discount is good, but it just sucks that I would still have to play $100+ for a manufacturing error.

Thanks!

Your problem is you picked ASUS. ASUS makes fantastic products most of the time, but their customer support is some of the worst I've ever encountered.  It was cheaper for me to fix it myself than have to them under warranty because they wanted me to send the laptop, that I had no box or shipping materials for, nor any proof of ownership (I bought it second hand) from another country to a repair depot that ASUS has exactly one of in Canada at my cost and time. They would not sell me the parts to fix it, so I had to buy one of those aftermarket batteries from some random site online.

 

That entire experience made never want to buy a laptop from anyone other that Dell, because Dell WILL send you parts, and Dell actually doesn't fight you on the phone.

 

Now as for "how do I get past the idiot who picked up the phone/answered the email/started the chat", You may not realize it, that other than new-hires, everyone with experience does know what they are doing, and they are required to ask you a bunch of idiot steps because otherwise they will be marked down on their quality performance. So just roll with it. Don't explain. If they ask a question, answer with a firm yes or no. If they tell you to do something non-destructive, do it.

 

If you happen to get a new-hire that is completely lost, the correct means of escalation in all call centers to ask to speak to a supervisor, but ONLY after you have let them do their quality checklist, otherwise what you are doing is screwing the person who answered the call, and they will tell their supervisor that you're an unreasonable Karen that needs to be told "No"

 

If you feel you are getting nowhere with phone support, bring the computer to an actual computer store, (even Best Buy and Staples will do) and get them to fix it and then write it off on your taxes.

 

BTW the laptop I have is a Zephyrus S GX701GWR, and when I got it, the entire back of the thing opened up when open, and the previous owner must have had a filthy environment because it was full of debris. I can not understand why ASUS thought exposing the entire MB this way was a good idea. What led me down this hellish support was that the battery was dead, and it needed a working battery to update the firmware, otherwise Windows would not update. Why? Why is this a thing? Why can I not update the firmware while it's plugged in? I also discovered that it had soldered-in RAM and that kinda pissed me off, but it still had one RAM slot. 

 

But oh gawd was it ever a pain in the ass. Horrible design.

 

[Synthesis]

I used to work with a guy who would just yell at Acronis support. It was great to listen to

[Popmandoop]

40 minutes ago, Kisai said:

Your problem is you picked ASUS. ASUS makes fantastic products most of the time, but their customer support is some of the worst I've ever encountered.  It was cheaper for me to fix it myself than have to them under warranty because they wanted me to send the laptop, that I had no box or shipping materials for, nor any proof of ownership (I bought it second hand) from another country to a repair depot that ASUS has exactly one of in Canada at my cost and time. They would not sell me the parts to fix it, so I had to buy one of those aftermarket batteries from some random site online.

 

That entire experience made never want to buy a laptop from anyone other that Dell, because Dell WILL send you parts, and Dell actually doesn't fight you on the phone.

 

Now as for "how do I get past the idiot who picked up the phone/answered the email/started the chat", You may not realize it, that other than new-hires, everyone with experience does know what they are doing, and they are required to ask you a bunch of idiot steps because otherwise they will be marked down on their quality performance. So just roll with it. Don't explain. If they ask a question, answer with a firm yes or no. If they tell you to do something non-destructive, do it.

 

If you happen to get a new-hire that is completely lost, the correct means of escalation in all call centers to ask to speak to a supervisor, but ONLY after you have let them do their quality checklist, otherwise what you are doing is screwing the person who answered the call, and they will tell their supervisor that you're an unreasonable Karen that needs to be told "No"

 

If you feel you are getting nowhere with phone support, bring the computer to an actual computer store, (even Best Buy and Staples will do) and get them to fix it and then write it off on your taxes.

 

BTW the laptop I have is a Zephyrus S GX701GWR, and when I got it, the entire back of the thing opened up when open, and the previous owner must have had a filthy environment because it was full of debris. I can not understand why ASUS thought exposing the entire MB this way was a good idea. What led me down this hellish support was that the battery was dead, and it needed a working battery to update the firmware, otherwise Windows would not update. Why? Why is this a thing? Why can I not update the firmware while it's plugged in? I also discovered that it had soldered-in RAM and that kinda pissed me off, but it still had one RAM slot. 

 

But oh gawd was it ever a pain in the ass. Horrible design.

 

Thanks for the reply! At least I knowI'm not getting it worse than anybody else! Lesson learned at this point, Asus is not where it is at. Thanks for your tips, even if they don't come in handy now I'm sure they will later!