ASUS RMA Story

[Rune]

Let me preface this by saying I own three sabertooth motherboards (Z77/Z87/Z97), one Z87 Pro, and one Z97i-plus. In the last RMA I did, everything went smoothly.

I will never be buying another Asus board again. Don't get me wrong. The features of the boards themselves are good. I would say great even. But if your customer support is so terrible that, if needed, makes me feel like I made a mistake anyway, then another company deserves my purchase. I am thinking EVGA boards will exclusively be what I look for.

On 5/20 Asus received a nonfunctioning Z87 Sabertooth (no boot) with no physical damage other than standard wear (I can back this up with pictures). I got an email saying it is an average of 7 to 10 days before repairs would be done and I should wait until then. Fast forward to June 2nd, and I still have not gotten any additional information. No calls or emails, and the website still has the progress bar at "received". I call Asus support three times trying to find out if there is a problem, and repeatedly get told to "wait" because they are ordering a replacement part because something on the board was physically damaged. I asked if this happened during shipping as what I sent in looked essentially new and was told that was a possibility, or that it had been damaged in the facility during testing. Fine, whatever. Another TEN DAYS later, and I today get an email invoice demanding $149.30 for a replacement board (A Z87 Pro that cost half as much as what I paid for the Sabertooth) claiming that "damage-scratched" is not covered under the warranty, with no other explanation. I wouldn't mind this so much if it were something like me gnashing the board with a screwdriver during a cleaning session killing it or something, but the motherboard literally died while IN USE and would not come back on. To me, it sounds like they don't want to part with a more expensive replacement board or give a refund of some sort. But at this point, I'm just going to have them send the board back or throw it in the garbage because I can't deal with this anymore.

[0ld_Chicken]

That sucks and I'm sorry to hear it.  I had a similar situation with them but they were prompt with their responses and I think the scratches were my fault since mine wouldn't boot after an extensive rebuild where I did a ton of parts fitting.   Tbh I just bought another asus board cause I love them so

 

 

@thekeemo has the warranty support ratings thread and I'm sure he'd appreciate it if you'd fill out the form linked at the beginning of the thread 

 

[thekeemo]

3 minutes ago, 0ld_Chicken said:

That sucks and I'm sorry to hear it.  I had a similar situation with them but they were prompt with their responses and I think the scratches were my fault since mine wouldn't boot after an extensive rebuild where I did a ton of parts fitting.   Tbh I just bought another asus board cause I love them so

 

 

@thekeemo has the warranty support ratings thread and I'm sure he'd appreciate it if you'd fill out the form linked at the beginning of the thread 

 

I very much would.

I also recommend looking at MSI because they have a much higher value. (if that is the word)

[The Afro Samurai]

I'm sorry to hear that as well. ASUS did right by me when I had to RMA my router, the first 802.11ac model. I actually had to do it twice and didn't have any problems.

[Herman Mcpootis]

sorry to hear about your problem. my own experience with Asus wasn't that bad, had to rma my 290 reference 3 weeks back and they replaced it with a BNIB 390 strix in 9 days.

[Matt_Twinkletoes]

Only good companies stand behind their products

I had an RMA take 3 and a half weeks from MSI before..

[Rune]

I can understand its an older product and they may not have a direct replacement. But I am not cool with the amount of gaming the system I think is going on here by them. First by making me wait forever for something they do not have, and then by trying to charge me for something that wasn't my fault. Very not cool Asus.

[brighttail]

I fully understand what you are saying. I have been waiting for 3 months for a replacement board for my x99 rampage extreme.  The reason, they have none in stock to replace them.  Well is it any wonder why?  Because they have now come out with the Rampage Extreme 10 model.  So they aren't making any more of the R5E.  

 

Still three months ago, this wasn't an issue and yet they refused to send me a NEW one, saying their policy doesn't allow it.  It is nice to know their policy DOES allow upgrades normally.  Sheesh.  I would have no problems paying an extra $100 for an upgrade but going on 3+ months is ridiculous.

[Rune]

2 hours ago, brighttail said:

I fully understand what you are saying. I have been waiting for 3 months for a replacement board for my x99 rampage extreme.  The reason, they have none in stock to replace them.  Well is it any wonder why?  Because they have now come out with the Rampage Extreme 10 model.  So they aren't making any more of the R5E.  

 

Still three months ago, this wasn't an issue and yet they refused to send me a NEW one, saying their policy doesn't allow it.  It is nice to know their policy DOES allow upgrades normally.  Sheesh.  I would have no problems paying an extra $100 for an upgrade but going on 3+ months is ridiculous.

I am not sure my case is worthy of writing to the BBB, but if you are in america you definitely should. Three months is BEYOND ridiculous.

Edit: Just saw Canada.

[Rune]

Dear XXXXXX

I'm very sorry but your unit has physical damages to the parts you were quoted for and physical damage is excluded from warranty coverage.

Please note if no payment or feedback is received before the end of 6/14/2016, the unit will be sent back on 6/15/2016.

This came after disputing the charge. Are these real people or is everything automated?

[brighttail]

Welp Asus has offered me the option of shipping my Motherboard back with a tracking number at my cost.  I send them the tracking number and once they get that, they said they will send me a replacement at their own cost.

This is a fair deal.  I am tho worried about how long it could take and hope I'm not without my computer for more than a week.

[Rune]

4 hours ago, brighttail said:

Welp Asus has offered me the option of shipping my Motherboard back with a tracking number at my cost.  I send them the tracking number and once they get that, they said they will send me a replacement at their own cost.

This is a fair deal.  I am tho worried about how long it could take and hope I'm not without my computer for more than a week.

Glad to see yours was at least partially resolved.

[brighttail]

5 minutes ago, Rune said:

Glad to see yours was at least partially resolved.

Not counting my chickens yet.  I won't be satisfied until I get the replacement within a week and it works 100%

[SteveGrabowski0]

Usually Asus just claims you have bent pins.

[Rune]

22 minutes ago, SteveGrabowski0 said:

Usually Asus just claims you have bent pins.

I also informed them I took pictures of the board beforehand.

[SteveGrabowski0]

9 minutes ago, Rune said:

I also informed them I took pictures of the board beforehand.

Aah, that explains it.

[Misunderstood Wookie]

I am not suprised my first ever board I got that was enthusiast grade way back when AMD Athlons and P4's were the kings was DOA  shipped it back waited 2 weeks got a new one guess what DOA RMA again (I would almost swear they just sent the same bloody board I gave them back to me and said it was a replacement, due to the box being damaged in exactly the same place as before and the same crease marks on the top side of the box) heard not a whole lot, sent them an email and essentially saying I didn't care anymore I just want the money back so I can purchase something else. Went and got a Gigabyte LAN Party board for far far less and OMG not DOA, and I hear similar things from MSI being fairly reliable too with decent return policy. 

 

Thankfully it is not always the factory you have to talk too, for me it was just a reseller with thier own policies in place. I would have thought Asus would have improved by now guess not lol but I guess when you start to over engineer something which worked with the blueprints given to them it's bound to screw up sooner or later.. Thanks for this I was looking an Asus board for my next build and I am staying well away from them again.

[IcEWoLF]

This is nothing new, ASUS has been known for having the worst RMA/customer service out of any companies out there.

 

They do make great products, but if you do run into an issue then you are SOL.

ASUS needs a kick in the **** and get hit by a lawsuit to make them respect us.

Lawsuits is how companies learn, nothing else does.

[Rune]

Apparently they are going to send the board back to me unrepaired, though they seem to be ignoring my requests for documentation on where the "scratch" is, what may have caused it, and when/who it was discovered by.

[Rune]

Can anyone explain in what universe this makes sense? This comes from the email informing me they are shipping it back.

 

 

How can there both be damage and not be damage?

[thekeemo]

And this is why I took pictures of every single square mm of my motherboard before RMAing it..

[Rune]

8 hours ago, thekeemo said:

And this is why I took pictures of every single square mm of my motherboard before RMAing it..

I am probably going to have a nuclear meltdown if I get it back and I find something that wasn't there before.

[brighttail]

One thing you should remember is Asus, like many manufacturers doesn't always service their own boards. They outsource out to other companies in the area who will take your MB and do a "checklist" provided by Asus.  So when you call a company like Asus and want to actually talk to the people who are repairing your motherboard, they refuse to give you their number cause it isn't Asus.

 

I was told to send my MB back and provide them with a tracking number and they would ship the replacement out within 24 hours.  It is coming up on 40 now and I haven't heard squat.  Hopefully I'll hear something tomorrow but right now I'm thinking I may have gotten talked into that I'm going to regret....

 

On the positive side it gave me the opportunity to tear down and thoroughly clean my rads and case interior.

[Rune]

5 hours ago, brighttail said:

One thing you should remember is Asus, like many manufacturers doesn't always service their own boards. They outsource out to other companies in the area who will take your MB and do a "checklist" provided by Asus.  So when you call a company like Asus and want to actually talk to the people who are repairing your motherboard, they refuse to give you their number cause it isn't Asus.

 

I was told to send my MB back and provide them with a tracking number and they would ship the replacement out within 24 hours.  It is coming up on 40 now and I haven't heard squat.  Hopefully I'll hear something tomorrow but right now I'm thinking I may have gotten talked into that I'm going to regret....

 

On the positive side it gave me the opportunity to tear down and thoroughly clean my rads and case interior.

I'm preparing to write my complaint to the BBB right now, just in case they don't provide any documentation in the return package that I requested. I don't think this will be solved any time soon.

[Rune]

Asus shipped the board back to me without the CPU socket cover on. That was the final thing I could tolerate. I hate using the BBB as someone that works in retail myself, but this has gone too far. They just don't seem to even want to pretend to care anymore.