ASUS RMA process, service issues

[taug6]

I thought I should share this little adventure of mine with ASUS here.

I consider myself a loyal ASUS customer since for the last 5 years I must have built close to 10 high-end PCs using ASUS motherboards (most of them ROG) mainly for processing intensive applications (with moderate/high overclocking).

Some of the PCs were built for private use but most of them for the companies I work for. By profession, I design/test ASICs and FPGAs. My base originally used to be UK but a couple of years ago I decided to move with my family in US.

Over half a year ago, one of PCs (using an ASUS X-99 Pro motherboard) that was built for private use started crashing intermittently (indicating some error q-codes) and a few months back it stopped booting completely, indicating q-code "00". When I managed to find some time, I tried to debug the problem only to establish that it was motherboard related.

At that point, I got in touch with ASUS and via their electronic system I gave a description of the problem, the debugging method that I followed and all the necessary information requested by their system (like Model description, serial number etc) in order to request for an RMA (Return Merchant Authorization) under the warranty.

A couple of days later I received the RMA number/approval and instructions on providing a similar documentation (e.g. serial no, debugging method followed) along with instructions on how to pack and send the motherboard back to ASUS.

After disassembling the PC to remove the motherboard and following the RMA instructions, packaging and mailing the motherboard at my own cost, the motherboard was shipped to ASUS.

About two weeks later I received an email from ASUS indicating the following:

1) That the motherboard was sold outside US (something that was established based on the serial number that was obviously known before authorizing RMA). Based on that it was not covered under ASUS US warranty!

2) If I wanted for the motherboard to be repaired, I had to pay approximately $300 (note that the cost of the motherboard as new is about $300). The breakdown of the cost was $10 for a shipping charge, $120 because it was out of warranty and also another $150 (plus tax) because they would have to ship components internationally for the repairs !

At that point I followed a dispute process, indicating to them of the inconvenience for having me disassembling the PC and posting the motherboard (at my own cost) when they shouldn't really assign an RMA number and provide instructions to me if they were not intending to repair the motherboard under the warranty. Had I known that the motherboard was not covered under the warranty, as they should have informed me, I would have thrown it away - most likely and bought a ROG strix X99 or RAMPAGE V ed 10 without having go through the inconvenience and cost of packing and posting, as well as waiting for two weeks for getting a reply from them.

Also, I did point to them (several times) that this same motherboard is also sold in US and there should be no necessity to order parts internationally. I do not appreciate it when people try to overcharge me, simply because they think that they can.

During the dispute process and with other communication, I explained several times that I am a loyal customer but also pointed that I do value my time and money, and I am not willing to waste it in misleading/non-working RMA processes. Perhaps I was expecting ASUS a lot from ASUS, but I did give them the benefit of a doubt. I also informed them of my intentions to make this public to motherboard related forums.

In their response, they did close the dispute process, indicating that if I want to escalate this I need to speak to CID (Customer Induced Damage) or OOW (Out Of Warranty) departments and at the same time shipped the board back to me un-repaired (closing the initial communication thread). Needless to say, those two departments have nothing to do with my case.

In my opinion a company that cares about its customers should try and make sure that their repair department is not trying to overcharge the customers (e.g. components that need to be ordered internationally for motherboards that are also sold in the US market). But more important, a company that cares about its customers (especially when they have paid thousands of dollars in its products), should try to accommodate for the inconvenience and the expenses that they cause to their customers. Under the circumstances, I would expect nothing less from ASUS than honoring the RMA, either by getting in touch with ASUS Europe (if possible), or repairing it at the company's cost (if necessary).

So, as a customer, after paying thousands of dollars to buy ASUS motherboards, the only time that I needed their support, not only they didn't help but I also had to waste time and money on top, because of their mistakes.

I wish to other ASUS customer better luck if they have problems with their motherboards.

 

[UsandThem]

I know it sucks, but Asus isn't the only company who voids warranties when they are outside the market they were sold in. This is actually very common with the various computer component manufacturers.

I ran into this back in the 90's when I had my car shipped from the U.S. to Europe. It sucks, but there is nothing you can really do. You can switch to MSI, Asrock, or Gigabyte, but in the same scenario you stated above, they would all have voided your warranty as well. Sometimes you just have to cut your losses.

 

[taug6]

Usand thanks,

My problem is not the policies of ASUS US here, that is understandable. My problem is that I was assigned with an RMA number for a warranty return based on my serial number, model number, description of the problem and debugging process that I had to go through a couple of times. After following this RMA procedure I had to pay for packing and posting only to find out 2 weeks later that they were not going to honor the RMA !

Furthermore, instead of trying to help me for the inconvinience (and cost) that they caused not they presented me with an quote for repairs that required order of international components (when the same motherboard exists in US) ...

So my problem is not about their warranty policies but their difficulty to issue correctly an RMA number and their incompetence to deal with the aftermath...

 

[UsandThem]

I don't think there is any motherboard company that is left that would be considered of providing "good" support with the RMA process. I know of several users here who will just junk a motherboard if they have issues while under warranty not to deal with their RMA departments.

We have quite a few new members sign up here to tell everyone about their horrible RMA experience, never to be heard from again. We also have long-term members here share their stories as well. I know it feels good to write about a bad experience, but I can link similiar stories from every component manufacturer out there. Like I said, now that you wrote your story, it's best to cut your losses. I have seen many, many Asus RMA horror stories over the years, and they all end the same way; Asus does nothing.

 

[taug6]

Thank you for your understanding, you are absolutely right.

Had those guys told me from the very beginning that my mobo was not covered under ASUS US warranty I would have bought another ASUS ROG mobo in the same day. But now, that they added "insult to injury" ... I am going to stay away from them.

 

[VirtualLarry]

Shrug. It sucks, the way that they treated you (which is, as UsandThem noted, sadly, par for the RMA course from many mfgs), but ... what can you do? Stop buying their boards? That's one option. Until your next mfg of choice "bends you over" the same way.

Eventually, you just learn to suck it up, buy your boards from a retailer with AT LEAST a 30-day money-back, and if a board is initially bad, return it ASAP to the retailer for exchange / refund.

But to be honest here, you admit overclocking, and this defect didn't present itself initially. Overclocking stresses boards, even high-end ones. It can eventually cause them, or the CPU / RAM, to fail. That's just the way things are.

I'm in the same category, of people that simply junk boards that die, rather than bother to RMA them. RMA is such a hit-or-miss, it's not worth it. Unless you want potentially pissed-off customers, when something else on the RMA'ed board breaks down.

 

[UsandThem]

Here is one of the previous discussion threads on Asus, and as you can see you are not alone in being disappointed:

https://forums.anandtech.com/thread...s-in-the-customer-service-department.2462599/

I think a job requirement for working in a RMA center is not caring about good service (or speed).

 

[RLGL]

The above is one of the reasons I do not use the RMA process if the product is more the one to two years old. I eat it and replace with new.

 

[taug6]

Shrug. It sucks, the way that they treated you (which is, as UsandThem noted, sadly, par for the RMA course from many mfgs), but ... what can you do? Stop buying their boards? That's one option. Until your next mfg of choice "bends you over" the same way.

Eventually, you just learn to suck it up, buy your boards from a retailer with AT LEAST a 30-day money-back, and if a board is initially bad, return it ASAP to the retailer for exchange / refund.

But to be honest here, you admit overclocking, and this defect didn't present itself initially. Overclocking stresses boards, even high-end ones. It can eventually cause them, or the CPU / RAM, to fail. That's just the way things are.

I'm in the same category, of people that simply junk boards that die, rather than bother to RMA them. RMA is such a hit-or-miss, it's not worth it. Unless you want potentially pissed-off customers, when something else on the RMA'ed board breaks down.

VirtualLarry,

thanks for your reply.

Relative to your comments for overclocking, these motherboards are motherboards designed for overclocking,m and I agree with your comments of extra stress to some components like cpu, ram but it was the motherboard that failed. I had established that before requesting an RMA. I was asked for symptoms, debugging method, model number, serial number before I was assigned with an RMA number and instructions of how to send the Motherboard back to them (only to deny repairs under warranty 2+ weeks later ). So my grief is not with their warranty terms but their incompetence to for assigning an RMA number to me for warranty work (serial number pointed to board outside US market) and their refusal to do anything about the costs/time that I had to waste because of their mistake.

 

[taug6]

Here is one of the previous discussion threads on Asus, and as you can see you are not alone in being disappointed:

https://forums.anandtech.com/thread...s-in-the-customer-service-department.2462599/

I think a job requirement for working in a RMA center is not caring about good service (or speed).

Thanks, I tried to escalate this within ASUS, but obviously their whole process is tuned to cut their costs regardless if with their careless departments cause extra costs to their customers. Probably they cant care less about their customers (even the loyal ones like me) if they can save a few dollars here and there.

The funny thing is that I am 90% sure that the cause of the failure is in one of the electrolytic capacitors of the board (a component that costs just a few dollars to replace). If I find some time I think I might try to prove this (I haven't thrown way the board yet), and then perhaps try to justify how a quote of $150 of "international components" for a motherboard sold in US market, with a minor faulty component, fits with their story

 

[taug6]

The above is one of the reasons I do not use the RMA process if the product is more the one to two years old. I eat it and replace with new.

That could be another approach but I am building far too many PCs, usually with high end ASUS motherboards not to consider the RMA process.

Now that I know how ASUS treats its customers, I will make sure that I will never have to deal with them again.

 

[VirtualLarry]

Relative to your comments for overclocking, these motherboards are motherboards designed for overclocking,

More or less, but still - you OC, you take responsibility for what happens. Chalk it up to experience. That's all I'm saying.

"Overclocker burns out his rig, tries to RMA with Asus, whines on forums because he is refused, news at 11..."

 

[taug6]

More or less, but still - you OC, you take responsibility for what happens. Chalk it up to experience. That's all I'm saying.

"Overclocker burns out his rig, tries to RMA with Asus, whines on forums because he is refused, news at 11..."

I think you got it all wrong, let me explain the reasons why:

First of all, ASUS did not refuse to repair my board on the grounds of overclocking. So what you mention is not so related.

Second, Those products are advertised for overclocking enthusiasts and ARE DESIGNED FOR OVERCLOCKING

Third I design ASICs/FPGAs so believe me when I say, I know a lot about overclocking/limits etc, not that it is relevant to our subject but even if it was ...

Finally, ASUS can not advertize their products for their overclocking capabilities and then refuse RMA's based on overclocking (unless ofcourse they have a strong indication that the user has done something really silly - and state this explicitely on the reason why they are not honoring the RMA/warranty). Also please bare in mind that it is most likely the CPU/memory components that are stressed by overcloking because they might operate outside their limits but not the motherboards that are designed to provide the overclocking functionality and do operate within their limits.

Also the signature of this motherboard fault (e.g. starting with some q-codes intermittently for aboput 6 months to end up to q-code 00) is a known one. In other words there were many users that experienced the same problem !

So please read the thread carefully, for all of the above reasons, this has nothing to do with overclocking.

This has to do with the incompetence of the ASUS customer service/support/repair centre to do their job properly and therefore adding unnecessary costs to their customers !!!

 

[VirtualLarry]

Second, Those products are advertised for overclocking enthusiasts and ARE DESIGNED FOR OVERCLOCKING

Finally, ASUS can not advertize their products for their overclocking capabilities and then refuse RMA's based on overclocking

AMD advertises their Ryzen CPUs and APUs as "Unlocked", and even supplies the "Ryzen Master" software for overclocking.

Guess what? They have some pretty significant disclaimers, that if you DO overlocking, using THEIR abilities and tools that THEY provide... YOU are ON YOUR OWN.

I'm pretty certain Asus is the same way.

And you CAN burn out your motherboard from overclocking, it does't just affect CPU and RAM. Specifically, the VRMs may be an issue, and cooling may be an issue.

 

[taug6]

VirtualLarry,

as I said before, there was no mention of refusing the warranty on the grounds that you indicate.

You are refering mainly to components (cpu/memory, maybe gpu etc ) failure/damage from overclocking. That is right and reasonable !

ALthough again, you are talking about motherboard failing due to excessive heat in a HYPOTHETICAL scenario, let me assure you that my son PC also has 6 fans cooling motherboard and components. Not that it is relevant to this discussion.

You are talking about a hypothetical scenario that has ABSOLUTELY nothing to do with this case. Just for your satisfaction, this motherboard that is designed for overclocking was build and used by my son for gaming, and although it had overclocking profiles in bios available (from the first time that I tunned it) it was not running any of those !!!

I am sure that there might be cases where if a company has a very strong indication that the board was damaged by SILLY user usage then maybe they can try to deny the warranty claim. But if you suggest for example that they can blindly deny warranty work on their high end overclocking motherboard products, e.g. ROG motherboards etc, because someone used their overclocking functions, I am sure you are wrong.

We can have a lot of hypothetical conversations about denying RMA/warranty work for EXTREME overclocking but please try to understand that my case has nothing to do with overclocking. The RMA was assigned by THEIR mistake and two+ weeks later was refused by ASUS on the grounds that the board was not from US market (they even gave me a silly quote for repairs). When I asked if they were willing to do anything for the inconvinience and my costs for packaging and shipping (because I followed their RMA procedure that was wrongly assigned by THEM in first place), they replied no !

So if you like to discuss possible overclocking issues on components or even motherboards, we can start another thread and I will hapilly join and give you my feedback.

 

[Lordhumungus]

Any chance you purchased the board with a credit card that has additional warranty service on it? If so, that might be an option. Couldn’t hurt to try anyway.

 

[taug6]

Lordhumungus,

thanks, its been about three years since the motherboard was bought (back then I was in UK) with a credit card from UK I do not even have this credit card anymore

Thanks for the suggestion, but I have already bought another motherboard (obviously not from ASUS for all the reasons explained above) and it looks like my son is very happy with it

 

[aigomorla]

Sorry for your loss but its standard industry practice not to service a board not sold in the same country.

True its ASUS's fault for accepting the RMA to begin with, but at the same time its your fault for trying to pass the board to them without verifying if they can service a out of country board.

This is why we always recommend people not to buy parts at another country and then expect to get RMA in another unless the warrenty states international like how IBM Thinkpads were before Lenovo bought them out.

 

[taug6]

True its ASUS's fault for accepting the RMA to begin with, but at the same time its your fault for trying to pass the board to them without verifying if they can service a out of country board.

This is why we always recommend people not to buy parts at another country and then expect to get RMA in another unless the warrenty states international like how IBM Thinkpads were before Lenovo bought them out.

Perhaps you are not aware about the ASUS RMA process. In the ASUS RMA process, you have to provide information about your Motherboard model, serial number, diagnosed fault, process for diagnosing the fault and some other information.

Then a few days later, after the ASUS people go through the detailed information they assign OR NOT a RMA number to you. Based on the information that I gave them, they shouldn't have assigned the RMA number to me. The end user, like me is not supposed to know all the rules and regulations, therefore he/she goes through their processes that should filter out problems like that !

So I did not try to pass the board to them without verifying if they can service an out of country board as you suggest. Their RMA process should be part of that verification ! If I knew that they do not support warranty on International boards contrary to their ONLINE RMA process, I wouldn't have tried at all. But I think this is a little to much to ask from a user, who has recently moved to US and doesn't know the policies/politics of the companies here). So, I followed step by step their RMA procedure for returning an ASUS board (with a common fault) back to them. I can not see how this can be my mistake.

Throughout the RMA initialization process, there was no mention that they can not service an international board (which happens to exist in the US market as well). Funnily enough they even gave me a quote for the repair works, that among other things (shipping cost, repair work) included the costs for ordering components internationally (for a board that is also sold in US). I did challenge them MANY times on that, only to receive 3 different versions of an answer on the last communication

With respect to your comment about buying parts internationally, I recently moved from Europe to US, so it was not really a choice of where I was going to buy the parts from.

And I accept that companies make mistakes, but it is how they deal with those that matters the most. As I mentioned earlier, I have paid thousands of dollars in their products, and although the service I received (the only time that I needed them) was terrible, I even had to pay even more money because of their mistakes !

So clearly, the problem is not related to their policy for not repairing international boards under warranty. The problem is that due to their mistakes they create inconvenience and extra costs for their LOYAL customers and they don't seem to care enough to try and make things right !

How to make things right, as I mentioned earlier, under the circumstances (considering my shipping expenses, my efforts and delays from them), they could have tried a number of different things (any of them would have worked for me):

1) Contact ASUS EU (and arrange RMA with them)
2) Repair the board at their own cost (they had already diagnosed the problem - common with these boards)
3) Reimburse me with a ASUS coupon for shipping expenses

Companies that I work for, provide this as a courtesy or they call it a good will gesture (which really is making up for their mistakes which many times result to customer cost).

Well, at the end they said they were sorry about my inconvenience but they were not willing to do any of the above

And this is why they lost a loyal customer ...