Asus Strikes Again: Month and a Half MINIMUM laptop repair

[rainless]

So the poorly constructed power connector on my K53SV laptop stopped receiving a charge from the power connector. (Damned power this is right on the SIDE of the laptop... sticking straight out... and instead of at least having the power connector curve at the end that ALSO sticks straight out. So it´s inevitable that the thing is constantly bending itself backwards when plugged in.)

And so I called up Asus Tech support who informed me that they would send someone out to pick up my laptop in two days and that I would have it back two days later.

Funny thing about that...

I got a text the next day saying someone would pick up my laptop that afternoon. I waited all day and nobody showed.

Called back two days later... Asus said they´d send someone else. ¨When are they coming? Tomorrow?" "Either tomorrow or after tomorrow..." is what they said.

They also said the guy would just call to see if I was home or where I was.

Three days later I'm on my way out the door when the doorbell rings... no call. It was a 17 year-old kid with a piece of paper:

"I'm here to get your laptop..." he said.

"Don't you have anything to put it in?"

"Nah... Just give it to me."

The conversation went something like that.

So Asus had the laptop by that monday. I figure "Whatever... I'll have it back by wednesday."

Wednesday, thursday, and Friday go by. Friday afternoon I gave them a call "Where the hell is my laptop?" "We're waiting on a motherboard." "Waiting on a motherboard from WHO?!? Aren't you the guys WITH the motherboards? Wasn´t that the whole point in me sending it to you?"

I guess not.

The good news is the guy says I'll have my computer "By next week for sure."

Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, AND Sunday go by. No laptop.

So I just got off the phone with them now: "Why do I not have my laptop?"

"We're waiting on a motherboard... Should be 2-3 weeks."

"But your guy said I'd have it 'By next week' about a week and a half ago."

"We're still within our limits."

"Can I speak to a manager?"

"No."

Well... That's about as deep as I need to go into this story. AS SOON as I get this damned thing back I'm going to sell it and get a lenovo or an HP or SOMEBODY that doesn't have to wait for a motherboard to come from Thailand to fix my laptop. (any suggestions?)

This is the third GIGANTIC Asus screw-up in recent history on this board alone.

I would STRONGLY advise you to shop elsewhere. Especially for laptops.

 

[Metallica]

Yeah, I've worked with something like this. We had a few customers with Dell's that had a warranty. The customers didn't like working with the support process, so we'd charge a fee to do it for them. They have these like third party companies that come out and do onsite repair, or will pick it up and do the work. They aren't actually working for dell, or in your case, ASUS. Every experience I've had with dell and this type of support, was horrible.

 

[rainless]

Yeah, I've worked with something like this. We had a few customers with Dell's that had a warranty. The customers didn't like working with the support process, so we'd charge a fee to do it for them. They have these like third party companies that come out and do onsite repair, or will pick it up and do the work. They aren't actually working for dell, or in your case, ASUS. Every experience I've had with dell and this type of support, was horrible.

It's horrible!

I heard so many bad things about Toshiba I didn't go with them... and I *hate* the keyboards on the new HPs... But if I could've only imagined the problems I'd have with Asus...

It's a shame I completely forgot about Lenovo. I could've just ordered from them. I just don't know who's safe anymore.

Check this out:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/asus/413829-tell-us-your-asus-rma-experience.html

Exact same thing. And this is from three YEARS ago!

 

[Metallica]

I don't think it's just ASUS though. All major companies probably use a third party company to do onsite work. The experience you're going to have, regardless of if it's dell, asus, toshiba ect, it's all dependent on the third party's customer service .. which in all my times dealing with them, seems horrible and unprofessional.

 

[rainless]

I don't think it's just ASUS though. All major companies probably use a third party company to do onsite work. The experience you're going to have, regardless of if it's dell, asus, toshiba ect, it's all dependent on the third party's customer service .. which in all my times dealing with them, seems horrible and unprofessional.

Maybe... maybe not. But I don´t think HP would make me wait til they got a motherboard from TAIWAN.

In fact, my girlfriend at the time had the exact same problem, only she had an HP laptop, and they actually (somehow) replaced the motherboard the same day.

 

[EarthDog]

Sorry they didnt have the motherboard in stock. That is a long time to wait.

 

[Pinky]

I don't think it's just ASUS though. All major companies probably use a third party company to do onsite work. The experience you're going to have, regardless of if it's dell, asus, toshiba ect, it's all dependent on the third party's customer service .. which in all my times dealing with them, seems horrible and unprofessional.

It is true that manufacturers use local / third party vendors for on site support. Unfortunately how good that support is depends entirely on:

1) Quality of local techs
2) Availability of parts
3) Timely/correct dispatching

Sounds like #1 isn't a factor here since #2 is holding up the process. Asus definitely has one of the worse RMA departments, at least from what I've been reading here and elsewhere. And in your case their supply chain issues are holding up your repair. Lack of good communications another. They literally have failed on every level they can, time and time again, across numerous RMAs. It's utter incompetence!

Don't blame the on site techs unless they flub the actual hardware install. They're probably more frustrated with Asus than you -- they have to deal with Asus every day!

 

[jameseboy]

from memory asus rma dep is pretty terrible. an old motherboard I got rma'd they told me that it was my fault it was broken, even though the pins were bent when it arrived..... Ended up having to pay to get it fixed!

 

[muddocktor]

Makes me glad the Asus laptop I bought 2 1/2 years ago hasn't given me a bit of trouble so far. At least the power plug from the brick is a right angle type and not a straight in feed like yours evidently has, rainless. And after reading all the problems that other people have been having with Asus RMA, my next laptop won't be an Asus.

Also, I wouldn't look at Toshiba either, after seeing the problems that my daughter's bf has had with his. First, the little cheap-@ss power brick it came with burned up. Then, about 3 months later the power port in the computer crapped out and they had to change out the mobo in it. Luckily for him, it didn't take too long to get it fixed.

As for my next laptop, I am thinking of maybe Lenovo or even splurging and getting me a Macbook Pro 15 and dual boot it. Also, I will still consider Dell, but it will have to be a good deal to put up with dealing with the outsourced support.

 

[freakdiablo]

Yeah, I've had horrible support from Asus (refusing to acknowledge my laptop had problems, sent it in 3 times, third time it came back without a battery) The weird part is, everyone I talked to said I'm not alone and had their own stories of Asus refusing to acknowledge a fault or refusing to fix it under warranty or some other excuse to not fix it. Until I the good things I hear about them outweigh the bad, I'm recommending other brands to anyone that'll listen.

 

[rainless]

Yeah, I've had horrible support from Asus (refusing to acknowledge my laptop had problems, sent it in 3 times, third time it came back without a battery) The weird part is, everyone I talked to said I'm not alone and had their own stories of Asus refusing to acknowledge a fault or refusing to fix it under warranty or some other excuse to not fix it. Until I the good things I hear about them outweigh the bad, I'm recommending other brands to anyone that'll listen.

Still don't have my laptop. Won't have it anytime soon. Good thing I at least took the hard drive out of it so I have the data FROM my laptop. (Plus that charger I bought for my old laptop just before getting a new one is starting to not look like such a bad investment now...)

 

[Woomack]

Some time ago I notice that getting notebook with NBD warranty is good investment. In Poland I pick almost only Dell or Lenovo, sometimes Sony. Most notebooks that I offer to our customers are these 3 brands because of good quality and fast RMA.
Once I had situation that Dell support came to fix notebook in my company. They said that they will fix it in 15 mins ... ok so we took a watch and really , guy replaced mobo, made some fast test and filled papers in about 15 mins. I don't know how in the USA but in Poland Dell support beats all. I have almost the same experience with their servers.
About Asus ... well there is lot of threads about the same stories. I'm just not buying their stuff unless I have warranty in store ( so 14-21 days anyway but later replacement or money back ).

 

[benj1290]

I *hate* the keyboards on the new HPs...

Do you mean the F1~12 key setup? because you can reverse the button so that you have to hit the FN+f1~12 to get the special feature, First thing i did with my HP DM1 which I love. 14" with no dvd drive, 9 hours of battery life and no problems so far *knock on wood*

 

[rainless]

Did I mention I STILL DON'T HAVE MY LAPTOP SINCE MAY 14th!!!!

This is B.S.

Not only that... but I can't even check the status online anymore! It says I have to fill in one of three fields to check the status. I fill-in one field and it says that I have to fill in one of the three fields... And if I fill in two fields... it doesn't work.

So ultimately: It doesn't work.

I would call but these asses are only working while I'm at work. This is completely ridiculous. I haven't seen my laptop in almost 2 months now...

 

[muddocktor]

Thanks for keeping us updated on the status, rainless. I know after reading all the numerous threads here complaining about most every aspect and division of Asus that my next laptop will not be from Asus.

And the shame of it is that with my Asus laptop at least, it's one of the best engineered laptops I've owned. Mine is over 2 1/2 years old and hasn't given me a lick of problem and I haven't even had to clean out the heatpipes of dust bunnies yet. And I generally run BOINC on it while I'm at work too, which keeps it at 100% load.

I think I will look to Lenovo next. I was leaning towards a Macbook Pro (despite the severe price premium) until they did their last update to the MBP line and changed it to a fancified Macbook Air. Zero upgradability and it's basically a throwaway if more than the LCD screen goes out. Totally proprietary through and through and even the ram is soldered down. Plus only 2 USB ports.

 

[Tech Tweaker]

This doesn't surprise me. Guess they haven't changed much since my fiasco with them.

If my experience with them can be used as any kind of a yardstick to indicate repair or replace times don't be surprised if it takes them two months from the day you shipped it out to either fix it or contact you to blame you for breaking it and demand payment to replace or repair it.

I'd start calling them every other day if I were you, I did that and eventually every other time I called I would get the same person answering the phone and they would remember me calling a few days earlier.

Don't worry about their posted hours either, I regularly called them at six or seven o'clock in the afternoon in my timezone (EST) and regularly got a hold of someone. I had a similar situation as you and didn't get off work until 5 o'clock (or later on occasion if working a late shift). By then I was so fed up I didn't care if I called and interrupted them after-hours, I just wanted an answer or explanation as to where the hell my board was and what the status of repairs and/or testing was.

Good luck, hope they fix it under the warranty.

 

[rainless]

This doesn't surprise me. Guess they haven't changed much since my fiasco with them.

If my experience with them can be used as any kind of a yardstick to indicate repair or replace times don't be surprised if it takes them two months from the day you shipped it out to either fix it or contact you to blame you for breaking it and demand payment to replace or repair it.

I'd start calling them every other day if I were you, I did that and eventually every other time I called I would get the same person answering the phone and they would remember me calling a few days earlier.

Don't worry about their posted hours either, I regularly called them at six or seven o'clock in the afternoon in my timezone (EST) and regularly got a hold of someone. I had a similar situation as you and didn't get off work until 5 o'clock (or later on occasion if working a late shift). By then I was so fed up I didn't care if I called and interrupted them after-hours, I just wanted an answer or explanation as to where the hell my board was and what the status of repairs and/or testing was.

Good luck, hope they fix it under the warranty.

Thanks for the tips!

If they've cleaned it while they've had it for so long, I'll sell it IMMEDIATELY and buy a Lenovo. The one they gave me for work (and thank GOODNESS they gave me that) seems to be quite the workhorse. I'd love to see what their home line is like.

I'll keep you guys posted and... umm... don't buy an Asus ANYTHING.

 

[Brando]

This thread is making me nervous due to all the asus stuff I have in my rig but so far I've never had a reliability problem with anything made by them. I'd like to think they're just swamped with fake rma's by people that don't know what they're doing and are just backlogged. I feel a little bad for hardware makers having to fork out cash to so many kids that broke their stuff or think it's broken when it's not. They probably got skeptical and decided to start ruling some of them out by actually checking them instead of just replacing no questions and tossing the old one out. I feel even worse for the people with honestly defective stuff that have to wait in line. I hope I don't become one.

 

[rainless]

This thread is making me nervous due to all the asus stuff I have in my rig but so far I've never had a reliability problem with anything made by them. I'd like to think they're just swamped with fake rma's by people that don't know what they're doing and are just backlogged. I feel a little bad for hardware makers having to fork out cash to so many kids that broke their stuff or think it's broken when it's not. They probably got skeptical and decided to start ruling some of them out by actually checking them instead of just replacing no questions and tossing the old one out. I feel even worse for the people with honestly defective stuff that have to wait in line. I hope I don't become one.

If it was just a motherboard I wouldn't even bother (especially after this experience.) I'd chuck it in the trash and buy a gigabyte. But my laptop (which I haven't seen since May 14th...)?

 

[ATMINSIDE]

That sucks man, I've only ever owned Dell laptops. First an XPS M1730, now a Vostro 3450 (I have a hook-up, otherwise I couldn't get the 3450). Never had any issues with either, because they were well built.

I avoided Asus like the plague because of the stuff I've heard about them.