How does Asus survive with such terrible RMA service?

Well my Asus RMA has been out for 3 weeks and is now listed as shipped. I'm very curious about what will come back to me. I packed the board into a motherbaord box with padding and then that into the center of a 3x3' cube box filled with packing peanuts. No way that thing got damaged on the way there!
 
A week ago while I was away on vacation I tried to advanced RMA my WS board. But I was told that a RMA can't be created because the serial number that I gave them didn't have a "M" in it. The serial number came off the box and there may have been a possibility that the serial on the board itself is different.

However I doubted this was the case as I had looked very carefully at the board before I left on vacation and there was no other number present anywhere. After arguing with the (frankly rude) dudes over the phone for an hour about my situation, I took a breathe and left this issue until I got home.

Well today I'm back in town and it turns out that the serial number on the board itself (a sticker on the final PCI-E slot) is the same one as the board - thus there is no serial number with a "m" anywhere on the product!

Now I pray to God that ASUS won't try to screw around with me due to something that's beyond my control. Gonna try to call them during the day and see if they'll still advance RMA me despite not having a "normal" serial number.
 
What pictures I found of the P8Z77 WS board show that a serial number sticker might be on the SATA ports on the leading edge of the motherboard. I'd take some pictures of the board and be prepared to send them off to ASUS with a firm response that you expect to get timely service after you gave them more than ~$300 for a board that already has not lived up on the reliability front.
 
night_2004 said:
What pictures I found of the P8Z77 WS board show that a serial number sticker might be on the SATA ports on the leading edge of the motherboard. I'd take some pictures of the board and be prepared to send them off to ASUS with a firm response that you expect to get timely service after you gave them more than ~$300 for a board that already has not lived up on the reliability front.
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I had another look at the board again. The numbers on the serial ports are different but they do not contain any "m" as Asus told me a mobo S/N should. Other than that, there are no "m" containing numbers anywhere on this board.

When I called Asus a week ago I got into a shouting match with the numb head over the phone about this. I was more than certain that after tinkering with my board for over a month, I would have spotted a different S/N number if there was one on the board.

The guy would not accommodate me (since I did not have the board in front of me) or help me in any way at all. I told him to get me a supervisor or a manager or someone higher up and he refused. An hour of long distance call down the drain. I mean sure, if their RMA software will not process a RMA if a valid S/N is not put through but I'm more than certain that a supervisor or someone higher up would of had the authority to get the job done.

I asked the guy, sternly, what the hell would happen if the S/N indeed was the one I gave them, what the hell would Asus do then to make up for the lost time and all the troubles I've been through? The guy just gives me the silent treatment, never bothered to give me any coherent response and just hung up on me eventually.
 
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I wonder if the rep accidentally keyed in some other motherboard whose name starts with "P8Z77." Call them this week, ask to speak with someone other than the person you talked to previously, and see what happens. QUICK NOTE: I was able to find a high resolution picture of another WS board where the stickers are visible (webpage doesn't load but the image link is here). I sure as hell don't see any stickers that have an "M" in the string of text.
 
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Thank god they didnt play the bullshit bent pins thing with me, just got this in my email:

Dear ASUS Valued Customer,
Your RMA is scheduled for shipment today. You may check status with the courier directly for estimated delivery date; however please keep in mind that the courier’s website may not be updated until after 7pm PST depending on the actual pick up time of your RMA.
 
I've finally got the RMA through but Asus keeps telling me they don't have any WS boards in stock, as they won't give me a brand new one. They'll only send me a repaired board first, then have me send my broken one to them.

Bullshit if you ask me. I didn't pay over $300 bucks only to be given a used board. It's their problem if they don't stock enough products... why should the customer have to suffer extended downtime as a result? It's not like it's an obsolete product.

This is gonna take forever, I doubt there are that many WS boards out there, and there won't be one at their Canadian service centre any time soon.

Very disappointed.
 
christpunchers said:
I've finally got the RMA through but Asus keeps telling me they don't have any WS boards in stock, as they won't give me a brand new one. They'll only send me a repaired board first, then have me send my broken one to them.

Bullshit if you ask me. I didn't pay over $300 bucks only to be given a used board. It's their problem if they don't stock enough products... why should the customer have to suffer extended downtime as a result? It's not like it's an obsolete product.

This is gonna take forever, I doubt there are that many WS boards out there, and there won't be one at their Canadian service centre any time soon.

Very disappointed.
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Hope you learned to avoid Asus crap.
 
christpunchers said:
I've finally got the RMA through but Asus keeps telling me they don't have any WS boards in stock, as they won't give me a brand new one. They'll only send me a repaired board first, then have me send my broken one to them.

Bullshit if you ask me. I didn't pay over $300 bucks only to be given a used board. It's their problem if they don't stock enough products... why should the customer have to suffer extended downtime as a result? It's not like it's an obsolete product.

This is gonna take forever, I doubt there are that many WS boards out there, and there won't be one at their Canadian service centre any time soon.

Very disappointed.
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Just curious....What MB manfg have you used that doesn't have this policy?

AFAIK, all MB and HD manfgs send refurbs.
 
Old Hippie said:
Just curious....What MB manfg have you used that doesn't have this policy?

AFAIK, all MB and HD manfgs send refurbs.
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Yes, I understand it's standard policy to send out refurbs... but in this case where they don't have any in stock, can't they send me something that's on par or try to find me a new board if possible?

You know as well as I do about the horror stories of Asus' quality of repair; sometimes they do a decent job of patching things up the first go and other users never got their boards fixed after sending it back and forth multiple times.

So I'm not really confident that if I send my board in, that it will come back in a fully functional condition. In fact, I fear it may come back with more problems than me.
 
Yes, I understand it's standard policy to send out refurbs... but in this case where they don't have any in stock, can't they send me something that's on par or try to find me a new board if possible?
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Seems to me standard policy is standard policy....or are you special? :D

When I called Asus a week ago I got into a shouting match with the numb head over the phone about this.
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That always helps the situation. LOL!

I'd just buy another board and sell that one when it comes back from RMA.
 
Old Hippie said:
Cool! You definately have the right attitude. :)

If Newegg is doing the RMA they're probably giving you their money and they'll deal with Asus later.

Since this sounds like a new board and Newegg tries to keep it's customers happy, you definately have a better chance for a refund thru Newegg..... not thru Asus.

I hope things work out well and please keep us posted.
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Got any email from Newegg the middle of last week. Said they would send me out another email in 2-3 days to offer either a comparable replacement or a refund.

I never received that email, but I did get a check from Newegg in the mail today for the amount I origianlly purchased the board for.

So.. great job Newegg!
Bye bye ASUS.
 
I'm in the middle of an RMA and I haven't gotten anywhere so far. I have asked for a cross ship, so I will send mine in tomorrow if the stock check comes back. I am not worried yet however this thread is interesting to say the least.

I can say I most likely wont buy Asus again. This board has been a pain since I bought it (in my sig).
 
Update: Shortly after this post I got an email with my Crossship info, they indicated there was a mix up. I completed the forms and I am just waiting for shipment of my replacement board. So far so good, except the long wait.
 
Sean said:
Update: Shortly after this post I got an email with my Crossship info, they indicated there was a mix up. I completed the forms and I am just waiting for shipment of my replacement board. So far so good, except the long wait.
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Nice!
 
Such an annoying RMA process. Here is my horror thus far in chronological sequence that has left me stuck in purgatory.

8/24 - Submit a RMA request through the website
8/29 - Call and get a RMA number
8/29 - I finally get an e-mail about cross ship for my claim
8/30 - I call and ask about cross ship. He tells me he will check inventory and if by Monday (9/3), I don't receive information, go ahead and do normal RMA
9/4 - I send in a normal RMA
9/4 - They send me an e-mail with my updated RMA for cross-ship and the form to fill out my CC#
9/7 - Motherboard arrives at RMA facility per UPS tracking
9/12 - I call support. Turns out my they wiped out my original RMA number off their systems so the only RMA linked to my name is the cross ship RMA so now they have to call down to the warehouse, find my motherboard, link the updated RMA with the old one and then proceed with the RMA process.
 
I have and HAD used a K7 Asus board, never again its rubbish and i dont like their crap website that you need to fil RMA forms out ,,, they are buggy and nobody bloody responded to me.

I bought a DSL-N10 Modem by ASUS though, not sure if that was stupid.
It works for now though.
 
Called Asus 2 days ago. Got to speak to a very nice guy named Jared. He promised that within 48 hours that someone higher up will contact me through email about getting me a working/new board. Well it's been 48 hours, I've heard nothing. In fact, Jared said on the phone that "it probably won't even take 48 hours for someone to contact you, more likely within 24 hours".

Sorry, but as cool as Jared was, I've lost faith in this company. If you give me a promise like that, at the very least make the effort to keep in touch with me. Even though you might not have any good news, at least tell me what's going on.

I mean come on, don't insult my intelligence; if you can't get a working WS board (or a reasonablealternative) into my hands within the next x weeks or x months, at least say so. This saves me time of not knowing whether or not to buy a new broad. It'd save me the hassle of calling them every other day to get some sort of update. I must have spoken to every single one of their employees by now... this shouldn't have been the case if they just tried to resolve the issue in a more efficient manner.

I'm just gonna give up and get myself a new mobo. I'm not going to waste time sending this broken WS back and forth, with no guarantee of fixed to full functionality. I mean, after reading all those horror stories about minor issues not being resolved with various Asus products and Asus sending back unrepaired products, what makes me think that my combination of issues (not detecting all 4 dimms, maxed out at 1333mhz, no igpu, no turbo ratio above x35, etc.) will be taken care of?

Whenever this RMA gets done, I'll have to sell the working WS board, probably at a loss. It sucks that after all this downtime I'm going to take a loss for a premium level motherboard that I never got to enjoy.
 
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christpunchers said:
Called Asus 2 days ago. Got to speak to a very nice guy named Jared. He promised that within 48 hours that someone higher up will contact me through email about getting me a working/new board. Well it's been 48 hours, I've heard nothing. In fact, Jared said on the phone that "it probably won't even take 48 hours for someone to contact you, more likely within 24 hours".

Sorry, but as cool as Jared was, I've lost faith in this company. If you give me a promise like that, at the very least make the effort to keep in touch with me. Even though you might not have any good news, at least tell me what's going on.

I mean come on, don't insult my intelligence; if you can't get a working WS board (or a reasonablealternative) into my hands within the next x weeks or x months, at least say so. This saves me time of not knowing whether or not to buy a new broad. It'd save me the hassle of calling them every other day to get some sort of update. I must have spoken to every single one of their employees by now... this shouldn't have been the case if they just tried to resolve the issue in a more efficient manner.

I'm just gonna give up and get myself a new mobo. I'm not going to waste time sending this broken WS back and forth, with no guarantee of fixed to full functionality. I mean, after reading all those horror stories about minor issues not being resolved with various Asus products and Asus sending back unrepaired products, what makes me think that my combination of issues (not detecting all 4 dimms, maxed out at 1333mhz, no igpu, no turbo ratio above x35, etc.) will be taken care of?

Whenever this RMA gets done, I'll have to sell the working WS board, probably at a loss. It sucks that after all this downtime I'm going to take a loss for a premium level motherboard that I never got to enjoy.
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Where did you purchase the board from originally? Maybe the reseller would be willing to help.
 
cyclone3d said:
Where did you purchase the board from originally? Maybe the reseller would be willing to help.
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I got it from NCIX.

When the board initially broke near the end of June, after running it just barely over a month in fact, I contacted NCIX for help. They told me to go directly to Asus.

But since I was going away for 2 months, I didn't have time to get things rolling.

I doubt NCIX will do anything for me now. I will try but man, I'm really frustrated beyond belief right now. I have not had a chance to play with my rig at all since I got it. It broke on me not long after I got it running stable.
 
christpunchers said:
Called Asus 2 days ago. Got to speak to a very nice guy named Jared. He promised that within 48 hours that someone higher up will contact me through email about getting me a working/new board. Well it's been 48 hours, I've heard nothing. In fact, Jared said on the phone that "it probably won't even take 48 hours for someone to contact you, more likely within 24 hours".

Sorry, but as cool as Jared was, I've lost faith in this company. If you give me a promise like that, at the very least make the effort to keep in touch with me. Even though you might not have any good news, at least tell me what's going on.

I mean come on, don't insult my intelligence; if you can't get a working WS board (or a reasonablealternative) into my hands within the next x weeks or x months, at least say so. This saves me time of not knowing whether or not to buy a new broad. It'd save me the hassle of calling them every other day to get some sort of update. I must have spoken to every single one of their employees by now... this shouldn't have been the case if they just tried to resolve the issue in a more efficient manner.

I'm just gonna give up and get myself a new mobo. I'm not going to waste time sending this broken WS back and forth, with no guarantee of fixed to full functionality. I mean, after reading all those horror stories about minor issues not being resolved with various Asus products and Asus sending back unrepaired products, what makes me think that my combination of issues (not detecting all 4 dimms, maxed out at 1333mhz, no igpu, no turbo ratio above x35, etc.) will be taken care of?

Whenever this RMA gets done, I'll have to sell the working WS board, probably at a loss. It sucks that after all this downtime I'm going to take a loss for a premium level motherboard that I never got to enjoy.
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If they can't get you a working board within a reasonable time frame they need to give you your money back. I've said it before and I'll say it again. Demand a refund from ASUS when their warranty support is (predictably) subpar. Their terms and conditions mean shit when they cannot fulfill their end of the bargain.

A warranty that involves a month or two month turnaround time (or worse) it not a warranty. Its a fraud of a support system that they call a warranty but really isn't.
 
You can thank sites like this one that still give positive reviews to their boards and ignore the after purchase process to get anything repaired. Also, there are a LOT of asus apologists out there.

I don't know when Asus service was good but I stopped buying their stuff ~5yrs ago after a terrible experience with a WS board and a SFF system from them.
 
I have had great experiences with gigabyte, evga and most recently asrock...it still usually takes 4-6wks total (my ship time + repair/diagnostic + ship time back) to get the RMA processed but I don't usually have to send things back a second, third or fifth time like with asus.
 
threeclaws said:
You can thank sites like this one that still give positive reviews to their boards and ignore the after purchase process to get anything repaired. Also, there are a LOT of asus apologists out there.

I don't know when Asus service was good but I stopped buying their stuff ~5yrs ago after a terrible experience with a WS board and a SFF system from them.
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HardOCP should do a report on Asus' after service like that small site did. If larger sites like this one, Tom's, Anandtech, etc. start reporting, it may help to improve things a bit.
 
night_2004 said:
If they can't get you a working board within a reasonable time frame they need to give you your money back. I've said it before and I'll say it again. Demand a refund from ASUS when their warranty support is (predictably) subpar. Their terms and conditions mean shit when they cannot fulfill their end of the bargain.

A warranty that involves a month or two month turnaround time (or worse) it not a warranty. Its a fraud of a support system that they call a warranty but really isn't.
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Yeah, seriously. What's the point of their APS program (http://www.service.asus.com/#!aps/ctse) if they never get any working broads in stock and refuse to ship out brand new ones? It's like advertising something but knowing that half the time, what you're advertising just not going to happen.

I'm sure there are guys out there who buys mobos not only based on specs but on the fact that a company will offer advance shipping of replacement boards to minimize downtime (some Asus claims to be their top priority in their pre-recorded voice message as you're put on hold for 20 minutes at a time).

And their employees are giving me different answers each time I ask them about their RMA procedures. I asked them when they get stock, are they refurb boards or do they get some brand new ones as well? One guy said it's all recertified boards, another guy says they get brand new ones in too.
 
christpunchers said:
I got it from NCIX.

When the board initially broke near the end of June, after running it just barely over a month in fact, I contacted NCIX for help. They told me to go directly to Asus.

But since I was going away for 2 months, I didn't have time to get things rolling.

I doubt NCIX will do anything for me now. I will try but man, I'm really frustrated beyond belief right now. I have not had a chance to play with my rig at all since I got it. It broke on me not long after I got it running stable.
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Well, when ASUS basically told me --- WE DON'T CARE, I talked to newegg.. and they ended up giving me a refund. And I had purchased the board about a year before that.

Since ASUS apparently doesn't care to honor their warranty, then talk to NCIX and see if they will make it right.
 
cyclone3d said:
Well, when ASUS basically told me --- WE DON'T CARE, I talked to newegg.. and they ended up giving me a refund. And I had purchased the board about a year before that.

Since ASUS apparently doesn't care to honor their warranty, then talk to NCIX and see if they will make it right.
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Yeah I'm contact with NCIX right now. Let's see if they're willing to help.

You know, the more I think about all my conversations with Asus, the more inconsistent their procedures seem to be.

One guy says, they only send out used boards. Another guy then says, they do stock new boards and sometimes they do send them out.

When I set up my RMA, at the beginnig of a week no less, the guy said "sorry sir, I can't tell you if there's any of you board in stock, you'll need to call back later"

Yet the last 2 times I've called, both guys were able to tell me within minutes if the board is in stock or not.

So who the hell knows what goes on over there. Maybe these guys aren't even getting paid to do this? Maybe they work out of a prison or something? Who knows.

All in all, it's been very time consuming and expensive... but now I know to never buy a critical component from Asus unless you can and are willing to buy some sort of exchange warranty from the retailer.
 
If they can't get you a working board within a reasonable time frame they need to give you your money back. I've said it before and I'll say it again. Demand a refund from ASUS when their warranty support is (predictably) subpar.
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You can say anything you want but unless there's a time-frame mentioned in the warranty you have no legal standing.

It doesn't seem like the P8Z77 WS (or any WS) was a popular board. They were pricey and had a lot of "ginger bread" which put them out of reach for many.

Although it's not an excuse for bad service it's probaly the reason for the lack of extra boards.....either that or they just don't break. :)

It really seems like a lack of communication at the Asus RMA station and "lucky you" have been caught in the middle.

NewEgg would have helped you in this situation and maybe you should thing about them for your next purchase.

AAR, I think it's wise to purchase a new MB and sell the other when it finally gets repaired.

Good Luck!
 
I dont know if anybody else would agree, but i feel ASUS is not that great, i would chose MSI over ASUS now days?
 
The thing about ASUS, in my book, is that when their products work, they work great, and look great, at a great price. Fortunately other manufacturers have started to catch on and are slowly churning out very nice looking and performing pieces. I keep getting suckered into ASUS products because they always seem to be the only one who has what want. I really wanted to keep ASUS out of my current build but the z77 m-atx pickings were pretty slim unless I wanted some crazy colors or stripped down boards in my case. Same goes with my wireless router. :/

I wonder though, is ASUS support outsite the US just as bad as the US support?
 
christpunchers said:
HardOCP should do a report on Asus' after service like that small site did. If larger sites like this one, Tom's, Anandtech, etc. start reporting, it may help to improve things a bit.
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The only time of any of the sites seem to report on CS/RMA/whatever is on the prebuilt systems and I would be OK with that if they at least acknowledged that certain manf. (asus is notorious at this point) have lousy service so even though they are giving the [fill in component] a gold medal you should be aware that service sucks (unless of course you are [insert big site] and have direct contact information so asus will overnight you a new board.)
 
threeclaws said:
The only time of any of the sites seem to report on CS/RMA/whatever is on the prebuilt systems and I would be OK with that if they at least acknowledged that certain manf. (asus is notorious at this point) have lousy service so even though they are giving the [fill in component] a gold medal you should be aware that service sucks (unless of course you are [insert big site] and have direct contact information so asus will overnight you a new board.)
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Eh, what can you do. I'm just slowly starting to learn to deal with it.

Asus aims to be #1 in terms of brand presence and loyalty but it's evident that they're only "doing the right thing" for their pockets rather "doing things right" for the end user. (But hey, we're all in this world to profit, am I right?)

I had to advanced RMA with Intel for a CPU. For only $25.00 (which I could have no paid if I had more time), a brand new CPU arrived at my door only 48 hours later all the way from the States.

Sure you could argue that's because they're Intel; they got the money and infrastructure to support such turn-around times. But that doesn't excuse other comparatively smaller companies for not striving for standards.

In a perfect world, Asus'd stock up on items and have them ready to be shipped out for RMA instead of all this running around for a board.

But after reading the following, there seems to be way more involved than what's on the surface.

http://consumerist.com/2008/07/10-secrets-to-getting-better-tech-support-from-asus.html

It's all a quota game. Those who are at Asus' RMA for the long haul are treated like money generators, while the high-turn over staffs are one step away from being cashiers at a McDonalds (not that I have anything against fastfood).

"Not long after the company split, management began obsessing over numbers, and how to make what is normally an accepted expense (customer support) profitable."

"We have experienced close to 100% turnover in the past year, and those who remain are constantly threatened, both verbally and via email (proof available upon request, Ben) that they will lose their jobs for failure to make objectives."
 
Wow, that is insane.

Motherboards are one of the few things I do buy the instore warranty on. I usually get them cheap at Microcenter anyways as part of a combo and since the warranty is based on the purchase price, for combo boards it often is only like $5-10 for the warranty, cheaper than shipping a board back. The ASRock board in my wife's system failed after about two months of use, walked in, gave them the old board, paid $6 for a warranty on a new one, and walked out.

I have had bad luck with all MB warranties except Intel, but their boards are usually lacking features I want so I avoid them. Asus' service has just gone to shit though, and I think the previous post shows why.
 
darkpaw said:
Wow, that is insane.

Motherboards are one of the few things I do buy the instore warranty on. I usually get them cheap at Microcenter anyways as part of a combo and since the warranty is based on the purchase price, for combo boards it often is only like $5-10 for the warranty, cheaper than shipping a board back. The ASRock board in my wife's system failed after about two months of use, walked in, gave them the old board, paid $6 for a warranty on a new one, and walked out.

I have had bad luck with all MB warranties except Intel, but their boards are usually lacking features I want so I avoid them. Asus' service has just gone to shit though, and I think the previous post shows why.
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Yeah we have a weird situation where the end-user's problems turn him into a pawn for someone else's piggy bank.

It's very illogical for Asus HQ allow themselves to be billed in excess if all the extra calls are created deliberately by stalling resolution to the end-user.

Not testing the replacement parts until it's on its 2nd or 3rd RMA is just ridiculous.
 
Not honoring warranties is a prime reason to file a complaint with BBB and your attorney general. Both of these orgs will guarantee you a response from the company.
 
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