You lacked foresight and you got burned. That does not diminish in any way the fact that yes, Asus screwed up, and yes they are responsible for fixing the problem. However, as another poster stated, be happy they offered you the option of sending you another chip for a measly $5. Most companies would have told you to RMA the whole board, shipping at your cost. They offered you a solution that in my eyes is very reasonable, all things considered. Yes, great customer service would have been to send you the chip for free, but $5 isn't an unreasonable amount nor does it make Asus a terrible company out to screw people at any given moment.
CS Depts love customers like you. Customers has CS depts that think like you.
If this was a case of the poster screwing up on flashing his bios, you'd have a point, but that's not what happened.
Asus f***ed up, and they should replace the bios at their expense with an apology for inconveniencing a valued customer.
You can argue that he should have waited for someone else to try it first and post feedback, and that's some good advice, but somebody has to be the first to try it and whoever that was ended up with a hosed board and deserves a free bios sent their way.
Asus's policy is penny wise, pound foolish