Asus Does not Stand by its Warranty Anymore?

[GhostRyder]

So its time for a rant, one I never thought I would have to make. I have purchased pretty much exclusively (Few exceptions like my current portable rig with the Asrock board) over the course of the last 12+ years purchased only Asus motherboards for my own machines and machines for friends/family. I used to say they were some of the best (Yes I Have purchased other brands at times for deals or because of aesthetic choices like from MSI) and they had a good warranty/friendly company. Personally, I Have never had an Asus motherboard fail on me in my time but my friends GPU failed and I helped him RMA it and had no issue with them (Over 6 years ago). Well recently I had a motherboard fail in my personal rig (Asus Z370 Prima-A) with a weird issue that turns out to be common enough to see people reporting this error on other forums (I don't believe its widespread FYI, just that it happens). My board was still under warranty but based on the fact I want to be up and didn't want to wait I bought a new Asus Z490 Strix motherboard and i7 deciding to give my wife this board and chip once its repaired for her gaming rig. Unfortunately they denied the warranty claim saying I "physically damaged" the board and that it was not covered by their warranty. I was confused as the board before being shipped was nicely wrapped in the box (BTW had to pay return shipping which I am not a fan of) so I was confused until they said the socket was damaged. When I asked for images they showed me a picture with some small chunks of thermal grease sitting on top of the pins. My guess was maybe when I removed the cooler from the system and CPU for the failure some got scraped off and maybe a bit had gotten on it or some was on the bracket and got scrapped off in shipping or something to that effect because when I looked at the CPU the bottom was clearly clean and free of any and all residue. I contested it and spoke to multiple people who basically defaulted to "This is physical damage and Asus will not cover physical damage" and tried to escalate it to higher managers (They didn't even know what the stuff was when I was on the phone and over emails with them, they claimed it was liquid damage at first). Finally someone higher looks into it and claims it is thermal grease. So thinking its been resolved they come back and say its still considered physical damage. I asked how they come to that conclusion as it clearly is not old/has not been there while the CPU was installed and they stated that while it may not effect functionality and it may have happened after the board was removed we still will not warranty this board. They then sent me a bill to receive the board back functional which they even said was just them sending me a new board (Not complaining but pointing out) for around 50 more dollars than buying the newer revision Z390 board off newegg (Not including the shipping I already paid). The only thing I was offered was a 20% off discount which still resulted in the board being around 30 dollars more than just buying a new one off newegg. I am flabbergasted by this, I mean I have no problem paying for repairs/replacing any board I did indeed damage (Like if my cooling system leaked I would not warranty it and would by another) as I have done so in the past with an asrock board I burned up in a mining rig years ago (Overloaded the 24 pin lol).

To me, I don't know what current experiences have been like for others with Asus warranty, but for me they have lost a customer for life. I literally went to the store and purchased a new Asus Z490 Strix board because i trusted they would make this right and would honor their warranty but it appears I have been mistaken. Guess I will be going with either Asrock or MSI for my next build. I am just posting this to warn and maybe get some ofther info from others about their experience as maybe mine is an odd situation. Or maybe people here will think I am in the wrong on this case, if I truly believed that I had spilled thermal grease in the socket, installed the CPU, and that burned it up I would be singing a different tune. But I can safely say that is not the case as I had this rig running for almost two years before the board randomly died on me.

 

[mouacyk]

For EVGA motherboards, I had to take and upload pictures of the socket even before shipping the board in. Certainly helped to clear up situations like this.

 

[PaulieG]

I'm guessing I've owned well over 150 motherboards since 2006. I've had to RMA 1 board from Asus, Gigabyte, DFI and Biostar and 2 from Asrock. You know, they all gave me the runaround claiming I somehow damaged the board except for DFI. In 2007, DFI cross shipped, overnighted, no question asked a brand new Lanparty 939 Ultra D motherboard. Ironically, the DFI board was the one board that possibly was damaged by me.

 

[Rithsom]

You're not alone. I once purchased an ASUS C202 Chromebook. 11 months later, the processor died for no reason. It's not like I broke anything inside of the Chromebook; I never dropped the thing or spilt liquids on it. The Chromebook was intact on the outside, yet it wouldn't boot.

I sent the defective Chromebook back to ASUS and had a lengthy discussion with their support. In the end, they refused to send me a new unit, because they said that the processor was not covered under warranty. I promptly gave the product a one-star review after that discussion. I never bought an ASUS product since then.

 

[mouacyk]

You're not alone. I once purchased an ASUS C202 Chromebook. 11 months later, the processor died for no reason. It's not like I broke anything inside of the Chromebook; I never dropped the thing or spilled liquids on it. The Chromebook was intact on the outside, yet it wouldn't boot.

I send the defective Chromebook back to ASUS and had a lengthy discussion with their support. In the end, they refused to send me a new unit, because they said that the processor was not covered under warranty. I promptly gave the product a one-star review after that discussion. I never bought an ASUS product since then.

Sounds like this company is literally picking lottery tickets on when to honor warranties. Boop beep boppity doo... nooop!

 

[GhostRyder]

For EVGA motherboards, I had to take and upload pictures of the socket even before shipping the board in. Certainly helped to clear up situations like this.

Yea, i wish I had as well. But honestly never would have thought they would be so crazy.

I'm guessing I've owned well over 150 motherboards since 2006. I've had to RMA 1 board from Asus, Gigabyte, DFI and Biostar and 2 from Asrock. You know, they all gave me the runaround claiming I somehow damaged the board except for DFI. In 2007, DFI cross shipped, overnighted, no question asked a brand new Lanparty 939 Ultra D motherboard. Ironically, the DFI board was the one board that possibly was damaged by me.

Hmm, Well I guess I will find out how MSI and Asrock are next time. EVGA was pretty easy on the GPU warranty I did with them.

You're not alone. I once purchased an ASUS C202 Chromebook. 11 months later, the processor died for no reason. It's not like I broke anything inside of the Chromebook; I never dropped the thing or spilt liquids on it. The Chromebook was intact on the outside, yet it wouldn't boot.

I sent the defective Chromebook back to ASUS and had a lengthy discussion with their support. In the end, they refused to send me a new unit, because they said that the processor was not covered under warranty. I promptly gave the product a one-star review after that discussion. I never bought an ASUS product since then.

I would be livid, I dont even know how they justify that.

Sounds like this company is literally picking lottery tickets on when to honor warranties. Boop beep boppity doo... nooop!

Yea, and that really irks me especially considering how much their motherboards run for.

 

[Slesreth]

Last laptop I bought from Asus was quite awhile ago. Had a Sandy Bridge inside. They had a clear 100% pixel perfect warranty on the screen. There was one pixel nearly dead center on the screen that would not turn off or dim correctly for black and grey. They wouldn't repair it because it technically 'turned on', despite the fact the warranty clearly said, 'perfect pixel'. Never bought or suggested Asus to any friend or family after that. Sure it wasn't a dead component and I made the computer last for several years of use, but they failed to keep their word. That's a deal breaker for me.

Other RMA I have had done with other companies went fine. Sent one to Gigabyte and they sent back it after repairing a loose solder point on a capacitor. Had a DOA AMD CPU once, which was replaced with no questions asked of me in addition to the RMA report I made. Same with a 2 TB M.2 from Silicon Power that died during format, they replaced it with no further questions asked. All my replacments from these others have been working fine since. I even have a HP laptop with XP Pro on it I kept for college nostalgia that is 15+ years old that runs perfectly fine. But, that Asus laptop I bought to replace it? Dead, sourced its hard drive and RAM to other laptops my family owned.

 

[tabascosauz]

Yea, i wish I had as well. But honestly never would have thought they would be so crazy.


Hmm, Well I guess I will find out how MSI and Asrock are next time. EVGA was pretty easy on the GPU warranty I did with them.


I would be livid, I dont even know how they justify that.

Yea, and that really irks me especially considering how much their motherboards run for.

Asus is pretty well known for doing this kind of shit.

Don't take your chances on the others either. These companies are all the same. EVGA has the best reputation by far, and yet you'll find no shortage of horror stories claiming they did exactly what Asus did to you.

It's an expensive lesson I'm sure you've taken to heart. You should always take photos, but always cover your ass 120% when RMAing/selling either CPUs and motherboards regardless of whether they're Intel or AMD. They'll fuck you over on Intel sockets by putting gunk in the socket or bending the pins. They'll do the same on AMD sockets by putting thermal paste in the socket holes.

Get well lit, sharp, high res photos of the heatspreader and underside of the CPU as well as the socket right before you package everything up. Maybe even throw in a physical timestamp in the photos. That's what I do when selling, but if I'm dealing with an RMA dept I will most likely take a short video of boxing it up and verify that the parts were still in the same condition at the time of packaging.

 

[ThrashZone]

Hi,
Asus has never had good customer service or rma service the stories are all around
They count on people not taking images of items on rma then seems every time damage is found most common is bent socket pins the shape of a thumb or a scratch somewhere .... lol

I'd never buy a gpu from asua way too expensive I don't care how good it's supposed to be my limit is 400.us mother board and then I would only usually buy locally from micro center
I didn't on either of my apex's though
x299 apex off ebay for 200.us
z490 apex off newegg 400.us

 

[oobymach]

I'm in Ontario and had to rma 2 ASUS gpu's and got 2 new gpu's back, they both failed weirdly (probably from factory bios because I never flashed them) and the replacements still working today, though the sli failed spectacularly and took an led on one card with it the cards still work fine on their own but no mo sli.

Pretty sure warranty expired and I don't want to bother rma at this point I'm looking at upgrading to a 3060ti anyway but asus generally make good stuff imo. EVGA I also agree are better but I guess it depends on where you are who they send it to for repair/rma, some people are more careful than others.

 

[ThrashZone]

Hi,
Think asus just likes to screw people in the USA

 

[8BitZ80]

I have only RMA'd one Asus product in my time which is pretty good considering I buy mostly Asus products. It was a Xonar Essence STX sound card that I really liked, but occasionally it would freak out and blast my ears with a high pitched screech. When it was sent off to Asus themselves it disappeared in the post. Luckily I bought it through a great online retailer and they had RMA'd it on my behalf, and after two months of waiting they just credited me the value of the item. It didn't really bother me that I didn't get the money in hand because I used it to buy a new RAM kit.

 

[GhostRyder]

Asus is pretty well known for doing this kind of shit.

Don't take your chances on the others either. These companies are all the same. EVGA has the best reputation by far, and yet you'll find no shortage of horror stories claiming they did exactly what Asus did to you.

It's an expensive lesson I'm sure you've taken to heart. You should always take photos, but always cover your ass 120% when RMAing/selling either CPUs and motherboards regardless of whether they're Intel or AMD. They'll fuck you over on Intel sockets by putting gunk in the socket or bending the pins. They'll do the same on AMD sockets by putting thermal paste in the socket holes.

Get well lit, sharp, high res photos of the heatspreader and underside of the CPU as well as the socket right before you package everything up. Maybe even throw in a physical timestamp in the photos. That's what I do when selling, but if I'm dealing with an RMA dept I will most likely take a short video of boxing it up and verify that the parts were still in the same condition at the time of packaging.

I had heard rumors but always thought that they could not be that bad. I mean its ridiculous, I cant believe they tried to charge me more than I could buy a new Z390 Asus board (Even the higher STRIX) for less than what they quoted me (Especially when you factor in the shipping). Yea I will be more vigilante about pictures, but I sent a GPU into EVGA not long ago and got not a single complaint same with PowerColor. Not sure which I will try next between MSI and Asrock.

I am amazed how many people once I started really looking complain about this. I mean, its pretty scummy behavior especially considering how big/well known they are in the PC world.

 

[tabascosauz]

I had heard rumors but always thought that they could not be that bad. I mean its ridiculous, I cant believe they tried to charge me more than I could buy a new Z390 Asus board (Even the higher STRIX) for less than what they quoted me (Especially when you factor in the shipping). Yea I will be more vigilante about pictures, but I sent a GPU into EVGA not long ago and got not a single complaint same with PowerColor. Not sure which I will try next between MSI and Asrock.

I am amazed how many people once I started really looking complain about this. I mean, its pretty scummy behavior especially considering how big/well known they are in the PC world.

I didn't say your experiences *will* be the same with other companies.

I said that you need to take extra care with CPUs and motherboards. Of course you had no problems with EVGA - it's a graphics card. If the tamper sticker is still intact on the screws, it's impossible for you to have opened up the card and they know that; same deal with a PSU or a AIO cooler. It would be the same deal with an Asus card. Point is, they don't need much effort at all to mess with you when it comes to CPUs and motherboards, which is why you need to take extra care when RMAing those products.

 

[GhostRyder]

I didn't say your experiences *will* be the same with other companies.

I said that you need to take extra care with CPUs and motherboards. Of course you had no problems with EVGA - it's a graphics card. If the tamper sticker is still intact on the screws, it's impossible for you to have opened up the card and they know that; same deal with a PSU or a AIO cooler. It would be the same deal with an Asus card. Point is, they don't need much effort at all to mess with you when it comes to CPUs and motherboards, which is why you need to take extra care when RMAing those products.

Good point, I guess its pretty hard for them to say anything about a GPU. I will be a lot more vigilante with motherboards next time.

 

[tabascosauz]

Good point, I guess its pretty hard for them to say anything about a GPU. I will be a lot more vigilante with motherboards next time.

We had a user on here not long ago who has invested a lot into expensive EVGA boards, and was embroiled in a prolonged dispute with EVGA that may have escalated to litigation, I can't remember. Think Z390 DARK - not an affordable motherboard by any means. IIRC part of it involved similar treatment by EVGA, ie. EVGA damaging the socket pins, using it as an excuse to deny RMA, and ultimately sending the broken board back, charging the owner for shipping.

EVGA is keen to protect their #1 moneymaker, GPUs, because they want to protect their reputation. On the other hand, I'd guess they're much less inclined to play nice when you RMA one of their motherboards. They only make expensive, niche and high end motherboards these days, so you spreading negative press about them about a bad RMA experience would only reach the handful of other people who could afford a DARK, as opposed to a GPU where it could conceivably spread the word enough to damage their sales.

 

[newtekie1]

Why did you ship the board without the socket protector in place? Most companies will outright refuse a warranty claim on a motherboard if they receive it without the socket protector in place.

 

[HTC]

It's been a while since i last had to RMA something but i usually take photos of the item from various angles to show that it DOES NOT HAVE physical damage and send copies of them inside the box containing the item: this way, if they "think" about alleging the item has some physical damage, there's proof sent with the item.

Taking the photos with the item on top of a newspaper with it's date clearly visible is my preferred choice.

 

[thesmokingman]

This is the problem with LGA sockets, they are too easy to mess up giving any side reason to dispute or void.

 

[timta2]

So you sent a motherboard in for service that had TIM all over the pins/socket and somehow ASUS is the bad guy for voiding the product's warranty? I just don't get that take.

 

[thesmokingman]

So you sent a motherboard in for service that had TIM all over the pins/socket and somehow ASUS is the bad guy for voiding the product's warranty? I just don't get that take.

The tim isn't damage. A lil shot electronics cleaner and its a non-issue. This is where their "intent" shows itself since they are clearly looking to void first, figure it out last.

 

[jboydgolfer]

if im reading the OP right.

Asus denied your claim, because you dropped TIM in the CPU socket & that qualifies as physical damage.
they need to be paid to remedy it, so they wont move forward unless you pay them.

from an impartial perspective, Asus is not in the wrong.
i think human error caused damage that is costing you your coverage.

it sucks for sure, but technically its your responsibility, if your recounting is correct.


Asus cant 'fix' the matter, since to fix it, requires physical remedy, & risk of further damage. i know i could fix it if it was just TIM, but technically theyre in the right.

im sorry it happened though, its bad luck & it sucks it cost you money
i hope it doesnt set you back too much.

 

[RadFX]

I had to warranty an asus mobo last year. After they got it, they tried to charge me to repair it even though it was under warranty. They claimed I damaged it, which was bs. I told them I had a picture of it and it was in perfect shape. Finally after about a week of back and forth they send me a new board for nothing.

 

[newtekie1]

The tim isn't damage. A lil shot electronics cleaner and its a non-issue. This is where their "intent" shows itself since they are clearly looking to void first, figure it out last.

It is not ASUS's responsibility to take on the liability of cleaning TIM out of the socket.

 

[thesmokingman]

It is not ASUS's responsibility to take on the liability of cleaning TIM out of the socket.

Did I write that??