One man's ASUS G73JH nightmare

mertesn · Jan 2012

Ivan · Jan 2012

QCH · Jan 2012

WOW... I know the author of this article and he is very precise and not one to lose patients, or exaggerate events so this is VERY disturbing. That does not bode well. ASUS, I'm ashamed to have recommended your products to my personal customers.

Norm Witte III · Jan 2012

I have been pretty loyal to Asus for quite some time now, from the early days of the AMD Athlon processor. Throughout the years I have noticed that some of their mobos are poorly designed out of the box, and some of them have been solid as hell. However, I never really found a more reliable, consistent brand, so I just stuck with ASUS. I can't say that I have ever had any problem as severe as this, but I can say that I never liked dealing with their customer support, it was always just terrible.

This is also quite surprising to me, because a recent study showed that ASUS was the 2nd most reliable laptop next to Toshiba. But what good is a "reliable" laptop if you can't get support for it, and you happen to be one of the few people that ends up having problems like this.

I have to agree, I'll never buy another ASUS product again. Even if I go with a brand that is less reliable, you can damn well bet they'll have better customer service.

Norm Witte III · Jan 2012

Also, I seem to remember once reading that ASUS declared war on Intel, then started making Intel mobos about a year later. Am I mistaken, does anyone else remember this?

ardichoke · Jan 2012

Sucks to be sure, but at least you didn't have to RMA it 5 times for the exact same issue. That said, if my experience with MSI is any indication, you'll probably end up with better results if you demand that it be replaced with a newer model of comparable value as opposed to a refund. Just my 2c.

Alex · Jan 2012

My last 2 motherboards were from ASUS and both of them sucked. Both of them had problems with the USB ports (random lockups, speed drops, unable to see anything connected to them), the ethernet port on the first one died. But the worst problem, however, was with the second motherboard; it took a few weeks before they came out with a BIOS update that made it work properly; before that, the PC was nearly unusable...

I know ASUS has a good reputation, but given my prior experience with them, I just don't want to see another ASUS product ever again. Also, their website is a joke... One of my motherboards wasn't even listed on their website, you had to know what the page for it was.

Oh yeah, one more thing. I also had an ASUS video card. It died after 2 years of usage...

Kwitko · Jan 2012

not one to lose patients

Nick's a doctor?

shwaip · Jan 2012

not one to lose patients
Nick's a doctor?

A damn fine one, apparently.

Thrax · Jan 2012

The only brand of mobos I've ever had consistent trouble with is Asus.

GHoosdum · Jan 2012

Sadly, I think this is a general trend for the RMA process on laptops.

My wife has a laptop from "iBuyPower" (I purchased it through Costco several years ago)

Last year this laptop started experiencing the lost video symptom that seemed common on that generation of laptops with the GeForce 8600 chipset - the melting solder issue.

I RMA'd the laptop, initiated the RMA through the Costco Concierge Tech support, which is great to use. Unfortunately, as soon as they handed me off to the tech support from the manufacturer, things got ugly.

They kept the laptop for several months, lagged in replying to my queries for status, and ultimately they sent it back and said all they had to do was change out one of the two sticks of RAM. I knew that was a lie because when I did my own troubleshooting prior to the RMA I had taken out BOTH sticks of RAM and put in a known good stick, and still had the problem.

Luckily I had a spare laptop at the time for my wife to use, otherwise she would have been completely without a PC for months.

So far I've only had halfway decent RMA experiences with HP and Dell, which sucks because it's not nearly as easy to find a laptop with discrete graphics from them as it is to get one from the likes of Asus or third parties (such as iBuyPower) that just rebadge the standard chassis from manufacturers like Sager and PowerPro.

LazarusXero · Jan 2012

Sad to say, this story was the straw that broke the camel's back. I've been waiting for my backordered Transformer Prime since Nov. 26, but after reading the hell Nick went through, I cancelled my order. I was looking forward to my first tablet, but I am not putting myself or my wife through this customer service nightmare....

I hope you are reading this ASUS...

mertesn · Jan 2012

I don't have experience with HP's RMA process for consumer products, but I did have to get service for one of my displays (a ZR24w). Sent a tech support request and within a couple hours had a shipment notification. A replacement display arrived the next day along with a return shipping label.

I guess the lesson is don't buy consumer-level products.

primesuspect · Jan 2012

I've had fantastic experiences with Sony, Dell, and HP for RMAs. The worst offender in my personal experience has always been MSI. They are horrible, and I had a "Nick and ASUS" level experience with them once.

Kwitko · Jan 2012

After reading this, I wouldn't even accept a freeasuslaptop from them. Quite sad. Poor QA, poor customer service. To top it off, I heard they just hired Paul Christoforo.

primesuspect · Jan 2012

I think a lot of it is cultural. I think companies that are based in Taiwan don't "get" American expectations and standards for customer service.

Annes · Jan 2012

I had an ASUS motherboard years ago and had so many issues with RMAing it I just bought something new. You couldn't RMA online and had to call a phone number which didn't even put your into a phone tree - it was either available or busy. Bullshit. Never again will I buy ASUS.

Phil Jaenke · Jan 2012

Nick, you know my HP Envy17 from Expo last year, right? (The one that was giving me first and second degree burns on my palm.) Definitely 'consumer grade,' and I know for a fact it goes to the same repair center as Pavilions.

HP sent me a box and shipping label, UPS NextDay Air. I shipped it on a Thursday. I had it back, repaired correctly, with a form detailing the repairs (cleaned out, new paste, new HSF assembly) less than 7 calendar days later.

So yes, we can authoritatively say that HP 'consumer grade' service does great too. It's just a few truly terrible vendors who should be run out of business (or at least certain market segments.)

mertesn · Jan 2012

Nick, you know my HP Envy17 from Expo last year, right? (The one that was giving me first and second degree burns on my palm.) Definitely 'consumer grade,' and I know for a fact it goes to the same repair center as Pavilions.

HP sent me a box and shipping label, UPS NextDay Air. I shipped it on a Thursday. I had it back, repaired correctly, with a form detailing the repairs (cleaned out, new paste, new HSF assembly) less than 7 calendar days later.

So yes, we can authoritatively say that HP 'consumer grade' service does great too. It's just a few truly terrible vendors who should be run out of business (or at least certain market segments.)

That's really good to know.

RootWyrm · Jan 2012

That's really good to know.

Yeah, I am very happy with HP's service across the board (consumer through large enterprise.) They really got their act together over the past few years. These days, there's just no excuse for conduct like ASUS'. Especially when there's a clear pattern of ASUS shipping lemons and doing everything they can to avoid honoring warranty claims, repairing their own products, or even having basic competency to repair laptops.

Annes · Jan 2012

I think a lot of it is cultural. I think companies that are based in Taiwan don't "get" American expectations and standards for customer service.

I don't understand how this can be possible. Is there no Taiwanese expectations that things they pay for work properly?

ardichoke · Jan 2012

I think a lot of it is cultural. I think companies that are based in Taiwan don't "get" American expectations and standards for customer service.
I don't understand how this can be possible. Is there no Taiwanese expectations that things they pay for work properly?

Probably less that and more they can't afford electronics in the first place.

primesuspect · Jan 2012

It has nothing to do with economics. It's just a cultural thing I've noticed in working with Taiwanese companies for the last 15 years.

NiGHTS · Jan 2012

Probably less that and more they can't afford electronics in the first place.

I was thinking more the other way - electronics are so cheap they're practically disposable goods. I'm not familiar with the intricacies of trade and markup of electronics, though.

Mahmood Shaikh · Jan 2012

I've been using an asus laptop for three years, it's the G50vt. Never had a problem with it and it still handles a lot of the latest games and intensive tasks without any issues. So one guy had a bad experience, I think its kind of presumptuous to blame every asus product due to one persons bad experience.

mertesn · Jan 2012

I've been using an asus laptop for three years, it's the G50vt. Never had a problem with it and it still handles a lot of the latest games and intensive tasks without any issues. So one guy had a bad experience, I think its kind of presumptuous to blame every asus product due to one persons bad experience.

And I think it a bit presumptuous to assume this is my only Asus product.

Tim · Jan 2012

How much did that laptop cost?

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