How to deal with a terrible RMA department? (For an Asus motherboard)

Doubtful, it's probably protected speech. She's allowed to express her opinion as long as she believes it's the truth- for you to win, you'd have to prove that she knew that you were not a pain but trying to convince others that you are. At least that's how I understand the law.

On the other hand, you could contact Asus and speak to supervisors on up the chain as high as you can go, and show them the email. You could try to get her fired or disciplined if you wanted to, and I don't doubt that you might succeed, but remember you are messing with someone's livelihood, people might be dependent on her for their livelihoods also so don't take that action too lightly. you might seriously and actually hurt many people. That's why for me, I'd only take that recourse if there was actual and serious harm done to me, not just if my feelings were hurt.

I had a P5W DH go bad because of a PSU that shocked the hell out of it. Asus RMA'd it with no cost to me (other then my shipping to them). If you got a working board then you got pretty much what you should expect. If you want, I would suggest doing what bliq says and run that e-mail up the chain. Asus has always done me right with good quality and RMA service. 15 days sucks, but I have seen much worse. Anyone know of a better customer service dept?

azmtbkr81... who does better, then, with customer service? Gigabyte... Not in my experiences. DFI... Do they even have a phone to call?

Would you rather they had not tested it?

Anyways, I am sure you have spoken bad of a customer to your coworkers at what ever your job is. Everyone does if they feel they have been hassled by pain in the ass customer.

15 day turn around for a RMA does not sound that bad to me.
Could have gone a lot worse.

I had a poor experience with Asus as well. My replacement motherboard was an earlier PCB board revision, and a few features I wanted didn't work on the earlier revision. I couldn't even get tech support to tell if new BIOS revisions had addressed the issues. Shoot, the first tech I talked to knew so little that she thought I was making up words. The problem is discussed in the first link if you google search the product name.

My response: I bought my first non-Asus board in 8 years in December. I won't be buying from them again.


Robbie Pryor is the "Helpdesk Supervisor/Lead Tech Engineer" who was my eventual terminal contact. You could try reaching her for complaints.

Zorg, you have a way with words.....My thoughts exactly

I was reading it and going...ok you got a working board back, but They think your a PITA. Thats actually a good thing if they make sure you get equipment that works. So no problem.
When it comes to stuff like this I dont have feelings that can be hurt. I just want working equipment and will be the biggest pain in the @## til I get it.

asus rma rocks

i have bought 100's of used mobos off newegg and send them back to asus all the time with out issue

100% no problems

call asus in the day time - wait is 5-10mins
you need a tech number if its a second rma
get rma
send in mobo
get new mobo in 2 weeks

asus rocks!


this post is BS! your are BS!

if the mobo was DOA return it too the retailer for free replacement
if you shopped around for the losest price and did not reciever a 30 day doa - free return that is YOUR FAULT!

WHERE DOES IT SAY YOU SHOULD GET A NEW MOBO IS 10 DAYS OR 15 DAYS???????


WHAT REALLY MAKE ME MAD IS I GET ALL THESE MOBOS THAT ARE RETURNED TO NEWEGG BY NEWBIES - 50% are fine, 30% need bios upgrades and less then 20% need to be returned to asus - these are open box mobos.


GET a Life! this post is bs i return mobos to asus every month - some out of warranty - no questions asked new mobo. if they are out of stock i get a new one!

General practical advice dealing with any service department, based on a couple years of business experience, negotiation experience, and being a lawyer:

1) do not make it an "us vs. them" proposition. You want to win the war, not the battle, so try to create an atmosphere where you are both on the same team, working for the same goal. These are human beings so appeal to human nature rather than work against it. If they are of the opposite sex, then flirt. Or joke around if that is easier. Make them crack a smile. These people deal with assholes day in, day out. If you show some courtesy, you will be surprised about the service you will get.

2) do not threaten legal action. That will surely ruin your chances of the above. Typically only the lawyers win in that case. And if the lawyer's goal is to protect your interest, then they didn't even succeed at that. My experience is that Asian companies are especially wary of litigation, so bringing it up is a surefire way of creating tension. E.g., in my personal dealings I could mention that I am a lawyer in such situations --yet I don't, because that is not the tone you want to set if you want to actually accomplish something. Amateurs stand out pretty clearly in this regard.

3) keep in mind that China has different warranty/consumer protection laws than that of the US--which is to say there are few consumer protections. The Asian-based manufacturers are likely still burdened with this, and it will take time for them to adapt to western standards in that regard. That doesn't give them a free pass, but it should give you insight on why an American customer service office is likely given little support from headquarters. I don't think it is any kind of newsflash to tell you that customer service is not much more than an afterthought for most computer equipment companies. Don't get your hopes up. But DO let your $$$ speak in this regard...

4) document who, what, and when--i.e, if it is important to you, then take notes. Not because you want to catch someone in a lie or win an argument, but simply because your record keeping may be better than theirs, and it might actually help the situation. Be sure to get names, contact info, RMA#s, etc. Do it smoothly, not like an interrogation.

5) As someone above said, don't escalate unless you have really been wronged. Don't escalate without having a specific action item in mind, and it is hard to come up with a meaningful action item unless you have been legitimately wronged. This is just solid advice if you want to get anywhere in life, succeed socially, succeed professionally, remain in a relationship, etc. It may sound strange, but in most firms, employees are valued more than individual customers (there are valid reasons for this), so it is unlikely you will get them fired. But is also unlikely you will get much help from that person either. Win the war, not the battle.

6) The longer you wait to use the product/complain about the product, the less credible your complaint is. There is some point in which the manufacturer/retailer is under no legal obligation to help you. Why risk passing that point?

I hope some of that helps...

All people are the same - human. The lady that said you were a pain - well, you were. Its her job to pass things along, and there is nothing she can do about anything else but send it along. Viewsonic was the same way. The only way to advance my fix-it-ticket along was to call, pretend to be mad so they would move it to level 2 and work a little faster. And for sure they will wait til the last minute to find a refurbished part and/or replace as they likely don't get a bonus for working harder.

The 'threatened to sue' line does mean you were being a pain btw. I bet you would have gotten it back the same day either way.

Thats why i stay away from asus they arent what they used to be granted they had there day back in p4 times, but today there a huge dissappointment.

Well, I'd rather be a pain and have a computer than be nice and without one

That's too bad about Asus. My RMA experience with them was good. They fixed a failure quickly and were nice (though I did it over email). I can't believe they left that email in though.

Let me get this straight, this whole thread was about being irritated about their carelessness?

At least they were careful enough to fix/replace your mobo.

You are a whining pain in the ass customer.
Suck it up. Be satisfied you received a replacement.
You feel insulted. So what. Buy your next motherboard from a different manufacturer.

There are many customers who do not receive adequate warranty service from Asus.

I've had a few motherboards that didn't work as advertised.
I mark it as buyer ignorance. Learn from the mistake. Research future purchases more thoroughly. Then make an informed purchase.

I've found quality is directly proportional to price. That includes everything from lumber to automobiles.

I know what you mean....I won't buy asus anymore myself.....this one that I have will be the last asus board for me too....asus customer support sucks...A$$

I have to ask the question again... WT#@$! does customer service better? Anyone....?

Sounds like you could be a pain dude...but oiling the squeaky wheel is what its all about.If you talked to a senior customer service rep.,I see a striker in the mail for you free with their simpathy...Its all how you roll the ball,gl.

I never had to RMA an Asus board, but their support seems to have grown more and more sketchy over the years. I had a board where the video would simply not initialize until AFTER Windows was fully loaded and at the desktop. Asus' answer to the problem: HURR HURR REPLACE UR DDR. Idiots.

I wound up going on Ebay, buying an old ATI Rage PCI card for $5 and used that to fiddle with the BIOS.

You probably were a PITA, but I don't blame you because that is how you right the wrongs sometimes and get action done. As others said you should just drop it now. You got your mobo so there is no point in pushing if further. Save yourself the stress and just enjoy the motherboard.

I dont believe theres a major company in the world without customer service horror stories, comes down to the number of humans in the system, this is NOT a horror story for customer service. Ive had worse with cars...

If you want to do something bout the emails drop their customer support department an email with the scan youve shown of the memos and ask for their comments on what theyve sent to you

As far as motherboard manufacturers go EVGA and Intel both offer great customer service.

There are other companies in the computer component business that offer great service including Corsair, Antec, and AMD.

Asus definitely markets it's motherboards as premium performance products and charges as such. Their boards usually have a lot of cool features and consistently beat out the competition in benchmarks and reviews. If they were smart they'd stand behind their product; most successful companies do.

I'm no expert on the economics of the motherboard industry but I'd imagine the tarnish to their reputation even from this single enthusiast forum posting will cost them much more money in the long run than it would have to promptly and politely replace this guy's motherboard.

You get my Award for best thread of the Month!

@OP: Go post the image here:
http://vip.asus.com/forum/default.aspx?SLanguage=en-us

Just a general follow up, I guess some of the higher ups in Asus found out about this. I received a call a little bit ago from Taiwan, the gentleman on the phones English was very accented but from what I understand they are sending an official letter of apology out either today or tommorow.