Asus vows to improve clarity surrounding warranty claims and astronomical hardware repair costs
You do not want to RMA your Asus device.
Several customers have complained about unreasonable payments that Asus required to cover "customer damage" on items sent back for warranty work. The rising complaints have prompted many publications and tech channels to investigate the issue. Because of this, Asus released a statement saying it is enhancing its RMA communication processes in the US and Canada.
According to the company, it will revise its repair pricing structure for out-of-warranty items, analyze returned devices and give the customer a clear list of all free and paid repairs, avoid cosmetic repairs unless they affect functionality or are specifically asked by the customer, and update its automatic emailing system for clarity.
These were some of the issues that have recently come to light. For instance, Asus quoted a $2,750 fee to replace a chipped GPU power connector on an RTX 4090 that the user bought for $2,050 (CAD 2,799). The chipped power connector did not affect the GPU's operation, and the customer only brought it in for warranty repair following Asus's advice.
Gamers Nexus reported that one user sent in a Zephyrus G15 gaming laptop for display issues, only for the Asus repair center to reply that it received the computer with a cracked chassis — damage that wasn't there when the user sent it out. There were also other horror RMA stories where several users sent an RTX 4090 back for warranty repair, only to receive a replacement unit with significant damage.
Gamers Nexus did an in-depth investigation, sending in a one-year-old ROG Ally Z1 Extreme with a defective SD card reader, a drifting left joystick, and poor battery health. According to the channel, Asus did not recognize the issues they raised — instead, it focused on minor cosmetic damage and quoted $200 for repairs.
It was only after several back-and-forth emails that Asus addressed the real issues. However, the channel's concern was, 'Would other less assertive users fight for their rights? Or will they pony up the unnecessary $200 the company demanded just to get over with the repair?'
This wasn't the first time Asus landed in hot water for hardware issues. Almost exactly one year ago, Asus released a BIOS update that tackled a major bug that caused some Ryzen 7000 processors to fizzle and burn. However, it initially said that this BIOS update is in beta and will void your warranty if you install it. So, you either risk burning your AMD AM5 processor or losing your money if your processor or motherboard dies on you later through no fault of your own.
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Asus eventually backtracked on this policy and released a statement confirming that it will honor the warranty of motherboards with the latest BIOS fix, as well as AMD EXPO, Intel XMP, and Asus DOCP memory presets. While Asus seems to have resolved the AMD BIOS debacle, there seem to be other problems within the company.
We would like to believe that Asus will fix the warranty issues its customers face with their Asus products. However, it seems that the company needs to look deeper, not just at its communication strategy but at its warranty and RMA policies. It will take time for any company, especially one as large as Asus, to implement changes. But in the meantime, you should keep your fingers crossed and pray that your Asus device won't run into problems that require an RMA.
Jowi Morales is a tech enthusiast with years of experience working in the industry. He’s been writing with several tech publications since 2021, where he’s been interested in tech hardware and consumer electronics.
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PEnns The sad part?Reply
Asus would never have a changed a thing if it weren't for such articles and Youtube videos, aka exponential bad publicity. -
magbarn The sad thing is that MSI, Gigabyte, and others do the same shenanigans too!Reply
I sure miss EVGA... -
helper800
I'm never getting rid of my EVGA FTW3 3080...magbarn said:The sad thing is that MSI, Gigabyte, and others do the same shenanigans too!
I sure miss EVGA... -
jowiscope
Makes me want to rethink my planned desktop PC and just stick to a laptop :(magbarn said:The sad thing is that MSI, Gigabyte, and others do the same shenanigans too!
I sure miss EVGA... -
hotaru251 Still won't touch their stuff for a long while.Reply
anytime a company says this type of statement is only because they got too much bad publicity & try damage control.
no company should ever try to fix cosmetic damage unless asked.
imagine going to the doctor for a cough and they notice a scar and then charge you for fixing that :|...nobody wants that.
just do the stuff asked. -
Giroro "Enhancing communication", in no way means that they will change any internal process regarding communication with their customers. It especially doesn't mean they will change how the repair/warranty process itself works.Reply
In this context, "communication" means publicity. "Enhancing publicity" means they want good PR spin.
This isn't a commitment to improve the customer experience, which is frustrating.
This is Marketing speak for saying "We are going to throw minimal marketing dollars at the problem and hope a social media ad buy convinces enough influencers to stop complaining, at least long enough for it to drop out of the trending feeds. -
helper800
You very well could be right. Personally, I like to take a wait and see approach. Who knows, we may even be surprised if they were to change for the better, but I am not holding my breath...Giroro said:"Enhancing communication", in no way means that they will change any internal process regarding communication with their customers. It especially doesn't mean they will change how the repair/warranty process itself works.
In this context, "communication" means publicity. "Enhancing publicity" means they want good PR spin.
This isn't a commitment to improve the customer experience, which is frustrating.
This is Marketing speak for saying "We are going to throw minimal marketing dollars at the problem and hope a social media ad buy convinces enough influencers to stop complaining, at least long enough for it to drop out of the trending feeds. -
Giroro
It's hard to avoid cynicism when talking about big companies.helper800 said:You very well could be right. Personally, I like to take a wait and see approach. Who knows, we may even be surprised if they were to change for the better, but I am not holding my breath...
I know Asus specified some ways they will communicate with customers, but to me it gave the impression it was a little passive-aggressive.
It came across as if they think they are doing a great job in regards to this exact issue, were annoyed that great job isn't being recognized, and listed some existing ways in which they think they are already doing a great job. Sort of a "the customer is wrong" approach. -
usertests My secret:Reply
1. Buy everything refurbished only.
2. You save money and the flaws have already been identified and fixed.
3. Profit!