Asus UK Repair service nightmare

Talk2Myself

I've no complaint with the products, they are great. I've had two Nexus 7 tablets and they are very nice machines and other Asus kit is quite tempting. The problem is when anything goes wrong and it has to go back to Asus repair in the UK. This organisation is a hopeless nightmare. If you want to buy anything Asus, and if it goes wrong, I'd advise just to throw it in the bin, it'll be much the easiest course of action and better for your stress levels and life expectancy.

I had my first Nexus 7 for several months before I used the earphone jack and found it only had one channel working. So the routine is that I had to ring Ebuyer, who I'd bought it from and talk to them about it, give them the serial number, date of purchase etc. They approve the repair and I had to ring Asus repair. They want the serial number and date all over again. They then email an RMA number several days later and you have to go to an amateur website and fill in all the details. Yes, serial number and date of purchase and lots of other things you have to keep going to look up and paste in.

It went off for repair and eventually it was returned with exactly the same fault. So off again through the process and it disappears again for ages. A phone call to ask why it's taking so long, and they tell me they've had to order an audio board. Eventually it comes back fixed and it's taken over a month.

I bought the next model, the Nexus 7 gen2 and checked it out carefully, finding that the wireless charging doesn't work, so this time I'd avoided the repair process and I could just ask for a replacement as it was brand new. So I got another new one.

Last July it had a total lockup and the boot up was just looping, so back to the process of calling Ebuyer and then Asus, filling in painful web forms and it disappears for weeks. After 3 weeks I phoned to find out why it's taking so long and was told they hadn't looked at it yet. Ring in to complain next day and told they have had to order a main board. They eventually return it taking over a month again and I can see straight away that they've reloaded the wrong firmware ROM. It's now got the mobile LTE version instead of the wifi version, and my 'wifi only' tablet now is showing signal level of zero and other phone related items.

So I call and tell them. I say I don't want to lose it for another month and how long can I wait to return it for fixing and they say 3 months, so if I ring by mid October they can take it back and reload it correctly. I was hoping the new model Nexus tablet (not Asus, but LG) might be available.

2nd October, I call them to request the repair. I phone Asus, request the repair again, and then wait several days for an email with RMA number, fill in the poor web forms again. I made up a pdf containing the original invoice, the repair invoice and a full explaination of the problem. The submission is rejected as the web site won't accept pdf, so I have to make a jpg of just the invoice which is rejected on file size so I make a smaller one and I explain the problem in the text box on the form. That's rejected as the box will only accept 150 characters. So I edit it down and submit.

The repair is refused because the 1 yr warranty ran out yesterday. The refusal email is from a 'no reply' address so I have to call in again and tell them the 1 yr warranty isn't relevant as it's their repair that is faulty, not the hardware, and anyway I'd phoned in before that date in any case. Also, they'd agreed previously to repair it if I put it in by Mid October. Asus rep struggles to understand. She just keeps repeating that the 1 year warranty is up and the repair warranty is for hardware only for 3 months.

They say to fill in the web form again, so back to the ameteur website and try to fill it all out again. This time I submit the July repair invoice and also go fill out a different form for a complaint elsewhere on the website.

Now I'm waiting for the next rejection. I'm so p***ed I don't really want to send it to them now and certainly don't want to fill in yet more stupid forms asking for the same information over and over. Maybe they make it awkward so people give up? I guess the next course is to pay to get it reloaded elsewhere and take them to the County Court for reimbursement. Bottom line is I'll never buy Asus again and warn anyone else to be wary of their repair facilities.

Esqui

I've had problems with Asus tablet repairs in the past, but they've been OK recently (at least in my experience). When you call up, are you calling Asus (0870 120 8340) or the repair centre (01233 619 320)? Because I've found calling the repair centre direct generally gets you more info.


They also have a repair tracker, although Asus never tell you about this: https://extranet.sbe-ltd.co.uk/enduser/index.php
Just stick in your GBB reference in 'repair reference number' and the tablet's serial number in 'MSN Number'

hollydays

What a nightmare.

philatio

Brothers girlfriend recently sent them a laptop for repair.
All went very smoothly. No complaints.

Talk2Myself

Thanks for those numbers, they could be useful.

Yes, they could't be this useless all the time or they wouldn't be in business at all. But in my small experience of dealing with them they have screwed up 3 times in 3 and the tediousness of theiry c****y website and repetitive procedure for booking things in gets to be a real pain after a few times. It could be a lot more streamlined but like I said, it must deter a few people from bothering.

Talk2Myself

An update. Well they've sent it back and guess what, it's got exactly the same fault as I sent it in for. Again! The problem was that they'd fixed it last time but reloaded it with firmware ROM for a mobile device. It looks like all they've just done is a factory reset on which of course won't change the firmware. I told them this and apart from a weak apology they can only offer to have it in for repair again.

I don't want to be unnecessarily rude about Asus UK but if you take a car to get a puncture mended and it's given back with a flat tyre you'd really have to question the competence of the technicians, and that's happened twice now with different faults. There is a mobile signal level icon on the home screen, it's pretty obvious, and that was the only thing they were being asked to fix. That is the obvious giveaway but there are lots of other references to mobile elsewhere in the settings and I don't want it that way. It's wrong. Why would I now think there is much chance of them getting it right on the next attempt?

Of two Nexus tablets with two faults (ignoring the one that went back from new) they've managed to return it three times with either the same fault or a new fault. I don't see much point in sending it again and to be honest I'm less angry about them now, as their performance now is more laughable than annoying. And their stupid website is out of the last century. To go through the booking in process the first time is just mildly tedious but when you are approaching double figures it gets very annoying. Then you have to argue to explain you aren't booking it in on it's warranty, but on their repair warranty. There isn't any option on the website for this by the way, you have to put in the request, get refused, email in, talk to a rep, then go through the process again and if you're lucky they will email an RMA. Oh and beware, the warranty window is measured to the point they issue an RMA, not when you first report the fault. I've read of other people having this trick pulled on them.

I'd like to get it reloaded by a local computer shop just for the satisfaction of suing Asus for the cost, but having researched some more I have established for sure that it is the ROM that is wrong and think I can reload the correct one myself having spent some hours over two evenings looking into it, which at least will get it back to being useful again sooner.

It's a shame because Asus make some good products and maybe my experience has been unusual or unlucky but it seems, at least from my point of view, that Asus kit might be best seen as disposable and probably not covered by any useful warranty. Surely if this very bad experience was unusual I might have had an email from a manager saying sorry, this is bad, lets sort this out, so I can only guess that they screw up a lot. Still, to look on the bright side, I've got really good at doing Android initial setups.

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Edit. I've now fixed it myself. I used a utility called Wugfresh Nexus Rootkit and it worked. I didn't need to root it but it did let me get it back to a 'Stock ROM' so it's sorted, no thanks to Asus. Asus just sent me a customer survey asking what I thought of their service. So I told them!