Nearly a week after a Gamers Nexus video detailing its own and many others' terrible RMA experiences with Asus customer support, the company has finally released a statement addressing what it calls "some gaps in our RMA communications process in the US and Canada."
And it's still not a good look.
I said this to Asus myself; it's a pretty damn tone-deaf answer to the problem. The statement, which you can read in full below, seemingly absolves itself of any issues within the process aside from poor communication, effectively laying the problem at the door of customers who are confused and don't understand how it all works.
Here's the full statement:
Improving our RMA communications processes in the US and Canada
Recent feedback has highlighted some gaps in our RMA communications process in the US and Canada. We deeply apologize to our customers and the community for any confusion and frustration this may have caused them. We have taken your feedback to heart and are committed to making improvements.We want to assure our customers that all repairs covered by the manufacturer's limited warranty have always been and will remain free. It is never the intention of ASUS to charge customers a fee that is not directly related to the device failures they experience. We now recognize that the current process and language used do not adequately convey this information. We are working hard to implement changes in the best interests of our customers.
In addition to addressing issues on an individual basis with our reported customers, we are also making changes to our RMA process. Effective May 16, 2024, we will implement the following actions to optimize customers' repair experience:
- We are reviewing our repair pricing structure for out-of-warranty products; this includes a thorough review process for any abnormal prices to ensure consistency, transparency and fairness.
- We are currently conducting a full analysis of devices sent for RMA and sending customers a comprehensive list of available repairs, free and paid, in our customer communications. We understand that this may have caused confusion if a customer only ordered a specific repair. We no longer automatically provide repair quotes for cosmetic blemishes unless they affect the functionality of the device or are specifically requested by the customer.
- We will update the verbiage of our automated email system for greater clarity so that our customers are always aware of which repairs are offered free of charge and which terms and conditions are relevant to the device in question.
To give a brief explanation of how the situation got to this point, Asus was the subject of a video from GN, with the blunt title: "Asus ripped us off." Except with more capital letters. After receiving "at least dozens, if not several hundreds, of emails" from people who have experienced problems with many different Asus products, detailing their frustrating RMA issues with the company, GN decided to put it to the test itself .
The channel anonymously submitted its own Asus ROG Ally device, which had a defective thumbstick, which they detailed as part of the RMA, and a broken SD slot, which many of these devices have and is the subject of a historic ROG Ally -problem . It documented the condition of the device with high-resolution images, inside and out, and packaged it according to Asus' RMA guidelines.
The problems specifically started when the repair center response came back not acknowledging the warranty issue it was sent in for, and stating that the device required a nearly $200 fix for "customer-induced damage" that was not covered by warranty.
The problem involved some minor damage to the case, requiring a complete replacement of the LCD screen. The damage in question amounted to a small ding in the plastic after GN opened the device to remove the SSD before returning it.
The time pressure placed on the end user to respond to the repair quote, which still made no reference to the original problem, was quite small, as was the apparent threat that if this repair was refused the device would be returned and it might be returned. then return completely disassembled.
It wasn't until the faulty repair was denied, and way too far along in the communication process, that someone recognized that they needed to check to see if the repair center was still able to make the repairs covered under warranty. The device was originally shipped. for. What it was then.
Ultimately, GN got its ROG Ally back, with a full warranty repair. Both thumbsticks were replaced, the motherboard was replaced to fix the SD card slot issue, and basically everything except the LCD screen came back new and in working condition.
If this was an isolated incident, you might want to point this out to Asus, as they did eventually get the repair done, but only after an erroneously paid repair was first offered. But that is not it. In fact, the behavior around offering ridiculously expensive repairs - what the company calls "abnormal pricing" in its statement - appears to be an intentional, institutional issue.
Tom's Hardware reported the experience of a user in Canada who returned an RTX 4090 that needed to have its 16-pin power connector replaced because the clip had broken off, compromising the secure housing of a power cable. While the card was still functional, the broader issues surrounding that connector on Nvidia cards are well documented. However, the user did not expect a bill that would be higher than the price of the card itself.
They had paid about $2,000 for the card and were now being asked to cough up almost $2,750 to get the thing fixed.
Anecdotally, there are other Asus RMA issues mentioned in the comments on the GN video and the Tom's Hardware story, which makes it feel quite systemic and yet not the result of poor communication and user confusion.
Asus' statement claims that it will no longer "offer repair quotes for cosmetic blemishes unless they affect the functionality of the device," which it said has confused people, and will only offer those repairs for which the product has an RMA request has been received.
The fact that Asus refuses to directly acknowledge any problem, and instead calls it just a matter of misunderstood communication, is way off the mark. And honestly, I feel quite uncomfortable recommending Asus products at this point. That's a shame, because we like the things it makes, but if we can't trust that any issues will be handled professionally and succinctly, it's going to be a challenge for us.
We spoke to Asus about this and asked the question directly. How can we as a publication continue to recommend Asus hardware in light of all the customer support issues? If we hear back, we'll let you know. Until then, I probably wouldn't spend a lot of money on an Asus product if I wanted after-sales support.
