# Asus Does not Stand by its Warranty Anymore?



## GhostRyder (Mar 3, 2021)

So its time for a rant, one I never thought I would have to make.  I have purchased pretty much exclusively (Few exceptions like my current portable rig with the Asrock board) over the course of the last 12+ years purchased only Asus motherboards for my own machines and machines for friends/family.  I used to say they were some of the best (Yes I Have purchased other brands at times for deals or because of aesthetic choices like from MSI) and they had a good warranty/friendly company.  Personally, I Have never had an Asus motherboard fail on me in my time but my friends GPU failed and I helped him RMA it and had no issue with them (Over 6 years ago).  Well recently I had a motherboard fail in my personal rig (Asus Z370 Prima-A) with a weird issue that turns out to be common enough to see people reporting this error on other forums (I don't believe its widespread FYI, just that it happens).  My board was still under warranty but based on the fact I want to be up and didn't want to wait I bought a new Asus Z490 Strix motherboard and i7 deciding to give my wife this board and chip once its repaired for her gaming rig.  Unfortunately they denied the warranty claim saying I "physically damaged" the board and that it was not covered by their warranty.  I was confused as the board before being shipped was nicely wrapped in the box (BTW had to pay return shipping which I am not a fan of) so I was confused until they said the socket was damaged.  When I asked for images they showed me a picture with some small chunks of thermal grease sitting on top of the pins.  My guess was maybe when I removed the cooler from the system and CPU for the failure some got scraped off and maybe a bit had gotten on it or some was on the bracket and got scrapped off in shipping or something to that effect because when I looked at the CPU the bottom was clearly clean and free of any and all residue.  I contested it and spoke to multiple people who basically defaulted to "This is physical damage and Asus will not cover physical damage" and tried to escalate it to higher managers (They didn't even know what the stuff was when I was on the phone and over emails with them, they claimed it was liquid damage at first).  Finally someone higher looks into it and claims it is thermal grease.  So thinking its been resolved they come back and say its still considered physical damage.  I asked how they come to that conclusion as it clearly is not old/has not been there while the CPU was installed and they stated that while it may not effect functionality and it may have happened after the board was removed we still will not warranty this board.  They then sent me a bill to receive the board back functional which they even said was just them sending me a new board (Not complaining but pointing out) for around 50 more dollars than buying the newer revision Z390 board off newegg (Not including the shipping I already paid).  The only thing I was offered was a 20% off discount which still resulted in the board being around 30 dollars more than just buying a new one off newegg.  I am flabbergasted by this, I mean I have no problem paying for repairs/replacing any board I did indeed damage (Like if my cooling system leaked I would not warranty it and would by another) as I have done so in the past with an asrock board I burned up in a mining rig years ago (Overloaded the 24 pin lol).  

To me, I don't know what current experiences have been like for others with Asus warranty, but for me they have lost a customer for life.  I literally went to the store and purchased a new Asus Z490 Strix board because i trusted they would make this right and would honor their warranty but it appears I have been mistaken.  Guess I will be going with either Asrock or MSI for my next build.  I am just posting this to warn and maybe get some ofther info from others about their experience as maybe mine is an odd situation.  Or maybe people here will think I am in the wrong on this case, if I truly believed that I had spilled thermal grease in the socket, installed the CPU, and that burned it up I would be singing a different tune.  But I can safely say that is not the case as I had this rig running for almost two years before the board randomly died on me.


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## mouacyk (Mar 3, 2021)

For EVGA motherboards, I had to take and upload pictures of the socket even before shipping the board in.  Certainly helped to clear up situations like this.


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## PaulieG (Mar 3, 2021)

I'm guessing I've owned well over 150 motherboards since 2006. I've had to RMA 1 board from Asus, Gigabyte, DFI and Biostar and 2 from Asrock. You know, they all gave me the runaround claiming I somehow damaged the board except for DFI. In 2007, DFI cross shipped, overnighted, no question asked a brand new Lanparty 939 Ultra D motherboard. Ironically, the DFI board was the one board that possibly was damaged by me.


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## Rithsom (Mar 3, 2021)

You're not alone. I once purchased an ASUS C202 Chromebook. 11 months later, the processor died for no reason. It's not like I broke anything inside of the Chromebook; I never dropped the thing or spilt liquids on it. The Chromebook was intact on the outside, yet it wouldn't boot.

I sent the defective Chromebook back to ASUS and had a lengthy discussion with their support. In the end, they refused to send me a new unit, because they said that the processor was not covered under warranty. I promptly gave the product a one-star review after that discussion. I never bought an ASUS product since then.


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## mouacyk (Mar 3, 2021)

Rithsom said:


> You're not alone. I once purchased an ASUS C202 Chromebook. 11 months later, the processor died for no reason. It's not like I broke anything inside of the Chromebook; I never dropped the thing or spilled liquids on it. The Chromebook was intact on the outside, yet it wouldn't boot.
> 
> I send the defective Chromebook back to ASUS and had a lengthy discussion with their support. In the end, they refused to send me a new unit, because they said that the processor was not covered under warranty. I promptly gave the product a one-star review after that discussion. I never bought an ASUS product since then.


Sounds like this company is literally picking lottery tickets on when to honor warranties. Boop beep boppity doo... nooop!


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## GhostRyder (Mar 3, 2021)

mouacyk said:


> For EVGA motherboards, I had to take and upload pictures of the socket even before shipping the board in.  Certainly helped to clear up situations like this.


Yea, i wish I had as well.  But honestly never would have thought they would be so crazy.



PaulieG said:


> I'm guessing I've owned well over 150 motherboards since 2006. I've had to RMA 1 board from Asus, Gigabyte, DFI and Biostar and 2 from Asrock. You know, they all gave me the runaround claiming I somehow damaged the board except for DFI. In 2007, DFI cross shipped, overnighted, no question asked a brand new Lanparty 939 Ultra D motherboard. Ironically, the DFI board was the one board that possibly was damaged by me.


Hmm, Well I guess I will find out how MSI and Asrock are next time.  EVGA was pretty easy on the GPU warranty I did with them.



Rithsom said:


> You're not alone. I once purchased an ASUS C202 Chromebook. 11 months later, the processor died for no reason. It's not like I broke anything inside of the Chromebook; I never dropped the thing or spilt liquids on it. The Chromebook was intact on the outside, yet it wouldn't boot.
> 
> I sent the defective Chromebook back to ASUS and had a lengthy discussion with their support. In the end, they refused to send me a new unit, because they said that the processor was not covered under warranty. I promptly gave the product a one-star review after that discussion. I never bought an ASUS product since then.


I would be livid, I dont even know how they justify that.


mouacyk said:


> Sounds like this company is literally picking lottery tickets on when to honor warranties. Boop beep boppity doo... nooop!


Yea, and that really irks me especially considering how much their motherboards run for.


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## Slesreth (Mar 3, 2021)

Last laptop I bought from Asus was quite awhile ago. Had a Sandy Bridge inside. They had a clear 100% pixel perfect warranty on the screen. There was one pixel nearly dead center on the screen that would not turn off or dim correctly for black and grey. They wouldn't repair it because it technically 'turned on', despite the fact the warranty clearly said, 'perfect pixel'. Never bought or suggested Asus to any friend or family after that. Sure it wasn't a dead component and I made the computer last for several years of use, but they failed to keep their word. That's a deal breaker for me.

Other RMA I have had done with other companies went fine. Sent one to Gigabyte and they sent back it after repairing a loose solder point on a capacitor. Had a DOA AMD CPU once, which was replaced with no questions asked of me in addition to the RMA report I made. Same with a 2 TB M.2 from Silicon Power that died during format, they replaced it with no further questions asked. All my replacments from these others have been working fine since. I even have a HP laptop with XP Pro on it I kept for college nostalgia that is 15+ years old that runs perfectly fine. But, that Asus laptop I bought to replace it? Dead, sourced its hard drive and RAM to other laptops my family owned.


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## tabascosauz (Mar 3, 2021)

GhostRyder said:


> Yea, i wish I had as well.  But honestly never would have thought they would be so crazy.
> 
> 
> Hmm, Well I guess I will find out how MSI and Asrock are next time.  EVGA was pretty easy on the GPU warranty I did with them.
> ...



Asus is pretty well known for doing this kind of shit.

Don't take your chances on the others either. These companies are all the same. EVGA has the best reputation by far, and yet you'll find no shortage of horror stories claiming they did exactly what Asus did to you.

It's an expensive lesson I'm sure you've taken to heart. You should always take photos, but always cover your ass 120% when RMAing/selling either CPUs and motherboards regardless of whether they're Intel or AMD. They'll fuck you over on Intel sockets by putting gunk in the socket or bending the pins. They'll do the same on AMD sockets by putting thermal paste in the socket holes.

Get well lit, sharp, high res photos of the heatspreader and underside of the CPU as well as the socket right before you package everything up. Maybe even throw in a physical timestamp in the photos. That's what I do when selling, but if I'm dealing with an RMA dept I will most likely take a short video of boxing it up and verify that the parts were still in the same condition at the time of packaging.


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## ThrashZone (Mar 3, 2021)

Hi,
Asus has never had good customer service or rma service the stories are all around
They count on people not taking images of items on rma then seems every time damage is found most common is bent socket pins the shape of a thumb or a scratch somewhere .... lol 

I'd never buy a gpu from asua way too expensive I don't care how good it's supposed to be my limit is 400.us mother board and then I would only usually buy locally from micro center 
I didn't on either of my apex's though 
x299 apex off ebay for 200.us
z490 apex off newegg 400.us


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## oobymach (Mar 3, 2021)

I'm in Ontario and had to rma 2 ASUS gpu's and got 2 new gpu's back, they both failed weirdly (probably from factory bios because I never flashed them) and the replacements still working today, though the sli failed spectacularly and took an led on one card with it the cards still work fine on their own but no mo sli.

Pretty sure warranty expired and I don't want to bother rma at this point I'm looking at upgrading to a 3060ti anyway but asus generally make good stuff imo. EVGA I also agree are better but I guess it depends on where you are who they send it to for repair/rma, some people are more careful than others.


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## ThrashZone (Mar 3, 2021)

Hi,
Think asus just likes to screw people in the USA


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## PooPipeBoy (Mar 3, 2021)

I have only RMA'd one Asus product in my time which is pretty good considering I buy mostly Asus products. It was a Xonar Essence STX sound card that I really liked, but occasionally it would freak out and blast my ears with a high pitched screech. When it was sent off to Asus themselves it disappeared in the post. Luckily I bought it through a great online retailer and they had RMA'd it on my behalf, and after two months of waiting they just credited me the value of the item. It didn't really bother me that I didn't get the money in hand because I used it to buy a new RAM kit.


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## GhostRyder (Mar 4, 2021)

tabascosauz said:


> Asus is pretty well known for doing this kind of shit.
> 
> Don't take your chances on the others either. These companies are all the same. EVGA has the best reputation by far, and yet you'll find no shortage of horror stories claiming they did exactly what Asus did to you.
> 
> ...


I had heard rumors but always thought that they could not be that bad.  I mean its ridiculous, I cant believe they tried to charge me more than I could buy a new Z390 Asus board (Even the higher STRIX) for less than what they quoted me (Especially when you factor in the shipping).  Yea I will be more vigilante about pictures, but I sent a GPU into EVGA not long ago and got not a single complaint same with PowerColor.  Not sure which I will try next between MSI and Asrock.

I am amazed how many people once I started really looking complain about this.  I mean, its pretty scummy behavior especially considering how big/well known they are in the PC world.


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## tabascosauz (Mar 4, 2021)

GhostRyder said:


> I had heard rumors but always thought that they could not be that bad.  I mean its ridiculous, I cant believe they tried to charge me more than I could buy a new Z390 Asus board (Even the higher STRIX) for less than what they quoted me (Especially when you factor in the shipping).  Yea I will be more vigilante about pictures, but I sent a GPU into EVGA not long ago and got not a single complaint same with PowerColor.  Not sure which I will try next between MSI and Asrock.
> 
> I am amazed how many people once I started really looking complain about this.  I mean, its pretty scummy behavior especially considering how big/well known they are in the PC world.



I didn't say your experiences *will* be the same with other companies. 

I said that you need to take extra care with CPUs and motherboards. Of course you had no problems with EVGA - it's a graphics card. If the tamper sticker is still intact on the screws, it's impossible for you to have opened up the card and they know that; same deal with a PSU or a AIO cooler. It would be the same deal with an Asus card. Point is, they don't need much effort at all to mess with you when it comes to CPUs and motherboards, which is why you need to take extra care when RMAing those products.


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## GhostRyder (Mar 4, 2021)

tabascosauz said:


> I didn't say your experiences *will* be the same with other companies.
> 
> I said that you need to take extra care with CPUs and motherboards. Of course you had no problems with EVGA - it's a graphics card. If the tamper sticker is still intact on the screws, it's impossible for you to have opened up the card and they know that; same deal with a PSU or a AIO cooler. It would be the same deal with an Asus card. Point is, they don't need much effort at all to mess with you when it comes to CPUs and motherboards, which is why you need to take extra care when RMAing those products.


Good point, I guess its pretty hard for them to say anything about a GPU.  I will be a lot more vigilante with motherboards next time.


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## tabascosauz (Mar 4, 2021)

GhostRyder said:


> Good point, I guess its pretty hard for them to say anything about a GPU.  I will be a lot more vigilante with motherboards next time.



We had a user on here not long ago who has invested a lot into expensive EVGA boards, and was embroiled in a prolonged dispute with EVGA that may have escalated to litigation, I can't remember. Think Z390 DARK - not an affordable motherboard by any means. IIRC part of it involved similar treatment by EVGA, ie. EVGA damaging the socket pins, using it as an excuse to deny RMA, and ultimately sending the broken board back, charging the owner for shipping.

EVGA is keen to protect their #1 moneymaker, GPUs, because they want to protect their reputation. On the other hand, I'd guess they're much less inclined to play nice when you RMA one of their motherboards. They only make expensive, niche and high end motherboards these days, so you spreading negative press about them about a bad RMA experience would only reach the handful of other people who could afford a DARK, as opposed to a GPU where it could conceivably spread the word enough to damage their sales.


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## newtekie1 (Mar 4, 2021)

Why did you ship the board without the socket protector in place? Most companies will outright refuse a warranty claim on a motherboard if they receive it without the socket protector in place.


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## HTC (Mar 4, 2021)

It's been a while since i last had to RMA something but i usually take photos of the item from various angles to show that it DOES NOT HAVE physical damage and send copies of them inside the box containing the item: this way, if they "think" about alleging the item has some physical damage, there's proof sent with the item.

Taking the photos with the item on top of a newspaper with it's date clearly visible is my preferred choice.


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## thesmokingman (Mar 4, 2021)

This is the problem with LGA sockets, they are too easy to mess up giving any side reason to dispute or void.


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## timta2 (Mar 4, 2021)

So you sent a motherboard in for service that had TIM all over the pins/socket and somehow ASUS is the bad guy for voiding the product's warranty? I just don't get that take.


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## thesmokingman (Mar 4, 2021)

timta2 said:


> So you sent a motherboard in for service that had TIM all over the pins/socket and somehow ASUS is the bad guy for voiding the product's warranty? I just don't get that take.


The tim isn't damage. A lil shot electronics cleaner and its a non-issue. This is where their "intent" shows itself since they are clearly looking to void first, figure it out last.


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## jboydgolfer (Mar 4, 2021)

if im reading the OP right.

Asus denied your claim, because you dropped TIM in the CPU socket & that qualifies as physical damage.
they need to be paid to remedy it, so they wont move forward unless you pay them.

from an impartial perspective, Asus is not in the wrong.
i think human error caused damage that is costing you your coverage.

it sucks for sure, but technically its your responsibility, if your recounting is correct.


Asus cant 'fix' the matter, since to fix it, requires physical remedy, & risk of further damage. i know i could fix it if it was just TIM, but technically theyre in the right.

im sorry it happened though, its bad luck & it sucks it cost you money
i hope it doesnt set you back too much.


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## RadFX (Mar 4, 2021)

I had to warranty an asus mobo last year. After they got it, they tried to charge me to repair it even though it was under warranty. They claimed I damaged it, which was bs. I told them I had a picture of it and it was in perfect shape. Finally after about a week of back and forth they send me a new board for nothing.


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## newtekie1 (Mar 4, 2021)

thesmokingman said:


> The tim isn't damage. A lil shot electronics cleaner and its a non-issue. This is where their "intent" shows itself since they are clearly looking to void first, figure it out last.


It is not ASUS's responsibility to take on the liability of cleaning TIM out of the socket.


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## thesmokingman (Mar 4, 2021)

newtekie1 said:


> It is not ASUS's responsibility to take on the liability of cleaning TIM out of the socket.


Did I write that??


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## bobbybluz (Mar 4, 2021)

I had years of fighting with Asus over RMA's including on the corporate level. I've posted this previously in another thread recently. One time they tried pulling the "arrived damaged" scam on a motherboard but I'd taken several of pictures of it before and during packaging (a lesson learned when they sent me a series of damaged mobos after I sent them a brand new board back that the drive controller didn't work on). It finally reached the point where I refused to accept anything they sent me and threatened to sue them for fraud. I'd contacted the State Attorney General's office, showed them all my evidence and they said I had a valid civil case plus a possible criminal case against Asus for deceptive business practices. 

I enclosed a copy of the letter from the AG's office and they finally sent me a brand new functional motherboard. This was back when Pegatron in Illinois was doing their RMA's. Later on I ended up dealing with their special secret corporate problem resolution office in California and bypassed Pegatron completely. Asus has the worst customer service of any major PC component manufacturer. In my experiences ASRock has been great, especially if you call them on the telephone first. XFX has also been very good (make sure you send that warranty card in immediately).


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## Gmr_Chick (Mar 4, 2021)

bobbybluz said:


> I had years of fighting with Asus over RMA's including on the corporate level. I've posted this previously in another thread recently. One time they tried pulling the "arrived damaged" scam on a motherboard but I'd taken several of pictures of it before and during packaging (a lesson learned when they sent me a series of damaged mobos after I sent them a brand new board back that the drive controller didn't work on). It finally reached the point where I refused to accept anything they sent me and threatened to sue them for fraud. I'd contacted the State Attorney General's office, showed them all my evidence and they said I had a valid civil case plus a possible criminal case against Asus for deceptive business practices.
> 
> I enclosed a copy of the letter from the AG's office and they finally sent me a brand new functional motherboard. This was back when Pegatron in Illinois was doing their RMA's. Later on I ended up dealing with their special secret corporate problem resolution office in California and bypassed Pegatron completely. Asus has the worst customer service of any major PC component manufacturer. In my experiences ASRock has been great, especially if you call them on the telephone first. XFX has also been very good (make sure you send that warranty card in immediately).



Hahaha, it's amazing how quickly Asus changed their tune once they received the letter from the AG's office. Good for you!  

When it comes to customr service horror stories I've read, most of them were from dealing with ASUS and GIGABYTE. They were the two biggest offenders. In contrast, I rarely see horror stories from MSI and ASRock. Doesn't mean they don't happen though. Rest assured though, all said companies aren't better or worse than the other. 

When it comes to GPU service, I've had no problems whatsoever with Sapphire. When I was having all those problems with my Nitro 5700XT at the beginning of last year, they actually paid the shipping to send the card back and sent me a new card. When that one didn't work, again they paid the shipping and sent me ANOTHER card. When that one didn't work, I started wondering if something in my system was to blame rather than the card itself - which was pretty much confirmed after I sold the card to another TPUer and they confirmed it was working great for them.


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## jboydgolfer (Mar 4, 2021)

whenever i am sending out an RMA, i follow the 'RMA to-do laundry list' to the letter.
we all know the RMA rule list. it has rules like- "write the RMA # on the side of the box (failure to do so may be cause for RMA refusal)"
"You must print & include a copy of this RMA confirmation Email in RMA box, failure to include a copy may result in refusal of your RMA"
etc, etc, etc.

i read that list 10 times, & check everything off, then i usually mark the item im sending in, in a way that wont be noticeable so i can confirm if they do or dont return the exact item i sent in. i take a ton of pictures, & basically act like a paranoid lunatic in a tin foil hat.

the RMA process is laid out, to make it a PITA, atleast by some companies. which i think is the point.
i remember when powercolor i think, told me if the 'void if removed' sticker was disturbed, it voided my warranty. but i reminded them where i live, we have laws that conflict with that scam.


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## Hyderz (Mar 4, 2021)

i used to buy asus too, suprisingly my new rig has no asus parts. 
this made me recalled on asus tuf models on the 5700xt.. had some cooling and screws issue


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## FireFox (Mar 4, 2021)

GhostRyder said:


> I was confused until they said the socket was damaged. When I asked for images they showed me a picture with some small chunks of thermal grease sitting on top of the pins. My guess was maybe when I removed the cooler from the system and CPU for the failure some got scraped off and maybe a bit had gotten on it or some was on the bracket and got scrapped off in shipping or something to that effect because when I looked at the CPU the bottom was clearly clean and free of any and all residue


But what about if they were telling the truth?
Just saying.


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## maxfly (Mar 4, 2021)

Asus is by far the most crooked of the crooked. I wouldn't put it past them to slather tim on your mb to avoid having to honor the warranty.
 I wont bore you with my rma horror story but let it suffice to say that i havent bought an asus product in ten years at least. 
Evga is hands down the best company ive dealt with. I had to rma an x99 classified mb and it was painless. I told them what troubleshooting steps i had taken, they asked for my contact info and in less than two weeks i had a new mb.


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## WatEagle (Mar 4, 2021)

I also had a bad experience with asus, my first laptop was shipped with a bent button on the trackpad and the gpu fan wasn't working. I asked for rma and they also said that I had phisically damaged it......but at the end a also bought my old z270 and also a monitor. Not a great thing but also if the product is good this won't stop me from buying it


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## GhostRyder (Mar 4, 2021)

jboydgolfer said:


> whenever i am sending out an RMA, i follow the 'RMA to-do laundry list' to the letter.
> we all know the RMA rule list. it has rules like- "write the RMA # on the side of the box (failure to do so may be cause for RMA refusal)"
> "You must print & include a copy of this RMA confirmation Email in RMA box, failure to include a copy may result in refusal of your RMA"
> etc, etc, etc.
> ...


I would be curious about those stickers, but I have not hit an issue yet where one has failed that I have removed the cooler.



Knoxx29 said:


> But what about if they were telling the truth?
> Just saying.


I don't follow, do you mean if they are saying the grease caused the failure?



maxfly said:


> Asus is by far the most crooked of the crooked. I wouldn't put it past them to slather tim on your mb to avoid having to honor the warranty.
> I wont bore you with my rma horror story but let it suffice to say that i havent bought an asus product in ten years at least.
> Evga is hands down the best company ive dealt with. I had to rma an x99 classified mb and it was painless. I told them what troubleshooting steps i had taken, they asked for my contact info and in less than two weeks i had a new mb.


Ive had exclusively in my rig Asus boards.  But I wont anymore.


newtekie1 said:


> Why did you ship the board without the socket protector in place? Most companies will outright refuse a warranty claim on a motherboard if they receive it without the socket protector in place.


I didn't have one laying around I could find.  I did my best with shipping it to protect the socket.



jboydgolfer said:


> if im reading the OP right.
> 
> Asus denied your claim, because you dropped TIM in the CPU socket & that qualifies as physical damage.
> they need to be paid to remedy it, so they wont move forward unless you pay them.
> ...


My board failed with a Vbios/GPU light and would not boot.  Even with that the charge they are trying to do is basically buy a board at an outrageous price as I can literally either by the Z390-A board from newegg (Asus) for cheaper than what they are charging me, or buy the higher Z390 Strix Board at about the same price.  That to me is completely ridiculous.  Personally I am not sure if that happened (Me dropping TIM into the socket) but that is just my guess that it may have happened and giving some benefit of the doubt.  But its clearly dried TIM and ways that could probably be blown off with a can of air in the pictures which is why its more ridiculous to me.

Its not setting me back, its just an unfortunate situation.  I am not happy about it, and mad I didn't get a few more years out of the rig setup I had (Just had no reason to upgrade).  But I am just upset at the way its being handled.  Heck if they had said they were at least gonna say maybe $100 dollars to repair it after arguing, I would be upset but I would probably do it and just be mad at them for awhile as I would at least feel like they tried to rectify the situation/compromise.  Currently, they have not even tried because the answer of "Just buy a new board" is not a solution they should even be suggesting.


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## tabascosauz (Mar 4, 2021)

GhostRyder said:


> I didn't have one laying around I could find.  I did my best with shipping it to protect the socket.



Uh, I don't think anyone can blame Asus if you didn't even put the socket cover back on lol. It's the same as shipping an AMD CPU back without putting the CPU in its plastic tray...just having it rattling around in the box. How exactly did you "protect" the socket? Without its cover, anything and everything no matter how soft will bend those flimsy leaf pins if they touch.

If you threw yours away, you can just order a bunch on eBay.

If you don't cover the socket properly, you will get the exact same treatment from every board vendor...it's part of basic procedure and you didn't follow it.


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## AsRock (Mar 4, 2021)

GhostRyder said:


> I would be curious about those stickers, but I have not hit an issue yet where one has failed that I have removed the cooler.
> 
> 
> I don't follow, do you mean if they are saying the grease caused the failure?
> ...



You failed to return your board as you received it,  that's on you.  Maybe what they should of done as just return it to you for you to solve and apply for a another RMA.

Maybe being pissed about it is not the way to go and own up to your ignorance, as i thinking you going to have no one to buy from with this attitude.

Another reason i keep my boxes as it allows me to return is as i got it.


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## GhostRyder (Mar 4, 2021)

tabascosauz said:


> Uh, I don't think anyone can blame Asus if you didn't even put the socket cover back on lol. It's the same as shipping an AMD CPU back without putting the CPU in its plastic tray...just having it rattling around in the box. How exactly did you "protect" the socket? Without its cover, anything and everything no matter how soft will bend those flimsy leaf pins if they touch.
> 
> If you threw yours away, you can just order a bunch on eBay.
> 
> If you don't cover the socket properly, you will get the exact same treatment from every board vendor...it's part of basic procedure and you didn't follow it.


I had the original box, I did ship it in that and wrapped the board to make sure it was ok for the journey.



AsRock said:


> You failed to return your board as you received it,  that's on you.  Maybe what they should of done as just return it to you for you to solve and apply for a another RMA.
> 
> Maybe being pissed about it is not the way to go and own up to your ignorance, as i thinking you going to have no one to buy from with this attitude.
> 
> Another reason i keep my boxes as it allows me to return is as i got it.


I have had the board for two years almost.  I don't usually keep every little thing over that long of a period of time.  I did have the OEM box and inserts for it but the socket cover was missing.  I put extra wrap on it and made sure it could not move in the box and nothing was going to poke it/damage anything.  The issue is there was a little bit of dried TIM that fell in, didn't press against the socket, is just literally sitting on it and they are voiding the warranty based on that.

I own up when I make mistakes, as I have when I burned up an (funny coincidence) AsRock board mining with it years ago.  At least if it had been damaged in shipping like where pins got bent, missing capacitor, etc I would be singing a different tune.


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## kapone32 (Mar 4, 2021)

Ah Asus Warranty service. Their warranty service inspired me to move to As Rock for AM4. I had a X370 that refused to boot and the Asus tech on the phone started the RMA. I sent the board in and got that "physical damage" message for not re-installing the MB stand offs. Then they wanted to charge me $35 a piece for the standoffs. Then to make it worse they tried to use that as an excuse as to why the board wasn't working I asked the techif you don't have to remove the stand offs to install the stock cooler and he didn't know what to say.


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## mouacyk (Mar 4, 2021)

tabascosauz said:


> If you don't cover the socket properly, you will get the exact same treatment from every board vendor...it's part of basic procedure and you didn't follow it.


There is nothing basic about the RMA procedure.   I had to read EVGA instructions 10 times to fully understand they only want the board.  Not the IO shield nor other accessories.  They will only send back a board.  It took some diligence to realize that sending then the socket cover and anti static bag helps.  Surprise - they also sent the replacement board liked that 

Anyway the elephant in the room... good faith RMA procedures protect both the customer and manufacturer.   Enforce pictures.  Period.


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## John Naylor (Mar 4, 2021)

Yes, Asus TS and RMA procedures are terrible ... on the flip side, every manufacturers seems as if the goal of TS and RMA departments is to frustrate you into giving up>

We were strictly an Asus shop up until 2013 ....

_Asus P5AD2-E Premium_ - This was a high level board whch came with "Premiun Support and Exchange Program" That means they ship you are (suppossedly) new board overnight, then you send the old one back in the same box. Board failed in October, RMA granted received borad, took out of box and it was shaped like a banana. The I/O section could mossed the case opening by more than an inch. The tracking system could not handle having two bad boards. Sent the bent one back.

November and December go by and every conversation with support , voice or email, results with no actual action.  My doin got many video game for XMas, but could not play any of them with a brkem PC for almost 3 months.  Finally got working replacement end of January.  Interestingly enough. all tech support / RMA emails came from pegatron.com ... AsRock's parent company.   This was well after Asus spun off the ASrock budget board division.

Max VI Formula - At this point Asus had lost the performance title.... with their boards finishing a good bit from the top inelimited the problem with exterior devices not waking from sleep. While that was presumed to be the final major issue, the board still had problems with BIOS clock freezing.  This wreaked havock with files as when you revised or backed up a file, the new version wasn't saved as both old and new had same date.  BIOS fixes were promised and while they did  arrive for the TUG line, RoG board owners never got theirs.

GT - AC 5300 Router - The router performs well, problem was one of the reasons I purcahsed it was in allwed me (again supposedly) to run 2 USB printers off the router as network printers.  This has never worked.   I called and they'd say "Oh use the MFP driver instead of the print driver, and next time to use the printer driver instead of the MFP driver.  The screens one sees in the software installation do not match the screens in the software installation manual.  Email TS request was responded to by "Bob".  Bob statted off by saying:  "To slove your intertnet problem (I wasn't aware I had one, I should undo the 2 hours of set up I did fir the 8 static connections, by setting to factory default and then send them three files.

My response said, because apparently it wasn't obvious that be sending them an email I had no internet problem, tht my internet was fine ... just as i said in the original report, but my problem is that the network pronter driver for the router's USB ports wasn't working.   I have a boiut a dozen responses .... Tim, Mike, Arthur, Johm and a bunch of theres sent the exat same email telling me "how to get on the internet.  I have over a sozem of these.  EWriting to the president's office just resulted in more of the same.

EVGA was disturbingly worse... over 20 support calls over 18 months, 5 RMAs and none of the replacement FTW cards was able to run at advertised speed.  They blamed every other component but I was never able to get the carrd to run even ant 50% of the way between reference and FTW speeds.   On every call we had to go thry the exact same troub;eshooting procedures as th 1st call.  When doing a build for someone else with twin Asus cards in SLI, I was able to get a 31% over reference card speeds.   Sent them avideo and they finally relented and sent a next gen SC cards.

MSI and Gigabyte are also hard to deal with but I have yet to complete the "solving the problem" stage ... even if the procedure was arduous.


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## kapone32 (Mar 4, 2021)

mouacyk said:


> There is nothing basic about the RMA procedure.   I had to read EVGA instructions 10 times to fully understand they only want the board.  Not the IO shield nor other accessories.  They will only send back a board.  It took some diligence to realize that sending then the socket cover and anti static bag helps.  Surprise - they also sent the replacement board liked that
> 
> Anyway the elephant in the room... good faith RMA procedures protect both the customer and manufacturer.   Enforce pictures.  Period.


I was pleasantly surprised by Seagate. I has a SSHD that died and sent it in for warranty service. When the tech called me he spent so long on the phone scouring a quicker replacement drive. I swear it was like 2.5 hours. I also remember doing an RMA for a Gigabyte 6850 ($99) without any issue. Asus is special though because they market themselves as being enthusiast focused which makes it seem so much better than the others but an RMA experience belies that thought. The are adversarial to the point of being desultory.


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## newtekie1 (Mar 4, 2021)

thesmokingman said:


> Did I write that??


Yes, that is exactly what you are expecting of them by saying they should just shoot a little electronics cleaner in the socket.



GhostRyder said:


> I didn't have one laying around I could find. I did my best with shipping it to protect the socket.


And obviously you didn't protect the socket good enough. I still fail to see how this is ASUS's fault when you failed to properly protect the socket. Plus, you said you bought a new board, just use the protector that came on that board.


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## maxfly (Mar 5, 2021)

So why are you people so hung up on his not sending the mb in without the socket protector? Oh my gawd! Not the socket protector! You foolish foolish boy you!
He must automatically be some kind of ham fisted buffoon that has no idea how to wrap the mb in bubble wrap then right?
Give me a friggin break. You sound just as backwards and petty as the knuckleheads at asus. 
He has every right to be disgusted both with this, "you must have done something wrong" attitude as  well as the sorry treatment hes received from a company hes clearly placed far to much trust in.


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## Gmr_Chick (Mar 5, 2021)

maxfly said:


> *So why are you people so hung up on his not sending the mb in without the socket protector?* Oh my gawd! Not the socket protector! You foolish foolish boy you!
> He must automatically be some kind of ham fisted buffoon that has no idea how to wrap the mb in bubble wrap then right?
> Give me a friggin break. You sound just as backwards and petty as the knuckleheads at asus.
> He has every right to be disgusted both with this, "you must have done something wrong" attitude as  well as the sorry treatment hes received from a company hes clearly placed far to much trust in.



Maybe it's because nearly all the board makers make sure to slap a big sticker on the socket cover that EXPLICITLY states said cover MUST be on the board when sending the board back for RMA, otherwise RMA will be denied (or something to that effect).

Also, maybe it's because it's just one of those "common sense" things?


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## MaMoo (Mar 5, 2021)

I have had only bad luck with ASUS warranty. I had an expensive ASUS board, a P5 series. It suddenly had a corrupted LAN MAC address after a successful BIOS update. ASUS sent me a broken board in a non-padded box, all the ports at the back were bent. This RMA was all handled by a computer shop. Then, I requested a replacement. ASUS dragged their feet and wasted two months. Then they sent me a board that lasted a month, during which, my warranty expired. I complained and ASUS said basically for me to frack off. Some time after this, I got an ASUS laptop. It kept on overheating and eventually died. I RMA’d the laptop and they dragged their feet again, eventually sent me a badly scratched laptop with marks of botched repair and stripped screws. Then I got fed up with them.

So I chatted with my friends who owned that computer shop and they showed me their rack of laptops waiting to be shipped back, and they said that ASUS service was the worst. That was a few years ago.


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## bobbybluz (Mar 5, 2021)

NEVER throw important things like Intel CPU socket covers away. I have a collection of them and it's came in handy more than once.


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## maxfly (Mar 5, 2021)

Gmr_Chick said:


> Maybe it's because nearly all the board makers make sure to slap a big sticker on the socket cover that EXPLICITLY states said cover MUST be on the board when sending the board back for RMA, otherwise RMA will be denied (or something to that effect).
> 
> Also, maybe it's because it's just one of those "common sense" things?


Lol, why tyvm for pointing out the OBVIOUS for those that arent up to snuff 
Unfortunately you completely missed my POINT. That sometimes happens when you only focus on part of a response/statement but i guess "common sense" doesnt always apply when you jump to conclusions?
Oh and btw... they actually denied the rma because they claimed there was THERMAL PASTE on the pins. So lets get off our high ponies and stop trying to belittle the OP for non issues shall we?


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## puma99dk| (Mar 5, 2021)

It's not surprise about Asus even my overpriced monitor the ROG Strix XG27UQ doesn't have any form of pixel, or protection at all even costing like £815 and at time I had one of their overpriced board same shit almost didn't want to lift a finger for warranty even it was inside warranty.

That;s why I changed to AsRock and MSI better service from my experience even I am back to a Asus board again but that's because it's the only decent priced white B550 there is with Intel LAN.

But I am done with Asus' overpriced ROG boards for good even I been a fan of them for years but I am not gonna throw money in their face just to get screwed over when there is something that is normally covered from other manufactures at the same prices.


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## ZenZimZaliben (Mar 5, 2021)

I just want to say I shipped out my Asus ROG STRIX Z490-E GAMING because it just stopped working one day out of no where..BAM! Memory error. No matter what I did, different ram, 1 stick, every memory slot, different cpu, power supply, gpu. As soon as it got to the Memory check I would get a 4F Bios error. Well they fixed it fast and shipped back to me free of charge. So once I install it and see if it works I will post again, but very good support so far. I guess I am not happy about the $50 I had to pay in shipping. Oh well cheaper than a new board.

Luckily I had an extra mobo with an 8700k in it so just slapped that in temporarily.


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## GhostRyder (Mar 5, 2021)

newtekie1 said:


> Yes, that is exactly what you are expecting of them by saying they should just shoot a little electronics cleaner in the socket.
> 
> 
> And obviously you didn't protect the socket good enough. I still fail to see how this is ASUS's fault when you failed to properly protect the socket. Plus, you said you bought a new board, just use the protector that came on that board.


Well I don't see 2 small chunks of thermal grease being enough to void a warranty but I do see your point.  I mean if it had bent pins because of it I would probably accept the loss and move on.  However, I just realized I had forgot to send me Z390 Prime board in to Asus as its got an issue as well (Forgot because I put it in the back of the closet in its box after it failed me).  I am about to ship it off with a socket protector (I did find one in my Z490 box I forgot about), I took a bunch of pictures, socket is 100% clean.  So I guess we will see how they react this time.  I am not happy to be paying to ship it in especially because I still feel like this experience has been less than stellar, but I guess it will be an interesting experiment.



Gmr_Chick said:


> Maybe it's because nearly all the board makers make sure to slap a big sticker on the socket cover that EXPLICITLY states said cover MUST be on the board when sending the board back for RMA, otherwise RMA will be denied (or something to that effect).
> 
> Also, maybe it's because it's just one of those "common sense" things?


Well I could not find mine this round but I tried to make sure it had something over it for protection.  In hindsight, you are correct I should have made sure to keep it.  Either way though I am still on the fence over this because its just some time that will easily come off and not something like bent pins.  Like I was saying above, I would accept my mistake if it was damaged in shipping (Might fight shipping company if it was something more than just my poor shipping) but I just don't see this as enough for them to deny it and make me pay more than the cost of buying a new one on newegg.



ZenZimZaliben said:


> I just want to say I shipped out my Asus ROG STRIX Z490-E GAMING because it just stopped working one day out of no where..BAM! Memory error. No matter what I did, different ram, 1 stick, every memory slot, different cpu, power supply, gpu. As soon as it got to the Memory check I would get a 4F Bios error. Well they fixed it fast and shipped back to me free of charge. So once I install it and see if it works I will post again, but very good support so far. I guess I am not happy about the $50 I had to pay in shipping. Oh well cheaper than a new board.
> 
> Luckily I had an extra mobo with an 8700k in it so just slapped that in temporarily.


Well I am glad you got it repaired.  About to try for round two.  But I think it ridiculous to pay for shipping in general for their failure.  EVGA sent me a label for the GPU when one failed which I think is the right way IMHO.

Like I said round two because I forgot I had a second Asus failed motherboard.  I put my Z490 socket cover on, took tons of pictures with my phone time stamping it including the CPU socket,  made sure it was sparkling clean (It barely got used before failing so had nothing on it), and wrapped it up.  So lets see what happens I guess, just paid for the label.


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## ThrashZone (Mar 5, 2021)

Hi,
Even Intel requests high resolution images of the socket pins and both sides of the chip before rma is approved to begin.
ASUS is just shady.


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## Nexium (Mar 5, 2021)

I had bad experiences with ASUS many years ago with motherboard and tablet RMA. Used to be an ASUS fan too. Long story short my motherboard was a Sabertooth 990FX 2.0 TUF with "military grade" components with a 1,000 year warranty etc. Made me go through basic motherboard troubleshooting steps for an onboard sound card failure issue as in nothing but static from the sound output to speakers. They would not replace it since it was the onboard sound card that failed and not the motherboard itself... was shocked. This was about 10 years ago now and personally stayed away from all things ASUS until just recently unfortunately since we have no choice in the GPU market and take what we can get available. My ASUS scars still runs deep and have never healed and gave my money to other companies for all of my many computer builds over the years.

At the end of the day, you will read RMA nightmares with just about all brands in the industry. Just got to use your best judgement which brands are less chance of a RMA nightmare scenario to make your purchase decisions should it happen again.


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## bobbybluz (Mar 5, 2021)

When Asus products work they are usually the best (or were up until a few years ago), when they don't you stand a very good possibility of the ultimate RMA hell and despising them forever.


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## FireFox (Mar 5, 2021)

Can't say much about Asus and their RMA services here in Germany, my whole life i have been buying ASU's motherboards and just 6 years ago i had a problem with one so sent it back and a few days later they sent me a brand new Motherboard.


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