A warning from a sad gamer with a broken monitor... :(

[Jeryn]

Hi all,

Just writing to let people know about Asus and the poor customer service they provide, at least in my case.

I considered myself to be a proud owner of an Asus VG278H 3D monitor (bought for €550), considered at the time to be one of the top range monitors. Gaming has been a pleasure while using this monitor but sadly the monitor broke about two weeks ago, 3 years and 3 weeks after the day it was bought. As you might know Asus offers a 3 year warranty with its monitors so you can imagine how frustrated I was when I found out that the monitor broke down 3 weeks after the warranties conclusion.

I decided to phone customer service in the hope of finding a solution to my problem. When I got through to customer service I explained my case and told them that I hoped that Asus would take care of the reparation since I considered that 3 weeks was too little time for a monitor to last past the warranty. As most of you are already guessing the reply I got was "sorry, but we are not going to replace the unit because the warranty period is over" (something I was expecting but was not happy with).

So far usual stuff, the worst comes when I ask them how much would it cost to have it repaired. To this their answer was that Asus doesn't repair LCD monitor's, the reson being that the reparation is more costly than buying a new unit. Here my anger starts to rise. I ask if we can get to an arrengement, like paying for the extension of warranty (since it was only 3 weeks past the warranty duration) I considered this a fair arrengement, but the answer was no to this suggestion, and no attempt to reach a solution was made by their part (Asus Iberica, spains customer service for asus).

Basically I have a desktop taken up by a lump of plastic that cost me €555 3 just over three years ago, and acording to them I would have to spend €600 on a new one, this makes a total of €1155 in 3 years.

My case is probably just one of poor luck, but be aware of the response you will get if any of you run into the same kind of problem I have had... I leave you with an image of what could befall any of you.

[Jeryn]

Well, after my first attempt to get the monitor repaired through Asus, ending in absolute fiasco, I decide to go to an independant electronics shop where they repair monitors amongst other things (this was suggested by Asus customer service during my phone call).

Got to the shop and after explaining the symptoms the screen was displaying the man there said it could be 2 things, the t-con (whatever that is) which would cost around €60 to fix, or it could be the screen which would be much more expensive.

When the technitian phones me up he says, "I've got bad news its the t-con, but asus doesn't sell spare parts, just the whole screen with all the compnents on it, the price of the screen is €450 and the hours of work put into the reparation will not be worth the effort since you bought it for €550".

So really all my screen needed was €40-€50 component to be fixed but their sales startegy is such that if anything goes you have to replace the whole screen, making reparation of damaged equipment nonsensical and obliging you to buy a new monitor. So why the heck does the customer service person suggest that I try an independant repair centre, if they know it's not going to be any help... more money down the drain.

Well, I supose I will buy another monitor, but you can be sure Asus is not coming anywhere near the house ever again.

I'm through with such aggressive sales startegies. If I where you I'd stay right away.

Thinking about that new curved monitor costing over €1000 just gives me the chills.