Hi,
So here's my saga...many days of woe, reduced to a few paragraphs...
I initially was about to send the board back for a regular RMA and dropped it off at Stapes to send via UPS. As I was driving away, I called the RMA group again and said it was too bad I couldn't get an expedited replacement...where they send a board and I send mine once I get there new one (usually a refurbished one). They said they could set that up, but I'd have to have not sent the board back...so I returned to Stapes and got the package back.
The process of expedited replacement involves the x_ship_RMA department at the Asus subsidiary. There is a group in Indiana, and at the corporate offices in CA. When you call for RMA, you talk to the group in Indiana. The X_Ship process is a) wait up to 48 hours to see if a board is available (i.e. they've gotten one back that they've repaired and it's ready to go out again), if they have it b) they send a form telling you to fill out all the details, which includes credit card info...so they can reserve (get an approval and hang up your money for a day or so but not actually take out the money) the funds in case your return is not received. c) the test the found board again to make sure it passes all benchmarks, d) they send it to me e) I return the busted board at my expense. e) and we're done.
That's not bad but I had issues that the board was found and reserved for me, but it took several days to get them to test it. Then I was told it would be shipped "today" (on a particular day). I called them and at the last minute for "today's shipping" they said the board had failed the test. I was confused, as they had tested it days ago and they were "ready to ship...now".
I had had enough of this and bought a new board at Microcenter. I got the 3 year no-argument replacement plan added to their somewhat higher price.
I finally got them to locate another one, send me the forms again, fill out the forms again (they destroy the old forms for security), wait again, then board came. It was a new retail board, not a "no accessories attached" board. I suppose that, despite having been told another one was located, it either failed testing or didn't exist, so a new retail-boxed board was sent out.
After reinstalling the new Microcenter board, it became clear that the board going out took out my GTX770 too. So I did this all again, with the graphics card. One thing to keep in mind, the price they put on these returned boards are 100% retail value...not street price!
So, while I thank ASUS for having a process that got me a retail motherboard and graphics card, I've got questions:
a) why can't I call and talk to anyone in the x_ship department (I was told they were isolated because their reps were too busy playing on the internet and not doing work...I swear, that's what the phone rep said!)
b) Any email I sent was sent with read receipt. I've got to reply to their forms within 48 hours of them emailing them...but it took days and days, maybe 4 days, until they even read the email I sent...how does this happen?
c) the "lookup the status of your RMA" link on the Asus web site NEVER worked...I think that may have been for traditional methods, not x_ship. Why isn't there a way to check status, especially if contacting them directly is forbidden?
d) why do the initial RMA people, reached via the phone, have different ideas in their heads about how the x_ship or general RMA process works? Don't they have ways to contact x_ship? One rep was able to IM them, but only because he had the x_ship person's IM address...but even so, what he had said that she (the xship person) had said was wrong. My advise to people contacting RMA is to ensure you're getting the truth, not an "I'd expect", "they should" response. I repeatedly needed to make sure they were telling me the facts not their surmise.
e) the Asus web site is useless for communicating with the RMA department and x_ship, email is barely usable if it takes a week to read an item, and they can't let me talk to someone in x_ship when I call the RMA department. How are we supposed to proceed?
x_ship is a good way to go, it's supposed to be faster than regular RMA, and your "deposit" they require is returned as soon as your "bad" board is received at the depot. I would recommend you buy a new borad, xship, get a replacement and sell the replaced unit...in my case they're 2 new units (MB and Vid) but I purchased them locally and got the "quick replacement" option for both units.
Now, I'm trying to sell the motherboard - already sold the graphics card.
This whole process took so long, that I missed the 30-day replacement time with Newegg - where I got the first MB. So, again, I'll shop locally when I can...and pay more.
Thanks,
-Ambi
MB: Maximus VIII Hero
CPU:Intel i7-6700K OC @ 4.7 GHz
Mem: 32GB Corsair Vengeance LPX @ 3600 MHz
Vid: EVGA GTX980 Ti SC@ 1530MHz
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PSU: Corsair AX1200i
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Custom Loop:
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Pumps:2 X MCP 35x in series
Tubing:Tygon 2475 1/2" ID X 3/4" OD