They say that it only takes one bad customer experience to ruin brand loyalty. This time might have been the straw that broke the camel's back...
For clarification, I've been pretty loyal to ASUS for my motherboards for the last 6-7 years. The board I had before this was the Rampage IV Black Edition and outside of one RMA, the board ran stable until purchasing this one. The Rampage VI Extreme was my obvious choice as I'd had fairly good response when dealing with issues and the board itself runs solid and never gave me any major problems...
Until recently...
For transparency, I've owned this board for a little over two years and have RMA'd it twice. The first time was a fantastic experience. They actually sent me a brand new board, with the plastic still on it! Which is a rarity if you know how the ASUS repair service operates. That board worked fine for me until the beginning of the month.
I decided to make some upgrades to the system, new CPU and GPU. Swapped out the old parts for the new. Then upon powering on the system, no response from the board. No big deal, I set up an RMA. A few days later, sent the board out (11/11). I get another board (11/22) and immediately notice the condition that the I/O is in. The packaging itself was intact, but the only padding was one layer of bubble wrap around the board itself and no cushion in the shipping box, so the motherboard was just sliding around inside. I take the pics and contact ASUS support to make them aware that they sent me a broken board. They tell me that they will have to reach out to the repair center, and that it will take 24-48 hours for them to respond. Monday afternoon (11/23) I get the following response:
-------------------------------------
Thank you for contacting ASUS Product Support.
I appreciate your patience and for giving us time to come up with an update for your case.
I am writing this email to provide you an update about your ongoing case. In accordance to the recommendation of our Management.
Please be advised service center does not have the i/o shield for model ROG RAMPAGE VI EXTREME
--------------------------------------
At this point I'm getting frustrated. As you can see in the photos, that I showed tech support BTW, the issue is more than just the bent I/O shield, but the pieces of the board that literally broke off making it inoperable. I hop on the phone with support and make them aware that the board is unusable and will need a replacement. I also tell them I'd like to have a paid shipping label as I do not feel like I should be financially responsible for sending back their broken goods. They process the new RMA and tell me the label will be shortly behind it. 10 minutes later and no label. They then tell me they will be escalating and to wait 24-48 hours for a response...
24 hours later, no label. 48 hours later, no label.
Bear in mind that I'm contacting them, via phone and chat, at every time stamp and am being told the same thing. Escalation with a 24-48 hour response window... for a return label...
Finally, on Friday (11/27) after speaking with several other people both via chat and phone support for five days, do I get the label. By this time I'm making my frustration with the issue will known. I explain to the rep that I truly am not frustrated with them, as I know they have rules they need to follow. But make them aware that had I sent my board to them in the condition that the board I received was in, my warranty would be void and I'd be SOL. Due to the fact that I rely on this computer for work, and at this point have been without my computer for going on three weeks, I'd like to see what options there are for some sort of expedition so that I may possibly get a working board before Monday in an effort to keep my job. They tell me that there is nothing they can do and that it will have to go through the standard RMA process. For a damaged board they sent to me.
As I type this, it is Sunday (11/29). The label they sent me was ground shipping, so they probably won't receive the board until Wednesday (12/2) and take another week to attempt to "repair" the broken board, before sending me another. Hopefully this board will be better packaged.
I've heard the horror stories about ASUS support before, and though I've had a taste of it to an extent it's never been this bad. Sad thing is, they do make some solid boards, they're both feature and performance rich and some of the best looking boards aesthetically. I've RMA'd boards with EVGA and Gigabyte in the past and NEVER experienced issues like this. Not to mention I'm sure both of those companies would've express shipped a new board out to me once I made them aware that they sent me a damaged board in the mail due to negligent packaging.
I'd like to stay an ASUS customer, but if it means you've gotta be down a computer for a month while they work out their issues, you're better off just going with a brand that has a better RMA process.
For clarification, I've been pretty loyal to ASUS for my motherboards for the last 6-7 years. The board I had before this was the Rampage IV Black Edition and outside of one RMA, the board ran stable until purchasing this one. The Rampage VI Extreme was my obvious choice as I'd had fairly good response when dealing with issues and the board itself runs solid and never gave me any major problems...
Until recently...
For transparency, I've owned this board for a little over two years and have RMA'd it twice. The first time was a fantastic experience. They actually sent me a brand new board, with the plastic still on it! Which is a rarity if you know how the ASUS repair service operates. That board worked fine for me until the beginning of the month.
I decided to make some upgrades to the system, new CPU and GPU. Swapped out the old parts for the new. Then upon powering on the system, no response from the board. No big deal, I set up an RMA. A few days later, sent the board out (11/11). I get another board (11/22) and immediately notice the condition that the I/O is in. The packaging itself was intact, but the only padding was one layer of bubble wrap around the board itself and no cushion in the shipping box, so the motherboard was just sliding around inside. I take the pics and contact ASUS support to make them aware that they sent me a broken board. They tell me that they will have to reach out to the repair center, and that it will take 24-48 hours for them to respond. Monday afternoon (11/23) I get the following response:
-------------------------------------
Thank you for contacting ASUS Product Support.
I appreciate your patience and for giving us time to come up with an update for your case.
I am writing this email to provide you an update about your ongoing case. In accordance to the recommendation of our Management.
Please be advised service center does not have the i/o shield for model ROG RAMPAGE VI EXTREME
--------------------------------------
At this point I'm getting frustrated. As you can see in the photos, that I showed tech support BTW, the issue is more than just the bent I/O shield, but the pieces of the board that literally broke off making it inoperable. I hop on the phone with support and make them aware that the board is unusable and will need a replacement. I also tell them I'd like to have a paid shipping label as I do not feel like I should be financially responsible for sending back their broken goods. They process the new RMA and tell me the label will be shortly behind it. 10 minutes later and no label. They then tell me they will be escalating and to wait 24-48 hours for a response...
24 hours later, no label. 48 hours later, no label.
Bear in mind that I'm contacting them, via phone and chat, at every time stamp and am being told the same thing. Escalation with a 24-48 hour response window... for a return label...
Finally, on Friday (11/27) after speaking with several other people both via chat and phone support for five days, do I get the label. By this time I'm making my frustration with the issue will known. I explain to the rep that I truly am not frustrated with them, as I know they have rules they need to follow. But make them aware that had I sent my board to them in the condition that the board I received was in, my warranty would be void and I'd be SOL. Due to the fact that I rely on this computer for work, and at this point have been without my computer for going on three weeks, I'd like to see what options there are for some sort of expedition so that I may possibly get a working board before Monday in an effort to keep my job. They tell me that there is nothing they can do and that it will have to go through the standard RMA process. For a damaged board they sent to me.
As I type this, it is Sunday (11/29). The label they sent me was ground shipping, so they probably won't receive the board until Wednesday (12/2) and take another week to attempt to "repair" the broken board, before sending me another. Hopefully this board will be better packaged.
I've heard the horror stories about ASUS support before, and though I've had a taste of it to an extent it's never been this bad. Sad thing is, they do make some solid boards, they're both feature and performance rich and some of the best looking boards aesthetically. I've RMA'd boards with EVGA and Gigabyte in the past and NEVER experienced issues like this. Not to mention I'm sure both of those companies would've express shipped a new board out to me once I made them aware that they sent me a damaged board in the mail due to negligent packaging.
I'd like to stay an ASUS customer, but if it means you've gotta be down a computer for a month while they work out their issues, you're better off just going with a brand that has a better RMA process.
