Do ASUS take quality control and user experience seriously? Here's my experience.

[mactire]

Below is the email thread:

My first email.

Problem: Laptop fans operating constantly at 100% capacity. Fan control through ROG Gaming Center has no effect.

I raised this issue through this support medium a few weeks ago. Although I received a suggestion to update the Bios, I had already tried this (and indicated that I did so in my original email) and it did not fix the issue.

I have searched extensively online through forums to investigate if others have this problem. To my amazement, several owners have reported the exact same problem with this model (GL702ZC). Whats more, nobody has been able to find a satisfactory answer as to the cause of this. Repairs of machines that have been sent back to Asus have resulted in a change of the motherboard, with no other explanation given.

https://rog.asus.com/forum/showthread.php?97605-GL702ZC-laptop-fans-running-on-100-inside-BIOS-UEFI-...

What this points to, I believe, is a design flaw in this laptop model which consistently produces this result.

further evidence is outlined here

https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/ASUS_GL702ZC

Now although my laptop is out of warranty, I believe that under the Consumer Guarantees Act (NZ), a laptop such as this should be built to last longer than 4 years, which is when this model was released.

It is clear that this issue with the GL702ZC bears similarities to the EVGA - New World scandal earlier this year

https://www.pcgamer.com/au/evga-confirms-new-world-rtx-3090-rmas/

I am therefore requesting that I as the owner of such a product should be guaranteed reasonable quality and shouldn't bear the cost of expensive repairs to a machine that seems destined to inherit a hardware problem as a result of an error in manufacturing design.

Looking forward to your reply and your suggestions to resolve this.

Kind regards


Their reply.

Thank you for your inquiry and we apologize for any inconvenience caused.

Based on your issue's description, the device will need to come to an ASUS Authorised Service Centre for physical assessment and repair. According to the device information you provided, the Manufacturer Warranty has expired; this device is Out of Warranty. Once received you will be provided with a pre-test quotation for the repair. When you have reviewed the quotation, the assigned agent will perform tests based on the fault description to confirm the need to replace parts and what may be required. The agent will then check if all parts are available before contacting you with a quote including the Repair, Part, and Shipping Fee, if applicable. You will also be provided an estimated required time to complete the repair. As your device is Out of Warranty, there is a risk of part and material shortage, and we apologize for any inconvenience caused.

If you believe the Manufacturer's Warranty still covers the device, please provide a copy of your Proof of Purchase. The Warranty Start Date can be confirmed from the Proof of Purchase; it is the device's purchase date, not the issue date of the Proof of Purchase.

For the Out of Warranty service, the device will need to be sent directly to the Service Centre at your own cost. If you would like to proceed, please reply to this email with the below information to validate the warranty and make a booking.

• Purchase Invoice: (PDF format)
• Returned Address:
• Direct Contact Number:

Please refer to this link for Service Centre locations: https://www.asus.com/au/support/Service-Center/Australia


If you have any further questions, comments, or concerns please do not hesitate to let us know. We will be more than happy to assist you.

Thank you,


My reply.

Hi XXX

Thank you for your reply. I appreciate your response, however I do take issue with your company's policy.

Firstly, the GL702ZC is an expensive, high end machine that cost me a pretty penny. Therefore, it is my opinion that a product of this nature demands quality and a consumer of such a product should be provided with good company service if any issues should arise with the use or normal operation of the product.

Here is my problem. The fans in my laptop have suddenly began operating at full capacity all of the time, to the point that the sound being produced is almost deafening, rendering it unusable and quite frankly, possibly even a health hazard that exceeds acceptable decibel levels from a piece of electronic equipment in the home.

This unfortunately appears to be a very common issue with this machine and judging by the experiences of users outlined in several ROG and laptop forums, has been fixed by Asus technicians numerous times (usually by replacing the motherboard as a default fix, with apparently no exact cause detailed).

I'd imagine that with my description of the problem and the evidence I've presented to you that shows that this is a very common problem with the GL702ZC, your technicians will already know exactly what needs to be done with the machine to fix this problem.

Sending the laptop from NZ to Australia at my cost to learn that the required parts are not available, and then to have it shipped back to NZ, also at my expense, seems a waste of energy, resources, time and money.

Warranty or no warranty, as an Asus customer and owner of a very expensive Asus product (that really should not have been on the market in the first place with a design flaw such as this), I think the least that Asus can do is to offer to save a customers time and money by providing some logical advice on what can be done in this situation.

Can your technicians inform me whether this problem is fixed easily, or is it a case that the mainboard or some other part needs replacing? If parts are needed I would appreciate if you could give me a more definite answer as to whether or not these are available for this laptop, as sending it overseas on the chance that they "might be" doesn't give me a lot of confidence in Asus customer service.

I await with bated breath

Yours faithfully

[STARRAIN_ROG]

Hi mactire,

I'm afraid we cannot make sure which parts need replacement before inspection in our service center.
Please send the device to our local service center for further examination and we would check which parts need replacement.
If the warranty has expired, there would be quotation for the pre-test and the repair cost.
Sorry for any inconvenience caused.

[mactire]

Yeah, that might be an option if ASUS had a service center in New Zealand - but they don't.

I would still be fine with that if it was a problem that was genuinely a mystery. Since this is evidently a very common problem with this model however, I think it's a safe bet that your technicians know exactly what is wrong without the need for inspection. As a valued customer and consumer of your products for years I would have assumed that you would be more than happy to point me to root of the cause and save everyone an exercise in wastefulness, shipping a device over and back across the sea at my expense to confirm what is already likely known by your technicians.

Instead, the policy seems to be to extract as much money out of the consumer as possible.

What a shame. I won't be buying another ASUS product again.

[STARRAIN_ROG]

Hi mactire,

May I have the serial number of your laptop via PM?
I would check the warranty territory and is there any more convenient way to send the device for repair.
Thank you.