Frank F.
- Comment
I read some pretty horrible reviews on Amazon today regarding Asus customer support, and thought, that cant be right! But now I fully understand the frustration that all of those customers have gone through. Ill start out by saying when I build a computer, most of what I pay goes into Asus products (used to, but not anymore). Motherboards, video cards, DVD drives, monitors, etc. I also recommend Asus to others, probably at least once a month if not more often, since its the brand Ive always purchased for certain products. But my last few Asus purchases have been getting worse and worse. This monitor lasted a few months working as it should. Then one day I heard a loud buzzing sound, and it was this monitor. It sounded like it was about to explode or catch on fire or something horrible (almost worse than the nails on a chalkboard sound). So I rushed in the room and tried turning the monitor off, and the sound stopped. I wasnt sure if it was a one-time fluke, but it repeated again the next time the monitor was on for a while (although I tried to make a point of turning it off when I didnt REALLY need it on at the time). Today the buzzing started immediately when I turned the monitor on. The only good part about that is it was an instant reminded to submit an RMA claim for my Asus monitor with a 3 year "Rapid Replacement" warranty. I submitted this online, received an e-mail, but there was no mention of the advertised Rapid Replacement, or the fact that Asus advertises that they pay shipping both ways. Rapid Replacement is supposed to ship a replacement monitor as soon as the bad monitor is shipped out, so I would think around 1-3 days downtime at most. HOWEVER, apparently all Asus had to do to get out of replacing the monitor in this way is say that the model isnt currently in-stock. Do they tell you theyll ship a replacement in a few days, after they locate one, or have stock available? Nope! They immediately send you through the more tedious "repair" process, then tell you that if the monitor is deemed non-repairable, theyll then replace it with the current model or possibly a different model if they dont have the current model. So I asked how long this process would take. All I wanted to know was what the minimum and maximum amount of time that my "Rapid Replacement" warranty service would have me down for now. The rep had no response. I asked if it would at least be a maximum of 2 weeks, or a max of 1 month, or 6 months? He had no response other than to say he couldnt give me any type of maximum timeframe at all. So then I asked to speak to a supervisor, thinking surely they can put themselves in the customers shoes and understand how ridiculous of a response that was. I basically got the same run-around from the supervisor, with a few new twists. I told the supervisor, like I had told the previous rep, that I was just online looking on several different web sites and saw this exact model available on every site I went to, and none of them indicated low stock. So its not as if its discontinued or in short supply. I even said that what a company should do, and typically does from my experience, is replace the defective product with a model that is equal or better in comparison to the product the company doesnt have. I mean its not the customers fault you dont have this model in-stock, right? By the end of the call, he told me he would submit for an escalation asking for a replacement model, and that if that was approved, I MIGHT receive a replacement of equal or LESSER value. "Um, did you mean to say equal or greater value?" Nope, he confirmed, "equal or LESSER" value. Hmm, seems like a backwards way to do business, if youre trying to satisfy your customers and not make your defective products the customers problem, doesnt it? Needless to say, I will never be purchasing another Asus product again, nor will I recommend Asus to anyone. This experience was beyond sub-par, so I cant in good conscience, recommend them anymore. If some seemingly miraculous change happens with this case and the Asus gods swoop in and make this all better somehow, I will update my review. ;-) And if not, I may add a few videos to this review so you can hear the very disturbing buzz, and maybe even the ridiculous responses from support (since it was on a recorded line). UPDATE 6/15/17: Ive been meaning to submit an update and finally got around to it. Asus never called me back. The escalation must have been all talk because I never heard from anybody after that point. And when I tried calling them back, they acted as if I never called the first time, but gave me the same run around all over again, and still no call back. Wow, such a popular monitor available everywhere, and twice now Asus does not have it in stock, how convenient right? My monitor continues to buzz like its going to explode if I forget to turn it off. Sometimes it does it immediately when I turn it on. And sometimes when I turn it off to stop the loud buzzing, then turn it back on, the buzzing continues. Like others have mentioned here, I think Im switching back to Viewsonic monitors as well. As for all other components in PCs that I build, Ill be switching to anything that isnt Asus.