Regarding Asus warranty on LCD monitors

(updated 10/27/2010)

Buyer Beware!

Regarding Asus' warranty on LCD monitors...

On April 10, 2008, a client bought an Asus LS201 monitor from PCN. At the time, I said I believed that their warranty would be three years with Asus.

Recently, this monitor began acting up and was in need of repair. Here is an image of what it is doing.

This is the closest to normal it will do. At other times it shows no picture at all. It does the same when connected to different PCs.

The OSD works sometimes. I'm sure a repair technician would know exactly what's wrong with this monitor from these two bits of information.

To assist the client, I went online...

http://vip.asus.com/eservice/techserv.aspx

Asus VIP support, "the heart of technology".

...and submitted this text to attain an RMA. (return to manufacturer authorization).

Apply date : 9/21/2010 1:48:51 PM(UTC Time)

"At best - monitor seems to be out of phase, unstable image shaking horizontally, unreadable, unusable. At worst - monitor shows no info, just a screen that gradually fades into a grey-white colour. Sometimes the OSD works, sometimes not. Tried OSD reset, nothing. The OSD screen, when it works, is clear and stable, while the rest of the screen is doing as above. Tried different PCs, no improvement. May be a power adapter issue, but I haven't got one to test this. I would accept a power adapter first, to see if this is the problem, before having to drop off the monitor at depot in Markham. Can they ship an adapter here to test? I can return it if this does not solve the problem. I have pictures of the screen if you give me somewhere to send them."

Now, you would think that a three-year warranty would cover such a problem, but Asus has a different calendar date in mind.

Seven days later, five days after the two days it was to take to get a response, on September 28, 2010 1:59 AM, here is Asus employee Gustavo Rodriguez's reply:

"Dear Valued Customer,

Based upon your serial# your product's warranty has expired as of (April, 2010), which are the first two digits of your serial number (1st digit = year manufactured; 2nd digit = month manufactured).

The ASUS manufacturer's warranty is based upon manufacturing date code, which is the serial number printed on actual product. For additional warranty terms and conditions you may refer to http://livesupport.asus.com.

If you need further assistance please do not hesitate to contact us at 812-282-2787 thank you and have a great day."

Asus has declined to cover the repair (for which, by the way, they have yet to ask to see, or even discuss, the problem) saying that their warranty is for three years from the manufacturer's date.

Well...

Asus must be the only company in the world to have a warranty based on the manufacturer's date. This monitor was bought by the end user a year after the manufacturer's date, so the effective Asus warranty was just two years. The manufacturer's date was not regarded as meaningful at the time of purchase, so no inquiry was made prior to purchase.

Imagine buying a car with the warranty already partly used up for the time the car was shipped or sat at the dealer before you bought it.

Imagine shopping for electronics by having the retailer open all the boxes so you can see which one on the shelf was manufactured most recently. (Good luck with that.) You wouldn't want to have an item with a one-year warranty on the shelf very long - you would have no warranty left!

Of course, this caught me totally by surprise.

I replied to Gustavo that this was unacceptable, and I wanted the warranty on this monitor and any I bought in the future to be three years from the end user purchase date.

I got a followup reply from an Asus level 2 technical support representative.

Sonny Brown: "Our warranty is 3 years from manufacturing date. We verify the warranty from the serial number printed on product. Sincerely, Sonny Brown, Level 2 Technical Support."

My reply to Asus was curt: "I can tell you that I will no longer offer your products to my.....clients. Keep looking out for yourselves first and you won't have to worry about any RMAs. You won't have any sales."

October 1st by now. Enter Krisenda Allen, another level 2 representative. Here is her reply.

"The customer can always provide proof of purchase and the warranty can sometimes be extended based on purchase date. But without proof of purchase we stick to the 3 year manufacturing warranty based on manufacture date."

This is new. Someone who may take responsibility. "The warranty can sometimes be extended" - perhaps to the worldwide norm.

"Would you like to continue with the case and send proof of purchase?"

Proof of purchase - no mention of that and no facility for sending it in the online RMA request form. Krisenda is the first to ask. I'll scan a copy of the original client invoice showing their date of purchase - April 10, 2008. There, Krisenda, proof of purchase is in your email.

Oops, a glitch. Krisenda responds...

"Unfortunately we cannot view or open any attachments in this email client. I have created you a case number and you will need to fax the proof of purchase to the fax number provided below. Please make sure to note case number. Have a nice day! CASE ID 99xxxx, FAX # 510-797-2102."

Such a large high-tech company, and no facility to accept email attachments. Makes you wonder... I'll fax it, then.

Now, 510 is an area code in Oakland, California. A long distance call for most of the continent. I'm in it now for time and money spent.

I re-printed the original invoice given to the client on April 10, 2010. Scanned it. Faxed it.

What could possibly go wrong now?

The next day Sonny Brown advises by email: "Im sorry, but we cannot see attachemnts through this email system." (Turn your spell check on, Sonny.) Thanks, Sonny. Perhaps I'll fax it.

During all this, I have been trying to reach Asus by telephone as well. As best as I can recall, over several weeks... I spoke to two receptionists that forwarded my call to queued lines that eventually went "click" and hung up on me after about 15 minutes. I spoke to a technician in Canada at one point, who seemed helpful but redirected my call to a U.S. telephone number to further the return process. This call ended in another long wait and a looping menu. The looping menus are something - you are given several inappropriate choices, at the end of which you wind up back at the front end. No operator reachable, no zeroes accepted. Here are some of the numbers I tried: 1-905-370-2787, 1-812-282-2787, 1-510-739-3777. The big one was 1-888-678-3688. Let's try it again. Too bad, I'm told to call 812-282-2787 - been there, done that.

Here is the Asus webpage for support. http://livesupport.asus.com/callus.html. 1-905-870-2787 for LCD monitors. (Note the similarity to the number above.) Sounds promising. Let's try that number.

You can download and play this file to hear for yourself. asus_1-905-870-2787.mp3. I left a message. Wonder if "yelluh?" will call back.

Back to the fax.

October 7th...

...now. Leaves are falling, days are getting shorter, a message arrives. Have I gotten my long-awaited RMA number, the Holy Grail of high tech support?

Krisenda replies: "Unfortunately we cannot accept the invoice that was faxed in because this was something created by you an not an actual invoice or receipt. Sorry for the inconvenience. Have a nice day."

I have to email a reply. We were so close to getting that RMA.

I write: "Created by me, yes. I am a reseller. I sell products. I invoice people. I create invoices. What else would it be? All my clients get invoices. My Canadian vendor permit number is 2899-xxxx. My business number is 1261xxxxx. Visit my website. http://www.concordnorth.ca."

"You are trying very hard to avoid living up to your responsibilities. I want a better answer than this. Here's an idea - you can delay a little more if you want me to fax the invoice from my reseller source.... Trouble is, they would have just "made up" their invoice, too. Maybe that's not acceptable to you either. Maybe I should get xxxxxxx to provide their invoice from (their supplier), or maybe it was bought from Asus directly. But Asus would have had to "make up" their invoice - maybe that won't be acceptable to your department either. Maybe you can ultimately prove that the monitor was never purchased, or doesn't even exist."

I sent this as a reply to the email I received. A short while later I get this new reply...

<e_service@asus.com.tw>: 220.228.144.18 does not like recipient.

Remote host said: 550 #5.1.0 Address rejected e_service@asus.com.tw

Giving up on 220.228.144.18.

So, the email I received from Krisenda couldn't even be replied to. End of conversation. Wait, I do have another email address that did get a reply. Let's send it there!

I realize now that I am talking with employees whose job it is to protect the rear, protect the corporate entity from encurring costs or taking reasonable responsibility for their products. These are not front-line people actually trying to sell anything or create brand goodwill. Their job is to not have any transactions. These are the flak-takers, not the movers and shakers at Asus. I'm sure they wish Asus never sold anything, then they'd never have to deal with any problems or issues. Wait - isn't that short-sighted? Isn't an RMA provider out of a job if they don't provide any RMAs? Or is declining RMAs enough to keep these people busy? Maybe they are paid more to decline RMAs than grant them. Perhaps that's it.

And I am just a lowly corporation representing a few hundred clients. How dare I ask for a three-year warranty from date of purchase? Woe is me...

How did things get so off track? Let's re-check the RMA procedure on the web - http://livesupport.asus.com. Oops! Message from webpage: "This website is not optimized for your browser!" (I have an updated IE8.) Maybe I've got the wrong Asus. Maybe this is the bread-making Asus, or yard maintenance Asus, a company that one could accept is not fully schooled in modern technology.

October 8th...

No response yet from Krisenda.

How about Live chat!, http://livesupport.asus.com/products_lcd.html - let's try that. The answering agent backtracks from the serial number to the ongoing communications and declares the monitor out of warranty. But how can a monitor with a three-year warranty not be covered for three years of end user use, I ask? The agent admits that this monitor was warranted for 24 x 365 x 3 of use, but that counts the time spent in transit to the end user (when it's in a box in an Asus warehouse, on a truck or plane, in the carrier's storage, out for delivery, in a retailer's storage, on a store shelf, finally bought - in this case that took a year). Perhaps he supposes that the end user would surely want that coverage. The agent calls Asus's a manufacturer's warranty. According to the agent, it is there to protect the manufacturer from having to support or service a monitor that may be sold to the end user years after the manufacturer's date. It is surely not a consumer's warranty, I'd agree with that. And products don't work forever, says the rep. 30 months ought to be enough for a $300 monitor. Just when I'm getting into it, I get cut off. I think the agent has realized that Asus is now standing on thin air off the edge of the cliff. ("Meep! Meep!" )

Let's try faxing another proof of purchase. On its way, Krisenda.

October 15th...

No replies, all quiet on the eastern front. Did find this item in an Asus VIP forum after googling Krisenda Allen.

Viridel, VIP Member: "Does anyone at ASUS actually give a crap?" (link)

I've heard that the company name "ASUS comes from the last four letters of Pegasus, the winged horse in Greek mythology". This would be the "ass" end of the word.

More to this story ??

Check out Viewsonic VX2439WM monitors here.

Look! A Viewsonic toll free number in Canada - 1-800-688-6688. I called this number and found out from a real live person who answered within 10 seconds or less that Viewsonic is available at this number 24/7, and their warranty is based on the end user purchase date. They would prefer and accept a client's proof of purchase, or my own proof of purchase as a reseller secondarily. If there was neither, and no other way to verify purchase date, they would use the manufacturer's date as a last resort.

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