I Need Your Help and Recommendations with Asus RMA Hell with my G73jh

I am in great need of some help and advice from all of you who have had experience with Asus RMA and repair support at Asus.

I purchased an Asus G73jh-X1 from NewEgg.com on March 9th. For the first month I had no issues and the notebook ran great.

On April 27th I turned on my laptop only to be greeted with what is being described as the PSOD "Psychodelic Screen of Death" The left half of the screen is covered in multicolored vertical lines and the right half looks like its in 4 bit color. The issue has been well documented here at NR.com (http://forum.notebookreview.com/asus/481569-any-asus-g73jh- originals-owners-didnt-get-psod-2.html) as well as on YouTube ) YouTube - Asus G73JH PSOD Hardware Failure on Originally purchased X1 model).

I promptly contacted Asus support at: 1-888-678-3688. They determined it to be a hardware issue and quickly emailed me the RMA info and a FedEx label to be shipped to the repair facility in Indiana. So far annoyed at a $1700 notebook failing in the first month and a half, but the repair process seemed very straight-forward. Shipped the unit out Friday April 28th at FedEx.

I receive the unit in a week on Thursday May 6th. Booted up the laptop only to quickly realize that they replaced my original 1920 X 1080 screen with a 1600 X 900 resolution screen. I have yet to determine if they were trying to pull a fast one or it was just the repair facility falling asleep at the wheel. I once again called Customer support, but this time explained to them that I am a web design by trade and had laready lost about a $1000 or so worth of work due to the lack of notebook the previous week. They agreed to send me an Overnight FedEx label and off it went again. Arrived at repair facility in California this time on Monday May 10th.

**Now every day I am without my laptop I am losing hundreds of dollars which begins to add up quickly. Also remember the notebook is only a month and 1/2 old and the first repair was a hardware failure and the second their own error.**

Fast forward to Tuesday. I get this message via email: I just wanted to follow up and let you know that we are currently out of stock on the LCD which is what needs to be changed. An order was placed w/ our HQ, but there is no ETA on that part right now.

After receiveing that I immediately jump on the phone and call support to tell them this is not an acceptible resolution to the issue. They tell me they are 'escalating it' and the repair facility will call me back within 24. 24 hours later no call. I call back and eventually speak to a supervisor who explains the she is "escalting it" and both she and the repair facility will be sure to return my call with a resolution in 24 hours. Again no call.

So I have been completely patient up to this point even though I am not out almost 2000 in lost wages and the original roughly $1700 for the laptop.

This brings us to this morning. I once again called after havng no one call me from either location and explained I had no lost enough money and with no resolution in sight I think a replacement machine would be completely fair. Once again they 'escalate it' with the representative explaining that he is just 'escalating it' but the repair center must authorize the replacement. So I had a quick talk with him only to find out they have no direct communication with the repair facilities. Only email. So everytime it was 'escalated' they basically sent an email to either California or Indiana.

I can no longer be without a machine and this run around is getting ridiculous. I NEED YOUR ADVICE AND HELP! Is their anyway to get in diret contact with the repair facility where my machine is. Is their another number, person etc. that can get something done? If I hear "I will escalate it" one more time I am going to lose it.

Please I beg anyone reading this who has had either a similar experience or has dealth with them in the past. What have you done differently, what can you recommend to get this resolved? I feel like I am being absolutley screwed right now with no where to turn. HELP!

Thanks in advance to anyone who can suggest a path going forward.


-Lil'

 

I feel sorry about it, my advice is you should get a "business class" machine like a Thinkpad if your laptop is so important to you and its stability can affect money that's much more than its cost. I think this ASUS is just a "consumer class" laptop anyway, it's goal is to pursuit the highest performance with lowest price, obviously there is a reason the business class machines don't do it this way.

 

I always make sure that I have two laptops working at the same time, the older one usually serve as a server when my newer one is working properly. I expect these stupid things to happen, and I always have a backup.

For now I have a Thinkpad T60 and this ASUS G73 in the same time, I normally use G73 for its performance.

Be sure you have an external hdd case for data transfer in case like this.

 

There is no advice to be had for this, just use your brain. If you are unhappy, arrange for refund and get yourself a workstation notebook from HP or Lenovo, although you will be paying Alienware/Clevo prices, insane prices, but that's what you get for professional hardware. Or just have some patience and fine another computer to use in the mean time. You can't yell at someone for something they have no control over, that's just a waste of your time, and stupid.

 

This is absolutely ridiculous. You are NOT at fault here. I've heard this scenario/story soooo many times.

Asus needs to stop using Mentor Media Tagalog Support or give them more resources. When ever I spoke with them they always said "I'm sorry this is out of our hands". I'd say...then let me speak directly to someone that can produce results.....and they'd go I'm sorry blah blah blah blah........................................ridiculous

Toshiba, HP, Belkin, Microsoft, Xbox, Linksys/Cisco, Samsung & LG's India based support is world's better than this crap!!! I can't wait for the day that another company steps up and produces a comparable product.

I'm hoping that Compal will do this

As soon as this happens "good bye Asus" forever. I pray that my G73JH never has to come in contact with those fools!!

 

If you live in the bay area, then I would just drive to their HQ and deal with this issue in person. However, if that is not possible, call their HQ instead of the 800 number at (510) 739-3777. This is the same place as their repair facility, so you may have an easier time getting a resolution.

For all my RMAs (4 or 5 of them over the last few years), I've always dealt directly with the repair facility in CA. In most cases, the CSR simply walks over to the tech to get the updated status.

 

If i was you, I would get my money and never touch an ASUS again. If something like that happened to me (knock on wood) I would be righteously pissed.

This is going to sound funny, and you might scoff at me, but I'm comming from a macbook pro and the one thing I can tell you is that apple's service is ridiculously good. Sometimes they just gave me things that I really had no right demanding (e.g., a broken PSU due to user error). Major repairs took them 2 days max.

If you live close to an Apple store, I'd wager it's the best in the business for reliable service. Besides, web design on a Mac would be nice.

Now, assuming you are a gamer and dual booting windows is something that you don't want to do, I'd go with Dell's in-house service plan. Not as good as apple's. Or a lenovo, but I've heard my fair share of bad stories with RMA's to them.

In general I think if you want results, you should be somewhere near the laptop to check up on them.

 

After experiencing myself 3 RMA, 120 days without notebook, the worst customer service in my life and receiving a crappy refurbished notebook without anything else in compensation, I would say just fight to get your money back even if Asus seems to ignore what is "money back". If it works, never touch any Asus notebook again! In my opinion, this is is the only advice that I can give to you. I sincerely wish you good luck in resolving this issue.

 

unfortunately I live in Pennsylvania otherwise i would have been at their doorstep in a heartbeat. I do thank you 'eugenes' for their HQ number. I am going to try and make some headway with that today as well as making my daily call to the RMA call center, just in case something has proceeded there.

I do appreciate everyone's responses. Regardless of if this is a enterprise based product like a Thinkpad or Lenovo unit, Asus has been in the business for quite some time and has come out on top of both customer service and least amount of hardware issues for laptops in quite a few surveys etc.

Just because it isn't an enterprise based product does not mean that I should be locked in this virtual RMA loop. Its still a reputable company with a premium product that is backed by a warranty. Not only that but the product is only 1 1/2 months old.

I think the biggest most frustrating part right now is that the only people I have had access to .. to date, including supervisors have absolutley no ability to make a decision or make anything happen. What I really need is a direct line to the repair facility where my laptop is at.

P.S. I do have one of my old laptops that I am getting back from a family member to help defray the loss of work till I can get this resolved. Regardless, I shouldn't have to do that.

Thanks again to all of you and if anyone has that 'special direct number' or any new ideas please don't hesitate to post it. It would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks again.

-Lil'

 

A quick and easy stop loss is buy a reasonable computer so you can continue to work. So what if it isn't the ASUS gaming laptop, you can still make money with something else. And if you ever have this problem again you will have a backup.

If I hired you for web design and you told me you can't work because your laptop is broke I would use those famous words "your'e fired". I am sure I can find someone in web design that owns two computers.

 

I'm sorry to hear of all your issues, and I really do hope you get this sorted out ASAP.

I can't help with suggestions as to what to do regarding contacting Asus, as I have not had to go through that (and hopefully will not have to for a long time).

I will however make a suggestion regarding work tools, if I may.

If your business is dependent on a tool (be it a hammer or computer), it is a must that you try and have at least one backup, even if of a slightly lower grade/quality than your primary tool. Things will, and do, go wrong with equipment - for whatever reason, and the worst thing, as you have experienced is to be "stranded" and not able to work.

Again, I do feel your pain for what you are going through, but being someone who also depends heavily on a computer for my business, I thought I would just share this.

 

To be honest with you guys, I do have 3 other machines I can do my work on if needed. I have all my data backed up regularly and know how to run a business which includes a backup paln The lost work point is mainly theoretical because my G73jh is my workhorse right now and would rather do my work on the machine I just invested $1700 in.

I do appreciate the responses, however I do keep backups and backup machines.

This really isn't about not being able to do my work and more about the manner in which Asus is handling this situation being not acceptible.

If this was a $350 net browsing machine, I'd say you get what you pay for. Last I checked, $1700 isn't chump change and for that cost I should expect a better level of service and professionalism.

Thanks.

-Lil

 

Well said.
10chars

 

For the love of God!!!! I pleaded my case to the operator at the 510-739-3777. She actually felt bad and forwarded me to the Asus custom care department which is there in California. The Care representative name Trinity took my whole story in all of my info and is going to head over to the repair facility right now and call me back. Either a replacement unit or something will be supposedly resolved today. Man I hope so.

My fingers and toes are crossed.... she even gave me a full name and direct number to her.

I will report back...

-Lil'

 

That's definitely encouraging news. I hope everything works out for you regarding this. Anytime I've had bad customer service in a situation similar to this, I seem to finally get into contact with someone that can get things done.

To share a similar, albeit much less costly, story. I bought memory from newegg once, ordered it with free shipping and tracked the package to its delivery. Unfortunately, the delivery address I tracked it to was a few towns over. After a CS call and waiting for confirmation that my address was not the one it was delivered to, they sent a replacement. This one also arrived in the other town. Annoyed, I called Newegg again and they offered to send a replacement. I told them that they needed to send it another method other than USPS and that I wasn't paying for it. I got my memory 2 days later. It was something wrong with USPS by the way and not directly to do with Newegg, but they helped resolve the issue none-the-less.

It is kind of deplorable the things that they've done to you and reminding a company that this is an item that you need and paid good money for should be reinforcement enough to do a good job (if they weren't already). I would think that a computer company would be highly focused on good customer service since repeat customers and word of mouth are very important.

 

I agree. Look what happened to Gateway.

 

If you spend $350 or $1700 you should get good service and professionalism. I hate to think we now have to attach a monetary figure to get this.

 

I so agree...

Thanks everyone for their support the forum has been somewhat therapeutic. Still no word but its only noon there.... I will keep you posted.

-Lil'

 

I would just call them again in the afternoon. Most CSRs hesitate to call back unless they have good news.

Good luck.

 

Yes it would be nice if the proccess were more streamlined. I would expect more professionalism by you too though. Saying you are loosing work because of the system when it is not true? You get back what you give as they say! Maybe I am just too truthfull for my own good but I can't feel bad for you..............

 

I had to RMA mine for the PSOD after 3 days of ownership. It just got there yesterday so I hope I don't have the same experience.

 

Sometimes I play Crysis/Crysis Warhead at max settings for about 2 hours...........then I think off all the PSOD/GSOD RMA stories here in the forums. I then remember my awful Asus RMA from 2 months ago and decide to give my 5870M a break.

It would be nice if I could game without the thought that this system could go kaput at any second without any notice.

This sucks

 

I'd like to think you either have a bad one or not. If you can cycle between resolutions in games, plug in your hdmi, or do anything related that would affect your screen resolution without issue then I think you are safe. Mine happened when I plugged in the hdmi, the screen blanked for a second and then came back as a psod. Before it happened though I was able to game for hours, render video from my camera with no issues. In fact after 3 hours straight of gaming I my max temp on the card would be 83*

 

I'd also like to think you either have a bad one or not.

 

As far as the PSOD is concerned... I actually don't game at all with my machine. come to think of it I haven't even loaded a game on the notebook since I purchased it. I just walked into the living room and booted the computer... and bam.... PSOD.

OK on to the update...

My savior is a rep in the customer care department at Asus in California named Trinty. She did eventually call me and apoligized but it took her nearly 4 hours to figure our what the heck was what with my RMA. Then it took another hour to see if she could locate a replacement display. Which she did! Yay! Apparently she thinks its the last one in the building.

Now. She then emailed me an hour later to say it was installed and being tested. If she could still make FedEx after proper testing the unit would be overnighted to me. Worst case scenario it will go out overnight first thing Monday a.m.

I will say this whole experience has been a nightmare, but at least I know there is one person at Asus who knows their stuff. Thanks Trinity if your listening. Still crossing fingers that my unit gets here safely.

-Lil'

 

lol. Asus will save more souls than an average pastor in a church because users of Asus' products are forced to pray and stay holy during the times of RMA and warranty returns

I hope you will get your laptop back and 100% working, lilsalmon.

 

You get what you pay for with Asus: Cheap gaming laptop that comes with cheap warranty service. I'm glad your issue has been resolved lilsalmon. I gotta say, Dell customer service on the phone can be painstaking but you can always count on their warranty to come through.

 

All this talk is making me queasy. And I haven't even gotten my laptop yet.

 

If I would have had access to this info just as you do I would get as far away from the G73JH and Asus as possible.

I'm on my 3rd G73JH and thank GOD this one is running like it should. Soon I will own a M17X with 5870's in crossfire. Hopefully my G73JH can be my land party beast and my future M17X will be my desktop replacement.

What annoys me the most is that the problems I've had in the past with Asus laptops are common accros the forums, Amazon & Newegg but when I call Asus the reps are like " I'm sorry this is the first time that we heard of this issue" BS

If the G73JH would have been manufactured correctly and had the proper customer service to support it....this move by Asus would have been a wake up call to other manufacturers especially Dell/Alienware.


Dell/Alienware probably read the Asus forums more than Asus does and thinks you get what you pay for and just laughs.
Asus really dropped the ball on this one.

I pretty sure at one time or another probably during CES, Dell/Alienware were worried about the G73JH's price and specs.

 

Understand you don't hear the normal stories which vastly outnumber horror rma stories.... every company makes mistakes... some more than others....

now onto advice:

for any product that is being "repaired"/not in your hands..... CALL and CALL

They need to make money to stay in operation.... everytime you call them they are wasting money on you... if you are persistant enough and keep calling you will get better service.

IF they say it is expidited don't believe them keep calling.... until it is back in the mail to you, tell them you will continue to call them....

If they say we will call you back in 24 hours and they don't call them talk to their supervisor and explain the situation.....

If you still have problems call them and ask to speak to somone in the repair center.... (stay on the line till they get it connected or give you a number)

as long as you are not threatening, yelling, or "acting out" customer service people generally can not hang up on you.... use this to your advantage...

 

And here it's supposed to be my desktop replacement for games, along with photo, music and video editing. Nonetheless, in a country that doesn't even have any Asus center you can send to for repairs. =S

 

Your absolutely right. Some more than others. I don't know what manufactures you've bought PC's from but Asus is FAR below reasonable when it comes to handling RMA/Customer Service.
That's probably why they DON'T sell PC's directly.

Some might find your post on how to deal with awful customer service helpful, but I think it's ridculous that we are treated in a manner that has us(the consumer) shipping our units back and forth at our inconvience or have crappy bios and drivers straight out of the box. Oh yeah and defective hardware and inconsistent specs like ram and screens. Our time with our machines is valuble because once their released they loose value. I'd rather my unit loose value with me in a working condition than to be lost between UPS and Asus.

To me it's best enjoying my laptop than dealing with Tagalog Support/RMA.
Magandang araw sa'yo!

 

1. asus recommends to send in to reseller before using warranty with them
2. how many of you can say you were completly unaware with the issues of these laptops before buying?

3. as for the inconsistant specs.... many people have complained when laptop is shipped a day or two late.... would you rather wait a month to get a laptop on pre-order than to get it in a week with a faster speed of ram..... (screen is a bit ridiculous)

Many of the issues with customer service are due to a parts shortage which is in part due to the huge demand for the product.....

Not saying it is acceptable to have such a long turn around on RMA however understand forums especially on the interenet is a victim of response bias... aka people that are functioning normally do not normally report.....

I intend to get a g73 (prbly in june shipment) knowing all the issues.....
I am buying this product knowing that it is a very good probability that i will have to RMA it.....
I will simply put it through rigerous testing the first few days to ensure the stability... (or lack thereof) in my machine.

It is possible the quality control at asus/ati are not testing as many as they should be due to the demand for the product immediatly....

As such a consumer should either expect to wait, or expect a possibility of defect...... (i am by no means in defense of asus, i just think everyone can be a little more patient)

 

If I were to get a G73, I'd cheap out and get the BB (LG screen) version with BB warranty. That way if it craps out, I can take it right back and exchange it. Asus customer care is definitely horrible. I remember when I had my G51 and it tooks MONTHS for me to get my Windows 7 disk. In fact, they sent it to me long after I had already sold the laptop..lol. Anytime I'd e-mail them, I'd get the same cryptic response a few weeks later.

I'd imagine their customer service at their depot is just as inept. I think the fault lies with the disconnect between the repair center and the CSR's. Dell has this issue sometimes but the good thing is they have a dedicated tech support number for Alienware and while they waste your time running remote diagnostics for an hour, eventually they cave in and send you replacement parts the next business day or if warranted, a brand new system from the factory.

With the way the G73 prices have been climbing lately ($1600-$1700 online at most retailers), it's no longer the super value it once was, especially compared to Alienware. The BB budget version is still sorta competitive but it sacrifices a lot to reach that price point.

 

1.You said;
asus recommends to send in to reseller before using warranty with them

Are you serious? I don't know about that one....now think for a moment that you are a reseller. The way it usually works is that you have'f to pay before hand before receiving your inventory/stock. I'm sure Asus doesn't supply on good will. Lets just say that your customer contacts you for a RMA per GSOD. Because your reputations on the line you send them a replacement.

So now your out of another unit waiting to be credited for Asus's defective unit. That is not what Asus's recommends of their resellers.

Check this out because you don't have a G73JH I'll school you for a sec.

When I opened my 3 G73JH's, 2 G51's, 1 G71GX and 1 G72GX there was a paper inside that said STOP before you contact or return this unit please contact Asus. We have 24/7 support.

That means they want you to contact them first.

2.You said; how many of you can say you were completly unaware with the issues of these laptops before buying?

Just like you a lot of people think as you do. Most people think "That's never going to happen to me. They must have received a bad unit".
Also hearing about a problem on a system you don't physically have is not the same as experiencing it first hand.

3. You said; as for the inconsistant specs.... many people have complained when laptop is shipped a day or two late.... would you rather wait a month to get a laptop on pre-order than to get it in a week with a faster speed of ram..... (screen is a bit ridiculous)

Releasing a laptop with as many inconsistencies, unfinished BIOS and hardware failures is in NO way acceptable.
I don't care if Taylor Swift wanted one.

Every single device that Asus sells is a representaion of Asus.
There's no way ANYONE can disagree with that!!

Why are you making sensationalist claims?
Don't you want Asus to see it's short cummings and change for the better?
Sometimes change is good.

Someimes

Well said.

 

Hey sky, I noticed you changed out the screen. Was it difficult to do? And how's the quality of it compared to the original screen? If you decide to sell that, it should fetch a nice premium considering you went to the trouble of upgrading the display.

 

I hate to say it but this is true, as much as I hated my laggy poorly designed xps 1645, I had no complaints about the warranty service. It's pretty much 45 minutes on the phone answering some pre-determined set of questions and then you get your new part that is installed by a tech that comes to your house. Can't really beat that.

If ASUS had something similar in place I would choose them over Dell anyday. But now I'm thinking that extra thickness, weight and money of the Alienwares don't seem all that bad.

 

This is pretty much the same crap I've been going through since March. I've effectively been without my G51 for 2 months now due to it failing twice. I still don't have it back. I can feel what the OP is going through because my G51 failed just when I started this intensive 1 month uni course. It made the experience even more difficult.

My thread:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/asu...morning-got-bsod-graphics-driver-problem.html

This is why I like Dell. People who complain about Dell service obviously haven't been through an Asus RMA. The best thing about Dell IS their service. It's the sole reason why I would replace my G51 with a Dell. This comes at a cost though since the XPS 16 doesn't stack up to the G51 or G73JH for gaming. Asus is simply just value for money (on the surface at least).

I miss my XPS M1530 and because I didn't have a decent backup computer (for important work), I bought an XPS M1330 which I'm using atm while I wait for my G51..

 

I find it strange. What initially drew me to this laptop was everything: from its unheard-of basic setup specs (top-notch graphic card, 8 gb RAM, sheesh), to its Batman-matte design, to the fact that most reviews remarked on how silent and cool it was for a gaming laptop (the cherry on top). All for a price that would get me a much, much lesser laptop at another company. I thought, finally, not just some dateline rehash! And I still believe that to a degree. But all these stories are leaving a rather indelible mark in me.

 

I didn't change out the screen mine came standard from Bestbuy. I don't think single GPU's are ready for 1920 x 1080. 1080P makes more since with SLI/Crossfire configurations.

Here are the things that I've upgraded.
1. 8GB's of 1333 DDR3 from 6GB's of 1066 DDR3
2.(C)Drive 2nd Gen 128GB SSD with caddy from RMA'd A1.
3. Added BCM2070 2.1 internal Bluetooth Module
4. Added internal Panasonic UJ240 Blu-ray Burner BD-RE

The only thing that I can think of that's missing is the lack of the 2.0MP camera. Mine has a 1.3MP camera. That is good enough for my needs.
My top priority is to upgrade my Atheros AR9285 to a card capable of up to 300mbps instead of 150mbps or one that supports simultaneous dual band for my WRT610N.

In some ways I know that I've surpassed the A1 model. But then again I probably won't ever burn a Blu-ray on my drive...lol

I went to a couple of LAN partys recently. 2 of my friends showed up with their A1's. I sat between the 2 of them. After a few hours of gaming it was obvious that the 5870M has some serious limitations at 1920 x 1080. In BFBC2 during heavy fire fights I could see both A1's struggle to maintain a decent frame rate at 1920 x 1080. I did not have this problem at 1600 x 900. To me that is a huge advantage. Right now and in the long run. Both of my friends told me that they have to lower their res for certain games. I could see that when they lowered their res to a comparable res it did NOT look as good as mine.

What sucks is that when you mention that the 5870M has limitations at 1920 1080..all these A1,X3,X5 etc...owners post here trying to turn fiction into fact.

Lame.

When the M17X 5870's in Crossfire become available I'll own that and my upgraded G73JH. I forgot to mention that I have a 2yr Black Tie Warranty with Accidental from Bestbuy. I'd rather spend an extra 299.99 with Bestbuy than deal with Asus.

Don't you own a M17X?
If so, how is it?
If you want you can PM me your answer. I like hearing about other brands/models because I constantly out grow my PC's. This forum is full of haters that can't see anything past Asus.

 

Do you have the original slip from the indy repair with a techs name on it?
I am going through the exact same thing on my G51JX. Indy replaced my 1920x 1080p with a 1366x768 as well. I then sent it back and right now its in Cali with parts on order. It took 5 calls and different people just to get that to happen, and the supervisor , some woman, totally avoided dealing with me. I feel they have serious management issues as well as technician incompetencies in Indy. I called this morning and all they can say is parts are on order.
Is it me or do I see a trend?