ASUS Warranty vs Dealer Warranty

What would compel a dealer to offer the same level or service on warranty issues as ASUS? A dealer could offer lifetime warranty but go out of business in a year and that would mean nothing then. I doubt a million (billion?) dollar company like ASUS will be out of business before a small time dealer would. Also, due to the larger resources of ASUS, they would probably get parts faster, and probably not have as much of a problem spending a bit extra money, ie cross shipments or pre-paid return lablels. A local shop is not going to spring for the extra money. It'll cut into their profit margins too much.

One way of making up for this difference is by offering different levels of warranty. Perhaps a longer period? Or a discount on similar configuarations. However, this does not seem to be the case. It's 2 years regardless of who you get it from. Is the thought of having a bigger hard drive (ooh), or an extra stick of memory (ahh), incentive enough to have a local computer store be responsible for your warranty?

What am I missing here? What are your thoughts?

Peace!
Sygyzy

 

Thats put it this way. Asus' Ensemble line comes in a pre-configured package. Asus wants it sold that way and they will warranty it. If a dealer wants to customize it Asus voids their warranty. There are plenty of people interested in doing this, so the market is there for those dealers, but for instance... we won't customize them because it's voiding their warranty.

The bottom line is, the dealers can't sell the system without a warranty, so they are offering their own two year warranty to try to match Asus'. The problem is, Asus has their warranty built into the cost of the notebook as is. It's a global warranty that can be trusted and frankly does add a lot of value to the notebooks (at least $300). When the warranty is voided and the dealer picks it up, they're basically doing it out of the goodness of their heart. Asus gets paid for the warranty the dealer is voiding, and the dealer is making nothing to help cover things that could go wrong. I don't think you have to worry about any of the better dealers "going out of business", but obviously having Asus' name behind the global warranty means they are going to be there for you almost anywhere in the world and you can pretty much bet on it. So when you take that into account, you really can't ask the dealer to be throwing more into the deal because they are already losing out if they are voiding Asus' warranty and giving you their own.

I hope that makes sense.

Thanks,
Justin
PROPortable
www.proportable.com
[email protected]

 

Justin,

Thanks for replying. I am a bit confused however. Perhaps you could clarify some things for me. You place an arbitrary value on the ASUS warranty, since it's built into the cost. That makes sense. But, are you implying that the price that ASUS sells the dealer the parts for, is not discounted to reflect this? How is this possible? If I were a dealer and I knew ASUS was tacking on $300 per notebook for warranty for say a W3V and I built a "custom" one, I would expect to buy the parts at the dealer rate minus $300 ... either implicitly or as part of the discount. As a dealer, why would you accept this otherwise? There is no incentive here for you to sell anything but Ensemble computers. Also, wouldn't a dealer tack on a dollar amount ($300) to every custom notebook they built, in anticipation for potential future warranty claims? It would not make any business sense not to. I find the idea a bit confusing and somewhat funny that a dealer would offer something as potentially costly as a warranty, out of the kindness of their heart. I think dealers offer warranties because they knew they could not sell a single one without it.

"but obviously having Asus' name behind the global warranty means they are going to be there for you almost anywhere in the world and you can pretty much bet on it."

But that's the point right? ASUS's name is *not* on a custom configured notebook, so they won't be behind it.

Thanks for your time. I am trying to understand the system so I can make an informed decision.

Peace!
Sygyzy

 

Well.. I'm placing a price on it because it's part of their profit to begin with..... What I'm saying is that if you buy a complete W3 from us, and customize one somewhere else.... it's the same unit that leaves Asus. IF you have it customized, the original parts are pulled from the unit and are used in someone elses system.... They don't come as in pieces like a say the barebone units do.

The closest thing we had to a ensemble and a barebone that were identical were the S5n's..... the white one was the ensemble and the black one was configurable for a long time. Configured the same, the black model would have been cheaper than the complete model (one reason that isn't available any more)....... Although the cost to us wasn't say $300 lower, say it was $150. It's up to us to then make our profit based on the future warranty work and the cost for us to build it out.

I'm not sure what you comment about getting a discount means..... unless we're on different pages and you're not understanding me..... something isn't right. I mean, we make our points on the ensembles, and we make our points plus labor for the barebones. In the end, the cost to you would be just about the same.... either you get a pre-configured unit from the "ensemble" line or a custom one from the "built on Asus" line. IT's only when a dealer customizes the ensemble line that they get screwed.... And we won't customize them because it'll void the integrity of Asus' warranty. Otherwise, if it didn't.... we're more than capable of doing it. So, if that's what you were talking about, then we are on the same page.

Ok.. now I read the end..... The custom systems are ours to warranty. Basically we have a chassis, and lcd screen and a motherboard. Asus makes the motherboard just like they do for 50% of the worlds computers...... they just so happen to have to make the chassis for it as well.. But that is like saying that an Alienware desktop, because it has an Asus motherboard is expected to be warrantied through Asus.

On the custom systems they deal is..... you're getting Asus' quality, the configuration you want, at a good price from a place with a good reputation. Take it as you will, but unless you understand the difference, the conversation isn't going to go very far. Asus backs their dealers and will soon have a "preferred" list posted. Those are going to be the places Asus trusts to build and sell their products. But basically... the custom systems are the brand of the company who is building them for you.

Thanks,
Justin
PROPortable
www.proportable.com
[email protected]

 

Thanks for the response. I think you read too much into my original post. This was in no way trying to milk some savings or a discount from you. I was giving an example of incentives that a dealer might give, since their warranty would be less rock solid (due to difference in company sizes). I see where you are coming from now.

Peace!
Sygyzy

 

<blockquote id='quote'> quote:<hr height='1' noshade id='quote'>Originally posted by PROPortable
When the warranty is voided and the dealer picks it up, they're basically doing it out of the goodness of their heart.<hr height='1' noshade id='quote'></font id='quote'></blockquote id='quote'>

Let me get one thing straight.... You're saying the dealers basically offer their own warranty "out of the goodness of their heart." Isn't there a law in the U.S. saying they have to offer a warranty for a specified timeframe? In almost every European country the dealers have to offer either a one or two year (depending on the country) warranty. Whether this warranty is through them or Asus doesn't matter - but the system has to be covered by a warranty.

I'm just wondering... because that's not the best situation for U.S. consumers, if they have to double check every time they buy something whether the place will actually warrant it one way or another.

 

Well, here's the thing. Asus is the maker here....... if say we were to customize that system for you, in regards to Asus it'd be like you customizing the system. Their warranty is voided. But like I said, we're not doing this so I actually don't know if it's illegal to sell it without a warranty, especially if the company was straight forward and just said, if we do this, you'll have no warranty. If you purchase with that understanding, I don't think they could be held accountable. But either way, everyone customizing them is offering to back the product which is more than I think they have to do.

All I'm saying is that, you can be the judge of who you buy from, that's not an issue. I think that if the time came to replace the motherboard or the lcd screen, with Asus not behind it, and the dealers not having any support cost wise from the initial purchase.... I'd say trusting shadier places would be putting all of your eggs in one basket. I'd take out something like a MAC insurance or something if you were to do something like that. Like I said, anyone you know have been around for a long time aren't going to want one bad situation take them down, so you don't have to worry about that.

Thanks,
Justin
PROPortable
www.proportable.com
[email protected]