Asus' Handling of the Red Ghost Problem...

I decided to move this post to a separate thread b/c I feel that this is a separate issue from what is being discussed in other threads,,,which is more the details of solving the red ghosting problem. So I have deleted it from the thread it was orginally posted on, which was one of the other red-ghosting threads...

****

What is bothering me is that it seems like Asus is not taking responsibility for the product they are providing.

It seems like the red ghosting problem is real, at least in enough instances to be legitimately concerned.

Asus is delivering the base with at least some defective screens. And even if the fault is really with Samsung, or technically the dealers are to provide the warrantee, nevertheless, Asus repesents to all, dealer and consumer, that they are delivering a good product. And it does not matter whether it is Samsung's defective screens or what. That is between Asus and Samsung...not the dealers, not the consumers.

Asus put their name on their base and in doing so assumes responsibility for it, no matter who they got their parts from. By shifting the responsibility to the dealers, who function on such thin margins, creates and incentive for dealers to try to duck the problem, or not see it, or say it is not so bad. I am not saying that the Asus resellers here are doing that...but this really puts their backs up against the wall...and Asus is putting them there. The dealers cannot afford to absorb this cost...nor should they be expected to, this is not what was part of the deal.

The dealers warrant a product and pay for the base and sell their "built-on" product at prices based on normal failure rates, not unusual failure rates because of the defective screen. Unusual failure rates create much higher costs than was bargained for between the dealers and Asus to begin with.

Asus is not delivering products with normal failure rates. Therefore, Asus should abosorb the costs of the abnormal problem, not the dealers, because Asus did not deliver the product they promised, i.e., one with normal failure rates. Instead, they delivered a product with abnormal failure rates.


There should not even be a question for the consumer of whether the "dealer will take care of this" or whether "Asus will take care of this." The consumer was delivered a product that was not as warranted or as represented. The dealer was delivered a product that was not as warranted or as represented. Asus put its name on it, thereby announcing responsibility.

Asus can't shift the costs of the problem forward to the dealer or the consumers...which is what it is feeling like they are doing.

Asus is not announcing that they will take care of the problem immediately. They are waiting to see what the problem is to see if they can shift the responsibility elsewhere. And this is making everyone nervous and it is damaging Asus' reputation ... which is critical in this industry.

This is the second problem that Asus has had in delivering good product in as many months. The first was the Blue Tooth one. That was remediable but a pain for everyone who was involved.

But a defective screen problem, whether it is as widespread as people feel or not, given the expense of these machines, and Asus monkeying around with whether they are going to fix it, that is a REALLY bad decision on Asus's part. Because by doing this, they are going to be known as untrustworthy, that they do not stand behind thier product.

I will give an analogous case from a few decades ago. I do not know how many people here are old enough to recall the very first time it was discovered that someone was lacing Tylenol with a poison. And two people died from it before it was discovered. The two people were related to each other (husband and wife) and a couple of more bottles laced with the poison were found in a store in the city this couple lived in.

Once this was discovered, Tylenol made the decision to recall every bottle of Tylenol from every shelf from every store throughout the USA, immediately. I believe they also refunded money to recent purchasers as well. Even though everyone across the country knew that this was a localized problem, Tylenol recognized it would make people jittery knowing that it might happen in their area and thereby to them.

So even though it cost Tylenol millions of dollars, it was the smartest thing they could have done. Everyone was shocked and surprised Tylenol did this. Legitimately, Tylenol could argue that it was not a widespread problem and people shouldn't worry about it.

But their action communicated to the entire country that Tylenol took responsibility for their product, even though it was not their fault. They created tamper-proof bottles immediately to sell their product on the shelves again and this recall move probably saved the company. Tylenol was looked at as a tremendously responsible company as a result and when there were copycat problems with other products, it proved Tylenol correct ion actions and its reputation only grew from there.. If Tylenol hadn't done what they did orginally, the odds are high the company would have gone down because people would have been too scared to buy their product.

In fact today, we have the tamper proof products we do because of this incident a few decades ago.

If Asus doesn't recognize that the Tylenol problem is the same as is what is facing them (though obviously not life threatening), they too risk going down...because people will be too scared to buy their product.

Already one poster here has stated that they were not going to buy Asus because they did not want the headache. There will be more if Asus doesn't take care. Taking responsibility is what it means to enter into the end product market. The company has to take responsibility for problems, even when the problems are not their fault. This does not stop them from going after Samsung, or whomever is responsible for the problem to remedy it..but again, that should only be between Asus and Samsung and no one else should even be concerned, dealer or consumer, as to whom will ultimately take care of the matter.

Also Asus should not question whether the consumer is really seeing something or not. As long as some screens are legitimatley bad, then there should be a policy of taking every complained of screen back unquestioned. Asus can inform the consumer that they don't see a problem...but they should still say they wiil take the screen back . This will restore confidence in the consumer and reduce the "false" sightings that might be caused more by panic than reality.

In the end, if Asus does not take immediate responsibility for this, this will damage their reputation in the consumer market for a really, really long time...and they may end up having to pull out of the business.

Justitia (note my name...there is a reason for it.)

 

As much as I agree with just about everything you said....... I even have to disagree with your first comment which is basically that Asus has to take responsibility and hasn't..... They had hear about the issue (which was basically from 1 person for quite a while), then they had to get a bad screen...... then send it to Taiwan, then then meet up with Samsung......... All this really took place within 2-3 weeks..... I'm surprised as anyone should be that it's gone to the top like that which this is an normally small case. People in the forum think it's big, but they're all getting their stuff from the same place and 90% of them all came from the same unfortunate dealer...... so everyone is here able to complain about.....

 

I guess my comment re: Asus taking reponsibility for the problem, is not regarding whether they are acting on it but more that they are not announcing in a clear and public way that the matter will be dealt with by them and any problems will be born by them and no pruchaser from them, right from the start.

It is clear that a number of people on these forums have had or feel they have the problem and are nervous whether their problem will really be dealt with. Will the dealer accept that it is problem with their screen? Will Asus?

I know the resellers here have worked very hard to reduce the burden on the consumer, but for example, that Geared2play even feels some pressure to somewhat regret his advanced replacement poilcy..which is an excellent policy..and I gather one shipment to him contained the bulk of the culprits...he should not even being feeling that pressure. He should have the 100% assurance from Asus that it will bear the burden of this and take action accordingly.

Asus should have made sure from the start to make absolutely clear that they are taking responsibility and it is not to be a concern at all to a responsible reseller or a customer of his, whether Asus will take care of all the screens the reseller felt should be replaced.

In fact a statement by an ASUS representative posted on these boards along these lines would go along way to remedy the public relations probelm they have created.

If there is a disagreement between Asus & the reseller as to the seriousness of the problem... Who gets stuck? It should be Asus, not the dealer...and the dealer should not even have a moment of doubt about that.

There is just a snowball effect that is being created here by the way Asus is handling it.

Though I trust and hope the issues will ultimately be resolved in a manner that everyone is satisified...the fact that there is any anxiety or question at all about what Asus will do on anyone's part in the meantime is at the very least not a good public relations approach taken by Asus.

But keeping our fingers crossed and hoping the source of the problem is diagnosed soon and that Asus will announce quickly the remedy they will provide.

The z70va is too great a machine to be bogged down with these remediable issues.

But right now I want to say :asus: RESELLERS!!...You guys seem like a great and responsible bunch!!!....

(And clearly, I wouldn't be even bothering making these long posts if it wasn't the fact that I am intending to buy 1 of thse machines... I guess I am hoping my posts will nudge Asus to make a public statment of assurance ...It is after all their machines and their reputation. They shouldn't be putting the dealers in an ambiguous public relations mode.)

Justitia

 

I hear you.... I appreciate someone who can actually get their thoughts down in writing. Asus is going to take care of us realistically that's all that I would be worried about because regardless, we're going to have to cover the problem. If we felt that Asus wasn't going to take care of it, not only would we stop selling one model, but all of them. The customer doesn't need to worry because their "contract" if you will is through the dealer. If a dealer wanted to knowingly sell a bad product, then they'll have their own problems....

So, I'm just not sure everyone is on the same page here because it's not Asus who anyone in this forum should care to even talk about because you didn't buy anything from Asus and you don't have a warranty through them......... so care about your dealer and what they're up to. If they aren't confident in Asus then they should stop using their parts all together.

 

You two are talking on different tangents. Justitia is talking about the big picture and you are talking about a smaller one. If you say Asus is going to take "care of us realistically", I guess the question some of us and Justitia are asking is when? This shouldn't even be in a forum if Asus was realistically taking care of the matter as you say.

I have had two problems with my Z70VA which the merchant I bought from took care of and my replacement should be in today. One of those two problems was the red ghosting issue. Thankfully I was able to take pictures and send it to the merchant without having to waste time in describing things.

When all was said and done, my defective computer was on its way back before it was one week old.

You don't think that wins customer loyalty? I bought mine from GenTechPC ( www.1toppc.com). I will continue buying from GenTech because of how they have taken care of me and I will be more than forthcoming in recommending them to all my friends and family. I may be hesitant to recommend Asus depending how everything pans out, but without a doubt GenTech has earned my loyalty.

 

..... yeah, well that's just the point.... a replacement screen isn't going to do you any good at this point if this turns out to be a developing problem and then what good would it be to replace all the screens if it develops again? Just because someone fixed your computer which shouldn't have arrived like that in the first place, don't make them good. If the problem is hard to detect upon the initial testing, there's nothing to compare a "good" replacement panel.

 

Newbie? Sounds like you're taking things personally. I guess I would too if my customer service skills and suggestions were being questioned.

And who said anything about a replacement screen? Maybe a fly by night reseller would consider that. Maybe this is how you might consider taking care of your customers, but this wasn't the case from GenTechPC. You see, rather than quibble about who's at fault over the screen, GenTechPC took my defective notebook and gave me a new replacement (with the CPU, RAM, HDD, etc. from the defective unit). That notebook is on its way back to Asus.

Responses like yours are definite red flags for this newbie veteran. Forums like this are a great way to figure out who to buy from as well as who to not buy from.

Rest assured with your business foresight, I won't be buying from ProPortable or Geared2Play. I won't take $1,500+ risks with companies who can't afford to right a wrong when they sell me something defective.

 

Ahh, I see you were too quick for me. You edited your newbie comment out before I had a chance to quote it.

 

What are you talking about? You are a newbie and obviously have no insight on quality care - otherwise you wouldn't have bought from a place that is a "fly by night" company... great reseller rating.

You're just a punk am I'm glad our customers are smarter than you are.

 

Thread closed to allow people to cool down.
This has gotten a little out of hand...