Buy ASUS from ISTNC; read my story.

Last December I bought a laptop from Rick at ISTNC for my daughter. A couple of months ago we discovered that it had been dropped. The motherboard was broken and it destroyed the optic drive. There were other things wrong with it, too. We shipped it to ISTNC and he checked it out. Rick did everything possible to try and get some or all of the repair covered through the warranty. He and I both knew that the chances of that were slim due to the way in which it was damaged.

The point is, Rick provided the most excellent customer service that I have ever received from a company. He really does care about his customers. In the end, he has made it possible for her to have another laptop. I feel that the price for the new one is more than fair. I am very happy with Integrated System Technologies, Inc. He explained all the things that were damaged and he has kept in contact with me during their busy season. If you buy from him, tell him you read this. Go Rick!

D. Jones

 

... Everything you should expect from anyone you buy from. Honestly, if your expectations were low enough to think that's excellent service, you really need to deal with better companies more of the time. I find it disconcerting when people don't expect any sort of service with most things in their life, that when they actually see someone just doing their job, they think they're in some alternate universe. I'm sorry to say, but that's just part of the job.... or at least it's supposed to be.

Let me ask you one question though.... so, instead of replacing the motherboard and optical drive, you bought a new computer? Fair price or not, the optical drive should have been covered under warranty and you'd be looking at $400 or so for the new motherboard and the labor to install it.

 

Well it sounded like an accident, and unless the warranty covered accidental damage, the parts shouldnt have been covered because of the drop.

 

Problem is, that is often not these days.

Justin, I thought accidental damage wasn't covered by the warranty? If I drop my laptop, will damage to the some of the parts be taken care of?

Kudos to ISTNC for taking care of business the way many others should.

 

The point is, expectations are lowered nowadays for everyone..... so then when someone does something "normal" it's praised like they were sent from above to serve you. The fact of the matter is, informing someone of what's going on and then offering a discount on a new system doesn't really deserve praise. If they replaced your motherboard for free because they happened to have a system that everything but the motherboard was bad.... that would be something way over the top - especially considering it was an accidental damage type of case. But the real way to show "service" is through non-monetary gaining things like warranty work.. But even there, one should have a set level of expectations and they shouldn't be surprised unless the other party goes above and beyond.

Basically, what I read above would mean that this person didn't expect what they recieved out of the other party..... and that means they didn't have high expectations to begin with. If someone posted the same thing referring to our company, I'd be upset that their standards weren't higher before they even made the purchase.

As a note: when I said the optical drive would probably be covered.... What was mentioned was what "could be done under warranty" and that means what Asus won't pick up on... trust me. Anyway... It hard for Asus to spot a dropped optical drive unless there's a corresponding broken system with it. So, technically that may have been possible.

 

Just to be clear, my comments are simply directed at the poster and not before anyone tries to claim I'm bad mouting any other company..... I'm simply pointing out what certainly seems to be low expectations from the original poster and to title the thread "Buy ASUS from ISTNC; read my story." - I think it's absolutely prudent to to point this out, especially when they're saying buy from this place because of their story.

I'm reminded of stories people posted here last year when they recieved their computer from this same place and one thing or another didn't work... the company quickly replaced the parts and these people were ready to through them a parade... Although this is a different situation entirely, I think the low expection theme runs true there as well. In that situation, the systems should have come working properly and the replacement - quick replacement I should say - should have been expected more so than praised.... Keeping with that theme, when people get their laptops and they're working properly right out of the box, I'd consider that "normal", but apparently others would apparently raise them to a demigod.

...details, details.

 

Justin most of us have been buying laptops from Dell, Toshiba, Sony, etc and we're used to the poor customer support and quality associated with them. For probably most of your customers, their first purchase with you is probably their first Asus laptop ever. So when someone is used to being screwed around with by the big players, they find it surprising and refreshing to experience great customer service from guys like you.

 

It's always nice to hear a positive experience from someone.
People are always so quick to post bad things about companies that I say "here here" for Rick at ISTNC, in this world that is so cynical, well done.

Justin, I think the point is that, DMJ4 has been sooo impressed by this company that he felt he had to tell someone. This just shows in my opinion that ISTNC is a company cares.
I actually find your initial comments to the poster belittling, where I think he should be applauded

 

Agreed..maybe it struck a nerve..

 

I am the original poster. I did not tell the full, long story associated with the service that I felt was excellent because I didn't really expect anyone to question my ability to determine exceptional service. I do agree that our expectations have been lowered. I feel that is because we do get lousy service and customer care most of the time. That is why I decided to pass along an instance that I felt did not fall into the lousy service norm.

There was more wrong with the computer than I listed. The computer case had a two to three inch long crack and the side where the CD drive is located was also cracked. There were other things, too. The optical drive connection was actually broken away with the motherboard broken in the process. There is no way that the manufacturer would have looked at it and thought that is was just a malfuntion with no accidental abuse involved.

Trust me, when I compare the $400 that you stated, to what I am paying for a new one I am still doing better, especially with the problems that I did not list. I did not want to give specifics of what he did for me, because someone else might expect the same deal in a different situation. He is using some of the parts from the old computer in the new one but I am definitely getting a new case with a better screen, a larger hard drive and a better processor.

As always, I do appreciate responses from everyone when I post and I must say that PROPortable made some very good points. The way that PROPortable feels about this topic leads me to believe that he/she would also provide excellent customer service and care about the customer! If that is true, I salute him/her because it is still rare to find that in a company with or without high expectations.

 

THe thing is there are so many shady companies out there that when you get service like this froma reputable company its amost a surprise. It is as proportable said the way business shoud ethically be carried out however there are not as many ethical businesses out there as we would like to see. Personally i just purchased a Samsung D900 phone from a company that sells world phones cost me over $400 and the lcd screen went after 2 weeks. The wont do anything for me. Even Samsung Canada wont take care of it i have to somehow get a hold of Hong Kong and get it sent there. Personally i think if i send it there ill never see it again. Its these companies that make customers wary. I mean Samsung i believe should of at least been able to help me out seeing as they are a world wide company and all. Anyways sorry to rant like this.

 

OK, now that's more the type of information I'd be interested in if I was a consumer... everyone and their brother can leave a message and say "buy here because they're good people", but it's the story behind it that the intelligent people that frequent this forum like to read about. For me, there is no question... I've always expected a lot out of companies I've dealt with in my life and I expect nothing less from those that work for us. So, regardless of someone buying from us or anyone else for the first time, the percentage of customers who don't already know about us in some form is very low. So, they should have certain expectations.... When it comes to say warranty work, some times people actually question if something would be covered - when it just stopped working and it's within the warranty coverage period. I don't know if it's bad experiences in the past or what, but we'd rather had a conversation explaining why spilling a beer on the keyboard isn't going to be covered, rather than explaining to someone that they should expect more out of service. I don't know if that's easy to understand, the point being that consumers should expect more anything less really shouldn't glorified..... or at least when it is, it'll just keep making me sick.

We all know that on a whole expectations for everything from government down are pathetically low..... It just doesn't hurt to point out that there truly are places out there that set that bar on a higher level and raise above it on a consistent level.

 

I've certainly talked to enough people getting royally screwed by best *ahem* buy with their computer purchases. Its really cool when you take a broken computer into them, supposedly covered by their warranty, to have them monkey with it forever, not fix it, then try and pass off a budgetized "newer" model on the poor unsuspecting customer. That's the "norm" unfortunetly for most people.

 

WOW. This thread has sure shocked me. I am about to make my first notebook purchase (ProPortable) and did not realize the headaches others have had with other companies (though I've briefly heard the horror stories of Alienware). I, like Pro, try holding my expectations of companies to the highest. For this reason, I mainly purchase my items from Amazon (I have yet to have a problem), Newegg (incredible), and Barnes and Noble (Great prizes, though somewhat slow shipping). I think it is a serious problem that people expect little from companies. And this mode of thought is not only in our consumer needs, but also in our education. Expectations of students are being lowered everyday and the quality on the education is nill. I attended a private school in 7th and 8th grade, and when I moved to a different state, I went to highschool in a public school. I moved again and went to 11th grade at another public school. I took Algebra 2, yet what was taught in the course I had learned in 8th grade. My Physics teacher in 12th grade knew less about physics than I did, and all I had was a Introductory course in Physics during the summer at a community college. I am now in my 4th year at a University... The greatest problem is that because of our lower expectations on our highschool students, they have a lesser chance of success in higher education. I moved to Triginometry as my first course of college level math, while most of my senior class had to take Elementary or Intermidate Algebra, 2/3 courses behing Trig.

Well... Coming back to the subject. If we continue to hold our expectations very low, that poor service we recieve will become the standard for all companies. Soon, if we recieve a product with only a broken chasis, we will be congradulating on the companies service!

DMJ4, I am glad you have recieved excellent customer service. I just wish all companies would strive to attain such a goal.

 

It seems justin was bothered because of praise thrown at a company for a level of service that is honestly fairly common among asus resellers. however the OP's point should not be lost in that those of us who bought Asus from a reputable dealer are very lucky. I know that on those rare occasions i have a problem im glad im dealing with powernotebooks, not dell or other large companies, and although i went with them, i believe i would have gotten equally good service from milestone, or proportable, btotech, xoticpc, and the other companies that spend so much time helping on these forums. as justin said we can expect good service from these people, but thats not what you find in most of the world. the truth is in modern times, outside of our asus resellers on this board, and a few select msi resellers (ive heard nothing but good about xmeld and rawpower) there is noplace else i woud expect this level of service, and they all deserve a big thankyou from their customers and their community.

 

Well

Istnc doesnt carry up to date asus computers. They mostly sell clevos.

A lot of people like them though they have good customer service ratings.

A really similar business is maybe portable one.

I like their line up better.

This type of business is weird to shop they carry a lot of different models and help with a lot of consulting. I really do think their is a customer that would appreciate this but its not me.

I want to see all the models from the one manufacturer and compare myself.

 

... proof of the matter: "No child left behind" simply means - lower the standards for "passing".... It's an epidemic in this country and I apoligize if praising somone for what most of us should consider standard procedure, makes me want to vomit, but I guess after so many years of running this company specifically against dell and gateway and the others by striving to make better products and provide better service - it just gets me sick that our expectations may be even higher than our customers, when our initial reasoning for having a higher level of service was because people want and deserve it.

Little did I know that after years and years of buying dell's and getting a new cd drive with just a couple minutes on the phone and no hassle was thought of as "great customer service"...... I always thought they shouldn't have built your system with the crappy cd drive they did in the first place, and the reason they want to get you off the phone so quickly is because the phone call is costing them more than the drive..... These people still think they need to buy a new computer ever year or year and half and they continue to go back to the same company because of this so-called "service".....


... call me old fashioned.

 

If I buy computer and it arrives cracked and broken, you can be sure I'll go hollerin' at everything between the earth and the moon until I get a brand spankin' new one free of charge.

On the other hand, I'm glad you're happy with the way things turned out. As a matter of fact, you seem to be exceptionally happy and cheerful...please provide me with the name and year of your drink?

 

It's not a drink... I'm sure they make a pill for that though

 

Though I had realized that something was wrong with education when I entered highschool, it was not until my Calculus professor at the college that I realized the full impact of the "No child left behind." My philosophy professor spoke a lot on this topic as well and I've researched and wrote a paper on the topic for my Composition courses. The statistics are frightning!!! And yet, it seems that little is being done to reverse the damage. In highschool students would suffer if they could not use a calculator... My Calc professor for this reason banned all grahping calculators during all exams and had us do half of every exam without a calculator. If we could do Calc with just a pencil, a highschool kid can do all his math with just that as well.

Oh, and prehaps you can send me the pill as well? I've got finals coming up this and next week!!!

 

That's the main point Justin was trying to make, I think. I bought my computer from ISTNC as well and have been equally as satisfied with their service as the original poster, but the cool thing is that almost all the Asus resellers you hear about on the forums (here and at Notebook Forums) take very good care of their customers. And that's pretty darn impressive!

 

I believe that for my entire time in school (Mechanical & Aeronatical Engineering w/a Math Minor) I was allowed to use a calculator in one out of my 7 math classes - statistics. Well not counting Numerical Methods, which is completely a programming class anyway.

Calc, Calc 2, Calc 3, Differential Equations, Boundary Value Problems... No calculators at all.

 

That's cause your profs were too lazy to come up with the crazy-ass equations that profs in my classes did. Trust me, in those exams, it wouldn't help if you had Deep Blue with you. You just couldn't graph or table those problems, you had to know the method by heart (50 minute classes).

 

In my high school calc class I had to be able to prove I could do everything by hand before I was allowed to use a calculator, and all the tests were written so that you couldn't use a calculator anyway. I don't see why people have to be so lazy.

 

I ve had laptops come back that war 50% submerged in milk, wine and dr. pepper and the repairs were under 400$. What kind of damage was it that you did not think it warranted a repair?

 

that's an interesting combination. I don't think I'd like it, but each to their own...

 

Not all at the same time ofcourse. One of the leading causes of out of warranty repairs is spills. The second is cracked lcd. the third is drops.