RMA Nightmare (Zenbook)

I am going through a RMA NIGHTMARE with ASUS with my Zenbook. I need to vent, share my story and ask you all for advice. You have my appreciation in advice for reading my post and I hope it isn't TLDR. I think the easiest way to demonstrate my situation is to give a timeline of events up until this day. (See after timeline for questions)

• 
  November 30th, 2011 - I ordered my Zenbook from Amazon.com

• 
  December 2nd, 2011 - I received my zenbook via FedEx from Amazon.com

• 
  December 3rd, 2011 - I placed a 5 star review encouraging people to buy it on Amazon.com, it was the most "positive helpful" review for a while.

• 
  January 8th, 2012 - After installing an ASUS update I was unable to install Adobe Reader, then Windows Explorer started crashing. Eventually I could not even boot into the OS. I tried using the recovery partition, installing a fresh copy of Windows from a USB stick to no avail. I ran memtest86 scan from a thumbdrive and received over 100,000 errors.
  
  Spoiler

  

• 
  January 9th, 2012 - RMA #1 and Service #1 created. I shipped the unit to ASUS via FedEx Express Shipping Saver and Insured the shipment for $1300 after speaking with the FedEx Employee who helped me package and ship it. My out of pocket expense was $30+ for shipping, insurance and bubble wrap, no RMA shipping label was created for me.

• 
  January 12th, 2012 - ASUS received the unit from FedEx and "repaired" and shipped it the same day. The repair summary states that: The issue was duplicated, The system board was replaced AND "Top and Bottom Cases". I am not sure why they replaced the cases as they were in perfect condition when I shipped it to them.
  
  Spoiler

  

• 
  January 17th, 2012 - I picked up the package at a local FedEx location, since I was in school until 6:30 and a signature was required. I opened the box and noticed that my Zenbook was damaged near the screen bezel. The damage to me did not look like it could have happened in shipping as the box was in decent condition the location of the crack was towards the front of the screen.
  
  Spoiler

  

• 
  January 17th, 2012 - I called ASUS and reported that I received a damaged unit (the same day that I recieved it from FedEX). The representative created ASUS Service #2 and told me to send an email to [email protected] with pictures of the damage and that he "escalated my case". I sent the email with pictures as requested.

• 
  January 18th, 2012 - I received an email from ASUS stating that the pictures had successfully been received and attached to my case and informed me to call customer support. I called the support line and the CSR said that he didn't have permission to view the images and that I would need to wait for my case to be processed.

• 
  January 19th-24th, 2012 - I called ASUS almost daily only to be informed that my case was "escalated, but still under investigation" and that I would need to wait 48 hours, then an additional 24 hours and then "still needs another day." Needless to say I was getting very impatient, but I was able to "keep my cool" when speaking with the CSRs.

• 
  January 24th, 2012 - Finally the CSR was able to create an RMA number for me and this time I made sure that she created a shipping label for me so I wouldn't have to pay out of pocket again. I shipped the unit via FedEx ground.

• 
  January 27th, 2012 - ASUS received the unit and set the RMA status to "Waiting for Customer Confirmation" for a "Customer Induced Damage." When I called and spoke with a CSR agent I was basically accused of causing the damage. I insisted that this was not what happened and the CSR agent "escalated" my case.

• 
  January 28th- Current - Waiting until Monday to call ASUS.

I feel like ASUS is just trying to "wait me out" and wait for me to give up with my case. I purchased the Zenbook with my Amazon.com Store card. Does anyone know if amazon or the amazon.com store card (I think it is by GEMoney) can help me in this situation? I am tired of getting pushed around and jumping through hoops to get this taken care of, I want someone or some entity to help me push back.

Does anyone have any advice they can offer me or has been in a similar situation? The fact that ASUS is trying to put the damage on me is ridiculous. If you compare the picture I took when I was taking a picture of the memory errors and compare it to the picture of the damage you can see that the damage did not exist when I sent the unit in the first time.

Spoiler

Thanks again for reading.

 

that's what happened to me when i called about my wifes ul50vt with regards to a cracked plastic hinge cover.

they tried the "customer induced damage" crap on me.

asus customer service is going down the drain. the past year, they are not what they used to be.

ASUS, NEVER AGAIN!
going sager/clevo better CS, no hassle!