Resllers, what would you do?

I want to know what the various resellers on the forum would do in this situation:

Someone buys a $1900 laptop from you, and buys the extended Asus warranty (direct) from you at the time of purchase. They have a few questions they ask, and you help them out. After 3 months, a battery problem starts to emerge (you can guess where this goes). After 1 year and 5 months, the battery problem is horrendous. The person has been trhough 5 different batteries and has had the motherboard replaced. They have spent 1 year in contact with tech support trying to get it fixed. They notice in their warranty that it says "In some instances, ASUS may decide to replace your notebook with a unit of the same model or a unit with equivalent or better functional specification if repairs cannot restore the unit to normal." So, they bring this up to Asus. Asus acknowledges this, but only offers to give the person an even older computer, with worse specs (V6j vs. V6v) because they computer is too old (the V6j is). I am curious if you would personally help the customer out, either without Asus, or by contacting Asus. The person I bought the computer from won't respond to my communications, and I need to get this fixed. I have 1/9th of my actual battery life. I need to get this fixed. I didn't pay $1900 for a worthless laptop (what good is 28 minutes on a business class notebook). Please let me know what you would do.


Thanks.

 

I'm not a reseller for laptops, but have run small businesses in the past. I have a few questions for you:

1. What terms of the warranty apply to the battery? In the majority of cases I have seen, the battery warranty only lasts upto 1 year since it is a consumable part. I'm trying to understand what obligation Asus is under at this time (1yr, 5 mos).

2. Since Asus acknowledges that there is a problem, it comes to a matter of negotiation. I would definitely try and push the issue as a reseller, at least to get a computer with equivalent specs.

However, you have to understand a few things:

(a) Unless you are sending a lot of business to the reseller, it is very hard to take a hit of a few hundred dollars for an upgrade over what Asus is offering. Goodwill is awesome, but in the end $$$ are $$$.

(b) While the reseller can try and appeal to Asus' better nature, in the end the manufacturer holds all the cards and can put its foot down. This is where the reseller's relationship with Asus comes strongly into play.

In the end, I would say that most likely something could be worked out where you have to pay some extra $$ and the reseller has to pay a little also, and you could get something acceptable. Of course, ideally, the reseller can convince Asus to change their stance.

I would definitely say, though, that you should keep trying to make your case with Asus. A two-pronged approach is always best. After all, you have to try and convince Asus that your situation is important enough and they are at enough fault to warrant doing the right thing to avoid losing a customer for life.

Regards,

Z.

 

Wise words.

 

I will start with saying that is isn't a battery problem. 5 batteries should confirm this. Asus will replace the battery at my request, but that does me no good, because within a few (I mean this literally) months, I will be right back where I am, with a worthless battery. My warranty is up next March. You are right, the battery isn't technically under warranty, but it is also not the problem. The other proof of this is the vast number of users (including people with other notebooks from Asus, such as the V1j) that have this issue. That is a lot of batteries to have bad.

Also, I don't understand why I would have to pay to get my computer working. Didn't I already do that? I believe it went like this. I paid $1900 to have a working computer, and another $170 to have a warranty that says it will work for two years. 3 months in it was evident that it wasn't working. Why do I have to pay more for that? I understand this world is about money, but people should realize that helping people out means referrals and future business. That is money. Not to mention, what ever happened to being a good person?

 

well I know you are not living in Green New Zealand, but over here we have a consumers guarantee's act, under it the manufacturer can try remedy the situation , by repairing, replacing with something of equal value. After three attempts to repair an item the consumer can get a replacement for free (usually same model or equal value).

I doubt you'll have the same legislation over there, and maybe not in your state.... but I'm sure if you speak to someone high enough at asus and expalin your situation they will remedy your issue. after 5 batteries and all the inconvenience you've suffered, I'm sure you can argue that you want an upgrade, ie, equal model (fractoring in time as well)

Good Luck


[side note] Asus NZ swapped my GF's keyboard yesterday, drove there, waited 10 minutes and walked out happy spacebar had started to get a little funny.. :thumbs up: Asus NZ

 

Well, my warranty has the same stipulation in it, so I don't know why they won't follow that either.

 

As far as they told me, the warranty policy here at ASUS Nederland is the following:

If after a number of repairs for a given problem on a notebook, the problem is not solved, then the notebook is replaced with a newer notebook with equal or higher specs.

So they should not try to stick a V6V to you. You can try pushing for a V1S (carefully though it's still unclear for that one whether the batt issue has carried over or not from the V1J) or (and this is what I'd probably ask if I were you) a V2S. Bad battery life, but otherwise good computer. Another option is the U3 but I don't think it's available yet.

Edit: I advise the following. If you are angry (understandably) try to let it rest for a while. Afterwards, write an email in a dry, objective tone, quoting exactly from their warranty terms what you said above (about a replacement), and explaining that a V6V is not an acceptable replacement, because the specs are worse than those of the V6J. Also mention explicitly this is not a battery issue, to avoid problems with the 1yrbatt warranty.