Bad experience with Asus Support

[Currently Studying]

I came here because of Merlin and the awesome Firmware. The community here is great. I'll be staying for that. That said Asus left me disappointed.

In just six months my RT86U Pro just shows a power light and nothing is else. Asus put me through the ringer to RMA it despite being perfect on visual inspection - and the offer was a refurb (refurb of a model that didn't pass inspection, unused by a person they said) or a new BE92U. The BE92U is new but at this point I don't trust them to "say it was damaged and bill me" The terms for the replacement made it sound like anything that could be counted against my replacement would be and I'd be billed $356 for a BE92U, which is $219 on Amazon right now.

I have the emails, 27 of them in the last month with Asus about this issue. Support was a huge letdown.

 

[JoeHz]

The warranty says they get to replace it with a new or refurb of equivalent or better value, and they have to honor remaining warranty on it or give you three months worth, whichever is greater, so it's on them if it doesn't work, but there's nothing to argue there.

Now you might convince them to give you a unit with a date of manufacture showing that it that was no older than your RMA (equal or better value, right?) and, if it doesn't work again, lean on them for a new unit with the threat of consumer protection agencies.

Take pictures of anything before you send it including the serial number.

 

[Currently Studying]

The warranty says they get to replace it with a new or refurb of equivalent or better value, and they have to honor remaining warranty on it or give you three months worth, whichever is greater, so it's on them if it doesn't work, but there's nothing to argue there.

Now you might convince them to give you a unit with a date of manufacture showing that it that was no older than your RMA (equal or better value, right?) and, if it doesn't work again, lean on them for a new unit with the threat of consumer protection agencies.

Take pictures of anything before you send it including the serial number.

That's a good idea. I did try

According to Asus, the rep said the entire stock of those routers left are unused refurbs. I guess that means they were bad at QA. Not sure

 

[inakaya]

That's a good idea. I did try

According to Asus, the rep said the entire stock of those routers left are unused refurbs. I guess that means they were bad at QA. Not sure

Need to check your country's Consumer Rights. I'm not sure what country you are in but within a year (I think) in the UK it's the seller's problem so no point complaining at ASUS.

UK specific advice - https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/reclaim/consumer-rights-refunds-exchange/

Wish you well on your replacement request battle!

 

[Tech9]

That said Asus left me disappointed.

What exactly was the response about the cause of damage?

From what I understand they rejected your warranty claim and offered you a new router at full cost.

 

[XIII]

but within a year (I think) in the UK it's the seller's problem

For countries that did not leave the EU that’s already the case:

https://europa.eu/youreurope/business/dealing-with-customers/consumer-contracts-guarantees/consumer-guarantees/index_en.htm

 

[JoeHz]

That's a good idea. I did try

According to Asus, the rep said the entire stock of those routers left are unused refurbs. I guess that means they were bad at QA. Not sure

You said it was an "RT-86Pro". I've been assuming that it's an "RT-AX86U_Pro" because I believe that there was not ever any such animal as an "RT-AC86UPro".

I ask because If you have an RT-AC86U or the model I don't think ever existed of "RT-AC86UPro" then I would tend to believe them. Wifi 5 aka AC routers are not new things anymore.

But if you have an RT-AX86U_Pro like I thought, then I would ask them one simple question, "Are you saying it is out-of-manufacture i.e. you don't make that router anymore?" because I'd be real surprised if that was true. I bought my own RT-AX86U_Pro for the holiday season not even 6 months ago.

You can still buy a new RT-AX86U_Pro from Asus. Ask them to send you one of those boxes! Yes, this might make you sound like a "TechnoKaren" so offer to pay like $30 USD for the "upgrade service to a new replacement". They have a goal to want you to be sold on their products and you didn't buy a refurb. It was not all that far from being DOA. If you offer to pay them something nominal because of this, you might garner some sympathy.

This is more of a human engineering problem. They are totally within their rights to give you a refurb with the same warranty as you had (and honestly, I'd take them up on it as long as it works, but it better work or else, they had their chance). Be nice and they might be too.

I had the misfortune of having a Dell Latitude D810 go all smokey smelling about 2 weeks before the news broke about their battery fires. They just up and sent me a refurb laptop that was superior in every way to the one I had (even one generation newer -- I got a D820). They even let me keep my old drive when it turned out not to be the same controller in the new laptop. This is how I learned the magic words to get ANYTHING you want out of covered warranty hardware support are "I smell smoke".

 

[Currently Studying]

You said it was an "RT-86Pro". I've been assuming that it's an "RT-AX86U_Pro" because I believe that there was not ever any such animal as an "RT-AC86UPro".

I ask because If you have an RT-AC86U or the model I don't think ever existed of "RT-AC86UPro" then I would tend to believe them. Wifi 5 aka AC routers are not new things anymore.

But if you have an RT-AX86U_Pro like I thought, then I would ask them one simple question, "Are you saying it is out-of-manufacture i.e. you don't make that router anymore?" because I'd be real surprised if that was true. I bought my own RT-AX86U_Pro for the holiday season not even 6 months ago.

You can still buy a new RT-AX86U_Pro from Asus. Ask them to send you one of those boxes! Yes, this might make you sound like a "TechnoKaren" so offer to pay like $30 USD for the "upgrade service to a new replacement". They have a goal to want you to be sold on their products and you didn't buy a refurb. It was not all that far from being DOA. If you offer to pay them something nominal because of this, you might garner some sympathy.

This is more of a human engineering problem. They are totally within their rights to give you a refurb with the same warranty as you had (and honestly, I'd take them up on it as long as it works, but it better work or else, they had their chance). Be nice and they might be too.

I had the misfortune of having a Dell Latitude D810 go all smokey smelling about 2 weeks before the news broke about their battery fires. They just up and sent me a refurb laptop that was superior in every way to the one I had (even one generation newer -- I got a D820). They even let me keep my old drive when it turned out not to be the same controller in the new laptop. This is how I learned the magic words to get ANYTHING you want out of covered warranty hardware support are "I smell smoke".

It's the AX U Pro model sorry, typo.

 

[Currently Studying]

I did finally win the replacement battle. I'm sending in via FedEx Monday and they'll "find a suitable replacement based on the features I used in the old model" which I listed everything because I like to tinker.

They said it would take 5-10 business days after they get my router to find said replacement. That's terrible service speed when I know good and well they could sell me one with a click of a button.