Is one of my 86U's a paperweight now?

[OzarkEdge]

Anyone had any luck with the RMA process. Digging around on Asus's website is not easy to get answers.

I did get this 86U as a gift so I am not really out anything.

Call Asus US Tech Support. Work through them to get an RMA. Once you get it, ship it.

OE

 

[CaptainSTX]

Call Asus US Tech Support. Work through them to get an RMA. Once you get it, ship it.

OE

To be specific you pay the shipping to them.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Going_Strong]

Anyone had any luck with the RMA process. Digging around on Asus's website is not easy to get answers.

I did get this 86U as a gift so I am not really out anything.

Do you have no choice but to go through Asus? Wouldn't it be easier to contact the seller directly?
I'm asking because when my RT-AC86U broke down, I started off with Asus Poland - and it wasn't a pleasant encounter. When they finally picked up the phone (after more than two hours of calling), they were very non-committal, not to mention clueless. and just told me to send it over, of course at my expense. And they refused to answer my question as to whether the unit would be repaired or replaced, or if I could perhaps apply for a refund ...
So I contacted the shop instead, outlined my problem and asked for a refund - everything was sorted in three days.

 

[OzarkEdge]

Do you have no choice but to go through Asus? Wouldn't it be easier to contact the seller directly?
I'm asking because when my RT-AC86U broke down, I started off with Asus Poland - and it wasn't a pleasant encounter. When they finally picked up the phone (after more than two hours of calling), they were very non-committal, not to mention clueless. and just told me to send it over, of course at my expense. And they refused to answer my question as to whether the unit would be repaired or replaced, or if I could perhaps apply for a refund ...
So I contacted the shop instead, outlined my problem and asked for a refund - everything was sorted in three days.

Asus USA Tech Support is far more professional than that. And I agree, return it to the seller, if you can... I doubt the OP can return to the seller a gift 86U that he has had for 13 months.

OE

 

[CaptainSTX]

Asus USA Tech Support is far more professional than that. And I agree, return it to the seller, if you can... I doubt the OP can return to the seller a gift 86U that he has had for 13 months.

I had no issues in setting up five RMAs with ASUS. It took a minimum amount of time on the phone add if you explained the issues and what you had done to try and resolve them the RMA was quickly forthcoming. The problem with the RMA process was that they continued to send out "refurbished units" that were not any good. Plugging them in flashing the current firmware, doing a factory reset and then checking that all LEDs lighted before wiping the router down and sending it out to another customer with a hope that they had fixed the problem wasn't sufficient particularly with a router that seemed to have more issues at least with a certain lot of units manufactured in 2018. Not until I prevailed upon ASUS to send me a unit manufactured in 2019 did I get a stable working AC86.

 

[Going_Strong]

I was thinking that perhaps the OP had some proof of purchase (even if the router was a gift) with which he could contact the shop. If not, then of course there is no other option.
And if Asus USA are more professional than what I had the misfortune of experiencing, then by all means ...
Here's hoping they don't send the OP a refurb ...

 

[OzarkEdge]

I had no issues in setting up five RMAs with ASUS. It took a minimum amount of time on the phone add if you explained the issues and what you had done to try and resolve them the RMA was quickly forthcoming. The problem with the RMA process was that they continued to send out "refurbished units" that were not any good. Plugging them in flashing the current firmware, doing a factory reset and then checking that all LEDs lighted before wiping the router down and sending it out to another customer with a hope that they had fixed the problem wasn't sufficient particularly with a router that seemed to have more issues at least with a certain lot of units manufactured in 2018. Not until I prevailed upon ASUS to send me a unit manufactured in 2019 did I get a stable working AC86.

Yes, you've explained your experience before. I believe you, except I don't think you know exactly what they did or why they did it or what their hope about it was. Often, an organization is no better than those who do not do their duty. I think it is unfair to malign the whole for the failing of some part.

I'm sure others have had different experiences with their Asus RMA... you eventually got satisfaction. Seller return/exchange and Asus RMA remain the only consumer recourse, so I don't see much point in not encouraging and hoping for the best outcome from either process.

Perhaps you could help others by advising how to prevail with their Asus RMA.

OE

 

[CaptainSTX]

My previous post was written to defend the tech support/customer support staff. They did their job well. IMHO who failed was the department that was supposed to test, repair and refurbish returned routers.

Senior management and the engineering staff also failed by not realizing that they had a batch of AC86s that had serious problems that could not be repaired and should have been scrapped and not sent out as warranty replacements.

It seems the problems with this router may be behind it as the 2019 models seem to have fewer issues and the 1 star reviews on Amazon have fallen from a high of 29% to 24%.

The way I finally got a 2019 model was to appeal to ASUS's corporate office and there Executive Response unit did their job.

 

[Easy Limits]

Update:

Did the RMA. They could not fix it so they sent what looked to be a new 86U. Overall, a good experience with Asus.

 

[OzarkEdge]

Update:

Did the RMA. They could not fix it so they sent what looked to be a new 86U. Overall, a good experience with Asus.

Cool!

OE

 

[CaptainSTX]

sent what looked to be a new 86U.

Out of curiosity was the replacement unit manufactured in 2019? Date is on label on back of router in clear text.

 

[Easy Limits]

When I broke down the box that it came in I noticed a sticker that said refurbished. I don't see a manufacture date on the back.
The DFS channels are visible though.

 

[CaptainSTX]

When I broke down the box that it came in I noticed a sticker that said refurbished. I don't see a manufacture date on the back.
The DFS channels are visible though.

OK. Thanks for checking. Was interested to see if ASUS had finally realized that some of the 2018 units had issues that could not be fixed by just flashing new firmware and then doing a factory reset.