Hosed, an ASUS RMA story. *Update*

I sent a P6T motherboard to ASUS under warranty in June. It really must have been in the last couple months of its 3 year warranty term, but nonetheless they set the RMA up.

I wrapped the motherboard up in about 10 feet of bubble wrap, then taped it in place so that it wouldnt come loose. This is not that 1/4" thick bubblewrap, its thick with large bubbles and cushions really well. The motherboard was inside a 4 inch thick cushion of this on each side. I then lined the bottom of the box I was shipping it in with a few layers of bubblewrap, placed the wrapped up MB in the center, then filled up all the space on the edges with more bubblewrap. After the edges were stuffed securely, I filled the remaining space on the top with more bubblewrap and taped it shut. I shook the box to make sure it wasnt moving around. According to UPS's measurements, the size of the box was 16x16x8. Very over sized for the contents. I dropped it off at a local UPS Store, and they sent it on its way to Jeffersonville Indiana.

I called ASUS a couple days after my tracking info showed it had been delivered to get an update on what was going on. The lady I spoke with on the phone told me, "Yes, we have received the motherboard it is currently in repair but they are waiting for parts."

I called back 3 days later for another update and was now told the the motherboard had been damaged in shipping and my warranty was voided due to CID. After being transferred all over the place I spoke with a technician that had some answers. He told me that they had attached pictures to my account with the damage. When I called 3 days prior, they did not tell me anything about my MB being damaged.


This is a picture of the edge of the box that was supposedly damaged. Even the man I spoke with on the phone said that there didnt appear to be any damage to the box. He said he wasnt sure what they were trying to point at. The edge of that box would have had to be mashed in 3 inches at least to even get close to touching the board.


This is the corner of the MB that was damaged.

The notes on the account were-
"Thursday, June 28, 2012 12:10:35 PM: CID: Corner damage, non repairable, checking stk"

I told the man that I definitely did not send him the board in that condition, and that I had pictures to show it. I cropped a picture that I took about an hour before packing the MB up, making sure to include my boards serial number in the picture as well.



The technician transferred me to another person to speak about the RMA. I cant remember his exact wording but it was something along the lines of Executive Customer Service. He took a look at all of the pictures, then basically said that the warranty was voided and my only choice was to put in a claim with UPS and just buy a replacement motherboard. He said their list price for the P6T was $185 for a refurbed board. He also mentioned a $65 labor fee because it was Customer Induced Damage, and not just defective product. At this point Im thinking about just saying screw it and getting a 3570k/ z77 Extreme4 Microcenter deal. He said that the best he could do was waive the $65 labor fee, and give a 30% discount on the price of the board bringing the total to right at $130 for the refurbed P6T.

He also told me that if I bought the refurbed motherboard they would not ship my old one back to me. This didnt seem correct, it is afterall my property. He sent me an email with the information about the refurb and the credit card PDA form to fill out.
Edited by RX7-2nr - 8/17/12 at 7:17pm

I weighed my options for a while. I wasnt sure if I wanted to just pick up the Microcenter deal, or get a replacement P6T to keep my i7 920 running for a while longer. I finally scrapped the idea of building a 3570k because I would also want to get a new HDD as well as another copy of Windows. I checked out Ebay and bought a 10/10 used P6T for $92 shipped.

I contacted UPS and got the claim rolling. They told me that they would have the next driver that goes out there inspect the board at the ASUS facility. From this point there was roughly a 2 week period where I did not hear from ASUS about the status of the MB at all. I put in a few calls but just kept getting "we will have the service department update your account" or "the service department should email you within 24 hours". The only communication I ever received from ASUS was the original email from when I put the RMA in, then the email with the pictures of the damage that the technician sent me, and the email with the credit card info.

Finally a couple days ago I called UPS and was told that the investigation had been done, but they were waiting on the actual UPS Store for some required paperwork. I contacted ASUS the next day to ask what was going on. The man I spoke with told me that there were still no updates on my account, and that he would sent an email to the service department telling them to release the MB back to me. I got a call from the UPS store about 3 hours later saying that the MB just arrived to his store. He didnt understand why it was sent to him and neither did I. I never received anything telling me that it had shipped from Indiana.

I went up there today and found out my claim had been denied due to unsatisfactory packing. This is absolutely ridiculous because I massively overpacked the board. Tons of bubblewrap wrapped around the board in a massive box with more bubblewrap lining the top bottom and sides. The entire 16x16x8 box was so full of bubblewrap that when I shook the box there was absolutely no movement. I know there is no way that UPS inspected my actual packaging, or they wouldnt have denied it on those grounds.

The UPS Store guy went to the back and retrieved the box that ASUS sent him back, but it was not my packaging. We opened it up in the store. They had placed my damaged P6T inside of a P8P67 box and put that into a bigger box. The board was completely free to move around inside of the P67 box, and the larger box was not stuffed with bubblewrap like my original packaging was. It just had crumpled paper in it. I dont know what packaging it was in when UPS inspected it, but if it was in my packaging with the insane amount of padding and massively oversized box I find it hard to believe that they would deny my claim.

Im supposed to hear back from UPS tomorrow about a claim dispute, but it looks like Im out the hundred at the moment.

**UPDATE** 8/17 I got a call from the UPS store saying that they had a check from me. I didnt even know they were still doing anything because its been a month since Ive heard a word from them. Last I knew, the guy at the UPS store told me that the claim dispute would mean I need my original packaging...which I clearly did not have. Regardless, I went up and picked up my broken motherboard and a check for $106 and I consider this closed.
ASUS HQ has had my case for 2 weeks now and I havnt heard a word. I think they may have contacted UPS and learned that they were doing a claim, but no one ever told me anything so I have no clue.

My original claim denial.

Some random guys motherboard box that they shipped mine to me in. This was placed inside another box.


This is the damaged corner.[/quote]
Edited by RX7-2nr - 8/24/12 at 2:39pm

Im not sure, I can see about finding the original huge picture. The one I sent ASUS is a cropped one that details the damaged corner.

*edit*
my camera shows a date from when I took the picture, but the date is off- probably when the batteries when down between charges. I took the board out of my case and set it up to test it. I requested the RMA on 6/12 after testing it outside my case and getting nothing from it. Took the pic before packing it up after getting the RMA info.
Edited by RX7-2nr - 7/18/12 at 8:49pm