~ Asus U6 Owners' Lounge ~

The day I lost for the 3rd time all my data on my U6Sg I was really thinking of too driving over it with my car
I'm not sure how you can say the U6Sg case is sturdy, have you ever handled a Lenovo out of interest

 

I checked my U6Sg-2P001E (purchased in HK a few weeks ago) HDD through device manager and it says its a Hitachi HTS542525K9SA00. Haven't had any issues with the laptop at all yet.

Petrov.

 

Daneel, there's little worse than losing your data. My sympathies. Hope you pinned downt he problem. If not, post details. I'm sure someone here will have some ideas.

Sure, the Thinkpad series, for example, has always been known for durability. A friend of mine has an ancient one that's just solid as can be. Still, I think the Asus engineers did a great job with the U6 on an ultraportable platform that is invariably subject to design compromises. At least, that's been my experience. After all, the thing survived being run over with a truck with little more than a broken screen--which I still can't find a replacement for!

 

Another week gone and no news when my laptop will be fixed. This whole U6 issue is turning into a nightmare. Spoke to some Asus manager yesterday and he was clueless just like everyone else. If, it arrives this year, it is not fixed, I will pack the whole thing, send it back and will refuse everything they offer if it is not a refund or brand new U6.

To be perfectly honest, I don't fancy having this laptop back. Don't want to countdown till my HDD breaks down.

 

Wish - could you at least determine from Asus whether they were replacing it with the Seagate or the Hitachi hdd?

Petrov.

 

I doubt they will replace the HDD. It had no problem. I can confirm I have the Seagate in mine. I ran seatools and if passed with flying colours. Not ping pong sounds, nothing to annoy me. I will give them a ring first thing tomorrow morning to see what happens. If I am not satisfied with their service...I will drive down to Asus and drop the U6 in their lap ...



L.E:

I just called Asus and I was told that my laptop is still waiting for parts. I asked for the manager but it was too early and he was not in. I will ring back later. This is not normal. A week and a half ago I was told that my laptop is waiting for parts. Today, I am told that it is still waiting for parts. I will call back in one hour and see what happens.

 

There is a possibility of MONTEVINA U6 released on 15 July (heard it from a few sales reps in USA). So I'm thinking- if that is the case then I'll be cancelling my M1330 order provided i get the new beauty (hopefully it is) by 25-27 July.

 

Asus should be ashamed of what they have done. One of their most expensive laptops has unacceptable flaws. On top of that, their customer service lacks professionalism.

 

Hum? U6SG is getting the Montevina chipset this month? I thought it was somewhere around August . I'm thinking of buying an U6sg when they get Montevina....Know where can i order it? ( Online )

 

This is what happened on monday.

This is what happened just now...

---sorry for the bad english, but I am boiling...----

I just finished talking to Serry from Asus Holland. What do you think he said? The laptop is waiting for parts!! I asked, how is this possible? I was told on Monday that the parts have arrived and that my laptop will be fixed in two days tops and I will get it latest Friday. The guy started with the usual `uhmm...that is not possible...who told you that?`I said, you are ****ing kidding me right? He said, it is normal procedure. I then asked, is it normal to lie to your customers? 1600 $ does not grow on trees and this piece of **** broke down after 6 days of usage. On top of that, do guys from Asus support live on different continents in caves? This whole lack of communication is ridiculous and I do not like to be shoved tons of bs everytime I call. I told him the whole story and the guy was speechless. He agreed that this lack of communication is not normal and assured me that the parts arrive on friday and that the laptop will be shipped sometime soon. I said, you are not telling me something new. For 3 weeks I am hearing the same thing. Do you guys play a tape or a cd ? Then I told him how this rubbish laptop breaks down and has tons of problems. I also told him about the 3 cell bug and about the fact that I want a replacement battery. He said he did not know that this laptop has problems and that my U6 was not RMAd for the 3 cell bug so no replacement. Afterwards, he played the same old song assuring me that Asus cares for their customers and that if I don't get my laptop in 2 weeks they will find a way to sort this problem. He said he will call me....




STAY AWAY from Asus. People reading this thread and thinking of buying the U6, don't. It is rubbish and their service is the same.

 

Well, that's quite typical of Asus CS in many European countries. However, in the US and Canada Asus CS is among the best, if not the best in the world. Even if your notebook is RMA'ed for one particular defective hardware, Asus will automatically replace any other parts that they see has wear, ie keyboard, palm rest etc. In your case, you're one of the unlucky ones that got a defective unit. That's nothing new since all companies will produce defective units once every so often and simply avoiding Asus and the U6 series in particular doesn't make any sense for others not living in Holland.
I do feel sorry for you having to go through all the hassle, apparently Asus owners in the UK seem to share similar experiences to you too. I hope you get your notebook back soon

 

I understand nothing is perfect and I am not being a ****. What bothers me is the lies and lack of respect for the customer. I spent 40 euros on phonecalls with them and I am back at square one. Lies over lies over lies....

Him: 'But Sir...the parts have not arrived'
Me: ' But Sir, for 3 weeks I hear the same thing'
Him: 'uhm....uhm....'

WTF?

 

Well, good news on my end. Western Digital 320 GB HDD works beautifully (wasn't going to mess with Seagate again, at least for now) and my U6 is up and running.

So far, no problems. Tomorrow the hunt and selection of drivers begins anew.

 

Happy it works for you. If you hit a snag and send it to Asus, you will need to put the Seagate back .

 

Wishmaker, Im feeling very angry after reading your post, mate. Just in case, have you recorded your conversation? If not, make sure you do it. And then tell them you'll report it to your local consumer right group...Oh before that, make sure you speak to them very politely- don't show them any sort of agression - if they're trying to hide something then it'll come out then. But i'm not sure if it'll work though, because they can always muck around.

 

You know, when I read all these problems in the Dell and AW forums I said they are isolated cases. People complained how support was horrible and clueless to what to do. I never had any problem with Asus motherboards and I chose this laptop and not the FJS Esprimo because Asus seemed competent and professional. As soon as I started configuring my U6, everything went downhill. Rather than using the Asus LCD, I hooked up my external screen, wireless keyboard+mouse and started to install the software I need. I was stupid, because I did not do this in the first day I had the laptop. I was so mesmerised by the build quality I forgot what was important and why I bought the laptop. I phoned support, they were so kind and friendly, I said, they will fix it in no time. The first snag, they have no english/french/german translation on their dutch website. I am sorry but my dutch is a bit rusty. They were already on -1 in my mind. Then, on their site, they have no U6Sg laptop. I had to choose the U3 and waste my limited text space explaining it is an U6Sg and not an U3. Then, to make things easier, I wrote a very detailed document and put it between the lid and keyboard. The guys from Asus had every detail, phone number, fax, address and e-mail. You think I got a confirmation that my laptop was with them? No! Why on Earth would they do that when I can call Holland for 50 eurocents/minute. Then the lies started and no matter what the outcome, if they fix my laptop or not, I will never buy Asus again. No motherboards, no nothing. I wanted to buy another U6 with monty for my dad but I will wait for the latest esprimos and forget about Asus.


Because of their piss poor service, if I will keep this U6, a big if!!!, I will use it with disgust.

 

Hi Wishmaker,

I am so sorry to hear about your story. If it makes you feel any better, I am now cutting short my european holiday and flying my broken U6 back to London to be fixed since Asus refuse to help me in any way while I am travelling (the receipt is in london and i am in germany). Like you, I wont be buying one again. I can only hope that they manage to repair it reasonably quickly. Did you try getting a replacement from them while they fix yours? seems like a long shot, but I need to try since I am not going to be able to cope without a laptop for the next month...

G.

 

^ the latest news.

No, I did not get one, and nobody mentioned it. I use my 3 year old Amilo with my Asus mouse. Kinky, combo, innit ?

Anywho, I advise you contact Patrick Wesseling ([email protected]) because he actually listens to customers and, eventhough he is in the UK, he inquired about my laptop in holland and made sure that these lies will not be overlooked. Bottom line is, if the laptop is not fixed in less than a month, they will try to make you feel better and send you a laptop...reburbished or new...depending on your luck. The way I know my luck, I will get a new one, I will make sure of this. If I don't my mate working at the loval newspaper will have a field day with this story.

 

After seeing all these horor stories of quality poblems with the U6, I am glad I did not get one two weeks ago. Even though I feel bad that I convinced two of my colleagues to get them, which they did.

I hope someone from Asus corporate monitors these boards.

 

I would not be pissed if their service would be okay. I would close one eye and comfort myself with the fact that Asus will fix it. But no!!! U6 quality is like Asus customer service. My goodness, never ever in my life, will I buy another Asus product. They said they will call me today to let me know what they will propose. Do you think they called? I even wore my phone in meetings and was using the loudest profile settings in order to pick up and sort things out. Tough luck...

 

Wishmaker, I feel for your pain and (as emporiumboutique does) I hope you get a satisfactory resolution sooner rather than later. But I think the time has come where I guess I'll suggest that your point has been made, and posting near-daily updates with your latest comments on Asus NL responses and other issues related to your (admittedly) devastating problem is wearing a bit thin as we've been reading about your adventure since the problems that came up after your notebook shipped from Excaliber via USPS last month. We get it, we really do - and please take this as a respectful suggestion, not a flame, OK?

For fq1 - the U6 is not a model with a high number of users who have experienced problems with their units (i.e. the C90 series), but there are a few members who have had unfortunate experiences with this model and who have been vocal about them. They do not reflect a generalized problem with the model, however.

 

No worries mate. If you speak for the whole forum(the mods and owner chose you) and the members have complained that I post too much in the Asus section as an Asus owner regarding their **** service, then I will stop doing it.

My last post ...

 

I like being kept abreast of your (mis)fortunes Wishmaker, please keep posting your experiences - I find it educational should I end up in the same position with any of my products, whether Asus or not!

Thanks again.

Petrov.

 

Wishmaker, please, don't feel offended by ClearSkies' post, I'm sure he didn't intend it to be offensive.

In fact, I agree with him that it is not useful to post (nearly) daily updates about your problems. That needlessly loads the last pages of this (and maybe other) threads with posts on the same topic, making it more difficult for other posters to find useful information on other topics than your particular problem. It also dilutes your message; if people see it posted over and over again, then they may tend to ignore it rather than take it into account.

What I suggest is that you do not stop posting about it, but post only when significant developments have occurred, e.g.: you have been sent a new laptop, or they have refused to send you a laptop, etc.

 

Any idea if U6SG will get a Montevina upgrade around august/september?

 

Mid-late August in USA

 

i have (1) extra 3cell and 6cell batteries from my laptop and the bluetooth asus mouse that came with it

would anyone be interested in these? let me know and i'll make a FS thread

 

Does anyone know who the excaliber pc contact on the board is? I would like to have a word with them.


I called Asus today and they cannot fix my laptop. The part has not arrived. They offered to give me a U3 to shut me up. When I said no they told me they had not idea what they can do. They cannot order this laptop because Taiwan does not send them to Holland. Basically, I need to wait until they get the motherboard. This can be in one month, two, three, four.

They offered to give me my money back but 400 euros less than I paid.

Suggestions?

 

Oh boy, this is unbelievable. None of those options sound particularly satisfactory to me. How about they send you the U3 ASAP, and when they get the parts for your U6, they'll fix the U6 and send it to you, after which you'll send the U3 back to them? I'm guessing they won't do it, though, with the level of customer service they've shown up to now...

I've not had any problems with my U6 lately, but I can tell you I'll seriously consider the options when time comes to upgrade my laptop...

 

I told Martin, okay, fine, send me the U3 and when you get the U6 part, you send me the U6 and I send you the U3. He said that is not possible. The U3 is not temporary.

He did not give a **** and said I should file a complaint.


So where is that good Asus NL service so many of you praised when I had no problem with my laptop?


I am at a loss of words....I will try to talk to excaliberpc, maybe we can find a solution...

I am trying for 1 hour to contact excaliberpc via phone and nobody picks up. I guess they have the day off.



I would like to file a complaint to Asus, can anyone point me in the right direction?

 

Wishmaker, it's time you check your local consumer protection law. From what you have told us, it is quite clear that you haven't been able to use the laptop properly- not even for a week. So after all this wait, you clearly have a powerful case for a full refund. There should org like Citizen Advice Beaureu (or something similar) who will be able to give advice.

 

Yes, Wishmaker, you should definitely contact your local authorities to check if there's anything they can do. Wish you luck! And do keep us posted on major developments.

 

How a simple laptop repair has turned into something unbelievable. The sad part is, Asus NL did not put the cards on the table. They kept delaying and delaying. Last Monday, Martin Kramer, assured me on the phone that my U6 will be replaced with an identical one if the motherboard does not arrive. The same, Martin Kramer, tells me on Friday, yesterday, that Asus NL does not deal with U6 units. When I asked Martin Kramer what do we do, he said he does not know. He said many people accept replacements. I said, sure, I will accept a replacement too, give me an U6 and everything will be fine. He said he does not have an U6, will never have one, and I should be happy with an U3, everyone else is.


How can a company like Asus allow things like this to happen? I mean for crying out loud, you don't have the part in NL, ask for it at another Asus centre. There is Asus Belgium, Asus Germany, Asus UK. There are so many Asus repair centres. There is no other Asus centre in Europe with an U6Sg-A1 motherboard???? The only reason I chose Asus NL was b ecause of the recommendations here on the board and because they were listed as Asus Luxembourg.

 

I'm afraid it was me that recommended ASUS NL to you. In my experiences with them, they were also rather slow, also not always clear in their communications, but they handled things right in the end. The last interaction I had with them was in January 2007, though, so things might have changed a bit since then.

I do not understand their claim that they do not handle the U6Sg in NL. It is clearly in the channel, see here for instance: http://www.goris.nl/products/information.php?product=14790
and many other places:
http://kieskeurig.nl/kopen/8AA24E0CBD2DF0DFC125744100453924.htm

Maybe they do not have your particular subtype of U6Sg? But they could give you one of these instead -- you could point out the Kieskeurig link to them.

But I agree that at this point, the best thing to do is either to contact the reseller (which you are already doing) and/or a consumer protection service. It seems they have tried to mislead you many times, and that is something that you should not sit and take.

 

Hi, I recently purchased a U6E-X3 from newegg and decided to read through all 57 pages of the topic because I couldn't wait till it arrived (it arrived in 3 business days, newegg ships very fast) and I just want to say I feel really bad for wishmaker and the trouble he's gone through =/. I hope you get your laptop soon, wishmaker!

btw, I love my x3. Not too loud, not too hot, not too pricey, not too bulky-perfect for my college uses.

Also, the "emergency" 3 cell battery that my laptop came with shows all the same slowdown symptoms as the U6Sg users' did on unplugged, however I actually like this "feature" because it keeps my battery alive long enough to get through my 2 hour lectures =]

Also, does anyone know what the following services do? I couldn't find information on them:

ASDLR Service
ATKGFNEX Service
spmgr

 

Second is an ACPI (power-management) service. I don't know about the others, but google should help.

 

ok I found out that spmgr is for the nb probe which tells u how fast your hard drive is spinning, the temperature and various other info about your computer. Disabling ASDLR disables the fn hotkeys and the power4gear options.

 

Latest news:
I phoned Asus today. It seems that this part is becoming a habit. Anywho, Some Mr. Wisse answered and of course he did not want to connect me to level two. Eventually he did, after I started reading my lawyers document. I spoke to Mr. Hervin or something like that from L2 and after 30 minutes on the phone he said he will e-mail my options. I said, nothing new so far, I heard this for the past 3 weeks. He said, he will e-mail me as soon as I hang up. I said okay. After I finished talking to him, I called my lawyer and presented the situation. He advised me, as soon as I have the e-mail, I should send it to him to have a look, if the solutions are feasable. 2 hours later, no e-mail. I spoke to my lawyer again, and he advised to call this person back. I just finished speaking to Mr. Hervin and he said that the reason he hasn't e-mailed me is because he thinks he has found an identical replacement unit. He hasn't promised anything but he said he will call me back today, latest tomorrow. If he does not call he will e-mail me with a refund option. I said, okay, as you wish.

 

Are you satisfied by the U6Sg Netherlands units that I linked in my previous message? If yes, perhaps it's a good idea to give a (few of the) links to them -- say that that computer would satisfy you, it's obviously available in the NL, so why don't they give it to you and get it over with? Well, you shouldn't put it this bluntly, but fine tune the wording a little

BTW, Netherlands units have UK/NL/FR/DE Windows recovery, and US keyboard. Not sure how that sits with you.

 

I talked to them and this is what he said:

Asus NL does not deal with shops. They deal directly with Asus. They cannot go to a shop and buy a laptop. From what they say, there is no Asus Centre in Europe, with an U6Sg model in stock (I dont know why I dont believe them). He emphasized the difference between an Asus centre and a private shop with an individiual stock of U6 laptops. When I asked how come a private shop can order the U6 and Asus cant, he had no answer.

The reason I ordered from the states, apart from the dollar, was the keyboard. I used QWERTY all my life.

 

Last post regarding this issue:

Mr. Hervin called me just know and said he found an U6Sg for me. I will get it in 10 days. It has the T8300 and not the T8100, other than that it is identical to mine. Will let you know in 10 days how things are.

Cheers for the support and I am sorry if some of my comments were snappy. I was a bit angry because I started a very expensive legal procedure for a ****ty laptop. If my laptop arrives and it works, I will drop the whole thing.

 

Hopefully you finally get a satisfactory resolution. Thanks for keeping us updated about the poor service.

I have had a good experience with a W3J from a couple of years ago and am in the process of getting a new one, but your ordeal has swayed me away from another Asus towards a new Sony. I can't believe how seemingly well-run corporations can let their names be sullied by poor customer relations and pretty much lose certain customers forever.

I hope someone from Asus corporate monitors these boards and fires every customer service rep you talked to at Asus NL.

 

Once again, I have no proof from them. Just a conversation on the phone. During my experience with Asus I learned that phone conversations are relative. Mr. Hervin said he will e-mail me, in order to have in writing, this new offer. He did not. So far, the same pattern and same approach they used 2 weeks ago.

I am happy you decided against Asus. Stay away from them if you can. Don't worry, nobody bothers reading this thread. Nobody will get fired, they will all live happily ever after to screw other people in a similar manner.

 

Keep in mind this is ASUS in European countries that gets all the bad experiences. I've only seen positive feedback about ASUS US support -- so if you're in the US, there's no need to worry.

Wishmaker, nobody will probably get fired, but this website ranks pretty high in google and you can surely hope that your account of your problems with ASUS NL has cost ASUS some customers.

 

Yes I am in the US, so I hope I will not face the same fate, especially since I conviced two colleagues to go for the U6 a few weeks ago. However, experiences like this do leave a bad taste in the mouth and just go to show that the organization/corporation has not yet reached a level where people pay a premium to get their commodity product.

I had an experience with BMW a few years ago in which a new car had to go to the shop a few times during the first year of ownership. When I complained, they said you can either pick a new car from the lot or order one to spec. I ordered one to spec (my color choices) and they allowed me to order close to 8k of additional options not in the original vehicle. When the car arrived, I just picked up the new car and left the keys of the older car with 27,000 miles on it. No questions asked, no additional cost to me. And that was for a $85,000 product (which they replaced with a $93,000 car of a one year newer model year and also paid the additional sales tax on the difference between 93k and 85k).

Do you think the experience makes me buy other BMWs? Absolutely! Five others since then. What car do you think I recommend people buy every time someone asks for advice!

Asus, you are not there yet!

 

This is not something to be proud of. As I previously mentioned, Asus is one entity and should provide the same service all over the globe. You cannot take their side and say: ' that does not happen in the states, it only happens in Europe'. You cannot offer proper service outside the US? {{EDITED FOR LANGUAGE}} Easy, like that people will know that this is not the bomb diggity one finds in the states and they will not buy it.

I hope Europeans think twice before get an Asus product.

 

I'm not taking sides, I'm stating facts. They should provide the same level of service, but the sad truth is that they don't.

This discussion was held many times in the past (one of the main places where it's been held is the "ASUS Quality: Below Expectations?" thread, linked from the Info Booth). Therefore, it is now the time that we close the discussion about it here, and start discussing the U6Sg again. We can continue the ASUS support discussion on the other thread, if necessary. Thanks.

 

Just to keep you you guys informed:
It seems that my HDD (i think it was the Hitachi 250 GB drive) also failed a week ago. So everyone out there should take care and do backups frequently!! My Laptop wasn´t in use "outdoors" and the error occured on my desk so i´m thinking of either an Hitachi-drive-problem or maybe a problem of too much heat?!

I am so lucky to have done a backup only days before my drive wasn´t recognised anymore… So everything should be allright if Vista´s "complete Backup" does it´s job. (BTW: Does the Vista-Backup restore all data including registry, drivers and apps? Or do I have to reinstall everything?)

The service in Germany (letmerepair) is nothing to complain about so far: They have a service-hotline without extra fee´s and the guys on the phone were super-friendly and professional.
The pickup was fast and the repair itself will (hopefully-I am still waiting) take 2 working days.
Keep your fingers crossed for me

Greetz

Michael

 

So you had Hitachi and it failed? I thought only Seagate fails in this model...

 

Oh for goodness' sake.....

Hard drives fail sometimes. It's not because of a problem or conflict with the system the piece is installed into, they just stop working - happens in all formfactors, 3.5 included too. Could be manufacturing error, could be something else, but it happens to all manufacturers and all models that they make - build anything with moving parts and some units won't work properly off the production line or might fail before the MTBF estimate.

Please, please everyone stop bashing the U6. There are a few units that have had (sometimes serious) issues as reported here, which will unfortunately happen with any product, but overall based on posts in this thread and around the forum the U6 appears to be a good model with many satisfied owners.

And it looks like Asus might actually give this one a Montevina refresh, unlike my unrequited U3......