asus tech support...hmm...

well, my w3j still has no progress, even though i sent it a week ago...it says it was recieved today, 2 hours ago, so maybe they havent processed it yet, but im just getting really antsy as i neeeeeed my notebook back, and im getting severely nervous at the prospects of them saying it is my fault...this is just based off of the fact that my calls to tech support have been less than encouraging...

understanding that the operators have little grasp of the english language due to asus being a taiwanese company, i am not completely upset about that (dell, my former provider, outsourced like it was their job) but the operators dont seem to care...i.e., i read my rma # and the guy, with zero hesitation, responded "no, havent recieved it yet, bye!" and hung up...this with my confirmation that they have definitely recieved my package from UPS...

also, when i first called for an RMA, they had me give my contact info and they said they "would call me back"....which took about 3.5 hours, which kinda sucked...albeit, when they did call me back, i got a tech with much better english which was a little easier for me, but he still didnt seem to understand 100% what i was trying to tell him was happening (its simple, my video just wont work! everything else does. has potential to short-out when it is tilted or moved!) needless to say, i am just anxious...bah......just thought i'd vent...anyone else share asus tech support experiences similar? things turn out okay? im on my knees praying...
.cosmo

 

I've dealt with Albert for coming up on 6 years now..... he's their head tech in the US. Their people are certainly competent, and certainly not outsourced - but their US office has like 4-5 techs dedicated to their notebooks.... it's not a lot, but then again they don't have a lot of problems.

... first and foremost, to work at Asus, you need to be fluent in chinese...... Now their employees in the states are also fluent in english, but to get someon without an accent is very hard...... Basically, you're looking for someone who was born in the US to Taiwanese parents..... that's you're best shot at having the perfect person to converse with.... but it certainly can't be the rule at these places.... call and ask for Albert and he'll be sure to help you.

 

Hmm.. interesting... when I tried calling ASUS and couldn't get an issue resolved, I emailed tech support back, and the default answer was... talk to Albert at the 1-800 number.

He can't possibly be the same Albert right? It'd be a pain to be head of US techs and have to handle ALL escalated issues (shouldn't they have tiered support or something?).

(My experience with their support is detailed in my A8Jm review)

 

... yeah, there's only one Albert.... Really they do send the easy questions to the other people first.... I can tell you that right off the bat... but they don't get a lot of calls.... because there just aren't a lot of issues..... so maybe when they start making crap - they'll outsource their support or have more of a teired things going on.... but right now they don't need it.

 

okay, so i just called again (john, the only operator they seem to have at tech support, must really be getting tired of me).

anyway, i think... think things may be okay. upon getting through, i gave my RMA and john was like "you sent it in two weeks ago?" i was both angry and confused, because it sounded like i was going to be told they hadnt recieved it yet--which was especially weird because i never said anything about sending it in two weeks ago, and it had only been one week...but that's neither here nor there...so i said, "UPS tracked it, and it said that it was delivered yesterday" and miraculously he was like "Yes, we recieved it yesterday." Needless to say, I was confused. So I asked what was happening, and he said "It's in repairs, we will send it back to you in a week." Jeez...

so anyway, what i'm saying is, unless john was just saying that to get me to stop calling, and they arent REPAIRING it as much as they are PROBING IT to pin the blame on me, i should be golden. my good faith in humanity in tact, i will choose the former as my mindset...but still, another week without my lappy?

they might as well gift wrap it and send it back for my birthday...in august.

.cosmo

 

Hopefully everthing works out for you cos, that "good faith in humanity" is a ***** to lose and nice to be reassured of when they actually do pull through.

 

okay, so this is starting to get a little ridiculous...

today marks the two week anniversary of my w3j being boxed up and shipped to CA. i understand, i was cheap in selecting ground shipping (as i could not afford $100 two day shipping, etc.) and being on the east coast, that is a pretty far distance...

however, that also means that they've had their mitts on my w3j for one full week now, to this hour...i gave them the benefit of the doubt and called them the exact hour they recieved it, only one week later, just so i could say that i waited a full week....

but i digress, so i called them, and what did they say? "oh, your computer is going through testing right now to see what is wrong with it." what the heck has it been doing there for a full week if they havent even tested it yet?? i understand that there arent a million people working there, but i also understand that they have a low rate of failure, so i dont think there is an adequate excuse for this type of negligence...so upon saying "oh...so im probably not going to get it back anytime soon." i got a cheery response of "yeah."

so if this turns out to be no fault of my own, and they are just sitting on their hands watching my computer grow rust, i would hope they would just suck it up and replace mine with one of the refreshes coming in to pay me back for the sloth work they've been giving me...compacted by the fact that they said "we're repairing it now!" last week, and now i get this...

overall, my experience with asus tech support has been an uphill battle, and i'm about to collapse and roll all the way back down...just a warning, do not mess up your computer, or you're in for a healthy dose of the waiting game...

im so depressed right now due to how busy i am, this is just absolutely unneccesary...

.cosmo

 

Sorry to hear your bad experience.. Yea.. you should ask if you could get the refresh instead to compensate for your troubles. It wouldn't hurt to try. Goodluck!

 

Cosmo,

Are you dealing with Albert or no? It doesn't sound like a responce I would expect from him, honestly........ maybe I can see what's going on for you and see if there's anything I can do. I do know that in many situations, because of the low failure rate, they want and need to test systems out for a long period of time just to make sure they've found the problem or that the problem doesn't exist...... this is something Taiwan is forcing them to do now because apparently Taiwan has gotten back parts that actually work..... or at least a certain percentage above what they expect.....

 

What reseller did you buy the W3J from? Maybe you can nicely ask them to give Asus a little push for you. Perhaps Asus tech support will respond better to someone they've known and worked with for years.

A few resellers offer the option to upgrade certain components in Ensemble machines upon purchase, and they state that this will void your Asus global warranty, and force all warranty issues to be handled directly by the reseller. This seems like an appealing option, considering how great of a reputation some of the resellers have.

 

justin,

no, i am not dealing with albert, as i am a little introverted and will only speak up electronically (via this post)

if it would be at all possible for you to help me out, that would be excellent, but it seems to be the case that im just destined to be screwed...

anyhow...thanks for the support, everyone.

.cosmo

 

Cosmo,

I know I told you a week ago that you should call up and talk to Albert.... I didn't do that for my health. I was trying to help and hoenstly the only thing that irks me is when someone talks about a problem and then gets help or a suggestion... but never does anything about it... and keeps complaining. Now, you're far from that person..... if you were around the forum longer, you'd see those people and they should piss off just about everyone........

But in your case, you have to remember that someone will read your post and assume Asus' support is horrible and go get another notebook. It's not like you have that much pull, but people aren't all the brightest and are certainly lazy... so they read like the top 10 posts of the day and thats it.... So, just remember how that looks.

In other news, I talked to Albert and approached him like you were already talking to him. He looked up your info and said you weren't, but also said that you gave whoever you were talking to three exact problems you were having....... they've tested your system for a week and haven't been able to recreate a single one of them.... that's one big reason why you don't have a notebook back yet....... nothing like you having the problem and they can't recreate it..... and then send it back to you and you have it again. Albert said you should talk to him because without your input on how thigns happened in the first place, it's like shooting in the dark in terms of finding the problem....... call him or I can't feel bad for you anymore: 888-678-3688, '3' - ask for him.

 

justin,

i apologize for my mudslinging towards asus, i'm just going crazy without a computer (i am using my school for computers).

as for them not being able to replicate my problem, i have no idea what they are talking about...minutes before i placed it in the box, i turned it on just to make sure i wasnt crazy...turn it on, blank screen, yet i hear the sound. its not a problem "under certain conditions" as much as it was a problem under all conditions...

quite frankly, i'm baffled...if its running video for them, and not crashing with colors and lights and whatnot under simple running conditions, then i dont know what to say...

maybe i am crazy...anyway, i'll talk to albert my self, and make sure everything's kosher...thanks for the help justin.

.cosmo

 

I totally understand...... I just also know what threads like this does to our sales guys.... we'll get a dozen people in the next couple days who question your exact thread, but will generalize it into "so i hear everyone's having problems with these notebooks and asus isn't doing anything about it".

.. that gets old.. quick.

Well, you don't need to know what they're talking about, only that you can't be there and they aren't seeing the problem. They want to turn things around quickly and yet they have to know what the problem is because they won't just give you a new notebook and find out it was software that you're going to load by yourself anyway...... you need to tell them where and when it's happening.

That's what you need to talk ... physically.. talk to Albert... having both of you on the same page is a lot easier and there are many reasons I suggestted you talk to him in the first place... should help.