Asus Motherboard Blues

[Tobias]

Recently I bought an Asus P6T WS Pro motherboard, an i7 and other parts from Scan. I had mobo-related problems from the start but Scan have refused to RMA the board because, they say, they found a bent pin on the CPU socket. They have returned the board and sure enough a pin is bent. As I have no idea how this happened and took every precaution I was supposed to, I have emailed them to try to get them to reverse this decision. As I've had no reply to that email I am posting it here.


I am in shock that you are refusing to replace my motherboard. And here's why...

I decided to build a new high-performance machine, having built several PCs successfully before. I ordered as many of the parts from Scan as possible (as I generally do. In the past 6 months I have spent nearly £1500 with you). I put the system together with a friend, slowly and carefully, taking care to avoid static. But from the beginning, things didn't seem quite right. Every time we added an extra piece of hardware, on power-up the diagnostics board would show an "FF" fault. Only clearing CMOS, and in some cases removing the lithium battery and waiting several minutes (a tip we got from the ASUS forum), would clear the fault and allow the system to post. We immediately contacted ASUS support about this. After several communications with them, we received the following message:

Hmm, this is a weird issue.
If the problem still exists, please contact your reseller and let him check the motherboard for you. If it is due to the motherboard fault, the reseller will send it to us through distributor for RMA.

As you can appreciate, removing the board and returning it was not an attractive idea, so we decided to replace the lithium battery to see if that helped. It appeared to, so we completed the system build. For one day it worked fine. Then the next day it refused to post. Looking inside confirmed our worst fears - an "FF" message on the diagnostics board. So we decided to RMA the board. In the circumstances, I couldn't see why this would be refused. But it was.

Your reason for refusing to RMA the board is that there is apparently pin damage on the CPU socket. Why does this not count as a faulty board? Is it because you believe the pin damage to be our fault? If so, how on earth could we have avoided it? We only did as instructed, very carefully lowering the chip into the socket. Is it not possible that this pin damage was already present when we got the board?

The upshot is this. I bought something in good faith and took all the steps I could to install it correctly. But, it doesn't work. So, quite reasonably, I've asked for it to be replaced. That request has been refused on the basis, it seems, that I damaged the item myself. But I don't see how I could have done that when I followed the exact recommended procedure for its installation. And if such damage is really so easy to inflict unwittingly, how can you ever recommend that people attempt self-build projects? Through no fault of my own, it seems, I now have a £200 motherboard that's completely useless. If I knew that this would be your response to a problem, I would NEVER buy another component from you - it would be too much of a lottery.

I'm sure you can understand my bewilderment and ask you to reconsider your refusal of my RMA.

[Gibbo]

Should've paid for Scansure.........

[wesleyaldred]

Tobias

I dont have access to your specific RMA as obviously you have not posted any, but generally speaking any physical damage would void the warranty on the item and testing would not have taken place. The rejection based on a warranty void cannot be overruled unless you purchased the optional SCANSURE insurance and SCANSURE is the exact reason we recommend people attempt self builds under as this insurance would replace the motherbaord in your circumstances.

Again I cannot verify if you did take the insurance or not as I dont have access to your specific information.

Returns Manager

[DavidP]

This all seems a bit ridiculous to me. I've shopped a fair amount with Scan in the past and their service is normally first rate but this whole Scansure business is a complete nonsense. It's clearly been designed so they can AVOID approving RMAs for products that are faulty.

Should've paid for Scansure.........

...errr yeah right, except it's only existed the last few months, what would you do before then exactly? People have managed to build PCs fairly well for all the many years previous to this without having to shell out for a 'service', clearly designed as a means to make money.

How do you know the original poster did not receive this board with a bent pin? Does the fact that he or she spent a load of cash with you mean nothing? Scan is obviously not worried about loosing customers to any of their competitors. There's hardly a lack of them...

[wesleyaldred]

This all seems a bit ridiculous to me. I've shopped a fair amount with Scan in the past and their service is normally first rate but this whole Scansure business is a complete nonsense. It's clearly been designed so they can AVOID approving RMAs for products that are faulty.



...errr yeah right, except it's only existed the last few months, what would you do before then exactly? People have managed to build PCs fairly well for all the many years previous to this without having to shell out for a 'service', clearly designed as a means to make money.

How do you know the original poster did not receive this board with a bent pin? Does the fact that he or she spent a load of cash with you mean nothing? Scan is obviously not worried about loosing customers to any of their competitors. There's hardly a lack of them...

Just to verify it has not been designed to allow Scan to reject RMA's, this situation would have always resulted with a warranty rejection regardless of SCANSURE, we would never of replaced a damaged item under warranty EVER and that is a simple fact i'm afraid.

If we have rejected an item then the case will have been that damage is never reported, as per our Terms & Conditions which have remained the same for the last 7 or so years any damage on receipt MUST be reported within 48 hours.

Whilst you are free to post i'm pretty certain absolutely non of our competitiors would issue a replacement on a damaged item, in fact in not pretty certain I am 100% confident.

The amount of money spent is irrelevent in this case or indeed any case, the SAME rules apply for every single person, we are not biased in ANY WAY to any customer.

[Chris P]

Tobias / DavidP

We now know that Tobias is DavidP and vice versa, 1 posting from work and 1 from home, but you have posted suggesting there are 2 separate points of view from 2 different customer's, this does not seem to be the case and both IP's relate to the same query / customer.

There is nothing really wrong with having more that 1 username but it may become confusing / misleading to other reader's of the forum if you post using differnt username's pretending to be 2 different people.

Best Regards

[Stanman]

This all seems a bit ridiculous to me. I've shopped a fair amount with Scan in the past and their service is normally first rate but this whole Scansure business is a complete nonsense. It's clearly been designed so they can AVOID approving RMAs for products that are faulty.



...errr yeah right, except it's only existed the last few months, what would you do before then exactly? People have managed to build PCs fairly well for all the many years previous to this without having to shell out for a 'service', clearly designed as a means to make money.

How do you know the original poster did not receive this board with a bent pin? Does the fact that he or she spent a load of cash with you mean nothing? Scan is obviously not worried about loosing customers to any of their competitors. There's hardly a lack of them...

THe OP should have checked for damage and reported it before fitting the processor and installing in case. No reflection on the OP but not everyone is honest these days and if people can get away with claiming something was not there fault, than they will.
It would be a different story if straight after delivery he had notified Scan and they were refusing to exchange.

[Tobias]

Let me clarify...
David P and Tobias (me) are different people. David is the friend who helped me build the machine. When things went wrong he made some initial queries on my behalf, including registering me on this forum. He makes a lot of scan orders for his own projects too but this experience has shocked him as much as me.

All I know is that I bought something for over £200, put it together and it doesn't work. But for reasons I don't see how I could have avoided, it's faulty. Apparently If I had spent extra money for Scansure that would have "protected" me. Or rather it would have given me the rights as a customer I should surely enjoy anyway.

Can anyone out there suggest to me what I should do next? Right now I feel a bit shafted.

[Tobias]

Stanman make sthe point that I should have checked for damage first, before attempting any construction:

Firstly, on a motherboard there are many delicate areas that could be vulnerable to damage. Before attempting any construction are we to get out a magnifying glass and inspect EVERY ONE OF THEM in order to secure rights of return? This bent pin is barely visible if you don't know to look for it.

Secondly, supposing I HAD noticed the bent pin, would the situation be different from now? Scan could still say I had bent it.

[Chris P]

Tobias

Had the damage been reported within 48hrs we would have been able to look into this in more detail, IE checking if there was any further damage to the board, which may indicate installation damage. IF there was none then we would refund the price and carriage or replace the goods at no cost to you.

Even though the pins are small it should have been clearly visible to ther naked eye upon installation and if this was not noticed then chances are that the damage was not there upon delivery and occurred during installation. In this case the damage was reported to us after 48hrs, Warranty is void and no right to a replacement.

Had Scansure not been opted out of then the policy purchased would have covered you against this scenario and a replacement sent.

Regards

[Tobias]

So what shall I do? I mean seriously Chris, what would you do?

[Chris P]

Tobias

This is not about me.

All we are able to do for you is return the Motherboard back to you.

Best Regards

[Tobias]

I know it's not about you Chris, and I do appreciate the speed and detail of your responses. I also know that you don't make the rules. But I don't feel satisfied with this outcome and I need, for my basic self-respect, to take the matter further. So please advise me how to do that.

[Gibbo]

I don't think you can do anything further from the sound of it.

I think your only option would be to buy a replacement motherboard.

[Tobias]

From Scan? Seems a bit risky. There could be a tiny tiny thing wrong with it that I won't spot and then it will all be my fault when it doesn't work cos I didn't spot it.

[DavidP]

Well I guess what to do is don't buy anything from Scan.