Just here to share my first and bad experience from an ASUS certified service center technician.
Last January 1, 2018, my ASUS K55VD laptop stopped working. Last activity was, I was on BIOS, changing the VRAM settings for my internal GPU from 64MB to 512MB (max - INTEL gpu). Save settings then exit. This is an NVIDIA Optimus laptop.
Laptop restarted with no display anymore. Power LED turns ON, HDD and WiFi turns ON for about 4 seconds then turns OFF. Nothing else happen. No display, no backlight on display. Power LED stays ON. FAN keeps spinning and heat comes out normally from laptop. Followed some guides on the net, remove power, remove battery. Then press power button for several seconds. Reconnect battery and power adapter, still the same problem.
On January 3, I brought the laptop on ASUS Certified Service Center. Technician told me that it would take 3 to 5 days for them to troubleshoot before they'll call me about it's status. After 5 days I haven't received a call. So on the 6th business day, January 10, I called them. Told me that troubleshooting is still on-going and they need some time. That they'll call me later for updates.
On January 12, they called me informing me that they are suspecting that the chipset is defective. They told me that they have ordered chipsets and was supposed to arrive on the next day, Saturday. And if they arrive, they'll have to test it on my laptop by Monday or Tuesday.
On January 17, I called them again and they told me that there's no chipset available for my laptop. They also told me that they are still contacting their other suppliers inquiring for the chipset of my laptop, and still they are waiting for the supplier's reply.
On January 20, they called and told me that there's still no chipset available for my laptop even on their other suppliers. That my only option is to replace the entire motherboard. I asked about the price and warranty of the replacement motherboard, price is approximately Php 10,000 (approximately US$ 191), with only 3 months warranty. I just said I'll need some time to think about it, whether I'll go for motherboard replacement or I'll just purchase a new one. They also told me that while I'm undecided, they'll keep looking for the chipset on my laptop on other sellers.
On January 22, I called them that I have made a decision. That I'll just get my laptop back, unrepaired. I was able to go back to the city and claim my laptop on January 24. When I'm back to the hotel, I checked my laptop, turn it ON but this time, it got a different problem. This time, power LED just turns ON and turns OFF after about 3 seconds. I also opened the laptop and checked the parts, as I have upgraded the laptop before, changing the HDD with an SSD (256GB), and replacing the DVD ROM drive with a HDD Caddy with 1TB HDD. I also upgraded the RAM from 4GB to 8GB (additional 4GB RAM stick). When I opened it, I immediately noticed that it now has only 1 RAM chip instead of 2. Both SSD and HDD are still present though.
I called the service center immediately and told them that there was supposed to have 2 RAM sticks, 2x 4GB RAM sticks. Technician asked me if what kind of RAM stick was it. Was it PCIE, or I forgot the other one he mentioned. Since I don't know what he's talking about, I just told him that by default, there was only 1 RAM 4GB stick. That I bought an additional RAM stick to make it 8GB. He said it must have been misplaced, that he'll need to check it in the box. Told me to go back to the service center.
I did go back to the service center. When I got there, technician said that the RAM stick was indeed misplaced. He said he's sorry, and he asked me if I brought the laptop to a different service center and I said no, I just opened it up to check the parts, specifically my SSD and HDD caddy. He opened up my laptop, insert the 2nd RAM stick and close my laptop. Never have the time to check the newly inserted RAM and there's also no way to test it since my laptop is not repaired.
When I go back home to my province, I decided to use the SSD on the other laptop, use the RAM chips on the other laptop, and use the HDD for DATA on my desktop.
When I try to boot the other laptop with the RAM stick from the ASUS laptop, Windows goes to BSOD. I tried to troubleshoot, plug in 1 RAM stick at a time, and found out that the RAM chip that the technician said that it was misplaced, is not working. Both chips was supposed to be working before my laptop was brought to the service center. I also noticed that the other chip, that the technician said that it was misplaced, contains a warranty sticker from a store that I'm not familiar with. I checked the store name on the internet, it's a store somewhere in Metro Manila. I bought the chip online but I'm sure that it was not from that store. That's where I realize that the second RAM stick that the technician plugged on my laptop was not the one from before. It was a different chip and it was defective.
I bought a new ASUS ROG laptop, GL503VD. Store mentioned about 1 year warranty that whatever happens, I just bring the official receipt with my laptop on ASUS Certified Service Center in the city. They mentioned the service center's name but I told them that whatever happen, I will never go back to that service center again. I better bring it on other service centers and have it repaired instead of going back to that untrustworthy ASUS Certified Service Center, whether it's for warranty purposes or not.
Most of my devices are from ASUS. 1 ASUS Zenfone. 3 ASUS laptops (K43SV, GL503VD & UX305). When the time comes that they will go defects, I will never bring them to that service center.
My friends told me to report it to the company/store. But I don't want to. I don't even want to go back to that store/service center. I'm discouraged to even go back there. I was supposed to buy a new laptop from that store, ASUS GL502VS, but because of the bad experience I have with their technician or service, I don't even want to go back there. I bought a different laptop from a different store. I now have GL503VD (with GTX 1050), instead of GL502VS (with GTX 1070).
