I recently sent a Maximus VI Hero in for repair/replacement due to SATA controller issues. I am now being forced to pay $120 for a replacement due to a bent CPU pin. While removing my CPU, I paid extremely close attention during, and afterwards, to ensure every single pin was in its correct place. They were in absolutely pristine condition. I watched the man package the motherboard very carefully at UPS before shipping it. While on the phone with your RMA department earlier, I was treated very disrespectfully, told to "listen" several times while being interrupted. This is not an acceptable way for a loyal 10+ year customer to be treated, and if this is how ASUS does business, I unfortunately will no longer purchase your products. I've been building and repairing my own PC's for many, many years and I paid extremely close attention to its condition before it shipped to the repair center. Please get me in touch with someone who can assist me. I have attached the e-mail I was sent with the photo of my (I suspect) deliberately bent CPU pin, along with my response.

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Dear Bryan,

We are currently processing your case. There are bent pins in the CPU Socket which is Customer Induced Damages and cannot be covered under warranty. we will have to charge $120+tax to proceed with a replacement. If you would like to pay for this, please let me know. I will send you a credit card form to fill out. thank you for your prompt attention and support to ASUS.


Best regards!

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Dear ASUS,

I have been building computers for almost 15 years. Building gaming and workstation PC's with the absolute foremost attention to detail I can muster is something I take immense pride in. I am a sound designer during the day and an avid PC gamer in my free time. I have installed and disassembled more PC components than I am able to recall. Not once in my 15 years experience have I ever bent a single CPU pin while inserting or removing a CPU. In fact, it is extremely unlikely -- nearly impossible -- for only a single pin to be damaged while installing or uninstalling a CPU improperly. The close proximity of these pins to one another almost always causes several pins to bend or damage due to improperly applied stresses. The fact that I see only a single pin out of place tells me this is a deliberate sabotage in order to save ASUS some money by voiding my warranty entirely. This singular pin has clearly been forced in a completely different direction than all the others, and the fact that it does not match the direction I installed or removed the CPU to begin with, is telling enough. To be clear, when I sent this motherboard in to you, I paid extremely close attention to my removal of the CPU, and inspected every single row of those pins with a magnifying glass and an LED lamp to ensure not a single one of them was out of place. This is something that any seasoned and careful PC builder pays attention to when handling a CPU. And unless the man working at UPS decided to disassemble my box after I watched him carefully package it, somehow shove tweezers into that socket and surgically bend that single pin sideways, your claim does not hold water, and is a blatant violation of my warranty for your financial gain.

After submitting my RMA to you, I read online in an absolutely astonishing amount of places that this is in fact a very common problem within ASUS's RMA department. I am absolutely certain that this is common practice for your "technicians", as it ultimately saves your company money by doing this to your customers. I mean, why honour the warranty of your products when you can sabotage it instead, blame the customer and void his/her warranty, and then force them into payment for a new replacement? When I received this motherboard several months ago, it was defective and causing hard drive errors and SATA connection issues. Not a single issue with my CPU was ever experienced. It caused me numerous headaches and an absurd amount of hours into troubleshooting before giving up and realizing there wasn't anything I could do to fix it. As the loyal ASUS customer that I am, I trusted that your RMA department would be able to resolve the problem with my product. I have been purchasing ASUS products for well over 10 years now, and until now, have not had a single issue with them. I've purchased and enjoyed countless video cards, monitors, and motherboards from ASUS. In fact, I go out of my way to recommend ASUS to anyone I know. If this is how your company does business when you receive defective products that will force you to help your customers, I will never purchase another ASUS product again in my life. This is a promise. In fact, I will also be sure to share this unfortunate story in great detail on every major forum on the internet that I am able to. If this is the way you want to do business, count me out of it.

So, as far as I see it, here are your options:

1) Escalate this to someone who will be willing to make an exception and honour my warranty (of which I am entitled to in the first place), and retain a lifelong, loyal customer.

2) Ask me to pay $120 for a replacement due to damages I most certainly did not cause or inflict, and lose me as a lifelong, loyal customer.

In fact, I just recently purchased a 27" VX279Q monitor as well as a GTX 970 STRIX that I would be more than happy to return for another brand. I spend a lot of money every year on ASUS products, and have spent thousands over the years on your brand alone. I update my PC's every 6 months months or so, and if I am going to be treated this way when you provide me with defective hardware, I will instead entrust my hard earned money in one of your competitors that will certainly appreciate my business more.

I already paid $300 retail for a motherboard that has been defective since its purchase date, and if you insist on my warranty being void, keep it. Don't bother sending it back. Throw it out, and count me out.

Sincerely,
Bryan Mason

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Thank you for your time, and I sincerely hope this matter is taken care of more professionally, with utmost respect, and my future loyalty and retention in consideration.

My RMA # is CAA1492470. Here is the image of the damaged/bent CPU pins that I am being blamed for, which I certainly did not play any part in: http://imgur.com/XxYdMyl

Best,
Bryan