I have always liked ASUS, and have bought many of their products over the last 10+ years. My impression has always been that they were a quality brand. An impression they have now thoroughly smashed to itty bitty pieces. Here's my story, which consists of two main parts.

Part 1: Quality
I bought a PG279Q monitor from a local internet retailer here in Denmark a few months ago. A very expensive piece of equipment which I was very psyched to be able to afford after some time saving up for it.

When I get it, it has terrible light bleed in the bottom right corner and a dead pixel. I contact the store, but they want me to send it in and wait for them to sort it out. So I try contacting Asus directly and send along some pictures of the problems. They send me a replacement, and my first unit was returned in the same process. Nice service!

The second unit is worse, even more bleed and another dead pixel. I’m crushed. So I contact Asus again, and once again I get a replacement and mine is returned. The third has the exact same problem, worse than the first, but not as bad as the second. I give up and return it after Asus agrees to provide me with my money back. It takes over a month for the refund to be processed all the way back to the store where I bought it, but I finally get my money.

I am severely shocked by the quality issue with these monitors, especially considering what they cost! And reading up on this forum just indicates to me that this is a very big problem. So much for Asus being good quality hardware.

Part 2: Service
A year ago I bought a ROG G20AJ desktop computer, which I was very happy with for the first six months, especially after installing Windows 10 instead of that abysmal Windows 8. However, it started to be unstable. Sometimes, about 1 out 7 times, it would present a blue screen error 0xc0000225 and the message that “Your PC/Device needs to be repaired. A required device isn't connected or can't be accessed.” Only way to get it to boot up was to hit the power button again, wait a few secs and try again. When the error occurs, the SSD disk in the computer was not to be seen in the BIOS, it seems the problem was related to that SSD.

I start a case with Asus, and they provide me with a few things I can try in the BIOS, but the problem persists, and also starts occurring more often. The Asus rep, who has not been particular courteous or service minded, but who has at least tried to help me with a few suggestions, finally suggests we send it in for service. I discuss the warranty with him, as I would like to check myself if it is just a loose cable, but alas, I cannot open the case without voiding the warranty.

I fiddle about Asus’s RMA website for a good while, trying to get it to accept my inputted data. After some trial and error, it finally gets through. I had to cut my problem description in half, due to their RMA form severely limiting the number of characters you can enter. I copy pasted from my original problem description on the case, but had to cut it down a lot due to the limitation. As a precaution, I put all screenshots and the full description on the desktop of a newly created Windows user with the name “ASUS Support” which I also set the machine to autologin to after clearing it of my own data. It’s sent off for service in Sweden.

The unit is returned to me fairly quick. I packaged it very well when I sent it off, but what I get in return is not nearly packaged as well. It seems to have survived the journey though, so I unpack it. The computer itself is VERY dirty, dusty and riddle with smudged black fingerprints. Luckily no scratches or anything else severe, but I spend about 15 minutes cleaning it. I’m glad it got back to me in one piece, as the box looks like it’s been through a war zone.

I boot it up and it boots up in Windows 8.1 just fine. No problem, I can reinstall Windows 10 myself. However, I soon discover that the operating system is installed on the 1 TB harddrive in the system, and the SSD drive is nowhere to be found in either Device Manager or BIOS. So I sent in the system with an unstable SSD and got it back with NO SSD. Fantastic!

I’m a patient man, but after this I am pissed off. So I write Asus a complaint by way of their website, and explain the case in details and how I was returned a more broken product than I sent in for service. I get a snide reply in return, which in no way apologizes or anything like that, but just blatantly blames the whole ordeal on my problem description! I swear to god, I have steam coming out of my ears at this point.

I write an 8 paragraph long mail back (about as long as this forum post), explaining how this can in no way be my fault, and how I would expect just a small amount of courtesy and service mindedness on their part. I just got a short answer that it needs to be sent in for service again. That was the straw that broke this camels back. I am through with Asus. I am never buying one of their products again, and I will never recommend anyone to go near their products when they ask for my advice on buying hardware. I am also dreading what kind of state my computer will be in this time, when I get it back.

I also tried reaching out to the guy working at Asus Nordic (who are behind all my correspondence with Asus) which handled my LCD monitor case, for at least he had some courtesy and seemed very service minded. But I was told he is no longer with Asus. Can’t say that it surprises me that the one guy I had contact with who was decent at his job is now fired or has moved on.

So just let this be a warning to anyone else buying Asus products in the nordic countries of europe. You better pray to god your hardware doesn’t fail you. I was actually considering the PG278Q after my incident with the PG279Q, but before my computer broke. Now I’m going to be avoiding all Asus products like the plague they are.

And to everyone who has read through all that… thank you for listening to my tale of Asus woe. Peace out!