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Tell HN: Asus, good hardware, horrible customer service

5 points by 999900000999 ↗ HN
Hi HN.

I had the adventure of pre-ordering an Asus Laptop. https://www.asus.com/us/laptops/for-home/vivobook/asus-vivobook-s-14-oled-m5406/

I found a 50$ off promocode, and placed my order. About 2 weeks later I'm told my order needs to be canceled due to an error on their end. No problem, I'll just order it again.

The promo code no longer works, customer service chat assures me I can just ask them to apply it after I order it. Cool, I'm then told the code is no longer valid. I email their "CEO Office" and after 2 weeks their still "working on it". Compared to HP where I was able to haggle a discount in customer service chat, and then was offered a significant discount when they couldn't cancel an order I placed.

The actual laptop is very well built and fast, but I'm worried if I ever have an issue with it I'll have a horrible time getting it fixed. I'm not upset enough to send it back( mainly since I'd have to wait for the other OEMs to release a AMD 300 series laptop), but I will never buy another laptop from this brand.

At a point it's not even about the money, it's just a really janky bait and switch to sell a product with a discount, cancel the order and lie about being able to apply it later.

18 comments

[ 3.9 ms ] story [ 56.3 ms ] thread
alecsm
This is true for most brands. They are too big to care, it won't affect business.

That's why my next laptop will be from a smaller brand that I know it has a good customer support.

999900000999
I mentioned I had a really good experience with HP.

Even Lenovo offered me customized discounts when I asked( I really dislike how everything is constantly 50% off though).

Ekaros
I just hope Lenovo fixed their advertising spam. I love getting to see their discounts of 1 cent on 29€ sleeve. Or 0 discount, with old price overlined and new price being exactly the same...
alecsm
Well, I had a good experience with Acer 10 years ago but everybody else I know who had a problem with their Acer laptop can't say the same.

Customer support for these brands is a gamble that mostly doesn't go well.

is_true
The good thing about Asus is that probably you won't need to contact support ever again.
throwaway019254
Because if it breaks, it will break for good?

And exactly one week after warranty ends?

is_true
it just doesn't break. Battery replacement from them can be an issue, but where I live no brand sells original batteries. Luckily you can find them on aliexpress
999900000999
The did eventually apply the coupon, but it just feels sloppy.

Overall I'm very happy with my purchase. 1150$ for the laptop and 200$ for a 4TB SSD.

is_true
You should've clarified that in the post
999900000999
They did so after I wrote it. Still took 2 weeks and about a dozen emails
speedgoose
Asus has no spare batteries in stock to fix my laptop, only a few years after its release. A laptop that cooks its battery well done with the intel and nvidia electric heaters. I'm not sure I will order from Asus again soon.
is_true
Aliexpress
speedgoose
Hard pass. I got my share of counterfeit batteries or too many years used batteries coming from China. Not worth the time and the risk.
is_true
Just don't try to buy the cheapest
brudgers
Asus probably gets its batteries from China. If you buy from Amazon, eBay, or “battery-store-dot-com” there’s a good chance they came from AliExpress.
speedgoose
I know. That’s why I contacted ASUS to get the right battery.
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Xen9
Laptops seem to in general be a losers game unless you need lots of compute. I wonder what would be better cheap alternatives.