Dear Asus, Please hire a human common sense, thank you!

This Asus "In Search of the Incredible" K555L is my third Asus laptop. It was probably in 2006 when I first bought an Asus. I left it in my office, and was wet the following day as storm water splashed through the glass windows left partially open. I worried it would be the end of the gadget, but the office IT suggested I leave it under sun shine to dry. After a few hours, it is up and running. You've won a loyal customer.

I was even able to sell it 4 years later, still in good condition, as I bought another model at that time: Asus Power Gear 4.
It worked until it blacked out in February this year. When I went to the Metro (as I have become a rural resident since 2010), I was contemplating between a Macbook, and - yes - an Asus. The saleslady (this time I believe I did not use half of my common sense) vetoed my apple choice, and suggested Asus is better, with its 2-year parts and service warranty. I also saw a previous Asus advertisement - or I am not sure anymore but it was my son who showed the video to me- of how sturdy it is and all, the one which was thrown down from up above.

To make it short, I bought another Asus at Market Market!'s Abenson store. In the 31st of January, 2016.

By late May, the rotator portion (the middle bend) started misbehaving - it will not close properly. By June, it cracked. Then, it fell off eventually. With screws falling off also. I travelled 12 hours (daytime) by bus from Vigan to have it checked at Abenson's after they told me to bring it to their store as it was still covered with warranty. Then, when I brought it there, the sales person in-charge said I would need to bring it to MSI-ECS which was 2-commute-rides away from Market! Market!

I called the MSI number they gave and the staff who answered told me that indeed, the flex / rotator problem was still covered and will be repaired for free. In fact, he added that it was a common complaint from Asus K55L customers.

 

After I logged in the details of my product complaint and was talking to the MSI staff, I was informed by the male staff that it would take 3-4 days to diagnose the unit. I told them it does not need diagnosing, as the only problem I had was its rotator / flex cap, and showed them it was broken. It cannot be done without the total diagnosis, he replied. Then, he told me that it will probably take 3 weeks to have the material replaced.

I tried to absorb the information and told them, it was fine with me, I will just return when the replacement is already sent by Asus main. Then, they said I would need to leave to them my notebook... I explained my predicament, that my laptop is the gadget of my entire livelihood, and that I cannot do without it.

They said it was SOP. Standard operational procedure.

I suggested that they expplain it to their human counterparts at Asus. "I am sure you are dealing with humans."

"It cannot be," the female staff said. "They require that the unit be here when the replacement is requested."

"You can make the request now, that the unit is here," I said.

"No, the unit has to be here when the replacement is delivered," she replied.

"Are you trying to discourage me to avail of the free warranty?" I asked.

The lady just kept repeating it was the standard procedure.

"When I called, your staff said that this is already a common problem, I am sure that since you are dealing with digital technology, you have an idea of how many Asus K555L you were able to sell, and with the knowledge that this rotator cap is problematic, you should have at least made an estimate and requested for stock of that rotator cap in order to streamline your service. And now, you are telling me you have to detain my source of livelihood for 3 weeks? What am I supposed to do then during that 3 weeks? SUggest this to your boss, or the humans you deal with at Aus," I said.

She only gave me the Asus number. No human contacts, just a phone number. 

Ergo, will I have to repeat the same stories again and again? Humans - well, the ones with common sense intelligence, will know how to shorten and make things a lot easier than this. It's like calling any other customer service hotline of main brands. You get passed on to different robotic humans because AFTER they get your personal details, they'll only tell you the person in-charge is in another local number or different department, or any other different station in life that I need to be passed on, and on, and on.

I hate digital. We start to act like robots are our bosses. I hope I am wrong that the Asus manpower lacks human brains and human common sense. Otherwise, I would need to reconsider my laptop brand, very badly. Maybe, we need a NEW human relations, and customer service system.

Update: September 12, 2016

After contacting Asus through their website via email, I was able to present my case, and the CSR told me to go ahead and negotiate with the service center branch. The service center confirmed that instead of the 3 weeks time of detaining the unit, they now can "rush" diagnosis of the unit within one day, and they can now process ordering replacement of parts even if the unit will be brought out by the customer. I am then asked to simply return the unit once a replacement part has arrived. 

This is a lot of improvement.

Thank you, Asus for returning humans in your system.