Chris M. bought an ASUS laptop for $1,800 bucks. It had a stuck pixel — a garish, polygonal barnacle of LCD green which maddeningly drew his eye. But upon contacting ASUS, he was informed that the subpar screen on his $1,800 investment couldn’t be replaced for free. Why? ASUS doesn’t have that deal with Toshiba, the manufacturer of the screen.

Chris’ email tells us many things. It tells us that people in foreign countries with non-American accents simply can not be named “James.” But it also tells us a lot about the wiseness of not buying ASUS laptops, especially when this is the caliber of tech support email you receive:

Hi:
Plz be informed that we don’t have dot free LCD in stock ,so we can’t replace dot free LCd for you ,
Sorry for inconvenience caused!

Thanks.
Sincerely,
James (ACI)

Hi! Plz continue to Chris’ email, after the jump.

Hi Consumerist,

I recently purchased an ASUS W3J laptop for $1,800. Considering ASUS only sells through distributors I was a little hesitant about purchasing online, considering my chances of getting a unit with dead or stuck pixels on the screen.

After waiting about a week for my shipment to arrive, low-and-behold, a stuck pixel was indeed present on my shiny new laptop.

Normal people probably wouldn’t be bothered by this, but I’m a perfectionist type so I was pretty upset. Every time I looked at the screen my eye would immediately be drawn to the constantly green lit pixel.

Having no other choice, I called up ASUS ‘Notebook Tech Support’ to see what they could do. I got a hold of ‘James’, who, I can only theorize, does not use his real name when answering the phone. He had a heavy accent and was difficult to understand, but told me ASUS has no dead/stuck pixel policy for the W3J model I had purchased. I asked if I could pay out of pocket to have the screen replaced, and he instructed me a technician would be in touch with me soon via email to facilitate my request.

After not hearing back from ASUS for two days, I call them up again and receive James again. I tell him my story again and again, he repeats they’ll be in touch with me soon. I hang up, but get the feeling I’m not getting anywhere, so I call the RMA department listed on the ASUS website. A very polite woman answered (who did not have a accent) and I explained to her my problem. She said they do not replace screens because they cannot guarantee all pixels will work (conflicting information from their Notebook Tech Support Department). After inquiring why, she said Toshiba (who is the manufacturer of the screen) would not make the arrangement for the model.

Feeling like I exhausted about every possible avenue for getting my laptop picture perfect, I’ve been forcing myself to live with this single stuck pixel — that is — until today.

Below is the email I just received from an ASUS engineer who James (apparently there is a James in Notebook Support and a James in Repair, maybe all these guys are named James?) said would contact me to replace my screen. I cannot believe how unprofessional this guy sounds. Not only is his writing atrocious, he gives completely different information from the RMA department’s ‘no screen replacement’ stance.

In short, fuck ASUS. I love their motherboards, but I’ll never buy another laptop from them again. For a company of their size to have such conflicting information, such terribly trained employees and service, I’m feeling buyers remorse for not looking into them further before making my purchase decision for a new laptop.

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