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Unjustified ROG Phone 5 Repair Process

Nuggetsu
Star II
Please tell us some basic information before asking for help:
Model Name: Rog Phone 5 (ZS673KS)
Firmware Version: Latest per 3 June 22 (don't know the actual ver num)
Rooted or not: No and never have been.
Frequency of Occurrence: Once
APP Name & APP Version (If your issue relates to the app):
In addition to information above, please also provide as much details as you can, e.g., using scenario, what troubleshooting you've already done, screenshot, etc.
========================================
Hi everyone, new poster here. This is going to be a long post so bear with me.
I commented previously regarding an issue on my unit's speaker issue back in Jan & Feb 2022. (https://zentalk.asus.com/en/discussion/comment/204348).
As the warranty was still in place (exp 11 June 22), the gist of it was that I sent it in to the Malaysian repair center and they swapped out the motherboard and speakers, which essentially fixed the issue. Prior to the first repair, the device did have some scratches on the sides, however I was assured by the service personnel that it wouldn't affect the repairs, so I went ahead and sent it in. Upon getting it back, I was told the motherboard & speaker unit was replaced. However the phone was experiencing some CPU throttling due to overheating (temps raised to 65 cel on Genshin, 45 cel during non-gaming usage), of which I attributed to the SOC (SN888) just doing it's thing.
Usage was minimal, usually just for casual CODM & Genshin due to the heat factor, and I reverted to my Samsung as my daily driver and essentially shelved the phone.
Also to note that besides the phone, I have also purchased the Aero Active cooler 5 & Kunai 3 peripherals, having been bought into the whole mobile gaming ecosystem which at the time I thought was incredibly cool.
About two months prior to the warranty expiry date, upon a casual play-through I noticed that the Aero Active cooler 5 wasn't working when plugged into the bottom port. At first I thought the fan was having issues, however after checking the fan on a friend of mine's unit, the fan was working fine with no issues. The Kunai 3 set was also working fine on both units.
Then the next set of issues appeared, the fingerprint scanner wasn't working at all. The option for fingerprint identification was not even showing under security in settings. Face ID was working fine however. As FP didn't affect my games (was occasionally bothersome to have to type my password in each time when making in app purchases), I just lived with it.
What really broke the camel's back was what came after, where the air triggers stopped functioning at all. This essentially made the phone redundant, as the triggers were the main selling point for getting a gaming phone in the first place, separating gaming phones from the "normies".
With that, I decided I have had enough. I reformatted the phone and sent it in to the same authorized Malaysian repair centre for repairs on the 3rd of June 2022, a few days before expiry. After filling in the form, I removed both the glass protector and the original case, as well as did another reformat in front of the service personnel for good measure. We did a run through and did confirm that the air triggers and fingerprint was not working, however did not test the fan as I hadn't brought it at the time. I told her take my word for it and to check anyway.
On the 13th, after waiting for 10 days, I received a message on Whatsapp from a contact that was presumably from the service centre. I bet anyone could have understood what I felt at the time when I was given a quotation of RM 3140! (~710 USD)
That's about 85% the price of the device when I bought it a year back, so the quotation really bummed me out. Their official reason? Water damage.
whatsapp-image-2022-06-20-at-3-37-37-pm.jpeg
whatsapp-image-2022-06-13-at-8-45-30-pm.jpeg
whatsapp-image-2022-06-13-at-8-45-41-pm.jpeg
*phone number blocked out for obvious reasons
Bear in mind that this is the second time the unit has been opened up, and both times only by authorized service personnel. Obviously I told them I did not agree with their quotation, and asked to speak to a manager (cue the Karen in me), to which I was given their ASUS hotline number. Also asked for proof of before repair inspection when they were opening the device, as my phone was completely at their mercy during the process. None was given.
After which, without a word they cancelled my repair. No calls, no messages telling me that they have done so. It was only when I checked the repair status awhile later that I was greeted with this.
whatsapp-image-2022-06-20-at-3-59-28-pm.jpeg
Repair completed, what a joke.
Mind you, the entirety of the 16 sentence conversation took place over a course of 6 days. After giving a call to their hotline, I was told that the case would be escalated.
However looking at the image and the scenarios surrounding the repair, some curious questions came to mind.
Why did the service person only inform me of the issue 2 days after my warranty conveniently has ended, after having waited for 10 days?
It would make complete sense of procedure to have a record of the device being opened for inspection prior to repairs, as the whole process was behind closed doors and anything could have happened. Not to say I don't trust them, however for such a large corporation you'd expect there to be some proper repair SOP.
And why is it that from the image you can see 9 water damage indicators (litmus papers? idk), with the one turned red between 2 other white unaffected indicators? The area is presumably where the SIM card slot would sit, however no other surrounding areas were evidently affected. Which also begs the question, as there is no issue to my sim card, and only to my fingerprint scanner & air triggers, it isn't justifiable to hang the entirety of the issues presented (air triggers, peripheral slot & fingerprint scanner) on this one dot alone.

The unit was shelved mostly on a rack next to my usual working table without any sim card in it. As a point, one could also say that Malaysia is a humid country, and that the humidity in the air could have easily moistened the indicator closest to an egress (sim card slot).
I believe that this case would be true to almost all ROG phone 5, that due to a single red dot affecting an unrelated area, unknowingly to the users even with an extended warranty and the likes, it's GG for you.
I'm currently waiting for an official response, though I have a sinking feeling that I'm about to be screwed over.
Thanks for reading, will update you guys again.

TL:DR
Air triggers, peripheral port & fingerprint scanner not working. Sent in for warranty claims.
2nd time repair, both times phone was opened by authorized service person.
Waited 10 days to be given quote that was 85% of cost. Reason was water damage.
Another 6 days, check online to see that it case was closed, without being informed.
No proof of record of opening before repair & inspection given when asked, anything could have happened.
Red indicator not in affected area (sim card), with other nearby surrounding water indicators white.
Seems to be GG for the consumer.


3 REPLIES 3

Nuggetsu
Star II
Update: As expected, ASUS is standing firm on the matter.
I did ask them to clarify if I were to pay for the components that whether there will be any warranty on the changed parts. Their answer is 1 month.
Brand new device - RM 3699 - 1 year warranty
Repaired device - RM 3140 - 1 month warranty.
And also confirmed by their rep, a single red dot found means your warranty is completely gone, regardless whether your warranty is a year, a month or a day from expiry. No proof of inspection will be given.
So to sum up my options:
Pay RM 3140 (85% of the original cost of the phone) and get 1 month warranty for the replaced parts.
Don't pay and get my device back as is.

Will attempt to make my claims in a small case court here, after collecting my device from the repair center.

Karen_ASUS
Rising Star II
Hi Nuggetsu 
Sorry for the late reply. We have sent a direct message to you. Could you provide us with the RMA number and product serial number through the direct message?
Thank you

ASUS_Bot
Rising Star II
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