To Asus and all owners of a dead Zenfone 8

[leoncarrera]

By now is it clear the Asus Zenfone 8 has a weakness when it comes to its motherboard. Phones are dying in very comparable situations; after installing an update or patch and/ or when charging. The died phones show the same state: a sudden black screen, no response on buttons or screen, sometimes an orange fast blinking LED for about ten seconds when the charger is attached, after which also this stops blinking. Even the life duration of the phones are alike when this happens;  around two years.  Some people are lucky that it can be repaired under warranty, most aren't when warranty has just expired.

All of the phones which were repaired received a new motherboard. So also in here the fix seems comparable. Or at least not repairable with a soldering or partial replacement of other components. There is no wide variety of repairs to be found on ZenTalk on this. 

This issue goes beyond individual or even wrong use, a single faulty or unfortunate phone. All phones that died did this in comparable situations and after comparable life times. There is something wrong with the design or components of the Zenfone 8, or at least a batch, which can't be put on warranty alone when it comes to a repair. 

Asus, please take this matter and your clients serious. At least more then you have proven till this date. Asus can't just address this matter with the initial question if the phone is still under the warranty. Asus does know what the technical issues are with these phones, so please then also take your responsibility. Asus put this premium phone on the market at a premium price. This comes with an expected life duration that goes beyond a hard line of just 24 months. Warranty is for specific situations. These dying Zenfones are not specific. It is a general issue. So please handle it as such.

Can Asus confirm that they will keep addressing issues regarding these dying Zenfones as individual technical matters? And thus with warranty as strict and main component to define if Asus or customers are financially responsible for further action? And if so, what is their response to these resembling dying phones that Asus will keep holding onto this strict warranty duration when it is clear customers can't be held responsible for their broken Zenfones, since they die during normal use or especially after installing new and updated Asus firmware?

To all users of a died Zenfone 8: please add your phone to this thread, when it died (lifetime) and on which occurence. 

Kind regards,
León

[leoncarrera]

Hi @Shan03. Sorry to welcome you to the club. Since you bought it June 22, there's still a month window to have it repaired under warranty. Also under Australian consumer laws. Get the RMA asap. Even when you don't plan to use the Zenfone afterwards. Let them fix it anyway. 

[nvubu]

@Shan03 - mine also bricked when travelling, so I know how you feel. Mine was also purchased in June 2022 and bricked itself in Dec 2023 - at the airport. I had a warrant repair, which took 2 weeks from collection to return. Unfortunately the repair that ASUS makes replaces the motherboard and does not recover any data.

Another poster on here is from Australia and they obtained a full refund under one of your laws - not fit for purpose or similar.

[Falcon_ASUS]

@Shan03 
We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.
Please check the top right corner and kindly share the serial number and details requested in the PM inbox.
Thank you.

[nasch007]

@Falcon_ASUS 

I see your multiple responses and am glad. However, at what point does ASUS identify this as a systemic problem?

Transparency with their customer base is a glaring issue. I'd like to know what caused the error everyone's having. Because I had the same error, I need to know if it has actually been fixed. Otherwise, am I susceptible to the same error and I'm living on borrowed time with this phone?

The lack of communication, and frankly, openness and honesty is like poison to customers and users. Never receiving a straight answer is immeasurably frustrating. For instance, are we able to unlock our bootloaders?

I would expect this kind of deception from for instance a Chinese company. But I thought ASUS being Taiwanese would be more open and forthright.

No answer to this post = never buying another ASUS product ever again (Asrock makes decent motherboards for my upcoming 7700x rebuild).

[leoncarrera]

I've tried to get a respons from Asus multiple times. In this thread and others. Without any result. Asus keeps dodging this very clear question. Even when this growing thread and others made it very clear the build of the ZF8, or at least a batch, is faulty. 

As long as Asus keeps holding on to warranty regarding the issue, one can nothing else say that indeed lacks responsibility towards their customers. But it seems they are okay to disappoint their customers and choose to leave them behind with broken down useless 'premium' phones and loss of data, to never see these customers back again. Why otherwise take on this strategy? It is a chosen way to not address this issue.