After reporting Asus to the EU consumer protection (in October) for asking me $200 to unlock the bootloader of my phone (details here) they were forced to offer a refund for the phone, since an advertised free feature was not only taken away, but now being something I would have to pay $200 to get back after an RMA.
All the documents/communication with Asus proving what I say, will be uploaded here for reference.
Asus said I have to return the phone to get the refund, which is fair enough. Fedex delivered my phone to Asus Holland, 1 month ago (see proof of delivery on January 28). Since then, I haven't gotten ANYTHING from Asus. No refund, no confirmation that they even received my device, no update in the process, not even an estimate.
At point 3 in their own document (ASGL end user compensation instruction letter rev 1 6_clean_final) they clearly state the refund should be given within 30 days of the day the documents were issued. The "Place and issuing date" on the documents is January 10 (marked with yellow), which means they are already 18 days late. At point 4 it says "If you have not received the confirmation and payment within the time mentioned in point 3, please contact your local ASUS Hotline or contact Asus via xx@asus.com" both are non-existent...
My contact for this whole process has been "Christos_P" from Asus support in Greece. The day of the delivery I asked him for an for an estimation about the refund, which he said is "15 days after the case is closed" I thought that "case is closed" meant them receiving the phone, but no. After the 15 days passed, I asked for an update and was informed that my case is not even closed yet and there is no estimation for when that will happen. Which means 30 days after, I am still more than 15 business days away for even getting my refund approved. Since then (Feb 19) I asked twice for an update, which he said we are waiting from "the appropriate department" and the contact information of the person who has my device right now, which he didn't even acknowledge.
I don't think that my case should take more than 1-2 days to be resolved. They got the phone back, check/test it, give the refund, its that simple. After 30 days with no useful communication, it really feels like they have stolen my phone. I thought to report them in the cyber crime police here, but since my phone is in the Netherlands I doubt they can do anything. I will file a new report to the EU consumer protection, but that will probably take many months (again). Any help/suggestions on how to deal with this will be appreciated.
