Warning: OCUK RMA / Customer Service

[Dee]

First off, I'm not sure where this should go, but I'm posting here anyway. Secondly, this is being posted for two reasons: to warn others about OCUK's atrocious customer service, and to ask for suggestions of where to go from here with a faulty motherboard.

Put simply, these guys are evil. My girlfriend and I have spent a heck of a lot of money at their shop over the last four years. I also recommended them to various friends who purchased parts and then had me build systems for them. Never again.

The problem started after we applied for an RMA. We were granted an RMA number and were very happy to get this faulty motherboard sent off to them, expecting it to be replaced with a new one. The issue is possibly something to do with the DIMM slot retention clips, as the board will only usually boot if pressure is applied to the clips. I have to push upwards on the lower clip of DIMM slot B2 (it's almost like the RAM isn't held in properly?). This has always been a problem since day one, and it took a number of weeks to figure out. Once it's booted up, it's usually OK for a while, but then randomly the system freezes up. It's not until the side of the case is removed and pressure is applied to the slot clips that it will boot again.

Anyway. The board was posted at the cost of £11 (ParcelFarce 48). We were without a PC for about one week, then I checked for any email on a friend's computer. There was a message from OCUK saying the board was being returned. Sure enough, two days later my faulty board arrived and here it is causing problems again.

Now they want us to send it back for further testing, and each time they do this and fail to find the fault, they charge us £21. So far it's cost £32 for them to tell us there isn't a problem. They are WRONG. This problem is causing some real headaches. After writing to them again and asking for a replacement, they ignore the emails. They will not replace it with a new board, despite it being under warranty. Should we involve trading standards?

PS: It's not RAM related, we tried 3 separate 2GB RAM kits and the same issue exists.

Also, after asking for advice on their official forums the thread was deleted literally within two minutes. Just who do these guys think they are?

[AndrewZorn]

Try an RMA direct through manufacturer?

[neouser]

Send the board directly to asus and explain the problem to them at phone, I am sure they will replace it with a new one.

Also, if they find out the problem, contact the ocuk and ask for a refund

[Scubar]

When dealing with the r*tards that work at OCUK you have to explain it in very simple English. Did you state the exact problem on a note and placed it in with the board ? If not i would highly suggest you do that.

Yes their staff are total noobs who have not got a clue what they are talking about and when you try to tell them they are wrong they will simply not listen.

Its probably best to try a direct RMA with the manufacturer and then bill OCUK for the postage costs and inconveniance.

Having said that i havent had a problem when i have had to RMA stuff in the past. I just know they are t*rds because i have called them with enquiries before and had totally rediculous answers.

[Biker]

+1 for retards...

Phone Asus UK :

0870-120-8340 (09:00-17:00 Mon.~Fri.)

Good luck!

[tiro_uspsss]

send them an email with a link to this thread

[HDCHOPPER]

yet another reason asus looses coustmers
believe me small shope here and we quit using asus for reasons like this
the quality assurance thier has gone downhill for the last 4 years

[Dee]

Thanks for the suggestions. We will contact Asus directly.

Scubar: Yes, a note was sent along with the board (my girlfriend wrote it and taped it to the motherboard box) and it really couldn't have been any more simply explained. As many details as possible weere included and I swear a monkey could have understood it.

By the way, after playing around with the board a little, I find out that it's possibly not the DIMM slot after all, but it's definitely a problem somewhere in that area of the board. If I pull slightly on the 24-pin power cable (so it very slightly bends the board upwards) this allows it too boot. This issue is certainly a strange one. The board is sitting perfectly on all it's risers, but could it be bent? What would cause this? Maybe something isn't making proper contact? Of course, there are so many complicated parts and connections it could be a number of things I guess but I've never experienced anything like this despite building countless systems for other people.

PSU works fine in another system, so I ruled that out. All other hardware has now been tested in friends' systems, in fact, and it seems to work well. Our Asus board is currently running for the last few days but it needs to be wedged underneath (I used a piece of rubber) which slightly lifts the board in the 24-pin / DIMM slot area. If we remove the piece of rubber it freezes but this seems to happen very randomly! Sometimes it works fine for hours, sometimes it happens within minutes. And of course sometimes it won't boot at all. I'm so tired of this now, it's been about 5 or 6 weeks of pissing around.

[GazC]

OCUK are just a bunch of thieves, another dissatisfied customer!

[M31]

I've used OcUK a lot over the years, sometimes they are the first with new hardware in the UK so I use them ... otherwise I'd prefer not to.

I had a problem with parts I ordered for a build about 5 years ago ... I explained the symptoms to them exactly, it could only be the CPU or motherboard, they diagnosed my motherboard was faulty and gave me an RMA (this was on a Friday afternoon) I said but it could be the CPU, they said no, its the Motherboard ... as it was the weekend I could do nothing until Monday, next day I was shopping in Aberdeen and thought I'd buy a different motherboard anyway with the intention of selling the RMA board once it got back from OcUK, took it home and rebuilt only to experience the same problems again ... it was the CPU, so called them and they changed the RMA to the CPU (a P4 3.2 Northwood) but I'd have been charged if I'd sent back the motherboard as requested, really they should have asked for both CPU and board back to be sure ... Dee, if you bought the ram from them too, then they should have asked for the board and ram to be RMA'd, its not as if posting the Ram would have cost anything much more to post back if at all, and this would have resulted in a one turn around solution ... I know you know the Rams OK, but these idiots they employ could have seen it for them selves.

Also I don't think they test properly, many problems are random it could work for hours or days, in this case they should just do the decent thing and replace what the customer asks them to do, its not as if you were wanting your money back, if they think the parts are fine, then so what?

I had one or 2 more slight problems with them after that but have strayed back to using them again because they do have a good range of products and *some* of their parts are are reasonably priced, still wary of them though.

If it is a genuine Asus problem I'd try and get in touch with Asus, but as good as their boards are, I've heard their UK customer support is pretty grim too, check posts on the Custom PC site. Asus are otherwise great boards though.

Hope you get it sorted quickly.

[elite.ire]

Well ive never had a faulty part from ocuk but i dont like them becouse they charge me a flat rate of £22 to ship to ireland, i dont like that one bit, i mean i wanted to buy some cable sleving and it costs £22 to ship to ireland !> yea good one.... it cost me £21 for shipping for my 830 stacker + 850w real power pro for another uk based country, but using the same currier service it costs £22 for cable sleving !?, was totally discusted, and when i complained about it i was told if i dont like it to go else where and i shoulnt complain, ocuk never again.

[M31]

Well ive never had a faulty part from ocuk but i dont like them becouse they charge me a flat rate of £22 to ship to ireland, i dont like that one bit, i mean i wanted to buy some cable sleving and it costs £22 to ship to ireland !> yea good one.... it cost me £21 for shipping for my 830 stacker + 850w real power pro for another uk based country, but using the same currier service it costs £22 for cable sleving !?, was totally discusted, and when i complained about it i was told if i dont like it to go else where and i shoulnt complain, ocuk never again.

Is that Northern Ireland or Southern? cant complain about their postal rates here to the Highlands of Scotland, its the same as elsewhere on the mainland, but some company's like Dabs (stopped using them) do put on a premium postage charge for my post code.

[Dee]

I've used OcUK a lot over the years, sometimes they are the first with new hardware in the UK so I use them ... otherwise I'd prefer not to.

I had a problem with parts I ordered for a build about 5 years ago ... I explained the symptoms to them exactly, it could only be the CPU or motherboard, they diagnosed my motherboard was faulty and gave me an RMA (this was on a Friday afternoon) I said but it could be the CPU, they said no, its the Motherboard ... as it was the weekend I could do nothing until Monday, next day I was shopping in Aberdeen and thought I'd buy a different motherboard anyway with the intention of selling the RMA board once it got back from OcUK, took it home and rebuilt only to experience the same problems again ... it was the CPU, so called them and they changed the RMA to the CPU (a P4 3.2 Northwood) but I'd have been charged if I'd sent back the motherboard as requested, really they should have asked for both CPU and board back to be sure ... Dee, if you bought the ram from them too, then they should have asked for the board and ram to be RMA'd, its not as if posting the Ram would have cost anything much more to post back if at all, and this would have resulted in a one turn around solution ... I know you know the Rams OK, but these idiots they employ could have seen it for them selves.

Also I don't think they test properly, many problems are random it could work for hours or days, in this case they should just do the decent thing and replace what the customer asks them to do, its not as if you were wanting your money back, if they think the parts are fine, then so what?

I had one or 2 more slight problems with them after that but have strayed back to using them again because they do have a good range of products and *some* of their parts are are reasonably priced, still wary of them though.

If it is a genuine Asus problem I'd try and get in touch with Asus, but as good as their boards are, I've heard their UK customer support is pretty grim too, check posts on the Custom PC site. Asus are otherwise great boards though.

Hope you get it sorted quickly.

Thanks man, I appreciate the moral support.

To OCUK's credit, they did offer to test the board and the memory, but the memory I'm using now wasn't bought from there, it's a brand new CellShock kit I'm using at the moment which came from MemoryC (a very good online shop, apparently with excellent customer service, might I add!). As I've tried 3 different RAM kits so far I've pretty much ruled it out because the problem exists with every one of them. After they wrote and asked to send the board and RAM along for further testing, we just said flat-out no. There is no way we are prepared to spend even more money on postage to get it there, ridiculous testing fees, postage for them to send it back plus tax, just to be told there's no fault again. It's ludicrous. I refuse to do that because it's like giving in to them. I won't be told by someone who doesn't have to live with this issue that there's no fault, when clearly there is, albeit an issue that can occasionally be hard to identify. We told them we want a replacement board, no compromise. Of course, since then, OCUK haven't replied.

You are right -- sometimes a fault cannot be found with a few quick tests, it only manifests after hours, or even days. That's exactly what's happening here. Once the board has booted, it can often go for quite a while. It's funny to think it's relying on the small piece of rubber I wedged under it though! If I remove it, the board craps after a while. I wish OCUK would stop quibbling about it and try to trust their long-term customers a bit more. It's not like I'm a complete PC building n00b, honestly I could build systems in my sleep.

[Ket]

Sounds like some traces on the PCB could be damaged. You are not responsible for postage costs either. Statutory rights are very clear on this, if the supplier ships a faulty product they are responsible for any and all postage fees. I'm pretty sure OCUK can't charge for this "testing" they do either, their the first etailer I've ever heard of that effectively charge you for an RMA thats within warrenty. Get in touch with trading standards going into all the detail you can, seriously, you don't want to use asus to RMA your board.. their terrible.

[Dee]

Sounds like some traces on the PCB could be damaged. You are not responsible for postage costs either. Statutory rights are very clear on this, if the supplier ships a faulty product they are responsible for any and all postage fees. I'm pretty sure OCUK can't charge for this "testing" they do either, their the first etailer I've ever heard of that effectively charge you for an RMA thats within warrenty. Get in touch with trading standards going into all the detail you can, seriously, you don't want to use asus to RMA your board.. their terrible.

Thanks Ket.

Still no reply from OCUK today. I think I have no choice but to contact Trading Standards.

[naokaji]

I've had some horrible experience as well with ocuk, they refused to answer a stock query over several days (not even a we cant tell you), bought from somewhere else, then they ripped me off on shipping costs (2x thermalright hr-07, charged me package, sent as letter) then shipped my blackops with citylink instead of royalmail without a warning (royalmail is across the street, citylink depot far away in case you wondering why I insist on rm).

Switched to Tekheads since then, no issues there.

[Dee]

Sorry to hear about that. I don't blame you for switching to another e-tailer. I am honestly shocked at OCUK, they're nothing but crooks.

[Jamesrt2004]

I had trouble with them before but luckily my uncle deals in IT etc, so I got him to write out to problem on a good looking invoice and said it was wrong etc...

then they couldn't say there was a fault lol


have used ebuyer to RMA parts before like a couple things I broke and just said was broken when it arrived lol and there like w/e yea have a new one lol

[Chris_redfield]

I had an Asus motherboard go on me within warranty. However Asus would refuse to look at the board and instead wanted me to send it through my original etailer. After spending two weeks spending emails backwards and forwards with Asus they wouldn't take it directly from me, which I thought was going to be a massive problem as I bought it as part of a pre-built system which itself as a whole was out of warranty with the people who built it.

Thankfully though they were willing to take the board and sort it out for me and I eventually got the motherboard back working though not without to additional dings in the heatpipe which I'm attributing to Royal Mail, it took me so long to get the board back I didn't care as long as it was working. I just wanted it for a media centre anyway.

Its put me off buying from Asus though, I don't like a company who will refuse to take a component an instead want you to ship it through the original etailer. It just takes longer to get sorted. What I suspect is happening for you is that OcUK are getting the board. Testing it, it boots into windows. They deem it fine, shut it down and pack it straight back off to you because they dont want to send off a perfectly fine board to Asus. They have also probably so used to noob builders sending back stuff that isn't fualty at all. Which is a pain because it means they never give you the benefit of the doubt and actually look for something that might not be immediately apparent.

I'm sorry your having problems I hope you sort it out soon.

[Dee]

Thanks.

I just contacted Trading Standards, so now I'll wait for a reply and see what kind of advice they can give me.

[Scubar]

Hopefully that will help OCUK get their lives sorted out.

[tekjunkie]

Are you having problems with the board inside or outside the case(on th bench so to speak). I have same kind of very wierd problem like this which is driving me nuts. The board sometimes inside the case would not for some reason power up. The lights go on, the fan spins for a second and the board shuts itself down after that.I keep trying after clearing CMOS and sometimes it works and the board works fine for days after that and suddenly BAM I have the same problem once I shutdown and try to turn it on again. But outside the case it works like a charm. So I have decided to keep my system on 24/7 and suck up the power bill lol. So try it running outside the case. Maybe, the board is flexing too much and it's creating a short of some sort with the board touching the case

[SP1]

If you paid by credit card give your credit card issuer a ring.
It will probably be the quickest way to resolve this.

[Dee]

Are you having problems with the board inside or outside the case(on th bench so to speak). I have same kind of very wierd problem like this which is driving me nuts. The board sometimes inside the case would not for some reason power up. The lights go on, the fan spins for a second and the board shuts itself down after that.I keep trying after clearing CMOS and sometimes it works and the board works fine for days after that and suddenly BAM I have the same problem once I shutdown and try to turn it on again. But outside the case it works like a charm. So I have decided to keep my system on 24/7 and suck up the power bill lol. So try it running outside the case. Maybe, the board is flexing too much and it's creating a short of some sort with the board touching the case

I haven't tried it outside the case, nope. Maybe I'll get around to doing that at some point soon. Definitely worth a try, but on the other hand it doesn't seem to be flexing enough to cause a short? Still, you might be correct.

If you paid by credit card give your credit card issuer a ring.
It will probably be the quickest way to resolve this.

Good point, never thought of that.

[SP1]

Give your credit card card issuer a ring and see what they say.
Half a guess, but what could happen is you send the motherboard to your credit card issuer and
they give you your money back. Then its up to the credit card company to get their money back.