ASUS now asks for feedback from anyone who unfairly denied a warranty repair or charged for unnecessary services. They've set up a new email address for this purpose. ASUS staff will handle these disputes directly instead of third-party support agents.
The company is also saying sorry for any past poor service. "We're very sorry to anyone who has had a negative experience with our service team. We appreciate your feedback and giving us a chance to make amends."
The issue began five weeks ago when Gamers Nexus, in four videos, reported a joystick problem in a video dated 10 May. They were incorrectly informed that the damage was not covered by the warranty, which led to an additional $20 shipping fee for the repair.
The situation escalated when ASUS claimed that the LCD needed replacing despite the joystick being covered by their policy, as stated in the video.
It also pointed out that ASUS did not address the original joystick issue but instead focused on "only that thing that they had decided to find" — and mentioned "liquid damage" without any prior discussion.
The total repair cost was quoted at $191.47, with ASUS warning that the device would be returned unrepaired and possibly disassembled if not paid. ASUS included some legal terms stating that the out-of-warranty repair fee is non-refundable and does not ensure that repairs will be completed.
Despite agreeing later to a free "partial" repair, Gamers Nexus received another email threatening service cancellation unless they contacted "Invoice Quotation Support" immediately.
The video creators stood their ground, and eventually, the joystick was fixed for free. However, "It felt like ASUS tried to scam us."
A second video documented ASUS's reply, where they claimed they were only listing "available" repairs and promised future changes in communication and policy regarding unrequested repairs.
In a fourth video by Gamers Nexus, they confronted ASUS officials at Computex, leading to ASUS announcing promised improvements.
ASUS said it has formed a Task Force to review past negative customer surveys to resolve issues. This comes after warnings that government agencies were monitoring ASUS's warranty practices.
ASUS has also stated that their repair centres can no longer claim "customer-induced damage," which should reduce wrongful rejections of warranty claims.
A new support centre in the US will offer customers a choice between refurbished parts or longer repair times.
Gamers Nexus has mentioned that they have devices under fake names at ASUS repair centres and will monitor them over the next 6-12 months to ensure that these improvements last.
Lastly, Gamers Nexus mentioned that after over a year of denial, ASUS will make an official statement next week about failures in the microSD card reader on their ROG Ally gaming console.