Question A fan failed on my ASUS DUAL 3060 Ti, is there someone at ASUS I can contact to just get a replacement fan, instead of bothering w/RMA & shipping?

[critofur]

Hello, as the title states I am wondering whom I could speak to at ASUS to save them and me time and money by not going through the regular RMA process of shipping my card to them, having them replace the fan, and then them shipping the card back to me. Just shipping me a little fan saves us both time and money, but, I don't think that's their standard operating procedure, so, I would need to contact the right person there who could make the call to determine that they trust their customer to replace the fan themselves, and, critically: ship one too me.

I've been working on computer hardware since around 1986, and, even had a job repairing laptops for a while, so, a simple GPU fan replacement is something I could practically do in my sleep...

 

[dotas1]

I don't think there is anyone in Asus that can simply allow a fan being replaced by the owner and keep the warranty intact.
They have a policy and it's their products to be repaired by them or by authorized shops.
Your experience does not play a role for their policy.

If you don't care about the warranty being lost, then MAYBE someone would allow it. Otherwise, very slim chances (next to none).

 

[critofur]

That's unfortunate. But, FWIW: it would be illegal (at least here in the USA) for them to void the warranty because a customer replaced a fan, unless they could prove that what the customer did caused a problem.

 

[dotas1]

The warranty does changes from region to region. In EU ASUS is very strict and tries to void warranty or not help with faulty products for various reasons.

For example they refuse to honor warranty if the product was purchased in France and you ask to be repaired in Italy that you are currently living. They ask you to ship it back to the store you bought it from or to ASUS in France.
(The countries are an example, I generally mean between two European Union countries).

 

[Ralston18]

Not a lawyer (full disclosure) but I doubt that "illegal" applies.

Reference:

https://www.asus.com/support/images/upload/warranty/us_Graphic Card.pdf

Overall the document is quite clear and readable.

And the last full paragraph on Page 3 pretty much sums it all up....

Seconding @dotas1. However, instead of "next to none" I would say "none".

[Also interesting is Item 5 (m) on Page 5 - something that the bitcoin miners have probably not noted.]

And if Asus does anything different or otherwise just for one customer then that might set a precedent that could make it all moot.]

AgaIn, not a lawyer but that warranty looks very tight to me.

 

[critofur]

Not a lawyer (full disclosure) but I doubt that "illegal" applies.
https://www.asus.com/support/images/upload/warranty/us_Graphic Card.pdf
Overall the document is quite clear and readable. [snip...] AgaIn, not a lawyer but that warranty looks very tight to me.

That's not relevant to the reason why I'm saying they'd be breaking the law.

They can try to put whatever words they want to try to deceive the consumer (I don't know whether that part is legal or not) into thinking they'll have the right to deny warranty [if you use a third party part to repair the product] , but the fact is, they don't:

https://www.ftc.gov/business-guidance/blog/2018/04/ftc-staff-sends-warranty-warnings

 

[critofur]

Sadly, I guess I'll have to give up on the idea of Asus themselves sending me the replacement fan.

However, I still do not want to go through the hassle and expense of sending the card in to them so I'm looking into buying a fan myself and installing it myself.

Perhaps if I can't find a reasonably priced fan, I might go ahead and send the card in for RMA, but I really don't want to do that.

 

[DSzymborski]

That's not relevant to the reason why I'm saying they'd be breaking the law.

They can try to put whatever words they want to try to deceive the consumer (I don't know whether that part is legal or not) into thinking they'll have the right to deny warranty [if you use a third party part to repair the product] , but the fact is, they don't:

https://www.ftc.gov/business-guidance/blog/2018/04/ftc-staff-sends-warranty-warnings

What you're saying is highly misleading (and you could have just read your link rather than §§ 2301-2312) . A company can force consumers to use a specific part or service if provided free of charge under the warranty or the warrantor is approved for an FTC waiver. ASUS can absolutely require you to use their service to fix their fan with their part under warranty, so long as they don't charge you for either.

ASUS can not void a warranty for me or a third party doing things such as changing thermal paste, thermal pads, etc. as they do not offer these services for free under their warranty. But they do offer both the physical fan replacement and the labor to replace the fan for free as part of their warranty, so they can void a warranty for that.

 

[DRagor]

That's not relevant to the reason why I'm saying they'd be breaking the law.

They can try to put whatever words they want to try to deceive the consumer (I don't know whether that part is legal or not) into thinking they'll have the right to deny warranty [if you use a third party part to repair the product] , but the fact is, they don't:

https://www.ftc.gov/business-guidance/blog/2018/04/ftc-staff-sends-warranty-warnings

Straight from the linked article:

Companies may, however, disclaim warranty coverage for defects or damage caused by the use of unauthorized parts or service.

You changing fan on your own is use of unauthorized service thus it voids warranty - unless you get permission form ASUS to do that.

 

[Ralston18]

There are a lot of hard working, well meaning people in the FTC and in the government as a whole.

They try to do their job but sometimes all they really can do (generally being out-spent, under-staffed, out-lawyer'd etc..) is just send warnings.

Sometimes just simply "CYA" stuff because nothing else can be done.

But to be fair, companies have to protect themselves and their shareholders. If a customer botches a fan replacement such as you envision, causes a fire, gets hurt, and burns down the house the first thing the customer will try to do is to sue the company.

And bear in mind that so many things are made not to be repairable even if there are apparent workarounds to do so. No guarantees/warranties there.

Also that is a 4 year old link. It is reasonably certain that there have been changes to the warranty laws via legislation and/or all levels of court rulings.

Just my thoughts on the matter.