ASUS EeePC 1000 HA Rubber Stopper Replacement Saga
I love my Asus EeePC 1000HA, it is small compact and has a battery life of around 3 hours with heavy use. I carry it around to all my jobs and use it heavily. Recently I sat it down on a desk an noticed one of the rubber stoppers on the bottom was missing. The netbook now sits awkwardly and will tilt down to the missing rubber stopper. I figured this is probably a common thing to happen and emailed ASUS support to find out if I can get a replacement rubber stopper under warranty or even buy one if I had to.
The next day I received an email back saying I would have to create and RMA and send the unit in for repair! The rubber stopped is nothing more than a piece of rubber with adhesive tape on the back. I wondered, “Why can’t they just mail me a new one and I can stick it on there myself?” I called ASUS tech support to talk to someone in person. The tech support person answered and put me on hold. A bit later he came back and stated that they do not that that part listed in their system so I would have to send the unit to them for repair by creating an RMA. He also explained that after they received the unit a technician would call me and tell me if they determine whether it was customer damage that caused the part to fail or not. I asked him to explain what would be considered customer damage and he couldn’t verify specifically but he said that things like physical damage, water damage, and the like would be customer damage. I asked what happens if I send the unit back and the technician says it is not covered because of physical damage and he told me I would have to pay for the shipping and repair. Keep in mind we are talking about a piece that probably costs about a dollar and would take less than fifty cents to ship in a normal letter envelope.
So at this point I tell the technician my synopsis. “I have a missing rubber stopper, something that shouldn’t cost much at all and would take literally 5 seconds to install, yet I have to send my netbook into repair and possibly pay for shipping both ways and repair if they say it is my fault, and there is no way for me to tell if they will consider it my fault in advance so I am just gambling?”
The technician agreed that it seemed very inconvenient for such a simple piece but that was all he could do. I asked who he would call or email if he were in my position. He told me he would report the complaint to his supervisor and I would get a return call soon.
I find it hard to believe that with the hundreds of thousands of these netbooks they have sold that other people have not had the same rubber part come off. If I can’t get ASUS to send me one free or for a minimal shipping charge I can go to hardware store and make one myself but it won’t be ‘perfect’ like the ones die cut for this machine. Has anyone else had luck getting this part?
Currently I am waiting for a call back from ASUS and will update this article once I get it.
UPDATE: 24 Hours later, still have not heard back.
EDIT: This support issue died. I was never able to replace the plastic stubs and just had to make my own by cutting out the shape from ones I bought at the hardware store…
Article Info
- Author: Brian
- Posted on: Monday July 13, 2009
- Under: Tech-Stories