[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] poyz:
RMA - Broken Charger Pin

To the mods: Can the title of this thread be renamed to something useful "15 days later this happens" doesn't cut it.

Similar to the OP, I had the same issue. First and foremost, when I have an original Transformer and when I bought the Prime the first thing I thought was the charger pin looked flimsy and I had to be extra careful with it. I didn't have a keyboard dock with my Prime when I bought it.

Less than 5 days after the return period for my Prime my charger pin broke. Initially I went to the retailer but they said "tough" and told me to take it to ASUS.

I went to the ASUS (Port Melbourne, Australia) and dropped off my Prime and they told me they would send it off to be repair and they would call me when the item was ready for pick up.

After a 7 days I had heard nothing so I decided to call ASUS Australia for a follow up. They gave me a RMA number and the phone number to Dingotech in Sydney who are ASUS' thirdparty for repairing Primes.

I called Dingotech immediately and they told me they hadn't received the item but would call me back later on the day to find out where it was. I waited throughout the day for a return phone call and nothing. I called the next day and spoke to the same person and the good news was they now had my item in their queue. When I asked for a ETA for the repairs she said "look, we have items here that have been waiting a month, we'll get to yours when we can". Great customer service there.

I called Dingotech again after 7 days and they told me they were waiting on the part to arrive and the item would be fixed that day. I was happy to hear this news as I would be getting my <35 day old prime back.

Anyway, a few days past and after trolling through several threads on XDA and Transformer Forums I stumbled upon the RMA Status Enquiry website which gives you a view of which stage your RMA is currently sitting.

I logged in with my RMA number and Serial number and to my suprise found "[WF4] Wait for Customer Confirmation"

I called Dingotech and it seemed to me that their 1800 number had been permanently diverted to voicemail. I then called ASUS and they told me that Dingotech should have called me. Obviously they hadn't so the kind person at ASUS a direct number to Dingotech. I called the number where I was transfered several times (I think Dingotech must have a sister company), eventually I spoke to someone who knew I what I was talking about the I was told they would call me later on the day to give an update. Later that day I did receive a phone call and they told me I would have to pay for the repairs since it was "Customer Induced damage". Riiiiiight. I immediately disputed it. Eventually, they said if I had a problem I would need to speak to ASUS.

So, back on the phone to ASUS, told them what Dingotech have told me and mentioned that I still have the broken plastic that forms part of the charging port sitting at home. I also told them that there is no damage what so ever to the charger. The kind person at ASUS told me to send them an email of the parts I had at home and they would assess it.

I sent off the email that night and first thing in the morning I called ASUS. The same person was still looking at my "incident" and would get back to me later on the day. Later that day I recieved good news and ASUS would repair the damage under warranty.

I tried to call Dingotech after speaking with ASUS just to make sure they're on the same page but I was still getting voicemail on their 1800 number and tie direct number I had was going unanswered. I tried this several times over a period of the week and eventually managed to speak to someone. I lost count how many times and how long.

After finally getting onto someone from Dingotech I was told my item was repaired and would be sent to me that day. I laughed to myself seeing as they don't have my address details. Anyway, I finally got my Prime back and the broken charger port was fixed in the end.

Overall experience

ASUS have been OK to deal with. They could improve upon some things like keeping the customer informed.

Dingotech. Hopeless. ASUS give themselves a bad rep associating with this company. If you live in Australia and your Transformer goes to Dingotech. Be proactive. Call them and keep calling them. I was fed the wrong information several times.