Problems ASUS Nexus 7 Screen Cracking On Its Own.

This is my story of my experience of owning a Nexus 7 tablet made by ASUS.

Before I get into my story, here is a link if you have a problem with ASUS and want to file complaints about them at the Better Business Bureau

My story begins well.  I am a Google fan and have everything connected from my laptop to Android phone and love all the easy syncing between Google products.  So I was excited to buy my very first tablet and decided on the ASUS Nexus 7 seeing as we had two ASUS laptops that work great.  When it arrived, it had no bloatware it was a breeze to set up and even downloaded all of the apps I have on my Android phone automatically.  In short, I loved it.

I used it daily for the next 7 weeks or so, just to read eBooks, check email, etc.  I would leave it on my bedside table and read an eBook before going to sleep.

Then it happened...I picked it up one night and when I powered it up, I noticed there was a little crack in the screen.  When I tried to open an app, the screen would just go crazy and it was unusable.  When I took a closer look, I could see the screen was cracked all the way across the top third of the screen.  Talk about being frustrated.

So I immediately go online and start searching for how to fix a broken Nexus 7 screen and guess what I found?  There were literally hundreds, if not thousands of people who all had the same problem...the screen on their ASUS Nexus 7, just cracked on it's own for no particular reason.  So I dug further and just kept finding lots of forums and web sites where people were complaining that the screen on their ASUS Nexus 7 tablet simply cracked for no reason.

Some said theirs was cracked the next time they looked at it.  Some said theirs cracked when they pressed the "Power On" button.  Others said theirs cracked in front of their eyes as they were using it.

Here's a link to a Google forum where lots of people are complaining about the same things.  Here's another link to a different forum where people are complaining about the same thing.  This web site shares the same problem of a cracked screen.  I could provide tons more links but you can check them easily yourself with a Google search of "Nexus 7 screen crack by itself".

So, I thought with all of these people who's screen had cracked on it's own, surely it would be seen as some sort of design fault and ASUS would cover the repair costs...or maybe they would be forced to do some kind of recall.  Unfortunately, the more I read through the posts of other ASUS Nexus 7 owners with cracked screen, the more it became clear that ASUS were not covering the charges.  I could only find one or two people who had sent theirs back to ASUS and had it repaired under warranty.  The vast majority of them were either told by ASUS that it wasn't covered under warranty or they sent them back to ASUS who then told them they would need to pay for the repairs.

Anyway, my next step was to call ASUS and explain my situation.  My customer service call wasn't a bad experience as it has been with certain other companies, but the bottom line was that the ASUS person said I could send it back to them for repair, but if it was determined that the damage was the fault of the customer, it would NOT be covered under the warranty.  I even told them that I had searched online and found hundreds of others with the same cracked screen problem and said it must be a design flaw but that didn't help.

So I mailed my Nexus 7 back to ASUS with my fingers crossed that they would do the right thing and stand behind their product.  Guess what happened!!  I get an email from them a few days later saying the cracked screen was a customer caused issue and not covered under warranty.  The cost to repair was $141...about half the cost of buying it new.

Obviously I wasn't happy and the time spent trying to argue my case even more with little chance of success seemed futile.  So the end result is that I paid over $250 for an ASUS Nexus 7, used it and loved it for 7 weeks, the screen then cracked on its own and now it's worthless.

So instead, I thought I would share my story and hope that anyone who is thinking of buying a tablet, laptop, etc. will think twice before buying an ASUS product.

As a side note, my wife and I both own and love our ASUS laptops.  My business will be buying two more laptops in the second quarter.  Instead of buying more ASUS laptops, I will now buy another brand.

In my mind it's really simple.  If just the occasional person has a problem with the screen cracking on its own, then they are isolated problems.  But if there are literally hundreds of people complaining about the screen cracking on it's own, then it's a known issue and ASUS should stand behind their product look after their most precious asset...their customers.  Instead, they are screwing their customers by trying to save a few bucks.

I will decline to pay for the repairs so ASUS will ship it back to me.  When I get it back, I will post pictures of the cracked screen.  I will also contact some others with cracked screen and work to get this story out to a wider audience.  ASUS might save a few bucks by refusing to stand behind their product, but when 50,000 view this story, I'm sure it will hurt them more on the balance sheet and reputation.

Remember, if you have the same problem or a different problem with ASUS, here is a link where you can file your complaint at the Better Business Bureau