Recently the screen of my Padfone 2 broke and I sent it to Asus for repair. Asus sent me an email asking me to pay up to 278.8 Euros to repair the screen (see breakdown of the costs in the picture). Naturally I find this amount too much for a repair of screen. With that amount or with just a 100 Euro more, I could get a pretty new decent phone. Asus also says that they can't in anyway reduce this amount as my guarantee has expired. Apparently the phone has only 1 year guarantee and mine is 20 months old.
I would like to have advice on what to do next. I am heavily leaning towards rejecting this and having the phone returned to me unrepaired. In which case, I will have to pay what Asus calls "Handling Fee" of 84 Euros. This amount also has to be paid if they repair for me the phone, so either way I have to pay this amount.
What are the alternatives? Is it really worth paying this much for a repair of the screen? Can I buy the screen online and repair it on my own? Are there any other alternatives here?
Reparing my first gen Padfone display cost me abou €200,-... I had no other option since there are no displays available for the A66, but this is different for the Padfone 2, you could've send it to a cheaper "phone repair center", or even do it yourself if your god with small electronics, because these displays can be found on the internet (asusparts.eu)...
Thanks. Where do you think I can get the part then? I googled "A68-1A LCD+FRONT CVR+LED_BD MOD(NEW)" but no results were returned where I could buy something. I guess if I could buy the screen online, I could repair it on my own by following some youtube video. Although Asus will still take away the "Handling fee" of €84 from me. Unbelievable what they charge and how they treat their customers. Looks like I will not buy an Asus product again.
Message was editted at 04:33PM:
OK, I ggogled only "A68-1A LCD+FRONT CVR" and Asusparts came up as the first result but it is charging €219 for it, which is even more expensive than the price they quoted in the email. So maybe I can find it somewhere cheaper. Or something? I am loathe to accept Asus' offer to repair at the cost of nearly €300, is this really worth it?
Hmm... I expected it to be a bit cheaper. I bought several spare parts from asuspart.eu (and so did several forum members). But that'price is too high of course.
If you want a cheaper display it will be an aftermarket display (asusparts.eu hass only original Asus parts).
Just search on eBay for "Padfone a68 lcd", and search world wide, most of them com from China, if you're not sure, you can post the link of the one you would like to buy and I can check for you if it's ok.
Thanks for the reply. Yeah I am searching but so far drawing blank, unable to find anything meaningful. Do you also by any chance know what does "A68-1A LCD+FRONT CVR+LED_BD MOD(NEW)" mean? With the plus signs it seems like there are three parts here?
A68-1A LCD FRONT CVR LED_BD MO
So are these three different parts that I need to buy separately, or is Asus here simply making it look complicated?
Or better still, this? The one before from Alibaba seemed like wholesale stuff but this one from Aliexpress, seems like it is made for consumers (and they also say shipping is free) since you can buy it directly. But I don't know whether you can trust and whether all the parts are there?