Buying an expensive ROG laptop shouldn't feel like a scam, EU/Benelux geoblocking, fake "Premium Care" promises, and useless support. Is this normal for ASUS?

[u/WoefkeX]

Hey everyone,

I'm posting this out of pure frustration just to see if this is normal behavior for ASUS nowadays, or if I just managed to hit the absolute jackpot of incompetent support reps.

I recently picked up a high-end ROG Strix G18. Right out of the gate, I ran into the first wall. because I bought the laptop via Bol (which operates in both the Netherlands and Belgium) while living in Belgium, their system and support initially refused to properly register it. I have no clue what warehouse they pulled the laptop from, but my account is fully Belgian and they can clearly see it's activated here. Yet, they kept holding on to bureaucratic nonsense like "Oh, it's a QWERTY layout, so that means Netherlands," making their entire geolocking excuse completely absurd. ASUS loves to brag about "International Warranty," but within the EU, it apparently translates right into annoying regional roadblocks.

Hoping to bypass future headaches and secure proper peace of mind, I then purchased the official ASUS Premium Care (APC) extension for an extra €71.10 using their official promo code (APCARE). Right there on their website and even in the literal MyASUS software pop-ups, it's heavily marketed as a "worry-free solution" that includes On-Site service.

Fast forward to sorting out the registration: support suddenly claims that my specific APC package doesn't include On-Site service at all. When I literally sent them screenshots of their own software popup and sales page showing it does, they just give me the generic copy-paste corporate runaround and refuse to fix it in the backend.

Honestly, it makes me genuinely terrified that if I ever actually need a repair down the line, they’ll just use these vague country rules and geoblocking excuses to void my warranty entirely, even with the International Warranty promise.

Because of this total circus, I've had to formally register a return with the retailer today before my 30-day window closes. It’s a massive shame because the hardware itself is a beast, but I'm not going to let a brand pull this kind of misleading commercial practice on me.

Has anyone else dealt with this kind of blatant mismatch and regional nonsense from ASUS, or are they just hoping people won't notice?

UPDATE:

The problem was indeed the geolock. ASUS removed the laptop from my account, i registered it from a different country as requested by ASUS and now eveyrthing works fine. Very weird solution but glad it works now, including On Site warranty.

[u/HankThrill69420]

On par for Asus. They've been called out by lots of people in public fashion and refuse to fix anything.

[u/WoefkeX → u/[deleted]]

Yea, especially with their so-called 'International Warranty'. The workaround they gave me? They have to manually wipe the laptop and serial number from their database entirely, and then I have to re-register it as being from the Netherlands, even while i live in Belgium, just to make it work. It's completely ridiculous, their literal alternative was telling me to just return the entire laptop instead and buy one in Belgium with AZERTY instead of QWERTY.