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Forum Discussion
Warranty registration complaint
Netgear has an adequate warranty for their products but their focus on serial number and providing support to only the original registered person discourages business purchases.
Last year we purchased a number of RN31200 devices and had them drop shipped to branch locations. We had the receiving person set them up initially and during that process it seems that the devices were registered to the employee as a person. Some of these employees are now gone but when we try and get some paid support via a Pay per Incident transaction we are refused because the current employee is considered as not the original purchaser.
The Netgear support personnel look up the serial number and then verify identity. If the current person is different than the ‘registered’ owner then all support is shut down instantly. The policy for refurbished products is in keeping with the industry norms but the exclusion of different individuals in a corporation or valid transfers between individuals is not in keeping with industry practice.
Apple, Microsoft, Western Digital and Synology to mention some vendors do not exclude support for products that have been sold/transferred. This is similar to other vendors such as Ford, General Motors, Whirlpool, etc.
Some method is needed to change the registration process for Netgear products to maintain the support period/opportunity and to some extent the aspects of residual value associated with a Netgear brand product.
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I completely agree with you 100% but unfortunately on this forum 99.9% of the netgear employees/fanbois will come in and tell you that netgear is great and above all else and you should just be happy netgear offers a 5 year warranty (if you can use it.)
Now mdgm may come in and say perhaps if you spend a lot of time proving how you purchased the item and the disconnect between how unclear netgear makes its warranty process apparent (IE it's the first thing that pops up when you turn the box on and go through the wizard, immediately asking you to register!) Doesn't say once you register you and only you are eligible for the 5 year warranty (or if it does it's in small print.)
So realistically when you purchase a netgear box don't take into account the 5 year warranty. Just buy a 2nd hand unit that will provide you with the same level of support (none) but won't come with the huge markup.
If you offer a warranty why not offer it on the product itself? Oh I know, because if ownership transfers then netgear's off the hook! I wonder what they do with people who buy them, register them, then aren't happy with them and send them back to the retailer... does the retailer just eat the cost of the unit?
Thanks for taking the time to comment.
FYI, In the USA, warranty and support costs have to be projected using reasonable assumptions and then entered on the accounting records as a reserve for future costs. European regulations are different as our other countries but they all focus on future costs. The point is if you shed a warranty obligation, you improve your financials.
My personal view of warranty is that it demonstrates the vendor confidence in their product design and longevity. Pretty basic stuff actually.
I am so irritated at this lack of corporate support that we are now starting the process of consolidation of individual records into one corporate record. We took one account and changed it …
First Name is ‘Digital’
Last name is ‘XYZ’
Company name is XYZ Inc.
Email is ‘digital@xyz.com’
Online change worked flawlessly. With this technique apparently we can have the analog of corporate registration for our devices.
We have submitted the first ‘batch’ of changes – involves a call to Customer Support for each device and then they need some internal email exchanges to merge records – old record and associated email address expunged and equipment moved to the master record/name.
I think that warranties should be transferrable (and that paid support should be available to people who buy used ReadyNAS).
Clearly support for business products should not be tied to individuals, but the company.
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