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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 p...
Not to be confrontational, but you apparently do not understand the facts.
We have 56 units, registered by the employees at the branch locations. We have been refused support on several of these units because names do not match.
I have adopted a strategy to rectify that circumstance – an artifice that should not be necessary but is required because of dumb Netgear business policies. That is why I complained about the Netgear warranty policy – it is indefensible based on any rational business analysis.
If eBay is not a valid reseller, why were 45 of these units allowed to register. Something fishy here for sure – apparently some sellers on eBay are OK.
Refusing support on a used unit is, by most standards not in keeping with good customer relations and the expectations and norm of the other vendors in the industry. It is essentially a ‘gotcha’ technicality.
A buyer should be able to buy products and expect support. Refusing any support is damaging to the brand and not in keeping with good business practice.
The unit we purchased on eBay has been returned because warranty registration was refused. That does not address the issues we have had with the other units.
At the end of the day the Netgear policy is out of step with the rest of the industry.
And that is why I complained.
Original purchaser and purchased from authorised reseller are two separate things. If either test is failed then the warranty is not valid.
Note that the 100 series is a home product so it's intended for home users, so the support team for those may not be so used to users from companies.
If the unit is clearly purchased by the company, for the company and is being used by the company we certainly can have the name changed on the registration for that. IT Managers etc. do change over time.
Any unit that has not been registered before can be registered, unless its on a blacklist of known scrapped units.
However if we request proof of purchase e.g. before any RMAs or if there is some question as to support entitlement, if you haven't bought from an authorised reseller then support will know that you have no warranty.
Actually it is in step with the rest of the industry. There are several reasons why the warranty is only for the original purchaser and only when purchased from an authorised reseller (I mentioned some of them in my post above) and this is standard for these kinds of products. Most of our competitors also have this policy.
mdgm wrote:
Actually it is in step with the rest of the industry.
While the RN100 isn't positioned as a business NAS... A medium sized enterprise evaluates it, finds it cost effective for their situation, and buys a boatload of them... They should have way to get support without jumping through a lot of hoops.
At the end of the day, Bains is pointing out a clear gap that he isn't seeing with any of the other vendors he uses. If Netgear solves that for him (even if your competitors don't) then you get to retain a customer. Once you're on his approved vendor list, additional sales follow over time.I think it would be more constructive if he were offered a suitable contact (via PM) so he can make his case directly to the appropriate managers.
mdgm wrote:
There are several reasons why the warranty is only for the original purchaser and only when purchased from an authorised reseller.
Perhaps. I'd point out that while those reasons might make sense to vendors trying to minimize warranty costs, they don't work from a customer perspective. All the customer sees is the denial of advertised warranty. Arguing that a purchaser ought to have checked the authorised reseller list before buying something is a non-starter. I never do that - with anything. How often do you?
But offering paid support to any owner isn't warranty-related, and Netgear refuses to do that too (on any basis, at any price). And as far as I can see, that's a lose-lose. Owners get frustrated, and buy something else. Netgear walks away from service revenue, and potential follow-on business. This forum offsets that in a few cases, but its not a substitute for paid support.
If someone has a used NAS and is willing to pay for data recovery - why walk away?
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