This is my first (and will be my last) Netgear experience.
My experience can only be explained if Netgear's mantra is "the customer always comes last":
I purchased a CMD31T Cable Modem for around $75 in September 2014 (from Microcenter at their strong recommendation). It failed after 9 months (whereas its Motorola predecessor had still been working faultlessly after 7 years - but I just didn't want to pay the cable company $70 a year anymore). I have seen other postings about these units running extremely hot - that was the case here too. So I'm sure mine is a bad unit (or maybe the product is simply a bad design).
After many wasted hours repeating the installation process - no joy. So I called Netgear support 7/11/15 and, to my utter astonishment, they wanted me to pay $120/year for a year's support before they would try to troubleshoot. Apparently my Netgear support warranty was only 90 days and had expired. When I explained that it was still under their 12 month limited warranty, and I simply wanted my money back, I was told that was not possible until they could prove it was not working - and to provide that proof I had to pay them for $120 worth of support! I was told Netgear would have to access my PC and make changes to it's internal IP settings - no thank you.
So the next morning I bought an Arris Cable Modem which worked straight out of the box (without requiring any changes to my PC settings). It has been perfect so far (not to mention the superb documentation and easy setup which puts the Netgear's in the shade). Heads up Netgear - the Arris runs cool - its housing is riddled with effective cooling holes!! The Arris only cost me approx. half of NetGear's proposed annual support contract fee!
But I still want my money back for the unusable Netgear CMD31T......
So, on 7/21/15 I called NetGear support again and explained the history, again requesting a refund.....
But - this time I was told a refund is out of the question (!!) and that the best I would get is a replacement unit (dubious value to me - but I have lost my money so a new unit is better than my current situation). Again I was told I would have to prove it was faulty - by "running some diagnostics on the Netgear support page and calling back with the outcome". I explained that I have zero desire to unplug my working Arris unit, plug in the bad Netgear one, then have my cable provider temporarily reset their MAC address records just to run diagnostics (and be offline in the mean time - which includes my VOIP phone connection). I was then assured I could just run some diagnostic steps on the support page without connecting to my cable provider (how would that work? - seems unlikely to me). This request (actually "mandate") is onerous to me and I have not had time to get to it until tonight....
Well - I've tried and it's not remotely clear to me where these diagnostic steps are located on the web - I was told "enter the model # and they'll be right there"!! - but no. I certainly don't want to call Netgear to have it explained - my calls to them have usually involved holds of an hour or so followed by conversations with somewhat rude and pushy people who prioritize selling my something else (that I have zero interest in) rather than listening to me.
If anyone at Netgear tries to track my original issue it may be difficult. I have been forced to change my log in email address for the simple reason that, when I requested a new password, the promised email never arrived (from Netgear). If anyone at Netgear thinks they can help (without forcing me to diagnose a piece of equipment that doesn't work) - then I'll be happy to provide the case ID. If Netgear cannot help, I feel a very strong consumer responsibility to make sure other potential customers understand that the equipment will likely fail and subsequent "support" will be frustrating and potentially more expensive that the item they purchased!!
If anyone else has good advice - please chip in!
I know I'm not alone with this device (ref matt_rupp's posting on 7/31/15)
I wonder if this problem is so widespread with this unit that Netgear is playing hardball in an effort to avoid huge warranty costs - unfortunately you can't treat consumers like that these days.
One positive comment - through all this the Netgear router has perforemd well (maybe this is Netgear's core strength - not modems)
