NETGEAR warranty / support question #24237597

The credit card details are requested when a replacement product is sent out ahead of receiving the defective product so that a charge can be made if the defective product is not returned within the ten days. I think this charge is the retail value of the product replaced.

Your disks failed over a month apart. Disk 1's reallocated sector count (1326) was huge. If the count increases regularly, rapidly or exceeds 50 then the disk should be replaced.

Thanks very much for the response mdgm.

Your disks failed over a month apart. Disk 1's reallocated sector count (1326) was huge. If the count increases regularly, rapidly or exceeds 50 then the disk should be replaced.

Agreed, I should have perhaps contacted NETGEAR earlier when the first drive started clocking errors and will in future make sure I do if I see a similar scenario taking place.

The credit card details are requested when a replacement product is sent out ahead of receiving the defective product so that a charge can be made if the defective product is not returned within the ten days. I think this charge is the retail value of the product replaced.

As I have already returned one failed disk at my own expense and been sent the wrong replacement drive by NETGEAR, I find it somewhat irksome for the support agent to demand my credit card details as collateral before they will honour the terms of the warranty. It really is very poor customer relations.
Having sent the wrong replacement drive you would think NETGEAR would want to go out of their way to resolve the problems I'm currently experiencing as quickly as possible, rather than further adding to them.

You obviously have access to my case history, as you've quoted details from the logs I sent to NETGEAR support, so perhaps you'll be able to provide me with an answer to a question I've yet to receive a reply to. The 1TB drive I was incorrectly sent to replace the failed 2TB disk showed a manufacture date in 2010, which isn't exactly 'box fresh'. I asked the NETGEAR support agent what the warranty period was on any drives supplied as replacements under warranty and whether it would be the full warranty period as per the manufactures original cover. I.E. if Seagate offered a 3 year or 5 year warranty on a drive model, would the replacement I receive come with that full warranty?

Any information or help you can provide would be greatly appreciated.

Many thanks,
Ian

You can organise with support to send a replacement to them and then we wouldn't need your credit card details, but then you would need to pay for shipping the drives to us.

As a gesture of goodwill due to our mistake we have waived the shipping charge for this advanced RMA, but per our policy we need your credit card details to proceed with this option. You would only be charged if you don't return the drives that have failed.

Per the warranty any disk replacement or chassis replacement may be refurbished. It would be covered by the existing warranty which is expiring soon.

Per the warranty any disk replacement or chassis replacement may be refurbished. It would be covered by the existing warranty which is expiring soon.

So basically you wouldn't honour any warranty on the replacement disks beyond my original warranty date mid January 2015. That's not exactly reassuring. Most suppliers would give at a minimum 90 days cover on a refurbished item they'd supplied. I would have hoped for better from NETGEAR.

And so it continues...
As we didn't seem to be making any progress with my warranty case and to try to get things moving, even meet NETGEAR halfway, I offered to return the second failed drive and the wrong sized replacement disk NETGEAR had sent me, prior to receiving their replacements, therefore negating the need to give out my credit card details as collateral, only to now be told that NETGEAR's records apparently now only show my ReadyNAS Ultra6 as coming "bundled with 1 Hard Drive only", this despite the original order, which NETGEAR have, being for a "Netgear ReadyNAS Ultra 6-Bay 6TB Multimedia Desktop Storage System with iSCSI". As in, supplied with 6TB. Unbelievable. It goes from bad to worse. :x

Considering 6TB disks didn't exist at the time you bought the NAS and I don't think we shipped with the Ultra 6 with a single disk anyway it would have to be multiple disks.

I see support has sent you a reply today. Hopefully it will go smoothly from here.

Do you have a backup of your data?

Hi mdgm,
thanks for the message. I do have backups of most of what's on my Ultra-6 but one of the reasons for having it, and configuring it as X-RAID with redundancy, was to avoid having to do extra backups of movies etc. Seems I may have to do an additional copy of everything that's on there after all.

Last week's message from support was to say they were still waiting for an update from "the appropriate department", so I left it with them over the weekend. On Monday evening I did receive a very positive update from support, saying everything was sorted and two replacement disks were heading my way. Brilliant news. :) These duly arrived today and were actually two Seagate 2TB disks. :D It was all looking good until I checked the firmware revisions... :cry:

So here's a question you may be able to help me with...

NETGEAR support have sent me two Seagate ST2000DL003 with P/N: 9VT166-301 F/W: CC32. When I look on the NETGEAR Support website it states that I should only use drives with “Seagate firmware CC3D or newer”, which according to the disk labels, these aren’t.

I believe that if I install drives that aren't on NETGEAR's approved hardware list, I invalidate any warranty on my NAS, so obviously I was very concerned and decided to have a look on this forum for any comments relating to this issue.

Where I found this thread ( https://www.readynas.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=24&t=63698 ) all about issues with Seagate disks with CC32 Firmware having a bug that causes the drives to hang and drop out of the RAID set, requiring a reboot of the NAS to get them online again.

So, now I really don't want to install these disks in my system. :shock:

I'm running RAIDiator 4.2.27 and wondered what you'd recommend?
Any links to the updated CC3D Firmware in that thread have long expired and I'm not really keen to have to update drives supplied by NETGEAR under warranty as replacements for my failed disks, before I can use them. Frankly I'm very surprised to have been sent disks that don't comply with NETGEAR's own recommended hardware list.

Any help or thoughts on this would be welcome.

If I am reading the thread correctly, your warranty is done next month anyway, so being on the HCL doesn't matter much unless you are purchasing a support contract.

The real issue is whether the drives are safe to put into your array. The thread you linked seems to say that the answer is no.

You can't upgrade the firmware if you are starting from cc32 btw, look at this thread: viewtopic.php?f=24&t=64510

So perhaps recontact support again, and point to the two threads.

Another option is bite the bullet and get your own drives (two WD20EFRX are better drives anyway, and you can get new ones for < $100 each). I never really trust recertified drives.

Thanks for the reply StephenB

The real issue is whether the drives are safe to put into your array. The thread you linked seems to say that the answer is no.

Agreed. I'm really not comfortable putting these disks into my RAID set. I just wonder what NETGEARs 3 year warranty is really worth if that's what they send out to customers.

It just frustrates me as an IT professional to receive this level of service. "The ReadyNAS Ultra is covered by a class-leading 3-year warranty against defects in material and workmanship." Surely that should mean something?

I never really trust recertified drives.

I hear you on that point too. When I put in my warranty request I hadn't realised that's what would be supplied.

Thanks for your recommendation of the WD20EFRX drives. I hear mixed opinions on WD disks but these seem OK. About £72 in the UK, with the WD30EFRX only coming in at £87.
A lot cheaper than the Seagate ST33000650NS I added recently.

I have contacted support again and queried them sending me drives at firmware revision they themselves don't recommend, we'll see what they come back with.

Cheers, Ian

Is it just me or is something fundamentally wrong with NETGEAR support :?

Two disks have just arrived with me this morning but again aren’t listed on the NETGEAR Support website as compatible with the ReadyNAS Ultra 6. This time I have two 2TB Western Digital WD2000FYYZ – 01UL1B1 drives.

According to the NETGEAR list the only compatible 2TB WD drives approved by NETGEAR are as follows: RE4 WD2003FYYS, RE4-GP WD2002FYPS (Drive firmware 4.05G05 or newer must be used), Caviar Black WD2002FAEX , WD RED WD20EFRX .

The website clearly states: WARNING: NETGEAR Technical Support can and will deny support on devices using drives not found on the official compatibility list.

So, the question is, why do I keep receiving drives from NETGEAR, that NETGEAR themselves state are not suitable and in fact not supported in a ReadyNAS Ultra 6 and would invalidate any warranty I have remaining should I use them?

I have now been sent five drives by NETGEAR, none of which are of any use to me :roll:
It's beyond a joke :x