Steer very clear of this model, and Netgear in general

[jdtart]

What an absolute disaster of an experience!

I had an older router, Nighthawk R8000, that completely died on me after just a couple of years. Against my better judgement, I decided to get the "upgraded" model, Nighthawk R8000P to replace it in July 2020. Big mistake. Everything went fine with setup, and we enjoyed the router with no issues until somewhere around Nov 2020.

Due to COVID-19, my entire family is at home, and all four of us are at home and highly reliant on Internet service for work and school. One day, randomly, the router reset itself to factory settings! It took a long time to figure out what had happened as I couldn't even log into the router for a while. Well, despite the inconvenience and having to use cell phone hotspots for connectivity for a couple of hours, I was able to get the router back to normal. Imagine my surprise when just a few days later, the router reset itself to factory settings again, and I had to go through the same headaches... This time, I decided to check firmware, and it said there was an update. However, no matter what I did, the router remained on the "old" firmware - V1.4.1.50_1.3.10.

I decided to call about it, since something's clearly not right. After waiting for close to 30 minutes to get to a person, they informed me that I did not have phone support any longer as it's only for 90 days after purchase, that I needed to purchase a "gearhead plan" or some such nonsense for like $90 for 6 months. Seriously?! So you sell me a product with a 1-year warranty, but then refuse to honor the warranty unless I pay MORE for "extended phone support"??! 

I complained - a lot - and finally was transferred to someone in India to help me. I spent, no joke, 3 HOURS on the phone with this guy, who told me it was after 1am in his timezone, trying to update the firmware. The router remains to this day "stuck" on V1.4.1.50_1.3.10. The "tech" explained to me that the router was resetting itself to factory settings because, and I quote, "automatic firmware update is on, that's what's causing the issue". His solution? Turn off automatic firmware updating. Great solution there, bud. Still doesn't address why I can't upgrade the firmware at all. We went back and forth for a while about getting the router replaced as it's clearly not working right, but he had to speak to his supervisor or some such nonsense. Three separate times on the call, the "tech" placed me on hold for over 15 minutes at a time while he was attempting to... heck, I have no idea what he was attempting to do, honestly. He came back on the last time and said, "sorry, I cannot help you any longer, I'll have someone call you back tomorrow." I said, yeah right, like that will happen, and he ASSURED me that he would PERSONALLY call me back the next day.

That was 2 weeks ago, and I've still heard nothing back. I've updated the case on Netgear support page, with no response. My router reset itself again today (even though automatic updates is turned off). 

As it stands, I have no recourse and now possess a $300USD unreliable piece of junk. I have a defective product, and customer "support" is a complete waste of time. I have dealt with a lot of shady orgs in my life, but this has to be one of the most frustrating things I have EVER dealt with. I cannot fathom how this is a good business practice. I am in the tech industry myself, and I am regularly asked recommendations on home routers from friends and family. I've always said "Netgear routers are good", but I am afraid that will no longer happen. I will steer as many people AWAY from Netgear as I possible can. I plan to file a BBB case as well, as the company is not honoring their product warranty.