Netgear mislead me with a phishing email re: security software and forced me to purchase support

[joeondras]

Case # 42079015 

I received a blast email from Netgear advising that my Orbi firmware needed updating.  I tried to do this but ran into problems and called support. A tech, who was far from knowledgeable, tried to assist but after hours on the phone with him and others on subsequent days, I was left high and dry with the wrong id and password.  My wife and others could not use the wifi. I called for help again and was told I must purchase support before a tech would reset my system to what it was before their PHISHING email was received by me.  Netgear makes it almost impossible to communicate with them by any means except telephone. I have asked for a refund numerous times and get no response.  At the end of the day, a tech told me my firmware already had the latest update prior to me receiving this PHISING email from Netgear.

[plemans]

Did you google for the support #? The numbers you get off google are con/scam sites.  Not netgear. 

The way to contact netgear is to click "mynetgear" at the top, register an account, and then your device. From there you contact support. 

If you dialed a number you found online, it wasn't netgear. Sorry. 

You probably did get an email from netgear as they do send out emails warning people of updates. If you do update the router, I highly recommend doing it over a hardwired connection. this results in the least amount of issues.

did you get your issue with firmware upgrades and access resolved? if not we can hlep. And the community forum doesn't cost anything. its just members of the public helping each other out. 

[joeondras]

Thanks for your help.  However, I was hoping Netgear monitored these community discussioins.  It appears they do not care and snookered me out of $49.99.  The equipment works good but the tech support is horrible.  I will not purchase another Netgear product.

[plemans]

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@joeondras wrote:

Thanks for your help.  However, I was hoping Netgear monitored these community discussioins.  It appears they do not care and snookered me out of $49.99.  The equipment works good but the tech support is horrible.  I will not purchase another Netgear product.

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Again, are you sure you actually called Netgear and not some 3rd party site? Netgear con't control what others do. 

and there are a few moderators on the forums but not a bunch. Maybe someone will see it and reach out to you but again, how can they control/help if you didn't contact actual netgear. 

[joeondras]

Yes, I am sure I contacted Netgear.  But thanks for your input.

I am sure they do not care and will do anything to stuff their pockets.  If they monitored such sites as this, someone would contact me, especially after me calling them dishonest.