Forum Discussion

Aspirant

Sep 16, 2015

Solved

Registering Used ReadyNAS

I purchased a "used" RN104 on eBay and have tried to add it to my devices in my Netgear account. The 104 arrived in brand new condition, never out of the box. I don't mind a lack of warranty (unless ...

Before You Buy

JennC
Sep 17, 2015
Hello NASklr,

This was already registered back in 2014 by a person who is not a reseller and just an end user from the US too. He must have returned the unit back to the reseller and the reseller resold it or he himself resold it. It must be a refurbished unit. Support do not transfer registrations as they do not give any warranty nor support to refurbished or pre-owned units.

Regards,

StephenB

Guru

Sep 18, 2015

@ukbobboy1 wrote:

However, when I tried to register the RN with Netgear they told me it was already registered, probably by the original owner, and that they could (would) not transfer ownership to me because the machine was now classified as second hand.

I could not argue with that.

If it were up to me, all warranties on all products would be transferrable.

However, I think the biggest problem with the current policy is that second hand purchasers are also denied paid support. That makes no sense to me at all. Netgear both loses revenue and frustrates their users.

One aspect of course is the problem of stolen units, though I suspect that is relatively rare with NAS (compared with iPhones for instance).

ukbobboy

Luminary

Sep 18, 2015

Hi StephenB

You know, it seems that Netgear is particularly short sighted when it comes to dealing with the domestic end of their market area. I can only guess that they probably think that the effort and investment needed is not really worth the returns they may get and so the domestic market is really treated as nothing more than an after-thought.

Saying that, have you noticed how Netgear's NAS competitors have leaped ahead in developing and marketing new products while Netgear seems stuck in the past.

Netgear probably has a strategic reason for this but at the moment they just seem to be losing out.

UK Bob

StephenB
Guru
Sep 18, 2015
I don't think they need a lot of new platforms (though an RN514 might be a good thing, and perhaps even an RN216).

Pulling together a compelling ReadyCloud offering is (IMO) one of the keys. The competition for home NAS is cloud, and being able to join them together should provide best of both.

Staying with one OS for all current platforms is another key. I think they were spread too thin trying to cover 4.1.x, 4.2.x, and 5.x.x

I'm not sure that the shorter software support for "home" products was a good decision. It might have been better to uplift the RN100 and RN200 prices a bit and use the business support policies for all NAS. They'd give up some market on the low end, but would probably gain that back with increased loyalty in their customer base. But its hard to really assess that w/o seeing more details on Netgear's support costs.

A reminder (for any viewers): I don't work for Netgear and I have no inside information on their strategy, roadmap, etc.
- mdgm-ntgr
  NETGEAR Employee Retired
  Sep 18, 2015
  We've been working on adding some improvements to ReadyCLOUD and you can see this in 6.4.0.
  
  One OS for all current ReadyNAS devices is great as development work will benefit all products and features can be provided for products that would not otherwise be possible.
  
  We take data protection seriously and our use of BTRFS puts us ahead of the competition in this area. Important data still needs to be backed up, but BTRFS has data protection features that complement this nicely. Unlimited snapshots and bit-rot protection against media degradation are great features.
  - NASklr
    Aspirant
    Sep 18, 2015
    When I bought this unit used, one of the things attracting me was the like-new condition. The other was price. I have no expectation of any warranty or paid support. The public support in this forum has been great and a big influence on my decision to stick with ReadyNAS. I was simply hoping to register this device to show I'm now the legitimate owner. If Netgear policy doesn't allow transfer of ownership in any way, I'm ok with that.
    Otoh, how would Netgear handle a recall, if say, a small run of devices have a defective power supply that spontaneously burst into flames? (Far-fetched, I know.)