[PLUG] Netgear GS116 warranty

Alan abc1 at bbimedia.com
Fri Sep 9 15:32:11 UTC 2011


My GS116 switch just died 5-days ago, altho I had a similar Netgear 
giga switch die about 6-months ago. Not to mention the power supply 
to my Infrant-Netgear NV+ file server going up in smoke about 2-months ago.

Netgear does a great job of making it hard to use there warranty, but 
eventually come thru. First you should make sure your device is 
registered at there website. Then you need to call they're hard to 
find phone number 888-638-4327 (use extension #4 for tech support.) 
You'll get an operator who will give you a case number then put you 
into a queue to talk to an support engineer. Recently when I got to 
this stage they're hold system timed out after 15 minutes and put me 
into voice mail where I left my number and email. After 4-days of no 
response I had to call again, this time a was able to describe the 
problem to an engineer, after following the previous process. The 
engineer approved my failure and but me on hold to speak to the RMA 
specialist who after verifying serial number, name and address, case 
number etc again and another on hold period, gave me the RMA number. 
He waited on the line while I confirmed the confirming email he sent 
me and the I got to select one of three RMA programs, from free 
(after I send back the unit with the specified documentation to a 
next day air delivery of a replacement unit and pre-paid return for 
about $50. Since I had already replace the unit with a Trendnet 
TEG-160WS smart switch in the intervening time, I went with the 
cheapest approach for about $12.

A similar winding path to replacement was experience with Netgear on 
the fired power supply with the NV+ except I paid the big bucks for 
the next day air. I've notice that a lot of warranties, including the 
lifetime GS116 don't include the power supply, which under normal 
condition it the most like part to die, altho a well designed unit 
should last more than ten years. Cheap capacitors from China seem to 
have cut that lifetime to less than half. Hopefully cap quality will 
increase with manufacturing experience and buyer demand.

Good Luck



At 09:54 PM 9/8/2011, you wrote:
>I just discovered that my Netgear GS116 has a lifetime warranty. Or so
>Netgear's website leads me to believe.
>
>I do want a 24-port switch, and because of my experience with the
>Netgear I had figured "any brand but Netgear." I may have to rethink
>that reasoning.
>
>Meantime, the Trendnet and SMC switches that have been suggested have
>only a one-year warranty. In fact, looking on Newegg and Dell is where
>I discovered that Netgear offers a lifetime warranty, which is hard to
>find in anything else short of $1,000+ units.
>
>I'll call Netgear tomorrow and see what they say.




More information about the PLUG mailing list