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I mistakenly bought one of these copralites at CompUSA's "we're going out of business very slowly" sale last Sunday. I spent a frustrated evening Monday trying to get the thing to work, but no joy. I have the latest firmware, but it seems to have a bunch of issues. First, it seems to have HDMI issues with my DHD scaler. Fine, I connected to the second HDMI port of my LCD. But then it just constantly reboots; most obviously when scanning "shares" (did I mention that it is SMB only? it runs some sort of GPL code, probably a Linux kernel, but it supports SMB only). If I try anything else, it wirks for a while before rebooting - I suppose it's sneakily scanning the network "shares". Oddly enough, it finds my Samba boxes but it can't find my media server, a Promise SmartStor 2TB RAID 5 box. Wow, there's value. So I write to them demanding a refund since it fails any warranty of merchantability - and I mention that it is not returnable to the merchant. You can not post facto dismiss warranty of merchantability because that's a breach of contract: you did not provide what you promised in return for consideration.


But here's the best part: NetGear's "support". First I get a couple of outsourced morons from Hyderabad. Then I get James G, Mr. Second Level Support, who closes the complaint. But it gets better - he gave me a fake support number to call. Here's what passes for support out of NetGear:

Quote:
This is James from NETGEAR Level 2 Support.

I have reviewed your case, it appears that you are questing a refund for an EVA8000.


I have noticed that you have not done any troubleshooting, to prove the product is defective.


What I can recommend is to you take the product to the reseller for a refund, as it is in the warranty agreement that we do not provide refunds.


If this does not work, you can call into our support line to perform troubleshooting at 1-888-638-4328. If the product is found to be defective, then we may provide an RMA for a replacement product.


Thank You for choosing NETGEAR,


James G.

Second Level Escalation

NETGEAR, Inc.

What an assbite. Oh yeah, you reviewed it OK. What a lying sack of crap. And if I call "1-888-638-4328" I get the following message:

Quote:
"The number you have dialed is invalid. Please check your listing and try your call again."

Avoid NetGear at all costs!


As for me, it looks like I'll be filing in small claims for default judgement. It's a tedious process, but eventually, I can get a court order to lay claim to some part of NetGear.


Man, that's some fine customer service - you've been warned.


Andrew

 

[macintoshse]

OT: But, what up with CompUsa this is one long going out of business sale. God created the earth in less time

Their only up to 30% off on some items, the magazine and books are still only 20% off; what up with that

.

 

[Slack]

Know what you mean.


Shame they grabbed Infrant. Otherwise I never would have had occasion to deal with them.

 

[t3knokat]

Well I have EVA8000 and it works quite well for me. Plays all my DVDs and download content just fine, but that response from support sure sucks.


Seems like you have a defective unit and they should replace.


I think he just typed the number wrong since 888-NETGEAR would be the regular support line and that's 888 638 4327.


But that would be back to Hyderabad for you anyway. he he he

 

[househusband36]

I talked to one of the guys here in Salem NH He said that they are looking to be all done by the end of the month. You also have to realize that the inventory is now owned by liquadors. So they are looking to get as much money for said inventory, not to just give it away. they still have bills to pay.


Steve

 

[t3knokat]



Quote:
Originally Posted by househusband36 /forum/post/12876740


I talked to one of the guys here in Salem NH He said that they are looking to be all done by the end of the month. You also have to realize that the inventory is now owned by liquadors. So they are looking to get as much money for said inventory, not to just give it away. they still have bills to pay.


Steve

yeah, and I don't recall CompUSA ever carrying EVA8000 -- the lquidators must be dumping garbage inventory from "Asian sources" in the mix. Like factory rejects and other stuff that shows up for dirt cheap in the far east.


I'd stay away at this point on the "if it sounds too good to be true, it is" principle.

 

[sirwired]

I'd hold off on suing them if I were you. While they are required to honor the warranty, you haven't even given them a chance to fix it. Before filing any sort of monetary claim on an implied warranty of merchantability, you have to make a decent effort to let NetGear solve the problem(s).


In addition, you have no contract with NetGear, as you have not paid them any money. They have received no consideration at all from you. NetGear's customer, in this case, was their distributor, not you. (That doesn't change the warranty any, but it does change how you refer to your issue, since language that applies to contracts does not apply.)


If you are going to get money back from anybody any time soon, it would likely be CompUSA (or their liquidator), but since they had a posted "no returns" policy, that is going to be tough. (While the laws regarding "as is" sales vary from state to state, they are difficult to enforce in Small Claims.)


Implied product warranties do not consist of "if it doesn't 100% work, right away, you get a full refund." If that were the case, everything would cost a lot more money, as returns rates would be far higher. Products have bugs/problems, and part of the warranty process is giving a manufacturer a chance to solve it.


Also, I don't think the guy purposefully gave you a "fake" phone number. The actual phone number is 1-888-638-4327 (888-NETGEAR), instead of 888-638-4328. Looks like he probably made an innocent typo. (The actual number is on their website, and not tough to find. Support->Customer Service->Contact Support.)


In short, give NetGear a chance to fix your issue. After that, then you can worry about getting your money back.


SirWired

 

[rastan]

A friend at work has been using this since late October and has no issues playing iso's, wav's, and mp3's off his PC. However, he has it hard wired and knowing that this is only a 802.11g wireless device, I think hard wiring it is the only way to go.