NetGear
reviews and complaints

I purchased a Netgear AC750 Extender just yesterday from Walmart. I paid about $79.97 plus tax for it. Like everyone else, when I got home, I could not get it to work. I called Netgear and after about an hour I finally got to speak with a "Technician" (I use that word lightly.) His name was Roger. After two hours, the "Tech" could not get it working either. He ran some “diagnostics” and attempted to put the fear of death in me by saying that multiple people had cracked my firewall and router and were using my Wi-Fi thus preventing the Extender from working. He said I could purchase a Netgear Firewall Protection plan for $99 for 6 months or $300 for life. I nearly laughed. Instead, I said I would speak with some computer friends of mine about it. He was very disappointed as he wasted 2 hours of his valuable time with me. Too bad so sad. DO NOT BUY NETGEAR. I took it back today for a full refund refund.

I purchase a Netgear in when I tell u they hung the phone up on you it want let you get ant extended internet then you go this same man on line with you in tell u he will call you back ok that was 11:30 pm last night so here we go the next day its the same man answering the phone again ant fix my line they want you to pay them 300 .00 with a firewall hell I jus pick my computer out the shop the same day but please yall never get anything from them oh yall my house line is block up now never again I will contacting someone very soon about this they are saving your information on your computer warning don't get this device I will be contracting my server tomorrow about them as well oh yeah they don't speak English very well don't waste your time and the guy name is ricky but he will change it

The first time I called for help with setting the router up I was hung up on the second time the phone was hung up on me again so I called back and hung up on them and decided to just take the router back to the store but they called back and was trying to charge me talking about some update and I needed to pay either $99 for one or $119 I was only calling for assist with setting my router up right and these people are trying to scamm people they are terrible.

Netgear is a complete Fraud. The produce is less than 4 months old ... my carrier delivered a new wifi-router and I couldnt get my extender to work. I have about 10 devices that I use the extender for ... the customer service rep wanted to sell me a $200 a year extended warranty to help me with the configuration step 3 saying that he would provide tech support to all my other devices. I said to the rep I had never seen a warranty that was 2.5X the cost of the product. What a rip off. What ever you do ... stay away from this company and product ... totally scam! The only device in my house that doesn't work properly is netgear ... everything else has been running for years without problem. In order to get their product to work you have to pay them 2.5x what you paid for the product. Imagine if you bought a new ford or jeep and you paid $40K. 4 months later something with the car isn't working and its inoperable and you're told that in order to get the car working again you'll have to buy an extended warranty for $110K.

As I was setting up parental controls on my netgear genie account, which I had to log in to do, the screen closed on me. I had just used the "access enabled" function so that certain devices (unruly teen) in my house would need my password in order to use the wifi. It made it so I only entered one device that would work without the password before the screen shut me out and demanded my password again. When I tried to log back in it said my password was incorrect. It was not! I had just used it seconds prior with no problem. It gave me a tech support number to call so I called. After many of my minutes they said I would need to pay 99 dollars for them to reset my router because I didn't remember my password. Ridiculous. After much debate I said no thank you and did it on my own. No money. All done. Such a scam! BEWARE!

I have a vuzone camera set that has not worked since April. I started a support case and got updates. Then to find out that after 3 days the case was dropped even before the problem was fixed. I have been given wrong numbers from your support people and have had my house entered 3 times without my consent. Your support satff is usless. I want a call back from a US representive to resolve this issue. My product number is 2d70de0873. I want a call back after 10 P.M. PST on a weekday only.I tried to enter chat after logging into your website, it isn't working either is your email link through your website. If I do not get a call back within 3 days I am going to slam your products on every website I can find
Kevin Mc Grath
You have my number

NetGear products list a lifetime warranty on their product but don't/won't stand behind the product and offer an RMA for product replacement when router not working properly. I made 4+ calls, was disconnected 4 times, and spent more than an hour and a half on hold during these four calls from which I was disconnected. All I was asking for was an RMA so that I could send this router back in order to have them send me one that worked. They wanted my credit card number in order to help me because I was out of the 90 day Tech Support window.
I spoke with tech reps 2886, 1493, 1301 and another, all from which I was disconnected at some point during the hold or tech support call process.
Not the kind of thing I'd expect when I'm calling a company with an issue about their product.
My recommendation - do not buy a NetGear router that indicates that it comes with a lifetime warranty on the box, thinking that there is any kind of warranty with the product. They are mis-representing their lifetime warranty support on the products and are very frustrating to deal with.

Purchased a Netgear wall mount range extender and did not get the "boost" I was expecting.
I called tech support and the tech asked to link to my laptop and I agreed to let him. The tech ran "msconfig" and said I had services stopped by a virus. He then ran a couple of IPCONFIG cmds and stated that I had over 400 Trojan viruses and that he would need about 45 minutes to get rid of them and that I would be charged. I declined to pay any money for what could not be true as I am diligent in scanning for viruses, rootkits, malware/adware and have a great deal of experience with virus removal.

Netgear people are the most ridiculous. They wanted me find a part number which is not present on the power adaptor. Only Model number and serial number are there. So, they wanted me to travel 35 Kms to their service centre just to find the part number and then travel again later to get the power adaptor as I am in warranty. How can the service centre find a part number which is not at all on the adaptor? No more netgear..guys beware of the NETGEAR. I told I will send the pictures taken from all angles and alos zoomed. theyt are not ready to comply.BYE BYE NETGEAR FOREVER !

BEWARE! DO NOT TRUST NETGEAR TECH SUPPORT! THEY WILL LIE TO YOU AND TRY TO SCARE YOU! AND THEN TRY TO TAKE YOUR MONEY!

I purchased a WiFi Range Extender, hoping to boost wifi connection in my house, only to find it not helping.
So I called Netgear tech support from the number that was in the manual.

I was connected to Andrew, a guy with a heavy Indian accent. I told him about the wifi problem and he then asked me to get on my PC and type in a site in my browser, which I did.
I DID NOT KNOW HE WAS GOING TO ACCESS MY PC REMOTELY! I was a little confused and felt a little violated! He was clicking on my files... asking me questions...
like, "Do I use online banking?"... telling me my wifi and router is not secure and that I had over 30 hackers connected to my PC and that is why the extender was
not working. He also said I should not do anything online until it is secure... basically trying to scare me...

He then told me my wifi connection is weak because of all the hackers connected to my network he can clean it up, as well as, secure my wifi for $300 for a year
support, $200 for 6 months or $100 for a one time cleanup!

That's when red flags went up! I didn't fall for it and told him so, he hung up quickly.

I later called Cox to confirm that my wifi connection is completely safe and secure.

I am returning the piece of crap extender today and will never purchase another Netgear product.

Do not fall for this scam!

Tried to install Apple TV on the wireless network. Customer service rep from India was virtually unintelligible and untrained. He insisted atthe beginning of the call that I either pay for one year service $129 or two years for $199. After an hour and a half and inability to help me he turned me over to a more expert person who was able to fix the problem in about 10 minutes. There was no option for a single call. I have since found out that there are single call charges.

My son and I just got off the phone with Netgear customer service. What a joke. The tech demanded that we part away with $129 for a year of technical service of $199 for two years. I was appalled and asked the tech what criteria he was using to charge me this astronomical amount. He stated that the IP address was not working. I told him to repeat what he told me so that I could explain to my lawyer about their scam. He insisted that whatever we did, buy a new router, new computer, etc... this would not work. What a joke! I asked him if he could justify his demand of my handing him over my hard earned money. I told him I would just go ahead and buy a new router and let my lawyer know. Lo and behold, my Internet came on. I think Netgear is randomly switching off devices so that they can lure in the less suspecting folk to dish out their hard earned money!

I bought a Netgear router that was defective. I called Netgear twice and left them an email. You can not understand the techs. They said to return the router to Staples but Staples will not take it back. Now I'm stuck with a $70 router that doesn't work. I filed complaints with the BBB to no avail. Don't buy Netgear and don't shop at Staples!

I will add my story to those of others who have encountered Netgear's technical support with bad results. I called tec. support to help get my n600 router up and was directed to a company called Yogi. This called produced good results and the router was up. The problems began when I tried to use the WPS to set-up a wireless extender and the wireless dropped out and I was only able to hookup to the Internet over an Ethernet cable. I call tec. support again, gave the the case number i was given and was told I would have to call a second 877 number. After I called and told them about the problem I was old I would have to pay for the service call to the tune of 178 dollars for a years service or 99 dollars for one session, now I am on my own trying to get my wireless printer up. I wish I had checked this site before I bought anything from Netgear.

i bought a netgear dng2200m router which reported to have a 3g option. went to the site to see which 3g dongles it supported. bought the router, then bought a compatible 3g dongle. did not work, router says not supported. rang customer services, and got through to India, after an hour of trying stuff i had already tried, he cut me off. so rang again and after 15 mins he said i needed level 2 support but no one was available and they would ring back, that was 2 days ago and guess what, yup no one rang. have returned the router and based on customer support and misleading information on the web site i will never deal with netgear again.I am contract purchaser for it companies and buy approx £8, 000 of kit a month, never used netgear befor and based on this episode, wont waste my time again.

Case #: [protected]

Dear Netgear,

The second person that "helped" me on my netgear router was terrible. The person was clearly not knowledgeable, and the person laughs at a customer's question because they were "confused". And keep repeating the same information over and over, then hung up on me.

New high speed router kept dropping connection to my laptop using the 5Ghz channel. I called tech support on Saturday, May 14, 2011 and spoke at length about the problem to a tech. They start every call giving their ID number very quickly, then confirm your callback number and email. I had this info in a previous "case" from installation problems. After about 15 minutes, the phone went dead. When I didn't get a call back or an email, I concluded the tech hung up on me, presumably because he didn't know how to solve the problem. On May 15, 2011 I called again and explained to the tech that answered what had happened the day before. There was no record of the previous call, confirming what I had suspected. The tech on May 15th said I could call Customer Service (same 888 number and select option 3) to make a complaint. They would be able to trace my earlier call to see who I had spoken with. But when I selected the customer service option, there was no voice mail option for complaints, or for any general purpose (just RMAs, pending sales, and for-fee tech support). What a piece of [censored] company!

Netgear pitched the Gearheads service as the one-stop-shopping for getting any of my computer related problems resolved, to act as my IT department. I had two issues, one with a wireless HP printer, one with a Netgear router, and the Gearheads failed miserably at both. here's the most graphic example: my Netgear router loses the ability for WiFi devices to connect after running for a day or two, and has to be re-powered to correct the problem. The Gearheads told me that it was because of channel congestion, that channel 11 was a "bad" channel and I should switch to channel 5. That didn't solve the problem so I called back, and these "technicians" again told me it was because of channel congestion, that channel 5 was a "bad" channel and I should switch to channel 11. Wonderful, insightful, and proves they can't even read their own case histories. So I called back after discovering that the problem happened with a "v7" version of the router but not with the "v9" version. They told me, after asking a bunch of other irrelevant questions, that the problem was known, and that I should change the router's power adapter. Of course they won't supply a replacement power adapter because the V7 router is now out of warranty, nor would they offer any guidelines about what power adapter to get. Ultimately I have zero confidence that a power adapter change would make any difference anyway, so I've given up on Gearheads. Oh, and even though they assured me that they would be able to get my wireless HP printer working, when they sold me the Gearhead service, they also failed at that one and the printer is still connected only buy USB. They are awful.

Horrible Customer Service. This California company hides behind outsourced front people. Cheap Products! Wireless Router would not work and I could not connect to my internet wirelessly. Called Tech Support (Case Number [protected]). On hold for 14 minutes. Representative was rude and it took over two (2) hours. By the end of it all I still could not connect wirelessly and the Tech Support representative had managed to guide me through a process that managed to disable my Comcast Internet service coming into the house. So I was left without any internet service (not just wireless) and a rude Indian guys accusing that I never had Internet service to begin with despite having me visit NETGEAR.com with him on the phone about 1 hours earlier. I now have to schedule an appointment to have a cable service Tech come back out to my house because of NETGEAR. By the way, this was my 5th call to NETGEAR in the last 4 days. They were supposed to have someone call me back on 2 different occasions but it has never happened.