O/T: What an odd approach to Technical Support.....

[S. Yeti Bigfoot, Esq.]

I have a total of 5 computers operating in my house at any given time. Four of them are on a wireless network, and one of them is attached to the wireless hub/router via Ethernet. OK.. all of that works fine.

 

I decided that I wanted to have a shared printer on the network that any of these computers could print to...makes sense, right?

 

OK...so I go out and buy a LexMark All-In-One printer/copier/scanner/fax and a Net Gear Wireless Print Server. So, I get this thing home and try to install it and make it work....should be no big thing, right? Well, I spent two hours trying to get one printer and one laptop to communicate through the wireless...to no avail. I can ping the print server via wireless, so I know that the IP address and subnet mask I assigned are OK. I can also print directly (via USB) from the laptop to the printer, so I know the drivers are good and it is installed correctly...I just can't get both to work together.

 

OK.. so I called Net Gear Tech Support and spent about 45 minutes with them working on the issue. The Tech Support person I spoke to was in India...difficult at times to communicate with, but that's OK..we managed to get past that. Eventually he said "Well, I don't know if your printer is supported or not. It's not on the supported list and it's not on the unsupported list, so I don't know." And...he just sort of said that there's nothing else he can do.

 

So, I sent an Email to Net Gear and said:

 

" 4/5/2007 12:39:00 AM

I spoke to your Technical Support staff this afternoon regarding difficulties with configuring the Print Server and getting it to work. They indicated that they believe the problem to be that my printer is not compatible with the Print Server but they couldn''t say for sure. They couldn''t find anything that said for sure whether it is compatible or not. I need for someone to either tell me for sure in writing that this printer is not compatible so that I can return it, or help me get it working with the Print Server.

 

I am able to print directly from my computer with a USB cable attachment and I can ping the Print Server through my wireless connection, but I cannot print via the wireless connection through the Print Server.

 

The printer is a Lexmark X5470."

 

To which they replied that I should return the Net Gear Print Server and buy another brand.

 

Now, it really doesn't matter to me what brand print server I have as long as it works correctly....and I will be returning the Net Gear server today and will make it a point to avoid that brand from this point forward. I just find it odd that they would suggest that a customer return their product and buy someone else's rather than to try to figure out for sure what the issue is and either fix it or make a definite determination that it is definitely a compatibility issue. I'm sure their sales and marketing group wouldn't be happy with their approach.

 

Anyway...I just thought that was an odd approach to tech support. I would probably lose my job if I did that. It doesn't really make me upset because there are plenty of other vendors to deal with....it's just a minor inconvenience. In reality, I appreciate their candor. At least I know that I don't want to do business with them any more if that's the quality of their Technical Support structure. I also know that I will absolutely never recommend their commercial gear to any of my customers....quite the contrary.

 

As indicated in my email to them, I was willing to return the printer and get one the models on their list of supported printers. All I wanted was for them to tell me that's what I needed to do. Since they suggested that I return their Print Server....well, I guess I'll just do that. I suppose that means that they aren't really sure they can make it work with any printer....

 

 

[A String]

Only thing I can figure is, they couldn't be sure that the printer you bought would work, so rather then tell you to return a perfectly good printer (by another company, which may get them in trouble if it turned out that printer did work), they told you to return your print server.

 

Certainly not a definite thing, but the best guess I can come up with.

[Trucks]

Netgear technical support are useless. End of.

 

You are lucky you didnt deal with Lexmark

[S. Yeti Bigfoot, Esq.]

Yeah. I've heard horror stories about Lexmark. That's odd, too...Lexmark was IBM's printer division and spun off about probably 15 years ago. IBM at one time had the best Tech Support in the business.