Technical Support is very very poor

[XJW]

I have raised two defects with Netgear Support.  (i) Android Arlo app will not work with a Bluetooth tether; (ii) Android Arlo app cannot swipe from a day with no videos to a day with videos.  The experience has been frustrating and support has been amateurish.  At every step I have had to persuade the next support person to accept the defect rather than dismiss it with a lame and lazy excuse.  They do eventually accept the defect.  The defects are obvious. They have to accept them eventually.  But the process is appalling and support is amateurish and lazy and leaves this customer wondering why on earth I continue to buy Netgear products.  That is my feedback.  No doubt you will erase this feedback.  Anyone else tried submitting a defect ?  What was your experience of Netgear support ?

[JamesC]

XJW,

I am sorry to hear you've had a poor experience. We have no intention of removing or erasing your feedback, we appreciate you raising your concerns. I have reviewed your case and encourage you to continue working with support to resolve these issues. 

JamesC

[kristieyoung79]

I agree with you, I called in today and spoke to Frank 46003 about not being able to go to arlos website and the webstation said it was not connected to the internet. His reply was well your internet is down, I expained to him I work from home and I was able to get netgears phone number from the internet however arlos site is down. He repeated that it must be my internet. OMG Then he states he has not had any complaints and that I was welcome to take it back and get a compatitor as I have only had it 2 days and I wanted to know it this is going to happen often. I have not decided whether I will take it back, I need answers.

[XJW]

I have had yet another appalling experience with Netgear this week.  Customer support rang me to followup.  A good sign you would think.  But no.  Yet again I had to explain the defect 5 times before he understood.  Netgear technical support appears to start with the assumption that the customer is both an idiot and wrong which prevents them from listening. This guy told me repeatedly that "you cannot swipe to a day without videos" and he simply wouldn't listen when I told him that "the app will not allow you to swipe FROM a day with no videos to a day WITH videos".  To make things worse the scenario he describes as not supported does actually work.  The whole objective appears to be to persuade customers to go away with a lazy and lame explanation rather than actually fix issues. The defect is clearly described in the ticket but Netgear culture appears to prevent comprehension.  I have been in Technical Support for 30 years. I manage a team of 150 Engineers who manage thousands of defects.  Your technical support is appalling and your people need training.  Based on my experience of your support I am sure you will give this as much attention as you give your customers, you will take no action.

[XJW]

Netgear support continues to demonstrate its lack of customer focus. I have asked many many times for them to give me visibility of the updates on my ticket for the defect with Bluetooth tethering and they simply ignore my requests.  As they ignored my requests on the first ticket I setup a second ticket and asked them very specifically to close the first and start to use the second so that I could see new updates.  But no, they ignored that request also and closed my new ticket.  Netgear support appear to be doing everything possible to disappoint customers and damage the Netgear brand.  They are letting Netgear down.  

[XJW]

If you want to get support for an Arlo bug you need to go to my.netgear.com.  Please add to this thread if you too have a poor experience and perhaps Netgear will fix Arlo support.

[XJW]

Can anyone from Netgear help ?  Your support team continues to ignore requests to fix my ticket in the ticketting system so that I can see my comments and theirs.  One ticket is OK but the other is not.  

[XJW]

Once again NETGEAR support show how lazy they are.  Every app on my tablet works fine with a Bluetooth tether.  The only app that will not work is Arlo.

I have had months of bulldust excuses where they have tried to persuade me that Bluetooth tethering can't work eg:

- Bluetooth is too slow

- What is Arlo's requirement ?

- 1Mbps.

- Bluetooth can reach 24Mbps I am sure it can manage 1Mbps.

- Oh

But at the end of the day as with every other experience I have had over many years with Netgear support they do everything possible to do nothing.  Seriously if they spent as much time on fixing their defects as they do trying to avoid fixing their defects they would have the best products on the market.

Contacting Netgear support is the most effective way to make customers hate Netgear.  They treat you like an idiot, fob you off with insulting responses and after months simply say - stuff you, we are not going to fix it.

I will never buy another Netgear product again.

[XJW]

Is there anyone from Netgear /Arlo who is independent of support that could take a look at these two cases to assess whether support have performed well and made appropriate decisions.

As an example many folk use a Bluetooth tether for internet access as it uses considerably less battery than a WiFi hotspot.  All apps support it except Arlo.  Is it the right decision to just close the case and extend the middle finger to your customers.

You have made a mistake.  There is no reason why you should not support Bluetooth tethering like every other app and every reason that you should.  Admit the oversight and fix it.

[StuBee]

I don't understand the comments regarding Bluetooth tethering.....

In what situations are you using this?   is it a tablet that you are bluetooth tethering to your phone to use it's carrier connection when you are about and about?  Or something entirely different?

[markygeee]

I called for tech support and all they will tell you to do is a factory reset. One person told me to hold it for 90 seconds and another for 60 seconds. No matter how many seconds I hold it, it still does the same thing. In the end, no results were made.

[TomMac]

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markygeee wrote:
I called for tech support and all they will tell you to do is a factory reset. One person told me to hold it for 90 seconds and another for 60 seconds. No matter how many seconds I hold it, it still does the same thing. In the end, no results were made.

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If you have the new s/w,  The factory reset is to use a paperclip and depress the internal reset button for 5-10 secs  till the base leds flash

[clomg18]

took mine back to best buy...its junk..

[JamesC]

clomg18,

I am sorry to hear the Arlo system was not a good fit for your needs. We are always striving to deliver more innovative features to improve the Arlo system. Could you describe the issues you had so we can better understand your experience?

Thank you for your contribution,

JamesC