NETGEAR Reviews 91

Bought the Nighthawk RS100
Not easy to set up even though website said it was. Customer Service was very unhelpful and all they did was blame our broadband supplier instead of taking responsability themselves. Been in touch a number of times with their support team. Very unhelpful and at times very rude. They decided to ring us back after 11pm on a Saturday night.

I bought a Netgear Nighthawk in 2022. I have had nothing but problems with it. My router won’t stay logged in. I called them yesterday and in order for them to help me I had to buy $50 worth of a three month deal I was treated like dirt. They never helped me with a problem. They are the worst company to deal with. They have so many bad reviews that they have stopped from letting anybody else to post bad reviews.

I was looking to replace an aging mesh wifi system. I had an Orbi RBR40 from 2017. I hopped on Netgear site and like we always are… greeted with a data collection offer. Gives us email/phone and we’ll give you $100 off. Ok! gave up the deets, i got my code got to checkout and noticed I got 10% discount, not $100. I got online to chat with agent. Their chat on an iPhone was a disaster. It doubled every comment and kept cropping the page so I constantly had to resize the chat box. Anyway, long story short… they apologized and said “up to 100 off based on how much you spend”. That was NOT in any of the pop ups. And even my confirmation code said. Here’s your $100off. That is a really shady and predatory data collection tactic. BUYER BEWARE.

THE WORST CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE, EVER. Their site is janky, their support team doesn't know how to help/is unresponsive. DO NOT PURCHASE!!!!!!!

The Netgear RAX120 router is defective and they refuse to take responsibility. Netgear support refuses to refund or exchange for a different model. They asked me at least 20 different questions before offering to exchange it for the same exact (knowingly defective) model. They refused my offer to exchange it and pay the difference for a working model. The RAX120 is defective. It overheats and restarts constantly. The internal thermometer does not work so the fan doesn't work properly. A work around is to turn the fan on at all times, but even that setting resets itself periodically. You also need to do some research to figure out how to even access those settings. The router is defective and they know it. They continue to sell it and not take responsibility for the problem. I have a nearly $300 paper weight because of Netgear.

BUY FROM SOMEONE ELSE!!!

I purchased a new NETGEAR Nighthawk AXE7800 Tri-band WiFi 6E Router (RAXE300) from Netgear on March 18, 2024. After several negative experiences with their support team, I elected to return the device.

It took months to get their support team to understand my request and comply with providing return instructions, but I was finally provided with a pre-printed Fed-Ex label.

We dropped it off for shipping on June 11, 2024. Netgear contacted me for an update on the package on June 20, 2024, asking that I contact FedEx to get the package moving as it was still showing at their location, and we discovered that FedEx lost the package.

From here, Netgear and Fed-Ex started pointing fingers at one another, and neither party was interested in assisting us in resolving the issue. I was finally able to reach someone at FedEx, who opened a refund claim on my behalf as the shipper. I have now received a letter from FedEx with an enclosed check for $100 stating that they will not pay any additional funds due to the package being shipped with no declared value.

Since Netgear set up this shipment and failed to include the declared value of the product being shipped and the product was shipped and lost by the transportation company selected by them, you would think they would be helpful, but they have been anything but helpful. It has been a STRUGGLE every step of the way.

Netgear refuses to remit the difference since they did not receive the product and FedEx will not issue more than $100 due to Netgear's mistake when creating the shipping label. This gap leaves me without funds that I am owed for completing my part of the deal.

I filed a complaint with the BBB and Netgear admitted that it is their policy to not place a value on a Fed-Ex package when you are returning an item to them for replacement, and therefore, it remains their policy that they will not issue a refund unless they receive the product that Fed-Ex lost.

This review is not about NetGear’s routers, as I find no fault in their products and have had good luck with them throughout the years. This review is about their incredibly poor customer service.

There is basically no customer service at NetGear, what you get when you call the help line is someone in a distant land who speaks very little English. It took me right at a month to get a product returned for refund, as they would constantly say that my case was elevated to “customer care”. During the multiple phone calls I made, all I ever got done doing was asking the person at the other end to clarify, speak up, rephrase……and I would constantly ask for someone (anyone) else that could speak English. They would never put someone else on the phone and I even asked for a manager…..nope, they weren’t going to do that either.

Buyer beware……if you buy a NetGear product, once they have your money you will NEVER speak with an English-speaking person again……. never! You cannot contact NetGear HQ located in California……there is no phone number or email address that will put you in contact with an American at NetGear HQ. You can’t file a complaint with NetGear……all you will ever have is a phone number that puts you in touch with someone whom you will never be able to understand.

Next time it will be LINKsys all the way.

I've had various Netgear routers for years, from the old 2ghz to a couple 1100 series mobile routers, to a Nighthawk XR500. The older stuff lasted forever, but the newer stuff had more and more problems, instead of being more reliable. I ended up going to TP-Link for reliability, and kept the XR500 as a backup. BIG MISTAKE. The modem refuses to change WiFi channels or power levels, refuses VPN configurations, and pretty much does what it wants to do, even after a firmware update. It even set itself up on top of my UNIFI network, instead of avoiding it, and it refuses to change settings. I've been running internet servers since 1997, and I can't even take control of this Netgear XR500. ....... I'll never touch a piece of netgear, even if someone gives it to me. Here's another whole day wasted.

You cannot trust what Netgear support promises you! More folks need to contact their state attorney and the Better Business Bureau!

This is the text of a criminal fraud complaint filed with the GA state Atty and the Better Business Bureau complaint #21904958 against Netgear:

On or about 6-16-2024 NETGEAR Support Case # 48313927 I was advised by Netgear tech support that if I purchased an RAX80 router for $100 that it was a great deal and my existing pro support warranty for my RAX50v2 would be transferable to my replacement router after I provided proof of purchase and registered the product. It was clear that I was not purchasing a new product.

On 6-18-2024 NETGEAR Support Case # 48303077 I was advised that they would not honor the promise of their agent because pro support was only available for product purchased from authorized resellers or a replacement.

Instead of transferring my pro support warranty that I had previously purchased for my RAX50v2 (which I still own) they (without my permission) cancelled my warranty and refunded my money.

They continue to refuse to honor the promise made by their agent and state repeatedly:

"We are sorry for the misinformation provided to you.

Your proof of purchase says that the device was purchased from an unauthorized reseller, therefore, no warranty is available.

Per ProSuport's terms and conditions, "The Extended Warranty and Extended Warranty and Support plans only apply to supported NETGEAR products purchased from an authorized NETGEAR reseller. Available to any new or existing customers within 120 days of product purchase."

At the same time they are sending me these lies their website is offering me a pro support warranty for my now registered RAX80 router for $100 of which I took a screenshot.

I believe that this rises to the legal definition of fraud. With this level of corruption and dishonesty I doubt that I am the only Georgia citizen that they are defrauding.

Netgear should honor their original promise to me and fire the liars involved. Netgear should be investigated for other false and misleading advertising and fraud.

Dont buy on their website. Its ridiculous poor quality. The put a hold on your card bu then say it is not shipping and then you get an email confirming the order, and then it does not arrive. I cant believe a company like netgear is so poor quality on their ecommerce site. Fourth world! Their CEO should fire everyone kn charge of ecommerce!

I purchased the Netgear 970 router and satellites from the Netgear web-site. The system constantly shut down and had to be power cycled every 2-12 hours, effectively making it useless. Following a large number of hours trying to trouble-shoot on my own (without success) I contacted Netgear support. I then spent close to three weeks trying different things to get the product to work (again, without success). Having spent 20+ hours trying to get a top-of-the line product to work I gave up and just installed a much cheaper system (which works flawlessly...) and asked Netgear to return the product and refund my money. I was past the free return period (partially as a result of spending the time trouble-shooting) and Netgear just refused and suggested re-installing the faulty system and continue with further support. That is probably contractually correct, but not even remotely close to good customer care in my view when buying a EUR 3,000 product that doesn't work after many hours of support.

I always trusted Netgear until a few months ago, the predator tactics used when I did have an issue was unbelievable. I have a 8 Stream AX WIFI Gateway (CAX80), purchased now two years ago. Purchased direct from Netgear as the latest a greatest Router for cable and WIFI. Two months ago the system was slow, dropping calls. Called the cable company they ran tests, showing their speed to the Router was 982 mbps. Doing a WIFI speed test, the speed was running 425 to 442 mbps. Still good. So I called Netgear, this is where things go from wow that is great to are you kidding me. Called Netgear customer support person listened to what was going on, then said she had to send me to technical Support. The tech guy was good found some issues, corrected them, now he is wanting a credit card number, so I gave him the same card number as the Router was purchased. They ran the card several time but the Business Credit Card wouldn't go through. BY now it's getting pretty ugly the tech puts another guy on the phone and he is abrupt demanding another form of payment. Explaining to the guy this product was purchased with a two year protection plan, he now explains they're a third party company who works with Netgear. I explained to the guy that I called Netgear, not their company. Things got very heated, in the end I had to give him a personal credit card number. You don't have a lot of choices at this point, they're tied into your system. So I wrote to Netgear, now they claim they have no record for the call. WHAT ? but did send a survey request. A couple of days ago I received a renewal notice wanting me to renew my protection plan. Since I had written to Netgear to cancel the renewal. Here's one for Netgear, NO WAY IN H will I buy another Netgear product. The way I was treated I'm done, I guess one good thing was the card was never charged the $199.00. I'm in the process of buying another Cable WIFI Router.
SO with their delay tactics I now received this proposal from Netgear.
Good day! Thank you for contacting NETGEAR Customer Service Support. This is to acknowledge receipt of your refund and cancellation request for your NETGEAR Armor subscription. We are very sorry for the delay in responding to your case.

We would be interested to hear the reason you are requesting a cancellation of your Armor subscription, this will help us improve our services going forward.

To highlight the benefits of the service, NETGEAR Armor keeps your connected devices safe with an automatic shield of protection for your network to stop hackers, password thieves, ransomware, and brute-force attacks.

Before we cancel, we can offer you a one-year extension at no additional cost should you be willing to keep your Armor subscription. The renewal fee of , that you were charged recently will now cover 2 years of Armor subscription - the contract end date will be 5/12/2026.

Alternatively, we can offer you a 70% discount for the recent renewal charge. You get to keep using Armor until 5/12/2025 for only $29.99. We will provide you with a $70 refund should you choose this offer.

No Thank you, its time to call this kind of stuff out

I received a gift from my sister for a Netgear WiFi Extender. The instructions told me to put the Nighthawk app on my phone, so I downloaded the Nighthawk app to my phone. When I opened the app to connect my device, I encountered a screen that showed me I HAD TO authorize them to install a completely different software to my phone (Netgear Armour). You cannot move past that screen if you don't authorize it, so you therefore cannot set the extender up. There was no way to decline this software! I have multiple layers of protection on my phone and do not want or need this! A customer should never be FORCED to use a software product that they do not want that isn't a part of the product that was purchased. This Armour software is not required to use the extender.

I looked around the netgear website but could not find anything that would help me, leaving me forced to ask for help. When I contacted Netgear (chat) to see if there was a workaround where I could use my computer to set up the Extender and decline the software, the person I was connected to refused to help me. They said I could not get any "support" without a receipt for the product. I didn't buy the product and after all this aggravation, I am certainly not contacting my sister and telling her she needs to send me a receipt for a product she purchased on Amazon. Instead, I contacted her and told her to inform Amazon that the product is being returned and to send me the return scan code.

So bottom line:
1) Don't purchase this extender unless you want invasive software downloaded to your phone. And then after 30 days they start charging you for a software you don't even want. Yes, you can cancel, but how many times is that charge going to hit your account before you realize you are paying for something you don't want. And how much stuff have they been tracking on your phone during that time?
2) Don't send gifts for Netgear products unless you send the recipient a receipt for the purchase. And tell people not to purchase any Netgear products for you unless you have done research and determined that they are not downloading other software to your device.
2) Don't expect any support from Netgear unless you have a receipt. All I wanted to know was how could I set it up without using the Nighthawk App on my phone or being forced to let them put Netgear Armour software on my phone.
3) Find another company that respects your rights as a customer and a consumer. Because Netgear cares not an iota about your rights.

Orbi app unavailable for/on Pixel Tablet.

Can't log in to the Orbi app with my (correct) credentials.

Can't remove my old phone nor add my new one as a trusted device in-app after logging in with a one-time password.

Can't update firmware in-app, says it's up-to-date when it isn't.

Tries to sell you unnecessary and unwanted subscriptions.

Apparently removed their main profile full of negative reviews (netgear.com) from Trustpilot to censor negative reviews.

Support is nearly impossible to reach and requires router reset before escalating issues for actual, proper troubleshooting (!).

Update: after multiple e-mails and refusing to reset my router to solve a 2FA issue (?!), Netgear finally suggested something that worked (despite not fixing the bug).

This review is for anyone who is wondering if purchasing a NETGEAR product. I strongly suggest you steer clear away from any NETGEAR product because if you happen to have any issues with it NETGEAR support line will not help you with your issues. Instead they will just try to sell you some subscription for customer support which is required for them to help you (which is ridiculously overpriced) or will try to sell you a new product. Meanwhile blatantly lying directly to you and in some cases even ending calls with no call back. I believe I have a defective product even with the hardware warranty so still active netgear will not do anything to solve me issue. The funny part is my friend told me he has the same nighthawk router and that he has similar issues with his device also. So I’m guessing this is a huge headache for netgears development team as well as support agents. Do not buy net gear products unless you have money to buy a new one every month or so.

I purchased a NETGEAR Orbi mesh wireless router for my home in 2020. I paid >$300. It worked great until I recently moved to a new home. I was unable to set it up at the new address. I called tech support and they told me I needed to purchase a new software license for it for $300. If they had been honest with me during the initial purchase I would not be feel so cheated. Hiding the software license information in the 10 pages of fine print of the “Terms and conditions “ is not a honest way of doing business. I will never again trust this manufacturer.

I would like to share a bad customer experience involving Netgear support since november 2022 till now. This experience reminded me of a visit to an old school municipal office where everything moves slowly, and one feels neglected. The support experience was characterized by poor service, protracted handling of cases, and an inability to address security-related issues.

It all began when I faced a security-related challenge with my Netgear product. I decided to contact their support for assistance in resolving the problem. First and foremost, it was a challenge to find relevant information on their website as it was cluttered and confusing. After searching for support contact details, I finally found a phone number to call.

When I called the support hotline, I encountered a long waiting time before I was even connected to a support representative. It seemed that there was insufficient staff to handle the inquiries, resulting in an overload of their phone line. When I finally spoke to a representative, I was met with a lot of questions and no solutions. This happened repeatedly.

Unfortunately, the problems did not end there. The support representative I spoke with did not seem competent in resolving my security issue. On multiple occasions, I was asked to repeat my situation and describe the problem again and again. It appeared that their system was unable to register and document my previous inquiries, making the entire process frustrating and time-consuming.

After several calls and repeated attempts to resolve the issue, I felt deeply disappointed with Netgear support. Their inability to address my security concerns and the overall lack of efficiency and professionalism caused me to lose trust in their support team.

The Netgear support experience reminded me of an old school municipal office where things move slowly, and one is constantly neglected. It is frustrating to feel that one's problems are not taken seriously, and that not enough is being done to resolve them quickly and effectively.

In the end, I had to resort to alternative solutions and seek help from other sources to address my security issues. This bad customer experience has taught me the importance of researching a company's support level before purchasing their products. It is crucial to have confidence that the support team is competent and efficient, especially when it comes to security matters.

I cannot recommend purchasing Netgear products as they do not function as intended and create security concerns. Netgear has extremely poor customer service that pushes one around until they no longer have the energy to continue.

Purchased a wifi adapter.
Called customer service to help with installation.
Spoke to a dumb lady who had NO ANSWERS.
I was patient for 45 minutes to be "disconnected".
Stupid lady hung because she didn't have a solution

Netgear products are mediocre, at best, and its technical support is absolutely abysmal! My most recent support ticket was initiated via live chat. After over 2 hours (including wait/hold times), my case was "escalated" to a higher level of support, and I was promised that a technician would call me within 24-48 hours. Instead, less than 30 minutes later, I received an email from Netgear advising me that, despite my having a few weeks of free support left on my contract, I would have to purchase "Premium" support for $139.00 if I wanted my issue pursued. It seems that "escalating" a case is Netgear's cowardly way of ending a live "face-to-face" chat so that it can deliver bad news and shady/dubious messages via email whereby customers cannot respond or dispute the unethical nature of said messages.

EDIT: And good luck obtaining a refund for its dodgy Netgear Armor Security. The "30-day-money-back guarantee" is a ploy. Refunds are not easy and hassle-free. I'm still fighting for my refund and had to dispute the charge via Paypal and my CC company.