NetGear WGU624 Double 108 Mbps Wireless Firewall Router

Pros: Adequate features and good reliability

Cons: Very poor tech support

Summary: To whom this should concern,

As I look around my server room and count numerous Netgear products, I'm sad to say that as much as I feel your products are good quality, these will positively be my last purchases from your company. Your policy of extorting personal information from your customers by refusing support unless personal information is provided is absolutely reprehensible. If, as a corporation you feel that filling your mailing list is more important than serving your paying customers, then I will under no circumstances continue to serve you with my dollars.

Let me understand this train of thought. I purchase devices from your company to secure my privacy, yet you feel I should relinquish my privacy as a requirement to receive support on a product I've paid for. Not in this lifetime! How arrogant? Someone over there must be prepping for a career in politics. Every company touts the same story, "We Don't Sell Your Personal Information". You know as well as I, that many do exactly that. Registration information is a huge market. Our information is sold in direct conflict with Privacy Statements every day. After all, who's to know? Certainly not the consumer! We, of course are left to pay the price with annoying spam and junk mail or worse. Since as a consumer I have no control over this information once it has been transmitted, the only safe course of action for me is no action. KEEP IT PRIVATE! This is a rule to which I strictly adhere and I'm pleased to say that after 20 years in the computer industry my tech related junk mail is ZERO. I've performed my part and paid for your product. What gives Netgear the right to my personal information? Are you that out of touch with privacy issues today?

So Here it is. You value my name, address, and phone number. Like many others, I value my privacy enough to include it in my daily purchasing decisons as should all of us. I hold posession of my finances and as a consequence your router has gone back to the retailer and has been exchanged for a Linksys of similar features and price. I'm happy to say that my support questions to them were answered without incident and I'm more than pleased with that purchase and the service which followed.

Finally, let me be up front. This letter will be cross posted to every relevent usenet tech forum, not as a flame but as a pre-sale public service notice. If you don't wish to give up your privacy, don't purchase Netgear. Those who feel as I do may be spared the lost hours of a second trip to the store for refund or exchange. If only a small percentage of the thousands of people who will read this document walk up to a person in a store holding a netgear box and relay these concerns, maybe you'll get the message. You spent good money in marketing to bring us to your products. It's a shame to waste it with policies that serve little purpose but to alienate us as consumers.


Sincerely
Richard S Fay
Former Netgear Customer