Netgear taking on Geek Squad with premium "GearHead" tech support service
My first reaction to any extended warranty or service plan is always fear, varied only by the exact proportion of revulsion. Not my fault: we've been taught by experience that warranty service, especially when sold from someone other than the manufacturer, is a scam.
Still, there's something promising about Netgear's new "GearHead" support service. It's 24x7 phone support (with an option to pay more for in-house visits), but they will help you troubleshoot your entire network, not just the part that uses Netgear products. That's always been a hassle when dealing with the tech support provided by networking vendors: as soon as the packets hit off-brand copper they become someone else's problem.
Unlimited phone support is $70 for six months; $90 for a year. One-off "Get me on the internet" is $37 (but only for 30 minutes), while a "Tune Up" of nebulous value is $50. The "HomeSupport" subscriptions sound like a much better deal than the one-off options.
Of course, it all depends on how well-trained the Gearhead techs are. If you take the plunge I'd love to hear about your experience with them.
Oh, and it's Windows-only support for now — no OS X, no Linux.
Gearhead Support [Netgear.com]
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Not interested. With a capital "."
I've never received anything but atrocious support from Netgear the few times I've called or emailed - and the help has always come from someone with only a basic command of English - on top of their awful "register your product before we will talk to you" policy.
I have a pretty extensive home network and administer it in a fairly capable manner, yet from time to time a nebulously named and ambiguously explained setting required further understanding to accomplish a particular aim, and this is where they've always fallen flat on their faces when attempting to help.
At one point I standardized all the networking gear in my home to Netgear - but their decidedly mediocre support experience led me to choose another vendor to use when I moved and it was time to create a newer and better network in my new home.
Of course, I may not exactly be their target audience for this new service - but the people who regularly ask me for computer help are, and if asked I would advise them against it, despite the fact that it would ostensibly offload some of my unpaid support for friends and family.
Gearhead, Geek Squad, Genius Bar, whatever..
Even though I've been a programmer for 8 or so years, I make sure I know nothing about other peoples computers.
I once witnessed a Genious Bar first hand. The stupidity of the idea made my head explode.
Save your cash. I subscribed to the Gearhead 1 yr. service plan. The first two weeks I contacted them for assistance in connecting to a wireless router and wireless printer. First it took 10-20 for a technician to get on the line after they answered my call. The tech. spoke only broken English and was difficult to understand. The techs appear to be reading from canned instruction, and do not have much intuitive understanding of how the software works. After about 1 or 2 hours of wasted time, the tech was unable to diagnose the problem. I finally figured out on my own how to connect to the router. I have not fixed the problem with the printer, but I have made some progress on my own.