OK, heads up to all you retail jockies out there: I am never going to buy a $50 warranty plan on a $50 piece of retail electronics. It is stupid to ask and it makes me angsty.
I would, however, give serious thought if you pitched the following:
"Tell you what... for $50 you get priority warranty service. This means that you get direct phone access to a tier 2 support person who doesn't make you walk through a stupid script and has the authority to drop ship you a replacement unit with a prepaid return box for the NFG one. For your $50 we'll honor this up until the end of your three years and if it turns out that your model is replaced then we'll give you a free upgrade, no charge."
Don't get me wrong - I didn't buy the $50 router in question... I understand the difference between low end residential gear and business equipment, and I understand the need for tier 1 to weed out all of the stupid people.
But when I call up and say, "hey, I'm plugged directly into this router. No other devices, no internet connection to the unit. I can't ping it on the default IP. I can plug my computer using the same cable into another unit and have it work. If I hold reset I can reach a firmware flash screen for the router but otherwise it's non-responsive. I've checked out your site, there is no firmware file of any kind or I would have already flashed it." and the response is "Sir, I must know the name of your internet provider and the manufacturer of your modem" it makes me die a little inside. They seriously explained to me three different times how to push a reset button.
Seriously retail vendors out there - I would double the price of any unit on the shelf anywhere if it meant I could talk to an intelligent person and be treated like a normal business support call.
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