Linksys EtherFast® BEFSR41 Router
- Connectivity: Wired
- Router Functionalities: VPN Pass-Thru DHCP Server
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3 Hours Waiting on Phone for Tech Support?
Pros
Tech Support was toll free.
Cons
Annoying constant buzz, Would not work, 3 Hour Phone Wait for Tech Support!
Recommended it?
No
The Bottom Line:
I cannot recommend this item or this company because of the lack of good, basic customer service that they failed to provide us.
The reason we had for purchasing this Linksys was the arrival of cable internet in our house and our need to hook up more than one computer to the cable. We needed one that would handle both a Mac and a PC, and the reviews spoke of this one favorably. It was also on sale for around half price, and had a $10 rebate which sort of helped to convince me this was the one to buy.
We waited for its arrival anxiously. For some unknown reason it took several weeks before it could be sent, but at long last, it came. We excitedly opened the box and proceeded to set it up.
For some reason I had the impression that this was going to be a simple procedure, with canned soup 1-2-3 A-B-C directions and results. It wasn't.
About the only thing we could get it to do was buzz. It made a buzz which became quite aggravating very quickly, but it would not work properly. We assumed that the problem rested with us, so we determined the best thing to do was call tech support and let them walk us through whatever it was we hadn't managed to do right.
We called the toll free tech support number and got a recording that everyone was busy at the moment with other customers, and that our call would be answered by the next available person. We expected that to be the case so waited our turn.
And waited.
And waited.
Every so often a recorded message would come on and repeat the same message, letting us know they were aware of our existence and would be with us at some point soon.
We continued to wait. We took turns holding the phone. We continued to wait some more.
Finally, after THREE HOURS of waiting, I decided to do something drastic. I picked up the phone on the second phone line and called the number the Linksys papers gave for SALES. I got an answer - a real live person - within just a few minutes.
I explained the situation to the woman, telling her how we were unable to get our new purchase working and how we had been waiting for three hours for a tech support person to answer our call on the other line. I told her we wanted to get some help with getting this to work rather than having to send it back. We didn't want to send it back because we had waited so long for it to arrive in the first place! She assured me that this was not the norm and that something must be wrong with their phone answering system. She told me
she would call and report the problem and have someone who could help us get the thing working call us right away.
With that assurance, I ended the call and we also ended the other call, leaving both phone lines free for tech support to reach us on - they could use either one.
The call never came on either phone line. A half hour went by, then an hour. Then a couple hours. Later that evening we finally understood that we were not going to be called back, so we boxed this thing and its papers back up, and wrapped it to go back to where it was purchased from. We sent it back the very next day, very disappointed.
The very same evening that we wrapped the Linksys up, we went online and found a different brand that would supposedly work to connect both out MAC and our PC to the cable. We ordered it, had it in two days, and it was up and running within a short time. No problem getting our computers to work with it. What a relief.
Linksys tech support has never returned the call. I never heard anymore from their customer service whatsoever. I wonder if they think I am still waiting to hear from them?
It may have been a good router. It may have been our stupidity that kept it from working properly, as we are first-timers when it comes to using one of these.
It's impossible to ever know. I wish someone had had the courtesy to call and help us, but that didn't happen.
I'm not sure that I've ever had to wait that long on the phone for anyone in my life before. It's not something that I want to do again - time is precious and shouldn't be wasted - so I won't be buying any more things with the Linksys name because of it.
We waited for its arrival anxiously. For some unknown reason it took several weeks before it could be sent, but at long last, it came. We excitedly opened the box and proceeded to set it up.
For some reason I had the impression that this was going to be a simple procedure, with canned soup 1-2-3 A-B-C directions and results. It wasn't.
About the only thing we could get it to do was buzz. It made a buzz which became quite aggravating very quickly, but it would not work properly. We assumed that the problem rested with us, so we determined the best thing to do was call tech support and let them walk us through whatever it was we hadn't managed to do right.
We called the toll free tech support number and got a recording that everyone was busy at the moment with other customers, and that our call would be answered by the next available person. We expected that to be the case so waited our turn.
And waited.
And waited.
Every so often a recorded message would come on and repeat the same message, letting us know they were aware of our existence and would be with us at some point soon.
We continued to wait. We took turns holding the phone. We continued to wait some more.
Finally, after THREE HOURS of waiting, I decided to do something drastic. I picked up the phone on the second phone line and called the number the Linksys papers gave for SALES. I got an answer - a real live person - within just a few minutes.
I explained the situation to the woman, telling her how we were unable to get our new purchase working and how we had been waiting for three hours for a tech support person to answer our call on the other line. I told her we wanted to get some help with getting this to work rather than having to send it back. We didn't want to send it back because we had waited so long for it to arrive in the first place! She assured me that this was not the norm and that something must be wrong with their phone answering system. She told me
she would call and report the problem and have someone who could help us get the thing working call us right away.
With that assurance, I ended the call and we also ended the other call, leaving both phone lines free for tech support to reach us on - they could use either one.
The call never came on either phone line. A half hour went by, then an hour. Then a couple hours. Later that evening we finally understood that we were not going to be called back, so we boxed this thing and its papers back up, and wrapped it to go back to where it was purchased from. We sent it back the very next day, very disappointed.
The very same evening that we wrapped the Linksys up, we went online and found a different brand that would supposedly work to connect both out MAC and our PC to the cable. We ordered it, had it in two days, and it was up and running within a short time. No problem getting our computers to work with it. What a relief.
Linksys tech support has never returned the call. I never heard anymore from their customer service whatsoever. I wonder if they think I am still waiting to hear from them?
It may have been a good router. It may have been our stupidity that kept it from working properly, as we are first-timers when it comes to using one of these.
It's impossible to ever know. I wish someone had had the courtesy to call and help us, but that didn't happen.
I'm not sure that I've ever had to wait that long on the phone for anyone in my life before. It's not something that I want to do again - time is precious and shouldn't be wasted - so I won't be buying any more things with the Linksys name because of it.
