My recent Weblog post about a reader who ran afoul of Linksys support prompted a wide array of responses. A number of readers defended Linksys, saying they've had luck with the company's products. Many others related difficulties they've had with the company.
One reader opined that it's only going to get worse. "The purchase of Linksys by Cisco will result in a true decrease in quality service," the reader wrote. "They will honor the terms of their warranties to the letter, but will offer nothing beyond that. Instead of innovative, quality, and value-oriented products, we will see routine, boring products with higher prices and less satisfactory service. What a bargain to the consumer."
Another reader had an interesting comment for why Linksys may have refused to support or replace the "broken" router. "I worked 24 years in the computer industry, and I think one thing that may be appropriate to this discussion is that Linksys may have priced the router to market, and the warranty period is also priced into the initial purchase of the product," the reader wrote. "If you expected a longer warranty, or to be able to return it for repair, which I'm surprised they didn't seem to offer at all, well, that's the 'price you pay' for a low initial price. In the market I was in, some customers complained that we didn't offer trade-in or trade-up credits on disk drives. Notice that you never see that anywhere? Why not? Because disks are considered throw-aways, and you have to keep in mind that any money anyone gives you back on a trade-in, whether it's a pc or a car, is being paid by someone. And if nobody's willing to cough up any money for that, you won't see them offering it. It's tough, but so are those markets. Toss it and buy a new one, and if there's an extended warranty, buy it!"
4:51:38 PM 
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