TS 439 Pro - Poor After Sales Support

[barjantoz]

I had problem with my TS 439 Pro since last weekend. The unit - after running fine for 4 months - suddenly shutdown by itself.

Since then I had some interactions with Online Support (thru web/email) and Instant Messaging. They are quite responsive. The conclusion was the NAS unit is faulty and I've to bring back to local distributor for further checking.

The technical support at the local distributor conclude that the problem is with the PCB / mother board of the NAS Unit. I was told that he need to send the PCB to Taiwan for repair - and it will take about 3 weeks.

3 weeks without access to my data!!. FYI - I've 4 * 1.5 TB on RAID 5. I've everything there - from emails to photos to musics to movies.

When I bought an expensive NAS - I want reliability and good support.

I DO NOT GET ANY OF THOSE.

NOT RELIABLE: The NAS unit went down after only 4 months running - without any warnings! PCB issues - sounds like QA problem.

BAD SUPPORT: The local distributor does not keep PCB stock and have to send the PCB for repair - 3200 km away - from Singapore to Taiwan!! Come on guys - you should be able to replace the PCB at your local service center! QNAP should ask the local distributor to stock spare part for incident like this. People business could be affected by this.

If my washing machine warranty services could provide an on-site PCB replacement. I want the same or better support for my NAS!!

My request for a temporary replacement unit rejected by the local distributor management!

For you all - before you decide buy an expensive QNAP NAS - please check again with the Support Arrangement with your local distributor. Make sure you have all the contingency plan.

For QNAP - you should review your Support arrangement with your local distributor.

Cheers from Singapore.

==UNHAPPY CUSTOMER==

 

[bigsy]

I had problem with my TS 439 Pro since last weekend. The unit - after running fine for 4 months - suddenly shutdown by itself.

When QNAP faces such a situation they do not repair the board. They will swap it out for a new one. I'm a longtime QNAP user. I too faced a fault on the controller board. After it was diagnosed QNAP sent me another board which I installed myself - Taiwan to US in 5 days. I still have the old board. It seems that they could have sent it express mail to your reseller. It sounds like your problem is as much the reseller as with QNAP.

QNAP has taken huge stride in improving customer support over the past two years. They are responsive (as you noted) and go the extra mile. That said, the terms of their warrany are not great. They should be offering 2 - 3 years on the higher end products.

Also note that your implementation provides redundancy, not backup. True backup would involve a second unit or perhaps stand alone disk that resides off site. If you had that you would still have access to your data. That is not to suggest that you have not been inconvenienced. Obviously you have.

Hardware faults occur with all devices. As a longtime contributor to the QNAP forums I can tell you that our experiences are by far the exception.

My 2 cents.

 

[barjantoz]

When QNAP faces such a situation they do not repair the board. They will swap it out for a new one. I'm a longtime QNAP user. I too faced a fault on the controller board. After it was diagnosed QNAP sent me another board which I installed myself - Taiwan to US in 5 days. I still have the old board. It seems that they could have sent it express mail to your reseller. It sounds like your problem is as much the reseller as with QNAP.

QNAP has taken huge stride in improving customer support over the past two years. They are responsive (as you noted) and go the extra mile. That said, the terms of their warrany are not great. They should be offering 2 - 3 years on the higher end products.

Also note that your implementation provides redundancy, not backup. True backup would involve a second unit or perhaps stand alone disk that resides off site. If you had that you would still have access to your data. That is not to suggest that you have not been inconvenienced. Obviously you have.

Hardware faults occur with all devices. As a longtime contributor to the QNAP forums I can tell you that our experiences are by far the exception.

My 2 cents.

Thanks for the comment!!

You're very right to point out that the problem is at the distributor. As customer though I demand QNAP to be responsible for their distributor. FYI - Only one official distributor in Singapore. It shouldn't be too difficult to manage. If QNAP can't implement the right support process thru their distributor - it's also their fault.

The think that puzzle me was - why they have to REPAIR the board rather than swap with the new one?

Agree about the backup. I've been about it too - i.e. automatic regular backup. I've just spent a bomb on the NAS + 4 HDDs - I thought I could wait little longer before spending more my hard earn $$.

Right now I'm contemplating to seek for alternative brand with hopefully better end-to-end support.

Rgds,
Boedi
My home network.

 

[bigsy]

First, given the image shot of your network you should have had ample backup available so that you would have access to your data. Nice rig!

Second, I get your point on QNAP being responsible for their partners but that only goes so far. Look at this thread for a similar example where the reseller preformed very well:

http://forum.qnap.com/viewtopic.php?f=185&t=20960

If you don't feel like reading it all jump to page 3 and see the bit about being offered a replacement unit while the original is being repaired. Also not that they offered a discount on an upgraded unit. Not all resellers preform equally! Perhaps you can use this information in your discussion with your reseller?

Let us know if / how this is resolved.

 

[barjantoz]

Thanks Bigsy. I backup some of the data but not all. Duplicating terabytes of data data is not cheap. I was expecting high-end QNAP NAS with RAID 5 would give me better reliability.

The local reseller (Memory World Pte. Ltd. - http://www.memoryworld.com.sg/) happens to have a monopoly right on QNAP brand in Singapore.

I've tried to call them countless time asking for temporary unit. They keep their stand that they do not have any obligation to give a loan unit. Simply ask me to wait until the unit is being repair in Taiwan and send back to Singapore.

For those of you who are residing in Singapore and considering buying anything from Memory World. Just make sure you understand what their After Sales Support policy.

Cheers,
Boedi

 

[bigsy]

Time to go over their heads. Complain directly to QNAP. Submit via the web support request form and post to their user forums.

Keep us posted on how it turns out.

 

[barjantoz]

I did sent email to QNAP Support and posted my feedback on their forum http://forum.qnap.com/viewtopic.php?f=45&t=23359

Someone in that forum kindly enough to help me to forward my feedback directly to QNAP Executive Level Management. But no good news so far.

What I'm doing right now is to continue pushing my case thru different channels - and make people aware about limitation of QNAP After Sales / Warranty Support Policy in Singapore thru Memory World Pte. Ltd.

 

[barjantoz]

Just want to update thru this forum.

A few minutes ago.

The QNAP Support (thru chat line) confirmed that QNAP Taiwan has repaired my PCB, it's being sent out yesterday (Fri), and on its way to Singapore.

The local technical support also called me saying that it may arrive today (Sat) or Mon. In any case he will update me again.

Rgds,
Boedi

 

[barjantoz]

To conclude my experience with the QNAP and Memory World After Sales Support:

After more chats with QNAP Support and calls to Memory World Technical Support staff - I picked up the NAS Unit yesterday (15-Dec). Have tested @ home and seems to be running normal now. The RAID 5 configuration wasn't affected.

It took 7 days since I brought the unit to Memory World. But - as per my note above - that's after all the escalations. Thanks to someone in this forum who has helped to sent email to QNAP Management.

Another interesting aspect behind the support is the level of competence of the local technical support staff @ Memory World.

At the beginning he indicated that the PCB was at fault hence he sent the PCB to Taiwan for 'repair'. Last Saturday I found from QNAP Support that they send a new PCB. So I thought the PCB was beyond repair - added to my logic that the local should have stock of critical items like PCB/board.

Not until yesterday when I picked up the unit - the local technical support told me that the problem actually was not with the PCB. The main culprit is the power supply.

What I could think of what's happening behind the scene (this is a pure speculation from me):
1) Memory World simply has misdiagnosed the problem and sent my good PCB to QNAP Taiwan - mid of last week,
2) QNAP Taiwan could not find problem with the PCB. Didn't want to take any chance they sent another good PCB back to Singapore last Friday.
3) Memory World received the new PCB last Monday - and tried to boot the system. Still have the same problem. He contacted QNAP Support - who then told them to check the Power Supply. BINGO. He found the root cause.

Simple misdiagnose - has cost me a week without data plus my time for the escalations. It also has cost Memory World / QNAP - unnecessary shipping fees. I cannot start to speculate where do they get the power supply from.

However - I appreciated the honesty of the person. He could've told me that he replaced the PCB and pull stop.

Moral of the story is - in general - we should not just simply accepted all the term and conditions driven by the local distributor.

 

[bigsy]

I'm sorry to hear that the local reseller did not doing their job. Perhaps this was handled by inexperienced staff or perhaps they are just not that familiar with troubleshooting these devices. I was pleased to hear that QNAP did their job and provided good support to both you and the reseller. You can't ask for much more from QNAP except perhaps to find another reseller in your area!

 

[claykin]

QNAP may only be able to functionally test the PCB in their repair lab. To properly test a PCB this way requires you test all functions/features, burn in for some time, etc... This takes time which cost $$. Its usually cheaper for them to just replace the PCB. These multilayer PCBs are difficult to repair outside of the board house that builds them. Specialized equipment is required and skilled labor which is also costly.

That said, QNAP did what they were supposed to. Your distributor misdiagnosed it which can happen. Glad to hear you got your unit fixed in a reasonable period of time.