A day-late and dollar-short refund

[john70t]

I bought a three set of off-brand WIFI extenders based on reviews from a website.
(That website isn't a proven one like tomshardware which I should have listened to...)
Stupid me.
The existing Belkin and Netgear plug-in WIFI USB dongles actually worked decently across the house one floor up and through six walls, but obviously were not the fastest.

The price was $45/per. I thought they would fix the entire house and garage. The manufacturer is an American company or so it claimed. NJ. But now I am a little suspicious of that claim.

The extenders did not work.
I sent them back Priority Mail the next day. 2-3 days.
Over three weeks later..after they received it..my credit card had not been credited.
I sent them an email and details.
A few days after that my money showed up on the card....minus $10.

I am pissed. That could have been any amount. There is no info on their website disclosing any return processing charges.
If they immediately returned the money minus a small charge that would have been understandable actually.
But I had to go chasing them...

Bank was no help. I'm going to try the CC company next.

I tried a little online exploring.
The company may as well be a shell run out of a PO box. I don't know.
What's interesting is that Whois has all the company website info blocked "for privacy".
There is little info I could find.

[Nostril Cheese]

Time to get out the machine gun

[Ayles]

Maybe it's time to upgrade? With everyone working/schooling from home we upgraded to a mesh system and our wireless speeds are over 5x better than what we had with our old system using the same modem.

[john70t]

It's the idea of it. I had to chase after my money. Small circle of view and red mist.

The amount withheld could have been anything.
No way to serve a theoretical lawsuit.
Company information on the net is blocked.

It's become a brave new online world.

[oldE]

If the lesson only cost you ten bucks and some time, I would say you got off cheap.

Best
Les

[Gogar]

why don't you share the name of the product you hate so much

so we may spare ourselves the same fate

[john70t]

Next and Fi, based on https://consumertrustedreviews.net/best-wifi-boosters-bing/?msclkid=d4f93d2b9ef41bd668c95d1d793de90a

At the top of a Bing search and didn't notice it was an ad.
(Bing's first page search results can be total ads these days)
Also noticed it doesn't claim to be an unpaid independent research group like the others.

What I'm really curious is how to find website owner information. Whois info is blocked.

[cstreit]

The ones that use home wiring are notoriously unrelaible.

You want a "mesh" system. Ive used Google mesh for 2 years. I had to restart it only once. full signal everywhere - never have to switch networks - your devices see them all as one unit.

[Gogar]

Originally Posted by john70t

Next and Fi, based on https://consumertrustedreviews.net/best-wifi-boosters-bing/?msclkid=d4f93d2b9ef41bd668c95d1d793de90a

At the top of a Bing search and didn't notice it was an ad.
(Bing's first page search results can be total ads these days)
Also noticed it doesn't claim to be an unpaid independent research group like the others.

What I'm really curious is how to find website owner information. Whois info is blocked.

Thanks!

[flipper35]

Ubiquity makes some good stuff, the name brand mesh stuff works well. One thing I learned is never cheap out on networking stuff.

We had a group over for games and the consumer WAP could not handle the traffic.

[john70t]

The problem was fixed by moving the computer to the router..which should have been done anyways.
It required a bit of furniture moving and some thinking but I'm happy with the results.
The only other solution would have been opening walls to feed Cat5 across the entire house.

Direct-wire is faster, more secure, and less has electromagnetic radiation exposure so this was the best outcome.
My eyes get tired and blurry much faster when using WIFI for an extended period anyways.

[1990C4S]

I second the Google mesh network.

[rusnak]

I know this is not your point, but I've never ever had good luck with wifi extenders. Even worse, I'm paying AT&T for a managed switch, so I'm probably getting ripped off every month. OTOH, we use a ton of data and the router and stuff is so reliable I never think about it. I just have very little range.

The last one was a Honeywell. I think it cost over $100 and it has never worked.

I also have Cat 5 and 6 ethernet and prefer that much more for the computer, printer, TVs. Only the laptop and cell phone use wi fi now.

[stomachmonkey]

Originally Posted by john70t

What's interesting is that Whois has all the company website info blocked "for privacy".

Not really that interesting.

It's pretty much the default.

Every URL I own is blocked otherwise I get all manner of spam email, snail mail, robo calls.

Pretty much if you opt to leave it public you're an idiot.