Several weeks ago we sent in two 3Com SuperStack 3 3300 24 10/100 Switchs into 3Com for repair. They both had spontaneously died out of the blue with in a few months of each other. Since this product was still covered under the “sort of lifetime” warranty from 3Com we figured that we’d simply send these units in, get them repaired and then put them back into use. Of course when ever you think something should be that easy and straight forward it rarely is. The first unit they fixed and sent back without any problems. After waiting a few more weeks for the second one to show up (we’d sent them both in at the same time) we finally called 3Com wanting to know where our second device was that we’d sent in for repair. We were told that it had arrived physically broken and that wasn’t covered under the warranty. Obviously it was in one piece when it got sent, we’d had insured. Long story short, UPS wasn’t going to cover the broken hardware either because 3Com had thrown away the box the device had been shipped in, which UPS wanted to confirm that the damage was done during shipping.
At this point I’m trying to figure out two things about 3Com’s support. One, why didn’t they call us when they opened up the box and found that one of the devices was in pieces? Two, surely 3Com shipped and receives enough packages each day to know that if something arrives broken then maybe they should hold on to the box to prove it was damaged in shipping.
Fast forward to this morning when a box from 3Com shows up at the office. We figured this would be the (hopefully) fixed second 3Com switch. What we found it the box was truly amazing. It was indeed a 3Com switch, but it wasn’t ours. As matter of fact it wasn’t even the same model as ours. On top of all of this the one they sent us back looks like it has been through a fire and then sent to the bottom of the ocean. I’d never seen a piece of network equipment look so incredibly toasted. So my boss had the honor of calling 3Com to chew them out over the complete uselessness. Once that was done I wanted to make sure we could all look back on this, so I took a few pictures. The thumbnail above a close up of the back expansion port. There are two more of the back, one is head on from the back and the other if from the top side back. The last shot is from the top side front. Notice how black the fan vents are on the side, ouch!
Hey 3Com, don’t expect me to be recommending your equipment if this is the type of service I can expect for products with a “lifetime” warranty. It shouldn’t be noted that their lifetime warranty isn’t really lifetime. The warranty is good up until five years after the product has been discontinued. It would be cheaper for us to simply buy Netgear switches every five years.
3 replies on “3Com Support Is Really, Really Bad”
Having worked in 3Com support for a number of years I know how it works. Support within 3Com is seen operationally as a cost center, that is to say an area that will not make a profit. As a result of this it is always short on resource. As technology moves so fast, this isn’t seen as a problem. You will be advised to upgrade to resolve your problem. If this involved a firmware upgrade you would often already have the firmware in your unit, we’d just down load an unlock. Another trick we used was in product release, we’d initially release a unit with a good chip set to allow the unit to get good reviews and take a foot hold, and after the first few shipments replace the good (more expensive) chips with cheaper ones that, of course, don’t work as well. The end user would be blind to this. It’s not just 3Com that do this, many manufacturers behave in the same way. This is what comes when you put profit above customer service.
Fundamentally, the products are as a result of the people, good people, happy workers etc make for good products. 3Com HR are in constant battle with employees, they see themselves as a protective layer separating the people from the company. As long as 3Com has poor HR, you will always get problems with their products.
Hey dude,
I was just searching your blog for info on how you set up your Atom feed, and I came across this post. Brings back memories, all bad…
FYI, the links to the pictures seem to be broken.
Do you know you can get the 3com Switch 3300 24 port on ebay for like $35 now?
I got on. I use it in my room. But the fans way to loud. I put the 2 fans to 5 volts not 12. But it was about as loud as a Xbox then. Today I just cut a bit 120mm hole in the top of it and put a fan blowin down. I don’t hear it any more and the air comming out is not as worm was it was with the 2 bilts in fans at 5 volts that made sound still.
It took me about 4 hours to cut a neat hole in the top of it put mount a big fan.
But it’s working super good. I wish it had a way to check what Temperature it is inside.
-Raymond Day