Unifi Company/RMA Issues

[Feejai]

A long time lurker, I don't post on social media or any other sites very often, but I was wondering if anyone in this community works for or has contacts for Ubiquiti and willing to help escalate an RMA issue I am having with this company (one of the worst companies to ever deal with, getting them to even respond to questions is like pulling teeth).

 

Just over a month ago I starting having some issues with my USW Switch Enterprise 24 PoE, so I created an RMA online which was approved and had to ship my switch from Canada to the US ($80!).  As of this post it has been 35 days, 10 hours and 5 minutes since my RMA process started, they've received my switch and the status since the beginning is 'backordered'.  I tried reaching out on their customer forums tagging some UI reps, and had one response a week ago saying they would look into it and try to help, that person has disappeared.    I emailed the RMA team, asking them if they can provide an alternate switch or upgrade (I didn't ask for anything for free), or a refund if they are not able to provide a date when I will get my replacement so I can move on to another vendor.  I received a reply today advising they don't know when my item will be in stock, but they 'hope it will be soon'.  Hope doesn't help me, I don't have extra $$$ to buy something else (which I have already done to hold me over), but this shouldn't be acceptable.  I understand there are still issues with supply, but why can't they offer me a swap/trade/upgrade to something they do have?

 

Long story short and I don't know enough about these forums yet to know if the Linus Media Group has moderators or employees who might have contacts with Ubiquiti to potentially get more information on my RMA or be able to help in anyway to resolve my RMA.  I really do like Unify equipment, and have even told others to purchase, but no longer.  If you are in the market for network equipment, there are other companies out there with similar equipment and better service, if I wasn't already invested with Unifi equipment I would go with something like TP-Link Omada.  Very frustrating experience to say the least, appreciate any advice or help this community may able to provide.

 

Thank you!

[kbisignani]

Hi @Feejai

 

I've been using Ubiquiti gear for a while now, both at home and at work (actually we have quite a bit at work, network, cameras, and door access).  From my experience, your best bet is to post a message to the community forums over at community.ui.com.  Tag UI-Glenn and/or UI-Team in your message.  That's your best chance.

 

Supply shortages, while much better today then they were 6 months ago, are very much still a thing at Ubiquiti.  At work I have the luxury of having inventory of parts, so if something goes down, I can replace it while waiting for the RMA process.  But I totally get not being able to do that for personal use.

 

I wish you luck and hope you are able to get your issues resolved.

 

~ Kyle

[Feejai]

Hi @kbisignani,

 

Thank you for taking the time to reply.  I tried reaching out to UI-Glenn he responded once and said he would see what he can do then ghosted me (I wasn't rude or anything either).  What I don't understand is the lack of flexibility, they know certain items are not in-stock and haven't been for a long time.  Why they won't let me trade-in, provide credit for something that is in-stock is beyond me.  Not to mention how hard it is to get any attention on their forums and RMA sites/email.  They don't make contacting them easy at all, and they rarely respond when you do find someone.

 

It is unfortunate too, as I mentioned, I do like their equipment but I honestly couldn't recommend them to anyone at the moment.  I ended up buying a 48-port TP-Link switch to hold me over, and their UI is not as pretty, but it works just as well as the Unifi gear.

 

Thanks again,

Sean

[The 8-Bit Time Traveller]

As Kyle said, the forum team at UBNT are usually quite helpful. I am in a very remote part of the world, and stock is always an issue. Here we have to work through a third party distributor, and when I get stuck with them I resort to the UBNT forums, they can usually help with things like tracking RMA problems.

 

Keep checking in with Glenn, he's a very helpful dude

[wseaton]

Unifi switches are not that special - hardware wise. A step up from typical consumer gear Netgear, etc., but I've found TPlink to be a pretty good bargain. It's usually the higher power levels required for 48port PoE that drives up the cost, and frankly I've kind of thrown the hammer down with clients and bosses that not every damn port on the switch need to potentially run an expresso maker. Passive, layer 3 switches aren't that special and I won't pay a lot of money for them.

 

Which reminds me...I used to like Netgear.....but the past few years I've been playing too much of 'find the working port' shell game.

What Ubiquiti does well is put everything under a single pane of glass mgmt...and it's free. Being able to spin up infrastructure wide VLANs in seconds across all hardware stacks and trace IPs and do all firmware upgrades in seconds saves stupid amounts of time. And oh yeah...it's free. 

 

The RMA delays though aren't excusable. Supply chain issues aside (try to get an Edgerouter P) they need to communicate better.

[seanondemand]

Long time ubiquiti people know that while the product and ui is great for people looking for a big step up from regular consumer networking gear, at a pretty good price point, the support… leaves something to be desired. People who deploy this stuff professionally will usually keep a pretty good inventory of hot spares for situations like this, normies like us just have to hope we don’t have problems. Luckily the only thing I’ve had go bad on me was a G3 instant camera. 

[Feejai]

I actually bought a TP-Link 48 port (non-poe) to hold me over, but that is more $$$ out of pocket.  I must say other than the UI with Unifi, the TP-link switch works well, and I fired up a computer I had laying around and put OPNSense on it.  I may head in this direction, so if anything Ubiquiti may have put me in the hands of another manufacturer.  Yes not the same 'integrated' experience, but I am kinda liking my new setup.