Most review sites don’t cover the RMA process, but trying to get a consumer electric device repaired or replaced under warranty can truly be a painful experience and is something we like to cover. We recently had a Netgear Nighthawk X8 AC5300 Smart WiFi Router give up the ghost when it got stuck in a reboot loop. Power cycling the router and hitting the reset button didn’t change things and we couldn’t even connect over tftp on Linux. The good news is that this model was still covered under the devices 1-year warranty, so we figured that we’d contact Netgear customer service and start the RMA process.

We should point out that Netgear support on wireless routers is only 90 days from purchase, so don’t seek help for your problem as you’ll likely get a sales pitch for $49.99 premium technical support. Ignore all that and just call Netgear technical support to start the RMA process by obtaining authorization to return the device. There is no online form to fill our or chat support application to use. To request an RMA in North America, call 1-888-638-4327. To request an RMA in all other countries, visit the NETGEAR support page to view your local Support team’s contact information. The nice part about asking for an RMA is that they will try to solve the problem and troubleshoot it with you over the phone as they don’t want to replace your device unless it had a hardware failure.