With the advent of ADSL (broadband internet) and the option to chose "wires only", that is, where you pay the telecom company for the service but provide your own hardware, I wanted to report that at least one manufacturer and supplier of the hardware sorted a problem for me with no hassle.

The product was a Netgear wireless ADSL router. It was ordered on the internet from a supplier called morecomputers.co.uk. It arrived within two days, but did not work. I phoned the Netgear helpline (in the evening) and spoke to an engineer. I've no idea where he was located, but he steered me through a simple series of checks (just typing commands at the keyboard etc - no screwdrivers) and eventually concluded that the unit was faulty. He gave me a reference number and told me to contact the supplier who would send a replacement.

The next morning I did so. Morecomputers wanted me to return the unit for them to check, but when I explained that Netgear had already authorised a replacement, and that I needed the unit urgently they said they would "phone me back". They did ! They agreed to despatch a new unit that day, and if I would return the original unit they would even refund the postage. I posted the original unit back to them, and the new one arrived the following day - and it works brilliantly. I was so pleased with the service I didn't bother to chase them for the postage refund.

Ken Thomas
East Sussex
30 December 2003