Ubiquiti RMA

[synaesthesia]

Anyone had any experience with RMA'ing any Unifi kit? Bit dubious as to sending kit back to the USA!

[Chris_]

I've only dealt with the supplier we purchased them from - 4Gon.

[synaesthesia]

As that's our likely future supplier, any input on those?

[m25man]

Get an RMA number on line from UBNT and it takes around 6 weeks to get your replacements depending on the return courier.

Customs Clearance and the associated paperwork is key.

It is important to label the goods correctly and declare the value to be no more than the cost of the postage. Mark the package as "Faulty Returned Goods".

 

Buy from a reputable source that is willing to offer a full 12 month UK warranty then your returns will be handled by the reseller themselves.

[synaesthesia]

Aye, done, (Hope it clears customs, didn't think of that!) It's a bit of a bugger that there's no EU centre for Ubiquiti, I think that may be key to their success in future. £20 to return a £50 AP isn't ideal. Ideally would have liked to return it via the retailer we bought from but as CP have already distanced themselves from Ubiquiti gear, didn't think it was worth raising it with them.

[Chris_]

As that's our likely future supplier, any input on those?

 

They seem ok on the whole. We've had to chase a couple of RMAs up with them but once they've processed them we've had replacement parts out pretty soon.

[m25man]

as CP have already distanced themselves from Ubiquiti gear, didn't think it was worth raising it with them.

 

The whole business model of UBNT is disruptive, they don't have sales teams regional offices and staff, support is community driven and really they would like the installers to be the end of the chain. No end users to deal with.

 

There really is no margin to be earned by middlemen, its Factory > Distribution >Installer the big boys are only interested in selling Unifi as a loss leader in the hope to get other sales off the back of it you would have to sell hundreds of £50 APs to make a decent wage but 2 or 3 installs a week makes a job.

 

The likes of CP & 4Gon should stick to Ruckus and the margin makers leave the £50 APs to the little guys.

[synaesthesia]

Aye, a shame really - it's that very cost that makes it so worthwhile, even more so compared to the likes of Ruckus. Really helps folks like us out of a tight spot when a managed install would very literally kill off an entire year's budget!

[m25man]

That the great thing about this community, there are plenty here prepared to roll up their sleeves do the research and install themselves which is why the product has been so successful.

If an NM wants someone else to do all the thinking, planning and installation woes whilst he sits back drinking tea and eating free biscuits so be it! Buy an expensive fully managed and maintained system.

 

If however you have planned installed and run your own Unifi system it pays to just have a spare unit on the shelf in case a situation arises as described. Return the duffer to the reseller and wait for the RMA to turn up eventually. Still a lot cheaper than some alternatives.

[synaesthesia]

Absolutely, also our intention The faulty ones were test units, something to dip our toes in the water, so to speak Other than them failing (and not being able to recover them even via TTL cable) we've been mightily impressed.

[Oaktech]

Our experience has been through digital air wireless (whose building I can see from my house!) and it has previously taken 2 days to RMA a standard AP as they just handed me a new one, same for POE injectors. This time, we have just bought 20 AP Pro, one of which has no reset button - as in, it just didn't get installed at manufacture! digital air are saying 2-6 weeks current turnaround on RMA and they can only do an advance replacement if we pay for it and then get a credit! As I've designed the system to be overkill it's not a tragedy to be down one.