Hello everyone, thank you for clicking into this article. Although it’s a bit long, this is my real experience using QNAP services—maybe it could even be considered an IT workplace ghost story (lol).
Background: Disorganized Handover & Outsourced IT Security Disaster
When I first entered the MIS field, my company was using QNAP NAS products, but there was no key handover information left behind—just some computer transfer documents and newcomer info. The most important things, like the server IP and server admin password, were completely unrecorded. To make matters worse, the company had long outsourced IT to a senior from the neighboring company, but the handover documents were scattered and incomplete, and there was no proper security SOP established.
This outsourced IT senior did give me some internal IT information at first, even told me a few passwords, but hid the crucial server details and refused to teach me. On top of that, he was an anxious and high-pressure type, constantly pushing me to quickly master MIS work, nitpicking everything I didn’t know, even to the point of verbal bullying—just messing with my mindset. The problem was, he deliberately withheld key knowledge, preventing me from learning the essentials, yet kept urging me to learn a bunch of miscellaneous skills, looking for any chance to criticize me, even for typos. Eventually, our special assistant directly certified him as a nutcase (lol). Even worse, sometimes the things he taught were just made up, yet he acted like an expert.
I couldn’t stand being exploited like this for so long, so I finally asked the special assistant for help to separate my responsibilities from those of the outsourced IT senior, which finally prevented the conflict from escalating further. (That’s another story…)
The Story Begins: QNAP Self-Learning Journey vs. Outsourced IT’s Ridiculous Guidance
When this outsourced IT senior taught me QNAP, he only gave a rough overview and then left me to figure it out myself, even requiring me to master it within 7 days and produce a NAS operation guide. So, I forced myself to learn and write at the same time—checking interface instructions, taking screenshots, testing operations, emailing customer service, testing cloud connections to Google, plugging in external hard drives for backup, and so on.
Our company’s NAS had been in use for 6–7 years and was still running well. The hard drive health was nearly perfect, backup speed was fast, network disk access was normal, and the interface was clean and intuitive—probably thanks to the Linux system. QNAP’s design is quite user-friendly; every app has a navigation feature, which is great for beginners. The setup interface also has a “?” help section, clearly explaining how to configure and operate, so even a MIS newbie like me could quickly get started.
Whenever I had a problem, I would directly contact QNAP’s online customer service to ask about operations, updates, UPS connection auto-shutdown, NAS license expiration issues, and all sorts of things. The customer service reps were super patient, answering every question no matter how odd, and their email records were thorough, allowing me to track previous inquiries.
QNAP’s customer service is extremely professional, thoroughly knowledgeable about their products, and responds quickly—worlds apart from that outsourced IT senior. His explanations were sometimes just nonsense, and after consulting QNAP customer service, I realized their answers were the correct ones. This made me admire QNAP more and more, since their customer service is professional, while the outsourced guy is just a blabbermouth.
Case 1: Updating NAS
Our company bought 3 NAS units, and hadn’t updated them since 2021. I asked the outsourced IT: “Should we update?”
He started spouting a bunch of technical jargon, fearmongering about risks and possible issues, basically just making excuses, worried he’d be held responsible if something went wrong. But he didn’t actually understand how NAS works—just used jargon to make himself seem professional.
Later, I asked QNAP customer service directly, and they clearly stated: “Updating is fine, and for security, you should update.” If you’re worried about accidents, just back up first, then update—after updating, you’ll have better security. Plus, QNAP promises to provide updates permanently, and won’t suddenly cut off licensing.
When I relayed this information to the outsourced IT senior, he started making excuses again, talking about compatibility issues and saying he needed the special assistant’s approval before updating… It was both infuriating and hilarious. The saddest part is, updating the NAS was left unresolved.
Case 2: UPS and NAS Compatibility Issues
Six months before I joined, the outsourced IT senior led a major server upgrade and recommended the company buy a new UPS to match server operations. He was looking for a UPS device that “supports networking” and “can auto-shutdown.” In the end, he bought a UFO UPS, but it was not compatible with our 3 NAS units!
Later, while writing the NAS guide, I discovered the UPS issue. When I asked QNAP customer service to confirm whether the UPS and NAS could work together, they provided a list of UPS models compatible with NAS and taught me how to set up auto-shutdown. But our UPS simply doesn’t support the NAS’s auto-shutdown function during a power outage. Even if connected to the network and with the right software installed, the NAS can detect the UPS, but the UPS can’t detect the NAS, meaning the auto-shutdown function is useless!
Basically, this UPS only lets us “see the power status,” but when the NAS needs to auto-shutdown, it can’t coordinate at all. If something happens, we have to shut down manually—so what’s the point of the network function? To actually use auto-shutdown, we’d have to wait until all 3 NAS units are retired and buy a compatible UPS for the new NAS. It’s just ridiculous—money down the drain.
I reported this issue to the special assistant and the outsourced guy. The special assistant apologized and admitted it was a decision-making mistake, but it couldn’t be undone. After that, the outsourced IT senior treated me even worse—pretending to reflect but actually just upset that I found his mistake, and then ramped up his bullying. He didn’t learn anything about NAS professionalism, bought an incompatible UPS without thorough consideration, let the license expire without updating, didn’t understand licensing and update issues, and never proactively consulted QNAP’s professional customer service. After being called out by a newbie (me), he pretended to reflect but was just embarrassed and angry. Honestly, QNAP-trained people are truly professional—if you hadn’t taught me correctly, I would have been completely fooled by this outsourced guy.
Professionalism vs. Blabbermouth—There’s a Real Difference
This experience made me realize that truly professional IT people, like QNAP customer service, genuinely solve problems and are happy to share knowledge, rather than spouting jargon, pretending to know everything, hiding key info, and getting angry when their mistakes are exposed.
Outsourced IT types who “don’t know but love to teach, and double down when they’re wrong” are the scariest security vulnerabilities of all.
This is my QNAP user experience—thanks for reading XD