a little something about segate's "5 yr" warranty

[jamima69]

i just noticed this on the inquirer's website-i thought it might make for interesting reading,especially if you're looking to buy a harddrive this holiday season...

http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=20139

seems that 5 yr warranty isn't all it's cracked up to be,oem status not withstanding.

 

[uOpt]

Same for Maxtor. You need the serial number and the 3 year warranty starts when they build it.

Maxtor also wants an error code from their braindead test program which just hangs for my broken 160 Gig. But two phonecalls cleared it.

 

[DGath]

There has been some speculation about hidden terms with the warranty.

See my post here
(Never really got an answer. Anyone?)

This however seems somewhat normal. The reason OEMs are cheaper is because they don't have to factor in the retail packaging and support. That is all passed on. Some hard drive manufacturers (WD) cover OEMs, and that is really just a bonus. I'm a little shocked that a site like the Inquirer posted a "finding" that probably most of the IT world already expected. As Martin pointed out, that is exactly how Maxtor handles their warranties. I just recently found that out as I punched my soon to be RMA'd serial # into Maxtor's website and it said it wasn't covered anymore (didn't mention anything about OEM, I bought it from NewEgg). I went a few days thinking I just got screwed by MAxtor's 1 year warranty even though I swore it was 3. Turns out it is covered under warranty from Newegg and with a quick jump to their site, 5 minutes later I had an RMA number.

5 years is a lot. They can start the warranty when it leaves factory and if it is actually 4 years, 9 months, I'm not going to complain. Just make sure you buy them from a retailer (non-oem) or from a reputable OEM that won't jerk you around for an RMA.

Now, to figure out whether the "They'll just give you credit, not replace the drive" rumor from my other thread. (see link above)

 

[VirtualLarry]

Seagate has always been strict about end-user warranties not applying to OEM drives. That's always been the policy. You have to purchase from an "authorized Seagate reseller" in order to qualify for an end-user warranty on a retail drive. (I assume purchasing a retail kit would imply that too.)