IBM RMA - is this a good sign?

[metroplex]

They sent out a replacement Hard drive For my dead 75 GB 75GXP 2 working days after they got my dead drive

Is this a good sign that I'll get a 80GB 120GXP or just another refurb'd 75GXP they had lying around?

 

[trasko]

my guess is you'll get another 75GB drive... Maybe i'm just mad cause they took a month to get mine back...

 

[MGMorden]

I've always used the cross shipment. Just let them send me the drive and then I get good packing materials to send the original back in.

 

[HeinekinMan]

I hate to be a naysayer as well but I believe you'll get a 75GXP marked as Serviceable Used Part. I've RMA'd two 46 GB drives within the past year and received refurbs in each case. But I wouldn't necessarily be discouraged with a refurb, IBM is fixing them (the controller boards) as my refurbs are working just fine (one is 6 months old, the other 8 months, no problems with either). I beat both of them to hell for two weeks non-stop prior to installing anything on them (beat them with DFT tests that is!) trying to get them to fail in any way but they didn't...not one single error.

The one's that got 60 or 120 GXPs as replacements were EXTREMELY lucky!!!

 

[metroplex]

How soon did they ship the refurbs?

I'm asking because 2 working days is a really short period of time considering how long it takes for the average warranty service.

Is there anything that stresses out the HD more than DFTs?

 

[Insane3D]

Originally posted by: MGMorden
I've always used the cross shipment. Just let them send me the drive and then I get good packing materials to send the original back in.

I've never heard of IBM doing this. AFAIK, only Maxtor offers this type of RMA. IBM insists you send the drive first and offers no cross-shipping options. Not only that, but if you do not send it in a specific package type (hard foam brick with cut out for the HD) they will refuse the RMA, no matter how good you packed it.

 

[metroplex]

All I did was use the box that my OEM Maxtor D740X came in and shipped out my 75GXP.

It had the foam brick w/ the HD cut-out... as far as I know IBM's RMA status showed that it was received and shipped a replacement drive 2 business days later. I do not know whether it was a 75GXP or not.

I sent them maybe 5 angry emails a day - whenever I felt pissed off or angry at having to borrow a friend's computer for school work (I'm a senior majoring in EE - LOTS of computer stuff involved) I sent off an email.

Whenever someone cut me off on the highway, I went home and sent an angry email. You get the idea.
It's ridiculous to have a drive that has run maybe 1 month 24/7 and have it die... it was technically 1+ year old, but operation time-wise, it was running 1 month MAX.


Totally ridiculous.

 

[metroplex]

Screenshot of RMA Log

 

[stingbandel]

I don't know about the desktop hdd but when my IBM laptop got a bad sector, I asked them if they're gonna send me the refurb one or a new one. They said it would most likely be the refurb. I asked them to send me a new one and they finally did after a lot of troubles with them.


I would stay away with IBM at all cost. They maybe good with replacing parts but who wants to keep replacing parts?



just my 0.02 cents




Darno

 

[teddymines]

When I RMA'd my 60gxp (sole drive in my system), I observed a receipt of defective drive on Friday and a shipped out date the following Tuesday. I was shocked to find a box sitting by my garage door, in plain sight, that Thursday. Who signed for it???

I am generally pleased with the replacement. I looked it over real close and it doesn't look used. There are no indications of it ever being in a drive bay, no scrapes or screw marks on the side. My guess is they took a fresh one off the shelf. It's quiet and quick, I just wish it hadn't failed after 9 months!

 

[metroplex]

so the replacement failed as well?

 

[cbuchach]

I have sent back two 45 GB 75GXPs and received a new 60GB 60GXP for the first one that failed, and then a new 60GB 120GXP for the second drive that failed several months later. The trunaround time at IBM may have been a few days.

 

[pm]

I sent in my dead 30GB 75GXP back in early August this year and received a refurbished (slightly battered) 30GB 75GXP back from IBM a little over a month later.

 

[PhaZe]

What do you think they will send me for my 60GB 60GXP.

I checked the status and they received it on the 10th of this month but have not shipped yet.

 

[teddymines]

The replacement is fine, but I am seriously considering a separate drive for either ghost images or backups.

 

[metroplex]

My thoughts exactly.

I'm moving over a slightly used D740X as the primary drive - would host OS, some applications, pagefile, etc...

then games and other non-vital stuff on the IBM replacement.

 

[MGMorden]

Originally posted by: Insane3D

Originally posted by: MGMorden
I've always used the cross shipment. Just let them send me the drive and then I get good packing materials to send the original back in.

I've never heard of IBM doing this. AFAIK, only Maxtor offers this type of RMA. IBM insists you send the drive first and offers no cross-shipping options. Not only that, but if you do not send it in a specific package type (hard foam brick with cut out for the HD) they will refuse the RMA, no matter how good you packed it.

IBM does do it (I've used this service serveral times; more often than I would have liked). They just take your credit card number ahead of time and will charge you for the replacement if they don't get the original in 30 days or so. Their service it pretty good in this respect, but from the experience with failing drives the IBM in my current machine will be the last I own (of course since they're stopping hard drive production that doesn't mean anything, but even if they weren't I wouldn't buy from them again ).

 

[HeinekinMan]

Metroplex,

My refurbs showed up about two weeks after I had verified (using the IBM RMA web page) that they received my dead ones, one shipped via FedEx, and the other arrived via UPS...

I really hope you get 120GXPs in return, I have two 80 GB 120GXPs in my main rig and they are very quiet and noticeably faster than the 75GXPs. No problems with either of them...and I'm sure if you google search you should be able to find HD utilities that test must deeper than IBM's DFT tests. But I figure if my refurbs could withstand two solid weeks of non-stop DFT testing (the advanced tests) without any errors, then they would be alright for use. And so far, no problems...

 

[trasko]

Yeah, as I said they took exactly 1 month to get mine back (from when I shipped). This was pretty early in the fiasco. They did, however, replace my 45GB 75GXP with a 60GB 60GXP which effectively took the rage out of me.

Can't argue with free 15GB, but yes, I'd never buy another HD from them again.

 

[metroplex]

damnit

I just got word from the Tech dept at IBM...

the drive was shipped overseas to the RMA department and not to me.

wtf

I'm now more pissed than ever.

 

[teddymines]

Originally posted by: metroplex
damnit

I just got word from the Tech dept at IBM...

the drive was shipped overseas to the RMA department and not to me.

wtf

I'm now more pissed than ever.

Are you in the U.S.? The RMA address I shipped to was in California, so if you're outside the US, they may have to ship it there.

 

[metroplex]

Yeah I live in Northern New Joisey.

Took 2 days to ship my drive to Cali via USPS PRiority.

It was shipped from an overseas location on 9/17/02 and apparently is headed towards their Cali RMA department and not my house.

Why did they ship it to Cali? Are they going to spray pixie dust on it or something?

 

[teddymines]

Wait a sec, you shipped it from NJ to CA. Are they shipping a fresh drive from overseas to the RMA dept in CA? I can see the logic in that they probably have one department that handles the physical exchange. They could have hidden the overseas info from you, and just let you see it coming from CA back to NJ. Go figure!

 

[metroplex]

The tech support rep Joe said

"As stated in the previous email, the
turnaround time is about 14 business days. That is the best estimate we can
give you. Your drive was shipped from overseas to the RMA department in
California. The drive was not shipped to you."

:-/


but yeah, I live in Joisey so I shipped it to the Union City RMA facility (which appears to be located next to large plots of land according to my maps).

 

[teddymines]

We are beating a dead horse. When Joe referred to "your drive" I believe he was saying "your REPLACEMENT drive." The defective one you returned is probably still in CA waiting for your REPLACEMENT drive to arrive from overseas.