Maxtor dropping standard HD warranty from 3 years to 1 year

[Lucky]

For instance, Apple only warranties their computers for a year. With Dell you can get 3. People who buy Mac don't really pay attention. Apple only warranties their iPod for 90 days. 90 days for a $400 piece of hardware that travels everywhere and is at much higher risk of damage. People, even PC users, are buying them in droves.

The lesson is that while we all know that quality seems to be going down because we have all RMA'd products, warranties just don't matter to the majority of buyers.

I'm not sure if you are spreading FUD or are just misinformed but you are incorrect. Dell's standard warranty is 1 year, the same as apple. The warranty on the iPod is also 1 year. You can buy extended warranties from both companies.

 

[Vic]

So does anyone know if this effects recently purchased retail drives? Cause, if so, I would be pissed.

Also, for those talking about the poor quality of the Quantum line that Maxtor bought, bear in mind that the D740X series is based off Quantum designs. I put one of my D740X's side-by-side with an old 13.6GB Quantum Fireball Plus KX I used to have (actually just sold recently to a friend, still works great after 3 years and still one of the noisiest IDE drives ever made 😛 ), and the drives are nearly identical in design. Now compare the D540X series with old Maxtor drives and you'll see what I mean.
Maxtor D740X's = Quantums

Anyway, this whole thing doesn't speak well for Maxtor. I especially don't like the word "all" in this quote: "Effective October 1, 2002, all Maxtor desktop drives will carry a one-year standard warranty."

 

[kgraeme]

Originally posted by: Lucky

I'm not sure if you are spreading FUD or are just misinformed but you are incorrect. Dell's standard warranty is 1 year, the same as apple. The warranty on the iPod is also 1 year. You can buy extended warranties from both companies.

Standard configuration for a Dell is 3 years. Reducing it gives people a discount, but if the person just takes the default and clicks "buy", then it's 3.

It appears the latest iPod does come with a 1 year warranty. That's new. It was 90 days. However, in my years of experience with Apple, getting a replacement unit out of them is like pulling teeth. They typically make you send in a product for them to repair and they send it back still broken. That's first hand experience and I used to do marketing work for Apple.

 

[ST4RCUTTER]

Frankly I couldn't care any less if Maxtor has a 1 year warranty or a 3 year warranty. I haven't had to use either. Going on 4 Maxtor drives now, and they've given fast, dependable service running in 24/7 configurations. I suppose I could start buying crap from other companies that warranty their crap-in-a-box for two more years, but why? Three years doesn't give me any warmer fuzzies than one year does. 😕

 

[Lucky]

on the iPod is also 1 year. You can buy extended warranties from both companies.

Standard configuration for a Dell is 3 years. Reducing it gives people a discount, but if the person just takes the default and clicks "buy", then it's 3.[/quote]


Sorry, but I'm looking at the machines in the home section and its one year standard. I looked at a laptop last night in small business and it was the same way as well.

 

[Atrail]

This is really a poor move. I won't purchase their drives anymore for this reason.🙁

 

[kgraeme]

Originally posted by: Lucky

Sorry, but I'm looking at the machines in the home section and its one year standard. I looked at a laptop last night in small business and it was the same way as well.

So who'd you piss off at Dell? 😉

Honest, it defaults to 3 years for me.

 

[Pariah]

"you are entitled to your opinion,but what part of maxtor do you work for again?so i see your guessing unless you can provide a link that supports this i say you are sadly mistaken."

And how does this differ from anyone else in this thread? I haven't seen anyone post return %'s for the manufacturers to back up their claims.

"again your speculation?"

Absolutely.

"so you say screw the customer any way possible to make a buck?"

If it keeps you in business, then yes. If it's your job on the line you have to make decision you may not want to make. I don't see shortening the warranty as screwing the customer either.

"i'll choose seagate "a reliable performer with a five year warranty on their scsi line and get a speed boost as well thanks but your options are biased""

5 year warranties are standard in the SCSI industry for all makers. That being said, Seagate's recently released Barracuda 36ES2, has a shortened warranty of 3 years instead of 5. I didn't see anyone raising a stink over that. Sounds like Seagate is trying to screw the customer to me there. Maybe you should go with someone else.

"i've never used a rebate for any computer part,i have built many systems and geeks are not average joes"

I never said you did. You don't have to build a system or even know the slightest thing about computers to buy a replacement drive. I've probably installed 3 or 4 dozen HD's for friends in their systems and I didn't buy any of them for them.

"why would you buy from maxtor when for the same amount you can get a three year warranty from any other manufacturer?"

I've never bought anything based on the length of the warranty. I don't care how long the warranty is, I don't want the product to fail in the first place. Reliability is very important, but I don't use warranty length as a judge of that.

"but by the same respect i ask you to show proof of what you are speculating on maxtors behalf."

I don't see why you are singling out my opinion as the only one that needs factual backing. I haven't seen anyone else here post any numbers or official statements to back up their view. I have my speculative viewpoint, which may or may not be true, others have theirs. That's the way it goes.

"So who'd you piss off at Dell?

Honest, it defaults to 3 years for me."

If you choose a prebuilt Dell, you only get a 1 year warranty by default. If you choose to customize the configuration, the configurator defaults to a 3 year warranty. A sneeky way of increasing the cost for someone who isn't paying attention.

 

[Lucky]

Desktop system-one year
notebook system-one year



it varies? 😕

 

[Curley]

I still buy the IBMs even if people think thier reputation is tarnished. They have been good and fast for me. Hard drives breakdown no matter what brand. I would still buy a Maxtor with a 1 year warranty if it performed a bit better. I would buy a Western Digital before Maxtor. I am eager to see what Hitachi does with the IBM technology.

What other brands have 3 year warranty's on thier drives????

Curley

 

[Wolfsraider]

i humbly renounce my doomsayering ways

figures the one time in quite a few months i get mad about something and bam i make an ass out of my self

my apologies

but they could have hinted at least that it wasn't going to be all desktop drives like it sounded😱

sorry pariah i guess i should have listened to wisened experience😉

so to all i humbly apologize and retract all statements
mike

seems i have a letter to write🙁

 

[Curley]

Wow, thanks for the detailed reply. This is worth printing out and keeping.

Thanks!!

Curley

 

[linuxthinker]

Uhm... there's a pretty obvious answer to all this 🙂

We're quickly approaching (we've reached?) the $1 per gig mark... There really isn't much money to be made on drives anymore. In fact (as an ex-IBMer), it was commonly known that a single call to the 800-number for help was enough to wipe away any profit that was made on that drive. An RMA on that drive was the loss of profit on a bunch of drives sold.

So basically, this warrantee cutting deal is just to keep profits reasonable. Notice how Maxtor, IBM, and Seagate all have 5, 3, and 5(?) year warrantee's respectivly for their SCSI drives. You get what you pay for 🙂

Hint hint: With drive prices nowadays, no wonder IBM quit the HD market. 🙂

 

[Wolfsraider]

i humbly renounce my doomsayering ways

figures the one time in quite a few months i get mad about something and bam i make an ass out of my self

my apologies

but they could have hinted at least that it wasn't going to be all desktop drives like it sounded😱

sorry pariah i guess i should have listened to wisened experience😉

so to all i humbly apologize and retract all statements
mike

seems i have a letter to write🙁

 

[Wolfsraider]

i humbly renounce my doomsayering ways

figures the one time in quite a few months i get mad about something and bam i make an ass out of my self

my apologies

but they could have hinted at least that it wasn't going to be all desktop drives like it sounded😱

sorry pariah i guess i should have listened to wisened experience😉

so to all i humbly apologize and retract all statements
mike

seems i have a letter to write🙁

 

[Wolfsraider]

i humbly renounce my doomsayering ways

figures the one time in quite a few months i get mad about something and bam i make an ass out of my self

my apologies

but they could have hinted at least that it wasn't going to be all desktop drives like it sounded😱

sorry pariah i guess i should have listened to wisened experience😉

so to all i humbly apologize and retract all statements
mike

seems i have a letter to write🙁

 

[RanDum72]

I think they are having more problems than usual with their newer drives(540, 740dx). As we all know, they are based on the Quantum Fireball design (which is notoriously unreliable). I just returned two 40gig drives back to CompUSA for dying within two days. This is the worst batch of retail Maxtor drives I've ever experienced. I never had problems with the older 'Plus" drives before. Instead of changing their warranties, they should improve upon their products. Make the product worthy of the warranty, not the other way around.

 

[novice]

I was shocked and dismayed by Maxtor's announcement. Having been a loyal fan of their drives for 3 years (and having purchased 8 of them during that time), I think that they have made a big mistake. I emailed them and told them so, too. From a business standpoint, I understand that warranties are expensive to support. I also realize that the profit margins on hard drives are not what they used to be. LOL, I still remember buying my first Western Digital 2.1 gig for $200. My latest Maxtor 40 gig D740X was $75 after rebate with a free ATA 133 controller card. And I did manage to snag a 80 gig D740X for $80, too. So obviously, they feel they need to reduce expenses. I just worry that consumers will respond by going to their competitors for the much better warranty and the perception that Seagates and Western Digitals must be more reliable or they wouldn't have the longer warranty. I also don't think they have thought through the consumer's natural response to the shortened warranty period. Any perceived problem with a 1 year warranty Maxtor drive will result in an instant RMA, because the customer can't risk going past the 1 year warranty. With the 3 year warranty, the customer can check it out and see if it really has a problem, or if it is just "normal noise". He can also try firmware upgrades and utilities to see if it can be salvaged. With less than 12 months to return it, the decision is easy: Send it back! I believe that Maxtor is actually going to see the exact opposite of what they are hoping for. In other words, more RMA's combined with shrinking sales. Their shareholders are not going to be pleased. Particularly with the aggressive launch of their newest most improved drives, "that are so reliable that we cut the warranty to a mere 1/3 of what we formerly offered". Good luck, Maxtor. I always thought you were one of the best. Now you will probably just be the latest, following Connor, Quantum, and IBM. Via con Dios!
Chuck

 

[ST4RCUTTER]

Originally posted by: Wolfsraider
maybe this has something to do with it

hmmm...subscribers

regulars

??????????????????????????????

One post does not a faulty product line make. I find it humourous that a vast majority of subscribing and non-subscribing computer enthusiasts recommend Maxtor one day and then the next, blast them for making "sub-par" products because of a reduced warranty. Somebody better stamp ***confirmed*** on that thread quick or it will loose its look of authenticity. Maxtor made a business decision to reduce their warranty period for their drives...so what? It's a tough economy and margins are razor thin. What is a warranty anyway? It's the makers written guarantee for the quality of a product. Could it be that truly bad drives only fail within the first year or less of use? Is the additional 2 years exposing Maxtor to debilitating expenses from drives that fail not due to quality of the product, but the way in which the drive was used? I recommend that people review the record of a product, not the length of the warranty when purchasing.

 

[RanDum72]

One post does not a faulty product line make. I find it humourous that a vast majority of subscribing and non-subscribing computer enthusiasts recommend Maxtor one day and then the next, blast them for making "sub-par" products because of a reduced warranty. Somebody better stamp ***confirmed*** on that thread quick or it will loose its look of authenticity. Maxtor made a business decision to reduce their warranty period for their drives...so what? It's a tough economy and margins are razor thin. What is a warranty anyway? It's the makers written guarantee for the quality of a product. Could it be that truly bad drives only fail within the first year or less of use? Is the additional 2 years exposing Maxtor to debilitating expenses from drives that fail not due to quality of the product, but the way in which the drive was used? I recommend that people review the record of a product, not the length of the warranty when purchasing.

Its not that Maxtor will be making sub-par products because of the lower warranty, its the confidence of people buying Maxtor. Lowering the product warranty also gives the impression that Maxtor is not particularly confident in their products lasting beyond 1 -year. It also does not give Maxtor an incentive to make sure that their products do survive for at least 3-years; they can always lower tolerances so that people replace harddrives every year (built in obsolesence). The record of the product IS linked with the warranty. Personally, I have used mostly Maxtor harddrives and they have proven to be reliable. However, my feeling of 'safety' with going with Maxtor took a beating in the last few days since I had to return two brand new, retail drives ( both 40 gig, 7200rpm 740DX drives). Both exhibited the same symptoms. I normally would just say I just had the bad luck of getting the few lemons in an otherwise reliable product. But then, they drop the warranty and you just can't help but start to think. If the record of their products are so good in the first place, why drop the warranty? There are tons of ways for the company to save money and lowering the warraty period is the worst idea. I look at this as a consumer, not a businessman who owns the company.

 

[Wolfsraider]

i humbly renounce my doomsayering ways

figures the one time in quite a few months i get mad about something and bam i make an ass out of my self

my apologies

but they could have hinted at least that it wasn't going to be all desktop drives like it sounded😱

sorry pariah i guess i should have listened to wisened experience😉

so to all i humbly apologize and retract all statements
mike

seems i have a letter to write🙁

 

[Wolfsraider]

i humbly renounce my doomsayering ways

figures the one time in quite a few months i get mad about something and bam i make an ass out of my self

my apologies

but they could have hinted at least that it wasn't going to be all desktop drives like it sounded😱

sorry pariah i guess i should have listened to wisened experience😉

so to all i humbly apologize and retract all statements
mike

seems i have a letter to write🙁

 

[Zepper]

I can't recall who posted this "OEMs receive no factory warranty on the drives they purchase". I believe that this is false! I doubt that any OEM buys drives w/ less than a 1yr pass-thru warranty and at least some pay a little extra and get a 3yr pass-thru for their customers. This must be the case because I have often RMAd drives directly to their mfrs out of Dell, Gateway etc. machines without any problem-didn't have to go thru the OEM. I know if I were an OEM, I wouldn't be buying any major, non-custom built SA (subassembly) w/o a pass-thru warr on it. I can see having to go thru OEM for tech support on SAs, but not necessarily to actually get the item replaced if it's a standard SA like HDs.
.bh.

 

[Sniper82]

Well I went with Maxtors about 3 months ago after fooling with WD before which I never had one die. Within the 3 months I RMAed 2 40gig drives and am on my 3rd. At least they sent me a 80gig in replace of the 40gig last time which was nice 😀. But if this 1 year warranty includes drives already bought then I am going with Seagate or WD.

 

[novice]

On the other hand, it might be a good time to grab any hot deal Maxtor drives before the 1 year warranty takes effect. Staples has some pretty good deals right now if you use a coupon code and don't mind the mail in rebate hassle.
60 gig D740X $60 after coupon code & $20 mail in rebate
80 gig D740X $80 after coupon code & $30 mail in rebate
Think I will grab 80 gig, just in case one of my other 7 maxtors decides to pack it in. That way I will be ready to swap it out while I wait for the RMA.
Chuck