OT: Seagate five year warranties

[brucekatz]

Everyone I know is excited about Seagate 5 year warranties. It may not be as hot as we believe. Link to the inquirer net.

I apologize for posting in the wrong forum.

 

[Dogbertt]

Might be or might not be...look between the lines, he purchased a drive but would NOT provide Seagate with the Serial #s. Too much missing info to make a qualified judgement.

 

[ajf3]

He probably bought OEM white-box versions of the drive... I'm guessing the standard retail version from any stores would have the 5 year warranty.

/keeping an eye on this since I just bought me 2nd seagate. Plan to replace two more (1wd, 1maxtor) over the next year or so...

 

[TwiceOver]

He purchased "Boxes". Sounds to me like he purchased PCs from CDW with Seagate drives in them. If that is the case then it is not Seagate's responsibility to warranty the drives, it is CDW's.

 

[modedepe]

Originally posted by: TwiceOver
He purchased "Boxes". Sounds to me like he purchased PCs from CDW with Seagate drives in them. If that is the case then it is not Seagate's responsibility to warranty the drives, it is CDW's.

Yes that sounds exactly like the case. In other words, this has zero bearing on those of us who have been buying retail seagate drives.

 

[Zim]

I bought a retail Maxtor drive last year from Best Buy. It failed about 6 months later and when I plugged the serial number into the Maxtor site it said it was out of warranty. After I complained they agreed to fix it... but there was definitely something shady going on.

 

[crm98]

Sounds like a CDW issue to me.

 

[brucekatz]

I had failed Maxotr harddrive in HP computer and ReplayTV. Maxtor never asked whether they were OEM or retail boxed, when they failed within 3 years (older drive), they replaced it. Seagate has different policy, but it seems odd.

 

[tcsenter]

Originally posted by: TwiceOver
He purchased "Boxes". Sounds to me like he purchased PCs from CDW with Seagate drives in them. If that is the case then it is not Seagate's responsibility to warranty the drives, it is CDW's.

Or the drives were sold to CDW for OEM use but CDW resold them individually. Again, not Seagate's problem, but CDW's.

Not different than trying to get warranty support for OEM modems that were manufactured by GVC for Compaq but secondarily sold as surplus components. Compaq is the 'manufacturer', not GVC.

Why this is would be worthy of an 'investigative' report is beyond me. Standard procedure in OEM, private label, and white box markets for years now. I hear The Inquirer is working on a story that will reveal the stunning news that the earth is not flat. Stay tuned.