Seagate Advanced RMA

[CptCrunch]

So my 3 month old 500gb Seagate 7200.10 hard drive bit the dust last night, and might have taken 445gb of data with it

So I call Seagate to do an Advanced RMA, like I have done with Western Digital in the past. Ready to provide a credit card number for the deposit. I call and talk to the tech and go to set this up, and he wants $20 for an advanced rma! :Q I complain and he states that they pay for shipping on the way back and give free packaging which is why this costs $20. I explain that, a) I will pay for return shipping to ship your 3 month old defective hard drive back to you, b) packing and shipping do not cost $20 and c) you get the packing back, so you can just reuse it on the next poor sap that wants to do an advanced RMA.

The guy won't budge and states this is Seagate's policy. I say that Western Digital does this service for free, and I was expecting the same from Seagate. He wont budge and says there is nothing that he can do. I bought this hard drive due to the 5 year warranty, (and the fact it was $60) and Seagate drives are typically good drives. But charging for an advanced RMA on a drive that is basically brand new is outrageous.

I will only buy Western Digital in the future due to their outstanding customer service and advanced rma options. Stupid SEAGATE

:thumbsdown: /rant

EDIT: Disgust emoticon wasn't working

 

[n7]

Yeah, Seagate's introduced this new great policy :roll:

I agree with the buying WD over Seagate, i just wish WD had 5 yr. warranties too, since i've had too many HDD die around the three year range...

 

[MarcVenice]

Wow that's just bullocks. Even if the HD costed 100$, then 20$ is a lot of money, that's 20% of the initial price the customer paid. That HD just got a whole lot more expensive ...

 

[CptCrunch]

Originally posted by: MarcVenice
Wow that's just bullocks. Even if the HD costed 100$, then 20$ is a lot of money, that's 20% of the initial price the customer paid. That HD just got a whole lot more expensive ...

exactly! I paid $60 for this hard drive and now i have to pay 33% of what it cost to get a replacement? totally bullsh*t

 

[Modelworks]

I'm still going to keep buying seagate.
Its all I have used for years and I have been very happy with them.
The 20.00 fee is only for advance replacement and expedited shipping.
You can still do a rma the old way and pay nothing.
Its just slower.

 

[Zap]

That policy is bullocks!

Originally posted by: n7
i just wish WD had 5 yr. warranties too

They do on the Raptors.

 

[thorin]

You didn't ask to speak with a supervisor/teamlead/manager?

exactly! I paid $60 for this hard drive and now i have to pay 33% of what it cost to get a replacement? totally bullsh*t

Ya I love torking the guys up at FutureShop in Canada when they offer me "extended' warranty(ies). I let them to their whole song and dance and then ask how much. I buy a $400 TV and they want like $90 for the "extended" warranty. I laugh and say no, the guy asks why I'm not interested. I explain that $90 is more than 20% of the purchase price and completely unrealistic. If the device fails in the first 3 years (actually six since I put it on a credit card which doubles the manuf warranty) that the manufacturer will take care of it. He just looks at me dumb founded that I can calculate 20% of 400 in about 3.2 sec (probably less but U get the idea). He then explains that the Sony "extended" warranty is even more expensive, as if that has some kind of baring on the conversation or my decision (I wasn't buying Sony).

 

[JackMDS]

Once upon a time (somewhere in 90ties) I got a 60MB RLL hard Drive.

The cost was $600.

So, it is OK with me the have an occasional expense like the one discussed here and pays only $60 for 500 GB.

Many years ago the Duchess of Windsor became famous with the saying:? You Can Never be or too Rich, too Thin?.

In our days it was converted into you can never be too Rich or too "Piggy". :shocked:

P.S. That is called having perspective on life.:beer:

 

[JackMDS]

Originally posted by: Zap
That policy is bullocks!

Originally posted by: n7
i just wish WD had 5 yr. warranties too

They do on the Raptors.

Good example.

The Raptor cost two times (or more) the price of a regular drive with a similar storage capacity.

I doubt that it cost two times more than the regular HDs to manufacture it.

 

[duragezic]

Yeah that is crap. A little over 3 years ago, I had a 80gb WD drive die after just a couple of months. I entered a CC number to get the advance RMA, got the new one within a week or so, and sent the old one back. No problems at all.

Around the 4th of July this year, my roommate's 320gb 7200.10 cashed out. I tell him to get his mom's CC number so he can get the advance RMA, but found that it was $20 extra. They also offered the excellent deal of charging him $100 to upgrade to a 500GB, even though he could've bought a 500GB for a little more than $100 and still get his 320GB replacement.

So he sent the drive to Seagate a couple days after 7/4/07, and he's not yet received the replacement drive.

Sure Seagate offers a 5yr warranty, but I'd rather have a 3yr warranty with good service.

 

[CptCrunch]

I'm also worried, as I've heard horror stories, that you send back a Seagate only to get a Maxtor, since they now own Maxtor. And for that, i would simply set the building on fire

 

[Slowlearner]

I went thru this a couple of months back. Lost some data, I was able to recover most of it, had to wait three weeks to get a replacement, and that turned out to be a refurbished one (I was expecting a new one). A lot time and effort wasted for a total return of some 50$.

While I applaud Seagate for its 5 yr warranty. In real terms, it doesn't mean much. While I dont have good data to go by, I get the feel that Seagate's quality is slipping and is now no better or worse than WD's. I buy a 4-5 systems for work every year and when I open a case and see a Maxtor (now part of S) hd, I know I will have to replace it.

 

[Blain]

Originally posted by: CptCrunch
charges $20?!

:thumbsdown: /rant

EDIT: Disgust emoticon wasn't working

Old Seagate Fee Rant... :laugh: