Seagate failure, RMA/Support issues

[CoinOperatedBoy]

Okay. Last year, before the all the hoopla about Seagate's firmware problems, I had a 7200.10 500GB drive die. I RMA'd the thing, paid for shipping, and got a replacement. The one I got back was louder than the older one and had a temperature sensor that never read less than 140C. I chatted with support about this and they said that there was no way the drive could be that hot and still be touchable, and since the drive otherwise passed the SeaTools tests, it was fine and not eligible for return.

So now the inevitable happened and the drive died, or at least is malfunctioning. It is recognized by BIOS, but shows 0 capacity. When I boot into their diagnostic software, it repeatedly prints this line to the console:

error reading partition table drive 01 sector 0BIOS reported 0 sectors/track, assuming 63!

When I get into SeaTools, I can run tests on the drive, but they fail instantly, saying the drive is not responding to commands. I've checked all my connections and used different SATA and power cables, no dice.

I had another chat with support, and they just told me that since my RMA last year was so long ago, I'm not eligible for free shipping or advanced replacement on the defective drive they gave me. I said I would be satisfied with free shipping, seeing as I was advised by support in the meantime that my drive was fine. The technician said they had no record of that, and when I offered to send the transcript, the guy told me it didn't matter anyway.

So I'm kind of pissed by this. They've had serious quality issues with this particular model, they sent me a drive that was clearly recertified but defective, support would not replace it earlier when I identified issues, and now they are unwilling to even pay for a shipping label.

Do I have any recourse here? I'm thinking of calling the support line tomorrow and trying to work my way up the chain until I get a supervisor who can approve this, but I'm almost ready to just cut my losses and get a Western Digital for a replacement. I told the support guy as much (less colorfully, of course) and he ended the session.

 

[RebateMonger]

When the replacement drive failed, you could have just RMA'd it. Seagate doesn't actually care if a drive is defective or not. They'll replace it. With a "re-manufactured" drive.

That's why I never bother RMAing drives. It's too much work and cost just to get back a hard drive of unknown origin.

As you suggested, I'd forget about it, buy a new non-Seagate drive, and go on with life. 1 TB drives (non-Seagate) are $90 or less now.

 

[CoinOperatedBoy]

Originally posted by: RebateMonger
When the replacement drive failed, you could have just RMA'd it. Seagate doesn't actually care if a drive is defective or not. They'll replace it. With a "re-manufactured" drive.

That's why I never bother RMAing drives. It's too much work and cost just to get back a hard drive of unknown origin.

As you suggested, I'd forget about it, buy a new non-Seagate drive, and go on with life. 1 TB drives (non-Seagate) are $90 or less now.

The replacement actually failed today. It was showing problems months ago, but no data loss until now. You're right -- I should have insisted on returning it back then, but I still feel like I deserve some kind of free or expedited service since they sent me a lemon and even advised me to NOT replace it despite my better judgment. I guess I'm just a little peeved at their complete dismissal and unwillingness to work with me on this, which is the only reason I'd try to take this further.

Seriously, they can't spare the cost of a shipping label to keep a customer? They're really not aiming for any customer service awards, from what I've read.

 

[Blieb]

That's some crap ... I'd do what you said ... call up and keep working up the chain ...