Western Digital HD Deals from Buy.com isn't dead.

[Pretender]

Just got an email from western digital after I asked them about the rebate:

<<
Buy.com does not deal in retail packaged hard drives. Any product
purchased through buy.com will be in a bulk package and not eligible for a
rebate.


Thank you,
Scott Ladwig
Customer Service Manager
Western Digital Rebate Center
>>


this means all those deals on buy.com (the 45GB 5400RPM hd, and the 20GB 7200 RPM) are dead.

 

[hkchan]

So why are there three WD HDs at Buy.com that are listed as &quot;RETAIL PKG&quot; (and in stock) and their mfg part#s all end in &quot;RTL&quot;?

 

[Pretender]

I'm not sure. I emailed buy.com support about it, but I'm probably cancelling my order and going to get it at circuit city for the same price. By the way, the page for the 20.5GB 7200RPM on buy.com said there was a rebate available for it 2 days ago, with a link to it, now there's nothing about it there.

 

[dealsearcher]

Buy.com is a rip off.. I ordered the 20.5GB 7200RPM a few months ago, buy.com website said there was rebate from westerdigital. After I got the HD, I saw that it wasn't retail packaging, emailed buy.com and they said I made a mistake that there was no rebate, and said that they never put the rebate availiable sign for 20.5GB 7200RPM. So, DO NOT BUY FROM BUY.COM.

 

[pX]

Very strange, I emailed buy.com with the same question a couple days ago:

<< Thank you for your inquiry. Unless otherwise stated in the product
description all items sold on the web site are retail. This allows for
you to utilize the rebate offers. We apologize for any inconvenience
this may have caused you. >>



I really don't know if I would try one of the HDs not labeled &quot;Retail Package&quot; on buy.com, and I don't know if I could totally trust WD for an analysis of another company's policy. But who knows? Has anyone got a WD HD from buy.com recently?

pX

 

[TimeThrash]

Guys, I don't think WD is going to be that adamant about this deal. pX is right. WD should have no knowledge about the workings of Buy.com. But beyond that, I say just send in the rebate form, or whatever the procedure is, and give it a good shot. Does WD expect the average consumer to question every re/e-tailer concerning whether or not they buy the product in bulk? That's ludicrous and quite unjust if you asked me.

 

[narciarz]

I got one two months ago and it was retail. Rebate was also good, got it after 4 weeks. Hope this helps.

 

[Pretender]

Now that I've been searching for a few, I checked some of the sites on their list http://www.westerndigital.com/buy/mailorder.html, some of the companies with (*)'s have the non-retail version (try ValueAmerica). I think maybe the guy who responded to me was just reading off the list. I sent another mail asking him to look at the product on buy.com and check again to determine if it's eligable. I'm thinking about forgetting about all this confusion and just going to Circuit City and get the drive for the same price ($10 more then buy.com if you were able to use the $10 off coupon).

 

[hkchan]

TimeThrash,
It's not inconceivable that WD knows whether a major online retailer like Buy.com carries only OEM (or bulk) WD drives, even thogh in this case the CSR seems to be wrong. It's not just send it in and see if it works. OEM and retail drives have different part #'s even though the drives themselves may be identical. The OEM drives have no UPC codes which you need to send in. Again there are at least three WD drives at Buy.com that are listed as &quot;retail'.

 

[hkchan]

http://www.wdc.com/promos/30-reb4.html
Also, if you read the rebate form, it clearly states the four drives (with their respective part#s that end in &quot;RTL&quot that are eligible for the rebate.

15.3 GB (WD153BARTL), 20.5 GB (WD205BARTL), 30.7 GB (WD307AARTL) or 45.0 GB (WD450AARTL)

In fact, now that I've double-checked, Buy.com seems to carry all four.

 

[TimeThrash]

Let me merely conclude then by saying my experience with rebates is they take damn near forever, but for the most part there is a lackluster verifaction procedure on their part and in the end I believe you'll get the rebate, especially if buy.com advertised it as being retail (even if WD disputed it).

 

[CyBrShRk]

Bought two WD hard drives from Buy.com a month ago. Neither were eligible for rebate because they came in brown box with no UPC. However, the part listed on Buy.com site had RTL in part number and said Retail package. Wrote Buy.com to express my concerns and basically got the 'we don't care if we misrepresented it&quot; attitude. I threatened to never buy from them (spent over $3000 with them last year) and the person who wrote me the email said &quot;sorry to see ya go&quot; but did nothing for me. Basically, Buy.com has great prices that can't be beat, however they treat customers horribly if you have problems. I personally look to egghead (ugh) or onvia.com now before I check Buy.com...and would pay a couple dollars more just to steer clear of Buy.com.

 

[IBhacknU]

Take it to the top.

It's BS that a company can advertise a retail drive and deliver an OEM one.

That blows!

 

[Lemondrop]

I bought the 15.3 gig drive back in June . It shipped June 16th . I thought it was funny that it came in a brown box with no info inside . I guess now I know I got screwed with a OEM . I think Ill call buy.com tomorrow and gripe . Im wondering if the 3 year warranty they posted is now null and void ? ? ? If they wanna screw around Ill contact my Credit Card company and dispute the charges . Funny thing is the drive only registered as a 14.3 gig , I FDISK'd it 2 times to make sure . So I guess I could have really been screwed if the drive isnt a 15.3 and has no warranty ....Im getting pissed now so I think Ill just go to sleep .

 

[Pretender]

Cybrshrk: Threaten them with a lawsuit for false advertising on their site. they're claiming that if I want to get a refund I'll have to pay for the shipping...hell I ain't paying a damn cent if they send me the wrong one, that is false advertising, and I'm sure they'd rather pay for shipping then for a lawsuit.

 

[Pretender]

Lemondrop: In advertisements, 1 GB = 1 billion bytes. In the real world (e.g. in computers), 1 GB = 2^30 bytes (1073741824 bytes). So 14.3 GB in a computer, would be 14.3GB * 1073741824 = 15354508083.2 bytes, a.k.a. 15.3GB in their advertising world. Annoying, aint it?

 

[Karsten]

Hey Pretender.... very well explained....

Kinda funny that we still have to go over the Computer basics from time to time

 

[Sydekar]

WD will not honor a rebate for a brown boxed hard drive from Buy.com I know from experience. I sent one in from a 20.5 gb I purchased from Buy.com awhile back with a 30 off coupon and was hoping to get the rebate as well. I received a postcard from WD stating that the drive was not retail and the rebate would not be honored. I even called them. Told the CSR that the site (BUY.com) did not indicate that I was ordering OEM and it was priced equal to the retial was everywhere else. I also argued that hitting the link to look at eligible stores showed the buy.com button. She said you had to scroll down and only those listed at the bottom with an * beside them participated in the rebate promo. I told her that their site layout was misleading to say the least since when you hit the link for eligible stores you see all those sites buttons only only 3 or 4 of them are actually eligible.

 

[hkchan]

How were you even able to submit the rebate request without the UPC code?

 

[Sydekar]

The brown box was a WD oem brown box and had a UPC on it. Just not a retail one. I tried submitting it anyway thinking, oh they'll see it was purchased from buy.com and will honor it. Not.

 

[Hatyara]

I ordered the 45gb 5400rpm WD from buy.com.
I got it on Tuesday - and its in the actual retail package.

It even has the sticker on the box mentioning the $30 mail-in rebate.
It was covered in a WD logo'd plastic wrap - which verifies that its the actual retail version.
I think the rebate should work fine on it.
Anyone else order that one and get the retail package?

 

[Pretender]

Ok, this deal is now alive again....if the mod sees this, could they change the thread title (don't delete the thread, people still should see it).
Received today from western digital, after I showed him the link to the products on buy.com:


<< Thank you. I examined your link, and indeed the product in question is a
retail package product and therefore eligible for the $30 rebate (and a
good deal I might add). Thanks for the update.
You can obtain a submission coupon at: www.westerndigital.com/promos
Good hunting!!


Thank you,
Scott Ladwig
Customer Service Manager
Western Digital Rebate Center >>


Sorry to scare ya guys at first, but I had to look out for ya'll, you've been so kind to me.

 

[Pretender]

Never mind, I figured out how to change the title.

 

[Lemondrop]

Funny ,
I got a 2.1 gig I yanked out to stuff the 15 in and it says 2.1 and registers as a 2.0 on the pc ??? I guess you may be correct about the 15/14.3 thing but to me thats false advertising . They are ripping you off for 1 GIG cause even dumb-ol Jethro knows 15.3 dosent mean 14.3 !

 

[Pretender]

Oddly enough when I read ads for computers I always see in small print &quot;1 GB = 1 billion bytes&quot;. I always thought that they were just saying that so that they wouldn't confuse customers by saying 2 to the 30th power, but I guess it's true after all. It's been so long since I've bought a HD that I wasn't sure whether they meant it or not.