Toshiba Charges $415 If You Write on a HDD Label

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Toshiba charges over $415 if you write on the label of a hard drive that is still under warranty. If you think I am kidding, just read this. Yikes. :eek:

During the Diagnostic procedure our technicians found that your unit's HDD is defective but the label was written/torn. Unfortunately Toshiba does not cover the cost for this type of damage and as such we will have to charge you for the parts $357.85 and labor costs $60. Total charge: $417.85.
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Can of hairspray for <$5 will take that writing off easily.
 
I'm sure its written in some fine print, but seriously, how can they possibly justify that? It isn't damage, and then even if you DID make the absurd stretch to consider sharpie writing "damage", that the drive's defective nature was completely unrelated to it.

Never mind the fact that a $400+ 500 GB drive is insane to begin with.
 
Rule #1, never write or otherwise markup anything you plan to return or get repared under warranty.

However, in most states, unless the writting actually damaged the drive, Toshiba is in the wrong.
No different than if a car dealer refused to repair your transmission under warranty because you installed a different radio.

Now, if the label is torn, that could indicate that someone tried to open the drive, and that would void the warranty as stated on the drive label.
 
Dumb move by Toshiba, but dude who is a tech, should have thought of taking some masking tape and doing the writing on there.
 
Steve said:
that probably would have voided the warranty too :p
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Not if he shipped it back w/o the damn tape, though Toshiba might have said that "tape like residue found on drive" voided the warranty :rolleyes:
 
Yep. I've always taken a piece of tape and wrote the purchase date on it when I buy a new drive. Peels right off and they would never know that it had been there.
 
timta2 said:
Yep. I've always taken a piece of tape and wrote the purchase date on it when I buy a new drive. Peels right off and they would never know that it had been there.
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Yeah tape works best. Or stickers. They always come off easily enough. Toshiba has some explaining to do because this is extortion.
 
Toshiba was right on both counts, broken Seagate Momentus HDDs are so rare they are collectors.
Had they really wanted to be mean, they could have pointed out that Irene on the assembly line sticks a small hair to the disk drive trapdoor, and that since the hair was not here anymore, obviously this guy opened the trapdoor, thus breaking the warranty a second time.
 
Lame, lame, lame, lame, lame.

Shame too, I used to be a Toshiba partisan, those "old grey and slow" laptops were bombproof.

This is just so full of corporate bullshit fail that I must reconsider the advice I give people.
 
ThisIsTheNewSound said:
I'm sure its written in some fine print, but seriously, how can they possibly justify that? It isn't damage, and then even if you DID make the absurd stretch to consider sharpie writing "damage", that the drive's defective nature was completely unrelated to it.

Never mind the fact that a $400+ 500 GB drive is insane to begin with.
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Technically you voided the warranty by opening the laptop up, let alone writing on it.
 
lol

I liked this comment:
TuxRug
April 25, 2011 12:40 PM
I had a scratch on my Toshiba laptop near the touchpad, so they wanted more than I paid for it in the first place to replace the video cable. Tell them you know about the BBB. They'll fix it but it will break again in 30 days
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If anyone remembers the massive Toshiba shutting down problems, they should know Toshiba will do *anything* to get out of honoring warranty repair work.
 
This isn't the first story about something like that, all the companies have done this now i think. Guess that means do NOT write on your drives in any way shape or form if you ever plan on replacing them under warranty
 
I have a silver sharpie on which I write the sizes and brands of all the drives in my systems. Makes it easier to identify when pulling drives, especially on smaller form factors. I'll continue to steer clear of Toshiba lol
 
Commen sense would tell you not to write on a hard drive if you ask me. I never have and bitched at my boss when he took a sharpie and wrote on one.
 
I think Toshiba needs to straighten out their pantys. I doubt they have any idea what customer loyalty is where their corporate tactics.
 
Budzman said:
Commen sense would tell you not to write on a hard drive if you ask me. I never have and bitched at my boss when he took a sharpie and wrote on one.
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I have a whole stack of 5+ drives all written on. When they are all the same its nice to know what is on each one...
 
for $415, i'd tell them to go fuck themselves and keep it. I'll get another hdd.
 
Everyone knows that Sharpie™ ink goes right through steel plates and targets magnetic platters....this is 3rd grade stuff guys :rolleyes: :D

Anyways, any time a drive goes bad its a great time to get something new....and hell for $400 your looking at a modern 256GB SSD :cool:
 
'Writes "F.U. I don't care - Media Drive" on HDD'

Sing along now!!! "Take your warranty and shove it up your buuuuuutttttttt....".
 
I learned the hard way to always erase any marks you make on products you return. I was returning my unused/unopened contact lenses to visiondirect for a full refund, unfortunately that small "L" and "R" designating which eye they were for resulted in only 25% refund, in store credit. I was quite mad since rubbing alcohol + qtip takes it right off (I tested on a box I had).
 
question, did they already charged that amount or did they just told the customer about it?

if they charged it, and if it was me i would have sued him.

if they just told customer, well, get the laptop back and change it yourself, will cost $150 at max for 500GB HD and reinstallation disk from Toshiba (after shipping of course)

Well, i guess when the business is down the prices go up, i had freaking key stuck in saturn car (my sister's car) freaking charged $500 to get it out and only they can do it so had no choice.
 
Add Toshiba to the list of companies from which I wont buy a product.

Many corporations have become used to being able to do as they wish to increase profit at the expense and abuse of customers. If you have a famous name or notoriety the agents will often give you better service to avoid publicity.

Some businesses are learning that you cant tell who does and doesn't not have a well read blog and are evolving. Sadly those are the exception.
 
how about another issue. if repairing a hdd really cost them $415, how are they even in business.
 
This is Lame, I don't know why Toshiba would bother even offering to repair the broken drive when it would be much cheaper just to replace it with a new one. The guy in the story should have written F...U... on the hard drive instead of Faulty.
 
Im an IT Tech and have written on hundreds of Toshiba and HP Drives before sending them away as faulty, when you have a more than a few hundred computers to look after it just makes sense to do this to prevent you from mixing them up, tape can come off.

P.S

point was ive never had HP or Toshiba complain after ive wrote Faulty onto a disk.
 
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