WD RMA

J

Jerec

Weaksauce
Joined
Oct 22, 2009
Messages
109
I sent out my dead WD3200AAKS for RMA and it looks like they're sending back a different drive of the same model (aka, they didn't fix the broken one).

I know some hardware companies send back a refurbished replacement when you do an RMA, so I wanted to ask if there's anyone else here who's done a Western Digital RMA and whether they got back something brand new or a refurb.
 
I've sent in 3 or 4 drives to WD and Seagate and I always receive a refurb replacement. If you opt for the upgrade path then you'll get a new drive, otherwise it's a refurb.
 
I have sent in about 6+ drives to WD. A while back I sent in three WD 200's and they sent me back a WD2500JB-00REA0 and two WD2500SB-01KBC0's both with new 3 and 5 year warranties respectively.

The 250 EIDE Caviar Blue they sent was marked 'refurbished' on the WD label. The two 250 EIDE Raid-Editions they sent were brand-spankin' new.

So I send them three 200's and I get back three 250's, two of which are still kicking around and have 700days warranty left ;-)

I recently sent them a 500gb Caviar Blue SE16 SATA drive and am awaiting to see what they send back :)
 
I sent back 1x 750GB Black drive, 2x 1TB black drives. All of them came back new through the Advance RMA.
 
I have sent many WD drives to RMA. Never once did they send back the same drive.
 
Just for the record, the label says recertified, so they probably sent a refurb.
 
I've always received new drives back. Maybe its because I select the advanced replacement option.
 
I have sent back 5 or so in the last few years. All the replacements have been refurbs.
 
Ive sent at least 15 drives to WD. Just the past 2 months i sent in a dead 400 gigger.
They sent me a brand new 500gig. I think this was possibly my 2nd new one out of all of them.
 
I RMAed a WD10EADS once but I don't think it said "recertified" or "refurbished" on the label.
 
Always received rebuilds, but WD has a pretty good reputation for quality so I wouldn't be too concerned.
 
What's up with the warranty on replaced drives?

My original drive:
WD6401AALS-00L3B2 In Limited Warranty 4/23/2014

Replacement:
WD6401AALS-00J7B1 In Limited Warranty 4/14/2010
 
The new drive uses whatever warranty period is left from your original drive, I think.
 
I've received new drives for my RMAs. I really like WD for their RMA support. They have never given me a problem and as mentioned, I've always got a new drive so far.

And yes, as I understand it the new drive just fulfills the originals warranty. They do not extend a full new warranty.
 
I noticed that WD is terrible at updating your warranty on the RMA drive. I had to email them to update the warranty each time, because they never get changed. Ive also had terrible luck with my RMA'ed drives that are refurbs. They always develop bad sectors in only a few months.

I used to buy WD because I thought their warranty process was a breeze, but now Ive realized that Seagate's advanced replacement is much better. It costs $20 upfront (with WD, you have to pay to return the drive anyways), but they send you a return shipping label and the turn around time is around 2 days to recieve the drive.
 
dydx said:
I used to buy WD because I thought their warranty process was a breeze, but now Ive realized that Seagate's advanced replacement is much better. It costs $20 upfront (with WD, you have to pay to return the drive anyways), but they send you a return shipping label and the turn around time is around 2 days to recieve the drive.
Click to expand...

When I was RMAing my WD drive, I bargained with them and got them to pay the return shipping.
 
dydx said:
I used to buy WD because I thought their warranty process was a breeze, but now Ive realized that Seagate's advanced replacement is much better. It costs $20 upfront (with WD, you have to pay to return the drive anyways), but they send you a return shipping label and the turn around time is around 2 days to recieve the drive.
Click to expand...

I've always used the advance replacement option with WD and get drive in only a few days. Return shipping is less than $10 too so I don't see how Seagate is really better.
 
Volkum said:
I've always used the advance replacement option with WD and get drive in only a few days. Return shipping is less than $10 too so I don't see how Seagate is really better.
Click to expand...

Seagate returns are free unless it got changed.
 
dydx said:
How did you manage to do that? I guess it really depends on the rep you are talking to.
Click to expand...

I told him that I received a defective drive and there was no way I was going to pay the return shipping. He sent me a UPS label via e-mail.
 
PC_User said:
When I was RMAing my WD drive, I bargained with them and got them to pay the return shipping.
Click to expand...

PC_User said:
I told him that I received a defective drive and there was no way I was going to pay the return shipping. He sent me a UPS label via e-mail.
Click to expand...

Was this a brand new drive that was DOA? Wouldn't the retailer replace it first?

I had a 1TB black die on me after 9 days and I called up Dell (where I bought the drive) and had them overnight me a replacement with a prepaid label to return the bad drive.
 
okay, there's an explanation for Advanced RMA warranty
In an Advance RMA, the replacement drives are shipped with a 90-day warranty.

If the remaining warranty on the defective drive is more than 90 days, the remaining warranty will be applied to the replacement drive after we have received the defective product.
Click to expand...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top