Western Digital upgrade program?

[Potatocodone]

So I register my 1TB Western Digital Green hard-drive today.

I notice they have an upgrade program for hard-drives in and out of warranty. The upgrade program will provide a discount on a new hard-drive. So I thought I would play with it and wow... does WD think people are that stupid?

These examples are base on a out-of-warranty hard-drive I have sitting around and my 1TB Western Digital hard-drive that is 2 weeks old.

Example 1: 300 GB VelociRaptor SATA

Out of warranty upgrade: $230
In warranty upgrade : $227

Example 2: 750 GB WD Caviar Black SATA

Out of warranty upgrade: $89
In warranty upgrade: $86

Example 3: 80 GB Caviar Blue EIDE

Out of warranty upgrade: $36
In warranty upgrade: $33

I did the same setups with a friend's one week old 640GB black drive and got the same results. From what it seems... the upgrade program is either to take your out of warranty hard-drive and still make you pay full price.

Or... your can upgrade your recently purchase new hard-drive and send it in for a $3 discount on a brand new hard-drive .

Seriously... does Western Digital think such a BS program can really work?

 

[jsilva]

thanks for shopping with Western Digital...come back soon!

 

[xenotype]

I'd actually have to disagree with the OP. I have two of those 80 gig EIDE's just collecting dust, and I thought they were worthless, apparently, they're worth 72 dollars together towards the purchase of a new HD(s?).

 

[Potatocodone]

I'd actually have to disagree with the OP. I have two of those 80 gig EIDE's just collecting dust, and I thought they were worthless, apparently, they're worth 72 dollars together towards the purchase of a new HD(s?).

How are you getting $72 for them?

Mhmm... All the WD drives I tested (out of warranty or in) are coming up $3 discount

 

[Old Hippie]

All my SATAs go to my WHS.

All my IDEs have been given to friends.

 

[XS Janus]

If you think of it is logical that they offer an upgrade plan.
They want your data. First they sift through it, categorize it and sell the info to the government.

 

[ryegrass]

The exact same thing happened to me. My drive was in warranty so I thought I would check about an upgrade, but was only offered a $3.00 deduction off of any newer drive on the Western Digital upgrade site. The discounted price was higher than I could buy the same drive for online. Needless to say I returned my drive for exchange (which will cost them more for the postage alone than they offered in the discount for the upgrade). This appears to make no business sense at all. Not only could they have had a new sale, but they could have avoided all of the incurred costs of replacing my drive.

 

[rive22]

They want your data. First they sift through it, categorize it and sell the info to the government.

Funny how their slogan is "Put your life on it"

 

[howamidifferent]

If you read the terms of the upgrade, you do not return your old drives. You get to keep them.
You only need to prove possession of the drives by supplying the serial numbers.
So you end up with two drives....

 

[drescherjm]

If you read the terms of the upgrade, you do not return your old drives. You get to keep them.
You only need to prove possession of the drives by supplying the serial numbers.
So you end up with two drives...

Still does not make any sense for the end user since the price with the discount is higher than what it would cost to buy a new drive without any "upgrade" discount.

 

[ryegrass]

If you read the terms of the upgrade, you do not return your old drives. You get to keep them.
You only need to prove possession of the drives by supplying the serial numbers.
So you end up with two drives....

One of which is defective (or I wouldn't want to exchange it under warranty), hence still only one operational drive.