I just wanted a newer device with no issues. The trade-in offer stated at least a 40% discount on newer devices.
Ya, this trade-in offer is working out to be a total scam. Itās cost me more money with their ā40% discountā than If I had just bought a new drive from Amazon. And I could have kept my old drive to boot!
If I were you I would point out the fact that the drive you sent in was for the trade in offer, not a warranty case. They seem to be using that as an excuse.
My experience has not been good.
- Initially contacted support July 11
- Returned 2 my book lives at my cost ($30) to ship that were received by WD on July 14
- Had to complain to get my 2 codes.
- Couldnāt order the product I wanted (WD EX2 8TB) as it was out of stock
- Told to wait 2 weeks as they were expecting stock. Was willing to order the 12TB version while it was in stock only to be told I could only apply the code against one of the devices listed in the program.
- Checked every day to see if I could order
- Finally, the product appeared to available on August 9th. So I ordered it, only to be then told it is on back order and will be received in 3-4 weeks.
For fun, I checked if I wanted to order a second EX2 8TB. Itās out of stock again!!!
What to do with my second code? Well, Iām not ordering one of those MyCloud Home things. I have one already and was pretty disappointed with it and should have returned it at the time. So not going to make that mistake twice. Even if I did want one, they were going to charge me $35 to ship it.
This has been a total disaster by WD. Extremely poor customer service. At some point in the future, I would not be surprised if this becomes a text book example taught in business schools of how to lose long-term customers.
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I finally received a response from WD, about a month after I had contacted them. Their reply:
āThank you for choosing to participate in Western Digitalās Trade-In Program. At this time, although we do not have a My Cloud device available for your country, as an alternative to the discount offer, we would like to offer you a 2TB My Passport drive at no charge (aside from any applicable local duties or taxes your country may apply*) in exchange for your My Book Live (Duo) unit.ā
Haha. It will cost me about $30 to return my 3TB MBL and a further $15 - $20 in import duties for the 2TB My Passport device, totalling around $50. In my country a new 2TB Passport costs around $70. So, Iāll āsaveā $20 by trading in my 3TB NAS on a 2TB portable hard drive, which I certainly donāt need.
What type of deal is this?
I wasnāt having an issues with the old drive, but decided to go for the trade in. Iām in Canada, had to pay nearly $20 to return my old drive. Got notified WD received it. After a couple of emails asking for my discount code, I received it 2 weeks after they received my drive. I bought the 4tb my cloud home personal (from WD, couldnāt use the code anywhere else). Had to pay $35 for shipping, total 185.80 CA, for a total of about $205 to get the drive. I should have kept the old one (3TB), and bought the 4tb from Amazon (right now $224). I spent $205 for an extra TB. I could have spent $224 plus tax (about $250) for an extra 4tb and kept my old drive. This has been very poorly handled by WD.
This exchange program is so mismanaged. Customer service kept hosing up my address and it took a month to sort things out. I was finally able to return the drive and this is the response: " **Thank you for contacting Western Digital and we apologize for the inconvenience. Upon inspection of the drives returned under RMA 88603744, it was determined that the drives may have been altered and is not eligible for replacement under WDās limited warranty policy" And Further "Per our warranty policy: āIf upon inspection of your returned Product WD suspects fraud or deems such Product to be counterfeit, WD may, in its sole discretion, confiscate such Product or take such other actions as it deems necessary.ā
There is no warranty associated to this product and service will not be rendered. We recommend you contact your place of purchase for compensation. You may use this email letter to demonstrate Western Digitalās official view of the product you purchased from your vendor.
So these clowns didnāt even recognize that I submitted my drive for the trade-in. I didnāt do anything to alter the drive other than delete my data.
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They want to Destroy the evidenceā¦ who knows
I did get my drive RMA and returned ok. But it has been 10 days and still no discount code. I used āchatā the other day and they said theyād get back to me with an update. Still waiting 2 days later for any response. I hope it comes. Of course, when I looked at the available products, the one I wanted wasnāt available. How interesting and convenient, esp. with a limited-time offer code. Fortunately I still have time so maybe it will be in stock.
Sent mine back July 19. Received the discount code on Aug 7. Placed the order for the drive I wanted on Aug 9. The Ultra 8tb. First said 2 to 3 weeks before shipping then got an email the same day I ordered it saying 3 to 4 weeks. This Monday Sept 6 will be 4 weeks. Order status still showing processing. On Tuesday it will be time to contact WD for an update,
Has anyone received their replacement drive ?
Here is my message back to WD
- I am unlikely to invest again in a Western Digital My Cloud device due to the handling of the security vulnerabilities in their own software. The 40% discount is not compelling.
- I am not prepared to return the old device to WD given that it is used to store personal information. I am taking the stance that my personal data should be available to WD.
- I think WD should provide replacement My Cloud Devices with equal or greater capacity to customers for free. The customer should have the option to retain the old device if they choose to do so.
- Where a device is retained by the customer, WD should provide a mechanism to disable connecting of the drive to their cloud, but still accessible as a local NAS device.
Message to Western Digital:
Your āsoftware support lifecycleā abandoned your customers placing them at risk of losing data and potentially other data privacy issues.
Based on this proven lapse in security, why would I trust sending my current My Cloud device back to you, and further why I would I pay the costs to do so?
My current My Cloud product needs to remain in my possession for security of my data, and you need to incentivize me to purchase another Wester Digital product.
Absolutely fed up with WD. Returned my MyBookLive drive a month ago and have provided them with proof of postage and proof of a signature of receipt at their end. Still showing awaiting return on WDs website. No response from customer support. Although I removed my personal data, factory restore never worked so I do not know whether anyone potentially has access to my data by carrying out a restore. WD are supposed to wipe the drives on receipt but without them acknowledging receipt I donāt know whether this has happened. Really wish I had kept the drive and used it off-line. Very reluctant to buy another WD product.
I feel strongly about the idea of returning the drive to WD for security of my own data, even if the drive has been erased and factory reset. I see this as risky.
Got my code this week after WD initially claiming they never received my MBL. Tried to buy Ultra 8TB today but showing out of stock, what a farce.
Iām in the same situation. Sent my drive across to the US in early August for recovery - latest update is āanother 1-2 weeksā and in parallel ordered an 6TB replacement which was showing as available in 2-3 weeks (now showing as Out of Stock).
The frustrating thing is Amazon UK have stock. But WD donātā¦
I returned my 2 TB my book live devices and over 3 weeks and finally I received their discount code. thought that I can buy 2 8TB from amazon to save me 2 x $35 shipping cost, found out that the code I canāt use at Amazon. Then I looked and WD stores their 8TB out of stock, with about the same price at 4TB I donāt think I am willing pay that much may have the same security issue sooner a later. If I find/read this post and know this scam I will keep my 2 devices and take time to buy Synology . I donāt think this is fair, why their discount code canāt use at their reseller store?
Probably because when WD sell to big reseller stores like Amazon they already apply a big discount ( say 30% ).
If you apply the discount on Amazon already discunted price, Amazon has to apply back the discount toward WD and I donāt think WD is happy to sell a product with about a 70% discount ( 30% + 40% )
I understand what I did is make them understand that I need one to be able to copy my data they agree and send me the coupon.
I was able to order it even if it was out of stock, took 6 weeks for me to finally received it.
Over the weekend i transfer all my data and now i am ready to ship my old one back and complete the process.
I was able to use the coupon code to buy an 4gb ex2ultra from the WD store but it took 5 weeks for delivery due to backorder. My only current issue is the new ex2 ultra sends me warnings a couple of times a day āFan not workingā even though the fan seems to actually be working. Afraid to return for replacement due to the backorder situation. So I seem to be stuck with a device for a while at least that has issues.
My experience is this. Ordered a 6TB MyBook Home but was advised it was on back order and it would be available in 2-3 weeks. In mid September I contacted them to advise an ETA and to offer to upgrade to 8TB (provided that th3 40% discount was also applied to the difference). Got a reply (5 days later) to say that I would have to cancel my order to upgrade (no mention of the 40% discount) and that the drive would be available in 1-2 weeks. Thats the 2 weeks up and I have heard nothing. They just donāt seem to communicate at all.
As for the old hard drive I was eventually advised on 30 August that a data recovery job had been started and given a ref - I would point out that this was sent to them on 10th Aug and the courier showed delivery on 12th Aug. Tried chasing today as Iāve heard absolutey nothing but the ability to update the incident has been removed. So Iāve ended up opening yet another incident. Given they never actually seem to answer any specific questions I ask ( the communication history is worth reading) it takes forever to get anywhere so who knows when Iāll get an answer now. Though I can predict it will be unhelpful.
I have to say this is the worst customer service I have seen since the advent of online selling. This whole incident has been a PR disaster for WD and they are making no effort to make things better with their customer service. In fact it seems they are actually trying hard to make it worse!!!
I totally understand that delays are likely due to the numbers involved but actually keeping us informed makes all the difference. I was actually told at one point not to chase for a status as this would cause my query to be dealt with slower!!
