I bought a WD Elements 8TB (WDBWLG0080HBK-NESN) on Amazon Canada on Feb 14th, 2020. I have had nothing but problems with it since day 1! Loud knocking and grinding (?) sounds, recognized off and on by Windows (7 & 10), Linux, spinning on and off. I’m in the IT business so tried the troubleshooting gamut, plugged it in different USB (both 2.0 & 3.0), both UPS & directly into wall, etc. etc.
I want to RMA it. Being in the computer business, I’ve had to deal with numerous RMA processes in the past. I’d say that it’s a straightforward, painless process 90% of the time; it’s my first go with Western Digital and, having already wasted a couple of hours trying to RMA this product, you fall in that 10%!
For the past couple of hours I’ve been trying to register the drive on your website but I can’t. It keeps giving me this error:
Product Registration
To ensure your warranty expiration date is current, please register your product below.
Please correct the following error(s):
No results found.
(* Required Field)
Product Type * Other
Serial Number * **************
Purchase Date *14-Feb-2020
Place of Purchase Online Retailer (also tried all other options!)
Proof of Purchase: uploaded amazon receipt
File upload complete
I have a hard time believing that a company making money over fists like WD can’t get a website right!
Our time is as valuable as yours is and we don’t get paid for the wasted hours!
I sent them a message and got a quick reply. Emailed them photo of S/N, proof of purchase, my full physical address and phone number. Now awaiting a response.
Sent info as requested by John from WD; received an email 2 days ago (2020/04/27) saying that he was creating a RMA number which I should receive soon. Hopefully, it won’t take much longer.
This is a follow up Email from Western Digital Customer Service and Support.
As per your concern that there is an error in creating an RMA, we got an update from our RMA team. I would request you to confirm and provide us correct shipping address as the registered shipping address is giving an error while creating an RMA. Also, the address cannot be validated on Google. You can also provide us an alternative shipping address for this RMA.
It’s the first time ever that anybody, whether any company, people, restaurant, etc. tell me that they cannot find my address - funny how they never had problems finding my address when I bought the darn HDD!
I have been ordering items from all over the world for a long time and no matter where it came from the sender never failed to get the goods to me at this address.
(2020/05/04) Replied to John from WD on same day:
Hi John,
I have never had any problem whatsoever with the address I gave you. Whether I order electronics from all over the world or a pizza locally it never ever failed to being delivered here.
I’ve modified it a bit although the one I gave you before should have been more than ok.
(2020/05/04) After not hearing back from John from WD for a few days, I sent another email:
Dear Madam/Sir,
Why the lack of updates all of a sudden???
are you stalling me???
I hope that WD is not stalling me so I will just give up. This better be resolved soon…
Update:
(2020/05/13) Received an email John at WD:
I want to inform you that RMA ( # ******** ) has been successfully created for your drive ( ********). I apologize for the inconvenience caused to due to delay.
I understand that we’re not living in normal times with this virus going around.
(2020/05/17) Just finished packing the ext HDD for RMA. Took pictures of the whole process, from ESD bag (not certain if I needed it for an external HDD but I used one), wrapping the whole thing up in over an inch of bubble wrap and taped well, then wrapped it in protective anti-static foam, fit the package into the original WD Elements Box including the power jack & USB cable, clear-taped RMA form with address & QR onto front of box + 3 sides are well marked with RMA#.
Will mail it on Monday; hopefully, the turnaround process won’t be too painful. Like I wrote above this is my first time RMAing with WD. I have a couple of internal HDDs from them which have been running smoothly for a couple of years.
(2020/06/08) Shipped with UPS (hopes sank when I saw who was handling the shipping part) from Mississauga, Ont
(2020/06/09) Arrived at the UPS facility in Quebec City, PQ
(2020/06/18) Delivered at my place 9 days after arriving at local UPS facility
The HDD I received is of the exact same model (WD80EMAZ) with a different S/N.
Just plugged it in and so far it’s working great!
So, the RMA process from start to finish went much better than anticipated, which is great, considering all the negatives I’d been reading. It just goes to show that we never get to read/hear the positive stuff when it happens!
The only down side is that the shipping was handled through UPS which more than eager to remind me why I avoid doing business with them at all cost! I won’t get into this on here.
Anyway, thank you WD for making this RMA smooth and painless, even in these abnormal times of a major pandemic.
no ■■■■■, this has turned into the biggest scam company ever
I know many businesses that have had $25 stolen from them X a lot for their advanced RMA’s that have not shipped in 2 months now, but still charged $25 non refundable fees and customer service is non-existent to even do anything about it, refund or ship immediately.
I can’t get used to what the bet amounts look like in games and casinos where crypto’s involved. The brain refuses to accept that this huge number can actually mean a decent amount of money, lol. I don’t know, I just don’t feel like betting on cryptocurrency. On the one hand, it’s one of the few ways to increase your income. But I’m wary of attempting any crypto transactions. I’ve had the same amount in my account for several years. I guess I prefer to play for regular currency at https://indibet1.in/.
Not also your RMA process difficult, my problem is more than yours! Western Digital in Ho Chi Minh City (VietNam) don’t let me receive my Warranty Replacement Disk, although i already got all the RMA conformation!
i returned a sandisk 256gb c-type otg stick in december its now amost 4 months later and theyve only just sent me an email saying my replacement is shipped (no tracking as of yet so we’ll see) the part i cant get over is after they ‘varified’ my stick (which was done withing a week of them reciving it) i had no info from them at all, no one contacted me to say what was going on so i called them. was given excuse after excuse: we’ve just moved our warehouse so its going to take some time, we migrated our database (which stopped me from checking on my RMA without registering an account and the system for registering a new account doesnt work still now) and the latest one is global shortage of some components. i spoke to one of their ppl near the begining and he assured me he was on the case and he would chase it up and i heard absolutely nothing from him after the 2nd time we spoke on the phone, throughout all of this they have told me nothing i have had to chase them every step of the way and thats is not acceptable. needless to say i will be avoiding western digital products like the plague from now on (i had no idea they had taken over sandisk but since they have its gone to sh*t!)
