I find it hard to believe that WD finds it acceptable to replace a brand new drive that won’t spin up with a drive labeled “recertified”. Of course customer service says the drive is fully tested and should be fine. Am I the only one that sees a flaw in the logic of trusting a drive that has apparently failed somewhere along the line (at the very least it’s been handled outside of the box much more extensively than a new drive)?
Sure, a new drive can fail. Sure, a recertified drive can last forever potentially. Why should I have to take the risk though after I paid for a brand new drive and I can get the recertified one for 1/4 of the cost I paid? Not to mention I had to pay 1/5 of the cost of the drive to ship it back with the RMA.
In short I could have bought the same drive for the cost of the return shipping and still had the original brick for a paperweight. I can’t use the returned drive in any production machine since it won’t pass any QC requirements that all drives be new and fully warrantied.
I am disappointed after buying Western Digital drives for over 25 years and having one bad experience be such a huge let down that I will be buying a different brand. I know, I know, OMG the drama, but as far as I am concerned WD stole from me. I can’t tolerate having my pocket picked. It’s a bad policy, period.
New drive = unopened in original packaging on a shelf for resale, but past the return date of the distributor. Still under WD warranty and still a scam to replace warrantied, defective equipment with used equipment. WD has a responsibility to compensate for their bad stuff. If they don’t then I have a choice not to buy their equipment and a responsibility to let everyone know they are crooks.
It is unfortunate that your retailer will not take back the device, but it is our warranty policy to replace warrantied products with recertified products of like kind. This is an industry standard.
Limitation of Remedies
YOUR EXCLUSIVE REMEDY FOR ANY DEFECTIVE PRODUCT IS LIMITED TO THE REPAIR OR REPLACEMENT OF THE DEFECTIVE PRODUCT.
WD may elect which remedy or combination of remedies to provide in its sole discretion. WD shall have a reasonable time after determining that a defective Product exists to repair or replace a defective Product. WD’s replacement Product under its limited warranty will be manufactured from new and serviceable used parts. WD’s warranty applies to repaired or replaced Products for the balance of the applicable period of the original warranty or ninety days from the date of shipment of a repaired or replaced Product, whichever is longer.
You can say “well everyone else does it” all you want. It’s still not justifiable to not compensate someone that bought your product in good faith and returned it within a period you specified. I don’t buy from a retailer. I buy directly through a distributor from WD. I was told to warranty it and this is the nonsense I receive. I will be buying different brands from now on. They might have the same policy but at least it won’t be your company.
I’m sorry, I must have picked “retailer” up from Tony’s statement. But now I’m confused. Which distributor did you buy this from? Because I don’t know any distributors that sell directly to consumers.
I am a VAR that installed Western Digital drives exclusively up until this point. I won’t be responding anymore. I was told by your support that they were closing my case and I am done with this company.