Seagate's HD RMA service?

[notsobig]

I n 5-6 years i have never once had a problem with Maxtor drives.
The 2x250gb SATAs im running atm have been running for almost 18 months aswell.

WD = I had loads of problems with those.

They took an absolute age to get back to me, but they did so eventually. They're clearly not for the consumer though - very much aimed at OEMs.

Just stick it in some bubble-wrap. I doubt they'll invalidate the warranty for using non-standard packaging, so long as it's well packed.

Weird. So last month both Maxtor OEM drives were coming up as Exchangable by Seatgate and under warranty. Now the older SATA-150 one is classed as OEM so need to return to place of purchase, while the newer SATA-300 is still exchanagable.

So you think bubble wrap will be accepted? Tried the UK company that sells the proper packaging that Seagate ask for, but they never got back to me.

I agree with gav. And you only have to worry about this once because from second time onwards, you can re-use the box they've sent you to send another faulty drive back in if necessary. Which I did

[IAmATeaf]

I just returned both drives in the same box, the lady on the phone said that would be OK provided I seperated both drives with foam and I bubble wrapped them as an extra precaution.

[IAmATeaf]

Well got the replacements back today.

So posted last Tuesday, arrived at Seagate in Coventry next day Wednesday, they didn't book them in till the following Monday and received the replacments today on the following Thursday - so 9 days in total.

Not bad I suppose but Seagate have been a lot quicker for me in the past, gonna give the drives a test later on today.

[IAmATeaf]

Knew I was too happy this morning.

1 of the drives is bloody DOA and the other failed and died after less then 2 hours or soak testing. Box looks as if it's been dropped and if you check the circuit board on the underside of the drives some of the chips get like roasting hot. Both drive were made in China. Tried differing machines, cables, SATA ports and known working drives are picked up no probs so it's definitely the drives that are cacked.

Worst thing is that the Seagate Tech Number lines are down so nobody picks the phone up and Warranty won't do anything till I've spoken to TS and got an activity number.

Ho-bloody-hum!

[Nitestorm]

Was about to ask do Seagate SATA2 drives require +3.3v? Just that my replacement DOA drive from them is on a molex-to-sata adapter that doesn't include the +3.3v. Wondered if that was why it 'seemed' dead. So have ordered a new PSU that natively supports SATA.

Now after you getting 2 dodgy drives back, I'm wondering if that has nothing to do with my drive being DOA.

[IAmATeaf]

Was about to ask do Seagate SATA2 drives require +3.3v? Just that my replacement DOA drive from them is on a molex-to-sata adapter that doesn't include the +3.3v. Wondered if that was why it 'seemed' dead. So have ordered a new PSU that natively supports SATA.

Now after you getting 2 dodgy drives back, I'm wondering if that has nothing to do with my drive being DOA.

I use a molex to sata power convertor so no +3.3v for me and I have other SATA drives working with these type of convertors. This has been a real PITA for me as now Seagate expect me to send the DAOs back to them at my expense, if I add up the cost of posting them back then it equals the cost of 1 of the drives so am not really happy

[themaidenmaniac]

I've had to send 3 back in a row, Speed fan is giving me real bad drive fitness reports on spin up times, and i experience all sorts of weird shiz with it. ive got a 320gb external and another 200 internal which give me no such problemso tho.

Coventry depot always.

[amjedm]

I've had to send 3 back in a row, Speed fan is giving me real bad drive fitness reports on spin up times, and i experience all sorts of weird shiz with it. ive got a 320gb external and another 200 internal which give me no such problemso tho.

Coventry depot always.

A year or two ago Seagate told me they didn't accept the SpeedFan fitness reports?

I sent a Maxtor on Monday last week (2nd class) and replacement (thank God) received this Monday. I sent it to Coventry.

[IAmATeaf]

I'm still frigging waiting on Seagate to sort out their act re the 2 DOA's I received, they are humming and haa-ing as to wether they should collect and have asked me to send the items back again at my cost. Bloody ridiculous if you ask me, they send me duff kit and they expect me to pay yet again to send them back, I told them to bog-off and come back when sanity has booted up at Seagate.

[amjedm]

I'm still frigging waiting on Seagate to sort out their act re the 2 DOA's I received, they are humming and haa-ing as to wether they should collect and have asked me to send the items back again at my cost. Bloody ridiculous if you ask me, they send me duff kit and they expect me to pay yet again to send them back, I told them to bog-off and come back when sanity has booted up at Seagate.

Have to agree mate, that is a bit of a joke expecting you to pay postage on the doa drives

How about you ask them to send you a free hard disk when they're sending the replacement ones to cover postage?

[IAmATeaf]

Have to agree mate, that is a bit of a joke expecting you to pay postage on the doa drives

How about you ask them to send you a free hard disk when they're sending the replacement ones to cover postage?

I think you'll find more give in ducks arse then Seagate Quantum in the old days were very good at dealing with the customer, Seagate seems to be run like a MacDonalds, they all read off a script and that's all they seem capable of doing. Luckily I purchased a Seagate 500gb 7200.10 around a week before the disks decided to die so have a running system but if I was dependant on these drives it would mean a PC out of action for 2+ weeks now.

[IAmATeaf]

Well a sort of result, after standing my ground they've not only decided to collect the faulty drives but they are going to hopefully be upgrading both to 250gb, I say hopefully as they've not yet agreed to this last bit yet but said they would confirm via an email.

[amjedm]

Well a sort of result, after standing my ground they've not only decided to collect the faulty drives but they are going to hopefully be upgrading both to 250gb, I say hopefully as they've not yet agreed to this last bit yet but said they would confirm via an email.

Well done and good luck with the last bit.

I hope it gets sorted otherwise we may have to put Seagate in the same list as a not so popular retailer

[JimNastics]

I had two Seagates SATAII's and one Samsung SATAII drive fail on me within the last few years, all during digital video editing. They basically all collapsed and died whilst trying to preview a multiple video layered project in Premiere Pro. I've since gone back to IDE and not had any problems whatsoever since... I've pretty much lost all confidence in the stability of SATA in general. Maybe I was just unlucky??

[IAmATeaf]

Well done and good luck with the last bit.

I hope it gets sorted otherwise we may have to put Seagate in the same list as a not so popular retailer

Just had an email confirming that they will be upgrading both drives to the latest 7200.10 250gb so a sort of result after all the hoo-haaa.

[Tin Ribs]

Ive sent 4 , 7200.10, 320gb Barracudas back since November. I believe they must be having problems with them especially as I have had 1 replacement returned DOA.
The first 2 were brand new and they were DOA too.
Perpendicular doesnt seem too stable. Had to sell what I could and replaced some with WD's.