Maxtor refurb with previous owner data (Score 1)

When I worked for a computer repair shop many years ago, we had a customer bring in a PC with a dead hard drive. It was a Maxtor, and we didn't sell that brand in store, so all we could do was handle the online RMA in their name.

After getting a 'new' sealed replacement drive, I plugged it into the machine and booted it. I forgot to put in the Windows boot CD to run the install. Upon looking back at the screen, the PC was booting into Win2K!! Letting it continue, and checking around, I found that the harddrive belonged to a Ford dealership. It had all sorts of sales and customer information in it.

I called Maxtor and explained the situation, more upset about receiving a used drive as a replacement. They informed me that it's standard practice to issue refurb drives for warranty replacement. And, it's common to receive 'failed' drives as warranty returns that have nothing wrong with them. They just wipe them, and send them back out as refurb. I got one of those drives. She told me there was nothing they would do, unless I wanted to do another RMA, and pay shipping to return the drive.