Submission + - Seagate and USPS warranties and insurance
destruk writes: Bought a 24TB Barracuda from AnandTech on newegg back in January. Formatted it, copied 18+ TB of data to it and then noticed it was running extremely hot when the computer booted. Sometimes it'd do the 'checking disk for errors' on boot which indicates it is a failing drive. So, AnandTech says they don't accept returns, Newegg said the 30 days return/exchange policy expired, so I checked with Seagate and it was covered by a 3 year warranty. I sent the drive, the receipt, with all the original packaging in the box I received it in to Seagate after opening and getting an RMA claim approved. Seagate didn't contact me back for 2 or 3 weeks so I used their online chat support with a live agent and he said the box was damaged and the drive had a dent but that they would send out a replacement to me anyway, as it could have happened during delivery to them. Another week went by and I had to contact them again as I hadn't gotten a shipment confirmation, and the next person I spoke with said that because there was physical damage they won't cover it. So I opened a claim with USPS as they have $100 insurance included by default. USPS said they would like the USPS receipt, the proof of purchase order, and materials to support my claim as well as asking me to take all that in as well as the drive (which Seagate still had) in to a post office for visual in person inspection for the $100 insurance claim. So fine, I asked Seagate to send the packaging and drive back to me, after a month and a half, seagate said they didn't have the original packaging I had sent anymore but hey, they mailed back the drive. USPS in person says they will not honor the claim because the original box is not available. And now, when I plug the drive in, it just doesn't pass the post as if the platters are shattered inside. So I'm out $500.
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You read the reviews for the drive and yes, about 50% are dead on arrival, and other 10-20% fail after a few months, but you figure as the price per GB is fairly low, and you have a 3 year or 5 year warranty to back it up, and they always say at the post office $100 of insurance is included for free, those are fairly good odds? Just save yourself the hassle and spend a few dollars more to get something more reliable like Western Digital instead of putting yourself through this hassle.
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You read the reviews for the drive and yes, about 50% are dead on arrival, and other 10-20% fail after a few months, but you figure as the price per GB is fairly low, and you have a 3 year or 5 year warranty to back it up, and they always say at the post office $100 of insurance is included for free, those are fairly good odds? Just save yourself the hassle and spend a few dollars more to get something more reliable like Western Digital instead of putting yourself through this hassle.
