Western Digital RMA (Postage)

decmatt · 23 May 2017 at 20:33

Hi

I bought a 2 x WD refurb drive, however 1 month in both drives have bad sectors that can't be repaired.

Is it normal that WD refuse to cover the cost of return postage for the return / RMA? Seems a bit bizarre.

Thanks

spoffle · 23 May 2017 at 20:38

Yeah that's completely bizarre. I've never heard of a company doing that.

ED209 · 23 May 2017 at 22:12

I haven't used their RMA service but I know when it comes to GPU's some people go for manufactures that have a RMA office in the UK purely because of the driver cost of having to send a faulty card off overseas.

I know there is requirements for packaging that WD RMA require you to use tho

Shame there is no WD rep on here anymore

Disco_P · 24 May 2017 at 00:14

It's far from uncommon to pay for return postage for RMAs. You have to pay for all RMA's to OcUK, same with EVGA, crucial, corsair only paid for my RMA to them because the fault was due to bad design and effected all models.

I paid £3 to send two faulty drives back to WD and got both replaced within a week. One with a refurb unit and one with a brand new drive. Far from disappointed.

bledd · 24 May 2017 at 14:24

I used MyHermes, was about £2 - £3 per drive.

IAmATeaf · 26 May 2017 at 10:30

I think the concern here is the return postage costs when WD sent out the replacement drives.

I've RMA'ed drives to Seagate, WD and Buffalo and they all covered the return postage but I have to admit I've not had to do this recently.

Have you asked them when this became their policy?

decmatt · 28 May 2017 at 12:23

IAmATeaf said:
I think the concern here is the return postage costs when WD sent out the replacement drives.

I've RMA'ed drives to Seagate, WD and Buffalo and they all covered the return postage but I have to admit I've not had to do this recently.

Have you asked them when this became their policy?

Thanks - They have said because it falls outside their 30 day policy for their store... Have asked again but no reply as of yet

hyperseven · 28 May 2017 at 12:34

bledd said:
I used MyHermes, was about £2 - £3 per drive.

How? With insurance and signature it's way more than that.

Disco_P · 28 May 2017 at 15:24

Insurance on my hermes doesn't apply to electronics.

APM · 29 May 2017 at 10:50

It's the 30 day thing I think.

Best thing to do with refurbished WD drives is to health check them as soon as they arrive and RMA them if you get any bad sectors straight away,I've done that a few times with no issues or having to pay for the return postage.

Just bad luck for you having sectors go after a months use I guess.

APM · 29 May 2017 at 10:51

Just for interest,I've had a few refurbished drives from WD over the years and all the 1TB drives have health checked fine but anything larger than that always seems to have bad sectors.

Disco_P · 29 May 2017 at 16:27

I've got a 2TB Elements portable that was an RMA replacement. Been going for strong for years despite being used to backup every drive in my system.