Seagate Lowers Warranty Period from 5 to 3 Years

[MJA]

December 12 2008 kinda old news

bad news to consumers Seagate Lowers Warranty Period from 5 to 3 Years on Some Desktop Hard Drives


Seagate, the biggest hard drive manufacturer, has announced today that effective January 3, 2009, the company will be making some important changes to its limited warranty terms for selected drives. The warranty period for consumer electronics (Seagate Barracuda 7200 included), notebook (Momentus 7200 and Momentus 5400 included) and personal storage bare drives sold to Seagate Authorized Distributors will be changed from 5 years to 3 years. Seagate believes that the new warranty period and terms better reflect current industry standards. Seagate enterprise class drives and Seagate and Maxtor external retail products that have 5-year warranty periods will not be affected by this change. Please take a look at the Seagate Warranty Matrix for more information.


http://www.techpowerup.com/78659/Seagate_Lowers_Warranty_Period_from_5_to_3_Years_on_S...rd_Drives.html

new warranty period and terms better reflect current industry standards

[zoobie]

Comcast just upped their prices with the same gibberish

[samijubal]

It's because Seagate's MIC HDDs aren't as reliable as they used to be. Look on any site with Seagate reviews, they used to get excellent reviews, not so much anymore.

[lordsmurf]

Every time a company wants to slash warranties (some of which were ridiculously long to being with), out come the often-wrong accusations of lower quality. It just isn't so.

When it comes to tech like hard drives, in 5 years the technology tends to be so vastly different (IDE hard drives from 2003, vs SATA of 2008/2009), that it's just not feasible to try and keep old stock "just in case a warranty needs one").

It's also not fair to replace a 80GB drive with a 1TB drive, broken or not.

That's the truth of the matter. Its economics and logistics, not quality.

[MJA]

Comcast just upped their prices with the same gibberish

I got a letter from them 2 weeks ago.no more broadband light 1-20-09

[Seeker47]

Every time a company wants to slash warranties (some of which were ridiculously long to being with), out come the often-wrong accusations of lower quality. It just isn't so.

When it comes to tech like hard drives, in 5 years the technology tends to be so vastly different (IDE hard drives from 2003, vs SATA of 2008/2009), that it's just not feasible to try and keep old stock "just in case a warranty needs one").

It's also not fair to replace a 80GB drive with a 1TB drive, broken or not.

That's the truth of the matter. Its economics and logistics, not quality.

Those may be valid points, but . . .

It's because Seagate's MIC HDDs aren't as reliable as they used to be. Look on any site with Seagate reviews, they used to get excellent reviews, not so much anymore.

I've bought Seagates of the same exact models and capacity, the sole difference being country of origin. A couple of the MIC ones clearly ran noisier and a lot hotter (touch test) in the same type of use / same conditions. I don't know what that means, and I haven't had any outright failures. But, as I've said before, I just don't have a lot of confidence in Chinese manufacturing prowess, especially when it comes to a lot of electronics. (And we have plenty of good evidence for this: you can start with the crappy capacitor scandal of a couple years back.) When I was buying those HDDs, I went out of my way to get the ones that were made in Singapore or Thailand, which wasn't easy to do then and has only gotten much harder over time, but it seems to have been a decision that paid off for me.

I don't know what's the best move now. The WDs are mostly made in Maylasia. In general, with items this important, I'd rather spend more if it will net something that is clearly more reliable.

[redwudz]

I've only had one or two HDD failures in the last couple of years. Previous to that, I had two to three a year for several years with Maxtors, Seagates, WDs, Hitachis and a couple of other brands. And just about all of those drives failed in the first three years, more often the first year. Outside of possibly inspiring confidence and also helping with sales, a five year warranty doesn't really seem to mean increased reliability.

Just my observation, but it seems like the engineering quality of HDDs has been improved quite a bit in the last few years, while the manufacturing quality has decreased a bit. Considering that HDDs are not really dependable devices, I can live with that.

Most hard drive manufacturers also have a 'server grade' drive available. And those should have better quality control and may have a bit more dependability, at a price.

[samijubal]

Every time a company wants to slash warranties (some of which were ridiculously long to being with), out come the often-wrong accusations of lower quality. It just isn't so.

That's the truth of the matter. Its economics and logistics, not quality.

And you always post this same crap, it isn't true, it isn't true. Just look on any computer sales site, you can start with Newegg, the reviews used to be almost all positive, not anymore. All computer sales sites are the same, where reviews used to be excellent, there are many complaints of failures, some three times in a few months, many bad HDDs right out of the box. Again, you're full of it.

[lordsmurf]

A lot of people like you strike me as whiners. A product failed on you and now the evil corporate world is out to get you with shoddy-made items. Give me a ******* break. Your one experience is such a tiny percentage compared to the many happy customers out there.

What's "full of it" are these bullshit conspiracy theories.

[PuzZLeR]

Can you feel the love folks?

Anyway... here's my love input. Not sure about professional-ware, but for consumers, I find any of these guarantees for hard drives totally and completely useless, whether it's 100 years, 5 years, 3 years or even a weekend.

When a drive fails, all they do is basically replace it. Who cares? It's the data you want back, which can be $1000s to recover. The last thing you think about at this point is the $100 they save you for a new drive.

I had a crash after 2 months once. Yeah, they were willing to replace it, but the data recovery was another thing. They even wanted my old drive back as replacement - and I had to bitch with them to leave it with me for the recovery process. I didn't need this additional pain on top of the $1350 in recovery costs it ended up costing me later for their faulty product! (PS: If a drive is "clicking" on you - be prepared.)

And they always say the same thing with a sneer, "As long as we make sure you have a working drive we've honored the warranty Sir."

Yeah, and what's the point? My data is worthless as long as you make sure the internal little wheels keep spinning on your product - as if it's entertainment to me?

I did end up telling them in the end where I'd like to shove both their failed AND working drives to watch the wheels spin...

[samijubal]

At over 20 gigs per $1 to backup to DVD, only a fool would keep stuff they don't want to lose on the HDD alone. Everything dies sooner or later.

Anything important I have I keep on two HDDs, if one fails, no big deal.

[zoobie]

copy that...
I also spit edited HDV & DV productions right back to new tape for further back-up
I've had HDD's fail twice in 2 years...just used the 3-5 year warranty to replace something I knew was going to fail anyway
but nobody seems to do anything until it's too late

[DereX888]

1
Companies are there to make profit for their shareholders/owners, not to make "great" or "reliable" products.
Yeah, sometimes they do make excellent products, but it is done so only for the purpose of being better than competition, and only if it is feasible (profitable enough) - certainly NOT for the sake of making great product itself.
(Times of philantropists like Howard Hughes and such are gone long ago, and modern rich "innovators" like Gates rather waste their fortunes on something else than spend it on making their own products better...)
2
Consumers want to pay LESS for everything.

Add 1 + 2 = cheaper products of lesser quality *
Its that simple.

Warranty terms are already very generous with 3 years for hard disks.
Most of less technologically advanced electronics cost much more than hard disks and they come with only 1 year warranty nowadays, so quit bitching... I mean wait until they slash it to 1yr as well...



* usually, unless technology have advanced enough to make better quality at lower cost, which unfortunately doesn't happen most of the time.

[Seeker47]

This is a bit confusing. Seagate announces that 5 years drops to 3 for most of their products, effective a certain date that is now. I was just in Fry's and Best Buy, where there is a huge amount of their product on the shelves, all saying 5 years on the box. Must be the same story everywhere else. I bought a portable HDD that stated 5 on the box. BB staffers said as far as they were concerned, it's still 5 for purchase of these items. If you buy one of these boxes that states 5 years, well . . . which is it ?

Save that slice of the box, plus the UPC code / serial #, along with a copy of your receipt, and maybe it will give you an argument to make, just in case ?

However, the poster who said the refund or replacement is trivial, compared to what gets lost when a drive fails, got it exactly right. Back those puppies up !

[PuzZLeR]

At over 20 gigs per $1 to backup to DVD, only a fool would keep stuff they don't want to lose on the HDD alone.

Agreed, and although it was only 2 months I had the drive, and it was clearly a manufacturing defect (obvious from the clicking it did after the crash) I still shouldn't have been so complacent.

I back up my older drives constantly, but never thought a new drive would die when you're just setting it up - and 1 TB of content takes a while before you can implement a backup system for it at the start.

Yeah, I know what you're going to say. It's cool. But I do believe that there should be some "recovery" in the warranty they give you - especially for a newer drive you're just setting up.

BTW - I too have stacks of data DvDs backing up my video source in the back of one of my closets. Just curious what others are doing to back up their data.

[PuzZLeR]

However, the poster who said the refund or replacement is trivial, compared to what gets lost when a drive fails, got it exactly right. Back those puppies up !

Well, I'm sharing it with the forum in case someone benefits from my crash - the money you save for a new drive replacement means very little in "insurance benefits" if you also lost data.

My case, just for the record, happened to be of the expensive variety. A "clicking" drive needs total surgery (it was defective or someone dropped it in the warehouse before it got to me ).

I also needed to provide a backup drive for the data, or they'd sell me one. This was the biggest issue as I bickered with about with the vendor - for my replacement drive in advance before I could submit my damaged drive. It's not the money, it's the principle really when it was their fault to begin with - they could at least surrender the damaged drive, at least temporarily till I repair it and get the data on the replacement. They did agree in the end.

Even though I have an income, $1350 in damages still sucks at any rate. I back up all the time, but I never expected this from a new drive. But the data recovery company did recover my files, all 650GB of them, and I had them back in a few days.

And, from my research and from the folks I've talked to - don't bite with those ads for "cheap data recovery" scams. This is a chore that needs expertise, not a bunch of comedians who will rip you off. There's more info on Google about this.

I look at my spindles of backup data DvDs in my closet now with a sense of security.

[jadeblue]

Its sad news man!

[elduco]

The real cause is ROHS = Lead-Free Solder.
Using this stuff causes "tin whiskers" to grow between circuit leads that make a short circuit.
End result is shorter product life. Planned obsolescence. Early failure.

[Nelson37]

They don't warranty your data for a very simple reason - they can't afford to. No one could guarantee thousands or hundreds of dollars in data for a drive that costs less than $100.00. It just is not possible.

If you buy a box that says "5 year warranty", you have a 5 year warranty. No brain surgery here.

As for the return drive, I have done this many, many times. They ALWAYS ask for a credit card number to guarantee the return drive, and ALWAYS grant two weeks to 10 days shipping time for the return drive. Not once have I ever had a problem with this, WD, Seagate, Maxtor, everybody. The credit card is never charged unless the original doesn't show up.

[redwudz]

Nelson37, that's been my experience also. I've had at least one HDD failure a year for quite a long time, and three this year already. (Two Seagates and one WD.) The drive companies have always honored their warranties and I usually end up with a bigger and newer HDD. But I also keep nothing on my HDD's that I can't afford to lose.

[handyguy]

But if you have a 5 year old HD & turn it in chances are they don't have that size anymore. So what are they going to do?

[AlanHK]

But if you have a 5 year old HD & turn it in chances are they don't have that size anymore. So what are they going to do?

Give you new one of larger size. Why not? It will probably have a dollar value less than the original one.

At least you can probably use a newer hard disk (with maybe an adapter). If it's RAM, a couple of years later new RAM will be incompatible. Every PC or laptop I get has a differnt kind of RAM. But I've still got an old 20 GB hard disk spinning in my PC, along with a newer one.

[handyguy]

Another thing, they take the guarantee date from the serial number of your drive. So, if a drive has been sitting in the store for a year that counts as a guarantee year.

[AlanHK]

Another thing, they take the guarantee date from the serial number of your drive. So, if a drive has been sitting in the store for a year that counts as a guarantee year.

That sounds unlikely, and probably illegal.
Here they date it from purchase, as you'd expect.

[DereX888]

Another thing, they take the guarantee date from the serial number of your drive. So, if a drive has been sitting in the store for a year that counts as a guarantee year.

That sounds unlikely, and probably illegal.
Here they date it from purchase, as you'd expect.

I think its how it is everywhere. Handyguy is either mistaken or met some crook retailer...

[Steve Stepoway]

Another thing, they take the guarantee date from the serial number of your drive. So, if a drive has been sitting in the store for a year that counts as a guarantee year.

Not true. Unless, of course, you've been foolish enough to toss your purchase receipt. Then they have nothing to go by except the manufacture date. But if you still have your receipt, that's the date they go by.

Steve

[Nelson37]

That is exactly correct. Date of purchase, verified by receipt, is the date your warranty period begins. If the date of purchase cannot be verified, then and ONLY THEN is the serial number used to establish a date.

It has been this way for 10 years or more, no change or new policy.

Got a computer? Got a printer? Can you think up a name of a company that might be in the business of selling hard drives to consumers? Can you make a reasonably accurate guess at the date the HD was purchased?

[handyguy]

I looked for guarantee service recently & went to the website. They asked me to enter the serial number of the hd which I did. Then they said it was out of guarantee period. But they did have some nice special offers on new HD's & for that I just have to give them the serial number of the old HD.

I wonder if you get a new HD or a refurb when you send it in under that guarantee program?

[jagabo]

Another thing, they take the guarantee date from the serial number of your drive. So, if a drive has been sitting in the store for a year that counts as a guarantee year.

Not true. Unless, of course, you've been foolish enough to toss your purchase receipt. Then they have nothing to go by except the manufacture date. But if you still have your receipt, that's the date they go by.

Not according to WD's web site:

The limited warranty extends only for the period of time set forth in the Product documentation. The period commences from the date of manufacture appearing on the Product label of the original Product purchase.

http://support.wdc.com/warranty/policy.asp

[Nelson37]

Pretty sure a warranty has to be from date of purchase, and it does state in the Notes section -

"In the United States, some states do not allow limitations on how long implied warranties last, so the above limitation may not apply to you. "

This comes right after a second "date of manufacture" limitation.

I have never had this quoted to me when a purchase receipt was available. Never heard of a Warranty being enforced this way.

Yes you may get a refurb drive, also may get a newer, larger one.

When I do RMA's, I always get a human on the phone, quote the receipt date, describe clearly how the drive has failed, return it to them in the same packaging the new one comes in. Have sometimes check the date of manufacture and been several months out of warranty according to that. Replacement still shipped cause the purchase receipt was within the time period.