At this point it’s less about the current quality of the product, and more about the company. I had every right to have my item replaced. I was within warrenty. It’s not MY warrenty policy. I didn’t set the terms. I didn’t set the duration. They did. They said if any issues arrise within a certain time of purchase I could get a replacement. I had the proof. I sent them the proof. I was told something along the lines of “In this case we’re not able to replace the drive”. When I asked what was wrong, I was told it was a high capacity drive with an electronic failure point. I even called on the phone, pulled up a pdf of their warrenty and asked them to show me where in the warrenty there was an exclusion for this situation. They didn’t even attempt to try. They just argued that it couldn’t be done, because the drive failed. I said "Yes. The drive certainly did fail within warrenty period. That’s what’s covered within the warrenty. That’s the whole purpose of the warrenty. To provide reassurance to the customer that if they should so happen to buy one of the 1% of drives with a malfunction beyond their control, that the product they paid for will be replaced without worry. "
They then told me I was wrong, transfered me to their boss, and while on hold hung up.
I understand if I buy a western digital, I run the risk of also buying a dud drive. However I assume they will honor their warrenty.
Seagate doesn’t need to honor any warrenty. They don’t need to offer any warrenty. However as the customer, I’m free to inquire about warrenty terms before buying. If I see a product that does not offer warrenty on new items, or doesn’t allow returns? That tells me the company doesn’t stand by their product. It’s then MY decision on if I want to gamble.
Seagate DID offer a warrenty that they set the terms for. That tells me they stand behind their product. So when they told me no, and gave no reason besides “the drive is dead”? That’s called bait and switch. Which breaks trust between customer and business.
They might have 36TB SSD hard drives at $100 that they guarentee will last 100 years. I still won’t buy it, because I’ve lost trust in the company to stand behind their claims.
And here we are, 20 years later. Still haven’t bought a single seagate product since. And often times being interested in a sale or offer, until I saw the brand. I’ve multiple times in 20 years went out of my way to avoid seagate.
And if they would have honored the warrenty? I’d have moved on from any grudge. Back when Logitech was still a good company I called and asked how much to repair an out of warrenty mouse I have. I understood I’d have to pay. I was getting a price quote to see if it was worth it, as I LOVED that mouse model in 2000. Sad when it died in 2006. Dude on the phone just said “Ah, here. Lets not even repair it. I’m just going to send you the same model”
And sent me a brand new (old stock) replacement of the same mouse I had. That mouse lasted until 2014.
So I used the same model mouse from 2000-2014. And I also still buy logitech products, even though I recognize the company is not as high quality as they used to be. Call it nostolgia, call it brand loyalty, whatever. It still just feels right buying logitech, and a huge part of that is what they did in the past.
Yup, service is way more important IMO than bad products, because if the company is willing to make things right, I’m willing to gamble a bit on a new product.
At this point it’s less about the current quality of the product, and more about the company. I had every right to have my item replaced. I was within warrenty. It’s not MY warrenty policy. I didn’t set the terms. I didn’t set the duration. They did. They said if any issues arrise within a certain time of purchase I could get a replacement. I had the proof. I sent them the proof. I was told something along the lines of “In this case we’re not able to replace the drive”. When I asked what was wrong, I was told it was a high capacity drive with an electronic failure point. I even called on the phone, pulled up a pdf of their warrenty and asked them to show me where in the warrenty there was an exclusion for this situation. They didn’t even attempt to try. They just argued that it couldn’t be done, because the drive failed. I said "Yes. The drive certainly did fail within warrenty period. That’s what’s covered within the warrenty. That’s the whole purpose of the warrenty. To provide reassurance to the customer that if they should so happen to buy one of the 1% of drives with a malfunction beyond their control, that the product they paid for will be replaced without worry. "
They then told me I was wrong, transfered me to their boss, and while on hold hung up.
I understand if I buy a western digital, I run the risk of also buying a dud drive. However I assume they will honor their warrenty.
Seagate doesn’t need to honor any warrenty. They don’t need to offer any warrenty. However as the customer, I’m free to inquire about warrenty terms before buying. If I see a product that does not offer warrenty on new items, or doesn’t allow returns? That tells me the company doesn’t stand by their product. It’s then MY decision on if I want to gamble.
Seagate DID offer a warrenty that they set the terms for. That tells me they stand behind their product. So when they told me no, and gave no reason besides “the drive is dead”? That’s called bait and switch. Which breaks trust between customer and business.
They might have 36TB SSD hard drives at $100 that they guarentee will last 100 years. I still won’t buy it, because I’ve lost trust in the company to stand behind their claims.
And here we are, 20 years later. Still haven’t bought a single seagate product since. And often times being interested in a sale or offer, until I saw the brand. I’ve multiple times in 20 years went out of my way to avoid seagate.
And if they would have honored the warrenty? I’d have moved on from any grudge. Back when Logitech was still a good company I called and asked how much to repair an out of warrenty mouse I have. I understood I’d have to pay. I was getting a price quote to see if it was worth it, as I LOVED that mouse model in 2000. Sad when it died in 2006. Dude on the phone just said “Ah, here. Lets not even repair it. I’m just going to send you the same model”
And sent me a brand new (old stock) replacement of the same mouse I had. That mouse lasted until 2014.
So I used the same model mouse from 2000-2014. And I also still buy logitech products, even though I recognize the company is not as high quality as they used to be. Call it nostolgia, call it brand loyalty, whatever. It still just feels right buying logitech, and a huge part of that is what they did in the past.
Okay, fair enough.
Yup, service is way more important IMO than bad products, because if the company is willing to make things right, I’m willing to gamble a bit on a new product.