RMA'ing to Seagate, are they as picky as they say?

[D22]

Do they enforce their ridiculous RMA process? They say no bubble wrap and no newspapers even if it is in an ESD bag. Just wondering if anyone here actually bought the $10 kit just so they could RMA their hard drive.

 

[Fullmetal Chocobo]

I don't know if they are or not, but why take the chance? Order the stuff for less than $25, and ship it in the correct packaging. I wouldn't risk the warranty on any of my hard drives for such little money.

EDIT: And yes, every failed hard drive gets one of those shipping kits from me.

 

[cmdrdredd]

I don't know since I always cross-ship. I send my old drive back in their packaging.

 

[her34]

Originally posted by: cmdrdredd
I don't know since I always cross-ship. I send my old drive back in their packaging.

i used to do that but they charge for advance rma now

no real reason for them to do that except to make it harder for customers to rma

 

[Trevante]

I can't remember the exact name of it, but when I RMA'd my drive to Seagate, I used a thin packaging foam that I bought from some local store. The entire roll of it cost me $7, but I didn't need to use it all. I bought a $0.97 box from Walmart and packaged the drive in a manner that it couldn't move when shaken (or at least I didn't hear anything when I shook it) and they didn't give me any trouble.

 

[oynaz]

I am glad I live in country where the seller is forced to pay the shipping for any RMAs.

 

[bruceb]

Just put it in an antistatic bag, tape or staple it closed
A box with some extra room around it and lots of balled
up newspapers will keep it safe under most conditions.

 

[Puffnstuff]

I always save my hd packaging material however it sounds like seagate is trying to get out of the cost of rma-ing bad drives. I've got a couple that make siren like high pitched sounds and have started vibrating the towers they are installed in. I suppose it won't be long before I have to test that 5 year warranty out. I've got a portable 300gb seagate that is noisy as hell, almost scary noisy and sometimes I wonder how long it will last.

 

[stogez]

The couple of times that I've had to RMA, I just used the advance option. That way they send you the packaging and there is no way they can say you did anything wrong when you return your drive in the same packaging.
It just costs you the price of the new drive upfront but they're refund it pretty fast.

 

[pradeep1]

I've RMAed a Seagate drive with their new 5 year warranty, and I just mailed it back in the original ESD liner with some good cushioning around it. Shipping was like $8.00 using priority mail with insurance and delivery confirmation. I got a replacement about three weeks later.

 

[pradeep1]

Originally posted by: stogez
The couple of times that I've had to RMA, I just used the advance option. That way they send you the packaging and there is no way they can say you did anything wrong when you return your drive in the same packaging.
It just costs you the price of the new drive upfront but they're refund it pretty fast.

I've done this as well and it works as stogez says. What is nice is that you get your new drive in like 2-3 days and you send back the old one in their packaging. Not bad if you ask me.

 

[her34]

Originally posted by: pradeep1

Originally posted by: stogez
The couple of times that I've had to RMA, I just used the advance option. That way they send you the packaging and there is no way they can say you did anything wrong when you return your drive in the same packaging.
It just costs you the price of the new drive upfront but they're refund it pretty fast.

I've done this as well and it works as stogez says. What is nice is that you get your new drive in like 2-3 days and you send back the old one in their packaging. Not bad if you ask me.

seagate charges a fee to advance rma. not just a credit card to secure the new drive, but a fee for the using the advance rma process

 

[Pabster]

Originally posted by: her34
seagate charges a fee to advance rma. not just a credit card to secure the new drive, but a fee for the using the advance rma process

Yeah, makes sense. They're advancing product to you. In my experience they are very quick to refund the advance RMA charges.

 

[pradeep1]

Originally posted by: her34

Originally posted by: pradeep1

Originally posted by: stogez
The couple of times that I've had to RMA, I just used the advance option. That way they send you the packaging and there is no way they can say you did anything wrong when you return your drive in the same packaging.
It just costs you the price of the new drive upfront but they're refund it pretty fast.

I've done this as well and it works as stogez says. What is nice is that you get your new drive in like 2-3 days and you send back the old one in their packaging. Not bad if you ask me.

seagate charges a fee to advance rma. not just a credit card to secure the new drive, but a fee for the using the advance rma process

Yes, I think you are right. But they don't charge for corporate accounts, sorry I didn't mention that. My local computer shop took care of the RMA and Seagate didn't charge us for it.

 

[herbiehancock]

I've RMA's a couple to Seagate........and they weren't overly picky about packaging. But then again, I used an old Maxtor or whatever brand of hard drive packing I had laying around to send it back in.

The reason they want it packed well and securely is that they want to ensure the return shipping doesn't cause any further damage to the drive, making it more expensive to refurbish for them. Makes sense to me........and packing it in crumpled up newspaper is just asking for it to be rejected. If anyone thinks shipping a hard drive is alright in balled up newspaper, put me on your DNT list....I don't want anything you ship!

 

[cmdrdredd]

Originally posted by: her34

Originally posted by: cmdrdredd
I don't know since I always cross-ship. I send my old drive back in their packaging.

i used to do that but they charge for advance rma now

no real reason for them to do that except to make it harder for customers to rma

well, they used to get ppl falling into the cracks. People used to RMA, get a new drive shipped to them, and the customer has 30days to return old drive before being charged MSRP. I think some people got away with not sending anything back and them using fake CC#s etc.

 

[her34]

Originally posted by: Pabster

Originally posted by: her34
seagate charges a fee to advance rma. not just a credit card to secure the new drive, but a fee for the using the advance rma process

Yeah, makes sense. They're advancing product to you. In my experience they are very quick to refund the advance RMA charges.

the fee is money they keep. not a security deposit

 

[jadinolf]

Originally posted by: oynaz
I am glad I live in country where the seller is forced to pay the shipping for any RMAs.

Denmark rules!

 

[mindless1]

Do they still cross-ship replacements? If so, just do that and you have their packaging.
I can see it might be a PITA to some when they spec packing material, but even if you might be a great packer, if you leave that variable open to interpretation someone is bound to (probably have already) do a half-ass job of packing with newspaper or peanuts, and really you shouldn't use peanuts at all if it's only protected by the antistatic bag as peanuts shift around, the drive will tend to fall towards the bottom of the box. Bubble wrap again leaves a lot of interpretation by the packer.

Remember the shipper can do all kinds of crazy things to your package on the way. If you sold something to someone that "might" still work and they're returning it to you, wouldn't you like to ensure as much as possible that the item you received has highest chance possible of being salvaged as much as possible? Some hard drives are very inexpensive to have a 5 year warranty, if they have to absorb more loss it will ultimately mean higher priced products.

 

[LikeLinus]

Originally posted by: her34

Originally posted by: pradeep1

Originally posted by: stogez
The couple of times that I've had to RMA, I just used the advance option. That way they send you the packaging and there is no way they can say you did anything wrong when you return your drive in the same packaging.
It just costs you the price of the new drive upfront but they're refund it pretty fast.

I've done this as well and it works as stogez says. What is nice is that you get your new drive in like 2-3 days and you send back the old one in their packaging. Not bad if you ask me.

seagate charges a fee to advance rma. not just a credit card to secure the new drive, but a fee for the using the advance rma process

Since when? I shipped a drive back 2-3 months ago and used advanced RMA. I was not charged at all.

 

[her34]

Originally posted by: LikeLinus

Originally posted by: her34

Originally posted by: pradeep1

Originally posted by: stogez
The couple of times that I've had to RMA, I just used the advance option. That way they send you the packaging and there is no way they can say you did anything wrong when you return your drive in the same packaging.
It just costs you the price of the new drive upfront but they're refund it pretty fast.

I've done this as well and it works as stogez says. What is nice is that you get your new drive in like 2-3 days and you send back the old one in their packaging. Not bad if you ask me.

seagate charges a fee to advance rma. not just a credit card to secure the new drive, but a fee for the using the advance rma process

Since when? I shipped a drive back 2-3 months ago and used advanced RMA. I was not charged at all.

i don't know when it started, but i know that up until january 2007 seagate was charging a $19 fee for advanced rma.

if they've changed back to normal (no fee), then good for them

 

[mindless1]

I'm fairly sure I wasn't charged any advanced replacement fee last year (or it might've been the year prior, time sure does fly). Is it possible that was a policy that only survived for a short while before customer backlash caused it's removal?

Anybody have a link to Seagate's policy on this now? I wandered around on their site a short while including this page and the linked FAQ and didn't even see a mention of advanced replacement or cross-ship at all except a very short blurb that advance replacement and other fees aren't refunded (but no details otherwise) here.

 

[DBL]

Just did this for a Raptor and I was not charged anything either. Wait for the replacement and ship yours back in their packaging. I believe they only charge your card after 30 days.

EDIT: my bad, that was WD so Seagates policy may obviously be different.

 

[Pabster]

Originally posted by: her34
the fee is money they keep. not a security deposit

Are you referring to the $10 charge for shipping materials if you so desire?

I haven't had to pay any non-refundable fees on any drive replacements from Seagate over the last several years.