Misleading hard drive warranties!

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Readers go ballistic over hard drive warranties

Letters For a few mean times before failure more


By The Letterman: Friday 10 December 2004, 10:30

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[We are still waiting for additional clarification on hard drive warranties. Don't hold your breath. Ed.] Seagate five year warranties not all they seem

Hi there,

I was just discussing this with a friend and long-term reader of The Inq. It caused me some buyer's remorse (I just bought a 200GB Seagate SATA drive the other day) and inspired me to do some additional research. This is what I learned.

WDC also starts the warranty from build date, and includes the phrase "If your Product was purchased as a component integrated within a system by a system manufacturer, no limited warranty is provided by WD. Please contact the place of purchase or the system manufacturer directly for warranty service." http://support.wdc.com/warranty/policy.asp

Maxtor, however, starts the warranty from date of purchase. (ungodly URLs on their Web page, otherwise I'd share.) However, this also appears on a separate link: "The limited, non-transferable warranty on products sold through an Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) is extended only to the OEM that purchases the products directly from Maxtor or Quantum.

Therefore, owners of OEM manufactured equipment containing a Maxtor or Quantum product must contact the OEM or the place of purchase for warranty service." So this is common policy. But starting the warranty from purchase makes Maxtor's warranty just a little tiny bit better. Unless you know you've got a source for fresh drives.

So... it looks like if you want a warranty, you've gotta buy retail boxes. What a drag. Either that, or I guess it's a roll of the dice. Or worth considering consulting the Mystic Smoking Head of "Bob" before purchasing. http://www.resort.com/~banshee/Misc/8ball/

Thanks for bringing this into the light--warranties should be usable, not worthless marketing tools.

Charlie Fulton
Chico, CA

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http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=20154
this is too much :angry:


gildan2020

old news....

ofcource u dont get warranty on oem u have to buy retail...

i dunno what the problem is. *SHRUG* if you buy OEM, then the OEM retailer is supposed to provide a warranty.

individual OEM parts are not warrantied directly by the manufacturer to the consumer because the parts were never supposed to be SOLD directly to the consumer as individual parts. what is so difficult to understand? "hi, you don't get a manufacturer's warranty on this individual OEM part because you are not supposed to own individual OEM parts. a computer shop bought these parts under the pretense of using them to build & sell complete computers."

yeah, but wat if u dunno that it's an OEM parts?


gildan2020

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Originally Posted by gildan2020

yeah, but wat if u dunno that it's an OEM parts?


gildan2020

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Then your argument is with the people who sold it to you, not the manuacturer. However, if you read it carefully it says "sold through an OEM". Even if it is classed as an OEM drive if you didn't buy it through an OEM you are still covered.

BTW, it's always been this way. Seems like another case of someone stirring up trouble about something he knows little or nothing about.

haha, the place i get all my computer stuff sells OEM drives with warranty (i dont care if the factory wont take em back, its the store's problem :P )