- Report: #227043
Complaint Review: Western Digital - Lake Forest California
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Western Digital
20511 Lake Forest Drive Lake Forest, 92630 California, U.S.A.
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949-672.7000
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Western Digital The WD "promise" - their hard drives built to break, guaranteed. Lake Forest California
I really loved my external 160 GB USB hard drive for the first 5 months and then...it's internal power supply went bad. Wouldn't power up with any kind of WD power cord, no matter what from any outlet.
I called them, and after their sub-room-temperature-IQ "technician" said nothing but "Um, duh don no wud to tell ya" to the bad power supply, here were was their catch-22 NON-solution.
1. They would NOT advise me on how to extract the hard drive out of the casing myself (no external screws) to get my data. If I wanted the data THEIR only solution was a $400 minimum recovery firm, which wasn't in my town, when their crap a*s drive was only $140 to begin with. But if I did this it voids the warranty, no replacement given for their DEFECTIVE drive.
2. If I wanted to lose the data (nope), they would ship me a replacement drive.
Well, my data is MUCH MORE important than their fricking worthless hardware, which they REFUSE to make easy to access so you can save your data. So, I happily took it to a Micro Center store (where I bought the d**n thing to begin with) and they happily extracted the drive, which I then had to put in an external USB hard drive enclosure and got the data fine.
So, let me summarize WD's non-value proposition for consumers:
1. They sell you a crappy drive they say is reliable in their marketing for the obvious purpose of backing up your data.
2. The drive predictably craps out because of poor shoddy foreign sweatshop labor workmanship and you are screwed, and if you don't have a brain or a spine and want your data, you pay $400+ to recover data from a $140 drive.
3. If you have a brain and a spine, it costs you $60 to get your data back at your local pc repair center, and no replacement drive because they can't wait to get their jollies voiding your warranty, just because they can.
Their "promise" on their website is basically empty, because their POLICY is they don't cover data, just hardware, but as my situation proves, they don't cover the hardware either.
So, here's my recommendation. Don't ever buy WD, and if you buy anyone else's external USB drive, make sure it has screws so you can open it and get the drive easily.
Scott
Aurora, Colorado
U.S.A.
I called them, and after their sub-room-temperature-IQ "technician" said nothing but "Um, duh don no wud to tell ya" to the bad power supply, here were was their catch-22 NON-solution.
1. They would NOT advise me on how to extract the hard drive out of the casing myself (no external screws) to get my data. If I wanted the data THEIR only solution was a $400 minimum recovery firm, which wasn't in my town, when their crap a*s drive was only $140 to begin with. But if I did this it voids the warranty, no replacement given for their DEFECTIVE drive.
2. If I wanted to lose the data (nope), they would ship me a replacement drive.
Well, my data is MUCH MORE important than their fricking worthless hardware, which they REFUSE to make easy to access so you can save your data. So, I happily took it to a Micro Center store (where I bought the d**n thing to begin with) and they happily extracted the drive, which I then had to put in an external USB hard drive enclosure and got the data fine.
So, let me summarize WD's non-value proposition for consumers:
1. They sell you a crappy drive they say is reliable in their marketing for the obvious purpose of backing up your data.
2. The drive predictably craps out because of poor shoddy foreign sweatshop labor workmanship and you are screwed, and if you don't have a brain or a spine and want your data, you pay $400+ to recover data from a $140 drive.
3. If you have a brain and a spine, it costs you $60 to get your data back at your local pc repair center, and no replacement drive because they can't wait to get their jollies voiding your warranty, just because they can.
Their "promise" on their website is basically empty, because their POLICY is they don't cover data, just hardware, but as my situation proves, they don't cover the hardware either.
So, here's my recommendation. Don't ever buy WD, and if you buy anyone else's external USB drive, make sure it has screws so you can open it and get the drive easily.
Scott
Aurora, Colorado
U.S.A.
4 Updates & Rebuttals
Scott
Aurora,Colorado,
U.S.A.
Thanks for the erudite reply.
#2Author of original report
Wed, December 27, 2006
Hi Tina - Thanks for at least a more diplomatic and well-thought reply than Larry could offer. Yes, I now bought a much larger "C" drive, and have made a copy of all data there, and now have 2 other NON-WD devices I have also make additional copies to, one of which will be put in a safe deposit box in a bank. As I said, this event has just proved to me no company can be trusted with data, and yes there are "duds" on the assembly line in manufacturing, understood but the fact that WD: - Will not work with consumers when they are clearly at fault - Has a catch-22 "replacement" program guaranteed to leave consumers empty handed either way (no data, less money) - Builds devices to break has put it in a separate category with me: deserving nobody's business or trust. They take people's money advertising the specific purpose of backup and storage and MAKE SURE that eventually people are left not only without the data but without workable options, trapped into an expensive recovery black hole, unless they know better. Let me be clear here. A business does not HAVE to screw consumers to make a profit. WD chooses to. A business does not have to be defensive rude and indifferent and irresponsible when it's clear they are at fault. WD chooses to be. Just because they are in business doesn't mean they SHOULD be. Thanks again for the ideas and the options. Scott - A consumer with a brain and a spine.
Tina
Sacramento,California,
U.S.A.
Backup Methodology
#3Consumer Suggestion
Tue, December 26, 2006
I have worked with Enterprise Backups for almost 10 years, and I have also worked with Western Digital hard drives as well as hardware sold by many other vendors. In addition, I am the project lead for the annual disaster recovery exercise on my team. I understand that you are upset that you had a faulty piece of hardware, but from reading the original post, it wasn't clear to me, and probably wasn't clear to poor Larry that you bought this device to backup your data. Furthermore, Larry had some valid information in his post. I have used all manner of devices for backups, and I have had media break, hard drives crash, tape drives break, backup database failures, etc. There have even been a couple of times that I have been unable to restore data. There really are no 100% guarantees with hardware, and it is always a good idea to have spares available -- when possible. Even if you were to backup your data to tape, there is no guarantee that the tape wouldn't break. It sounds as if you are backing up your data to just one device and expecting that to never break or have any problems. That is unrealistic. By changing the backup scheme to use multiple devices, you increase your chances of restoring the data in case of a failure. If the $100+ is no big deal, buy another device and rotate your backups between the two devices. That way, if one fails, then the data still exists on the other device. As an example, if you have a tape drive with 4 tapes, and you rotate through them by performing full weekly backups -- if one tape drive fails, you have 3 other pieces of media from which to restore. If your data is that important, it isn't wise to place all of the data in one location. Rotate it off-site. Look at what happened to folks in New Orleans. Many businesses rotated their backups to a local off-site location, and the disaster struck the storage site as well. Many businesses were not able to recover their financial information so that they could still be viable as a business. So, if your data is that critical, have copies shipped off to an off-site location in another geographical area. And, finally, the issue with WD's warranty. There is no company out there that will guarantee your data on a device. If the hardware fails, they will replace it. We have an extensive contract with HP for hardware replacements. If a hard drive fails, they replace the drive. However, it is up to us to worry about the data. This is why we mirror all drives as well as back up all of the data. Good luck with your backups
Scott
Aurora,Colorado,
U.S.A.
You are the weakest link, Larry. Bye-Bye
#4Author of original report
Mon, December 25, 2006
UM, ever think about what you're typing before hitting "submit"? Let me make it clear for "people like Larry" who just can't follow along and want to make EVERYTHING the consumers fault. That drive WAS FOR BACKUP Larry, DUH, that was the WHOLE POINT of the post. My computer crashed at the same time, I HAD backed up my data on the WD drive, and it FAILED when I NEEDED it. Do you get the picture now? (Slapping Larry on the back of the head). Do you seriously have nothing better to do than accuse consumers of not doing what they already obviously have done as stated in their posts? Or do you think consumers are just generally to blame no matter what? Tell me, Larry, how many hard drives and copies do you feel a consumer has to make before they are "not at fault"? 10, 50, 100? How many? Also, your reply doesn't address the fact they made a crappy power supply and sold a defective device and won't address that. Why didn't you address that? Hmmm? Scott
Larry
West Sacramento,California,
U.S.A.
Uh, ever think about backing up your data?
#5Consumer Suggestion
Mon, December 25, 2006
Scott, You put all your eggs in one basket. Any hard drive needs to be backed up because sooner or later it's going to crash. Backup to a second hard drive and to CD's (stored off-site). You screwed yourself over by failing to backup your data. I never heard of a manufacturer who would warranty both his hard drive and the customer's data on it. I do not know why you expected Western Digital to do so.
