My frustrating experience with Western Digital's EXTREMELY SLOW RMA service
I wanted to share my frustrating experience with Western Digital's RMA service. At the beginning of April, my Easystore 14tb hard drive stopped working, even though I hadn't filled up its entire capacity yet. Since the drive was under warranty, I tried to start an RMA process on Western Digital's website, only to find that the service was unavailable due to a hacking incident.
I kept checking the website status every day, and on April 18, I noticed that the RMA service was back online. I submitted my RMA request on the same day and shipped the package to Western Digital. According to the package tracking, it was delivered on April 21. However, today is May 4th, and my RMA case still shows "pending return," which means Western Digital hasn't even updated the status to confirm that they received my drive.
I even contacted Western Digital's Twitter customer service, who told me that it would take 5 to 7 business days to process the RMA. However, it's been way more than that since the package was delivered.
I understand that Western Digital might be dealing with a backlog of RMAs, but it's unacceptable to leave customers in the dark for weeks without any updates. My experience has left me feeling frustrated and disappointed in Western Digital's customer service.
I lost all of my data and waited for a month just want to process my RMA!!! I will stay away from their drives now.
In addition, Seagate provides free NTFS software for Mac and they also provide free data recovery service for the defective drive.
I hope that by sharing my story, others can be aware of the potential issues with Western Digital's RMA service.
Posted May 4, 2023, 2:36 PM UTC
You do know that there was a massive hack of WD's system in mid April and it's likely affected the RMA process as well.
https://techcrunch.com/2023/04/13/hackers-claim-vast-access-to-western-digital-systems/
Yes, I knew that it was since the end of March.
So what's the point of this post, besides hoping WD maintains a social media rep on Reddit and will expedite your RMA ahead of everyone else who is also waiting in line under threat of 'going viral'?
Everyone's aware of the extenuating circumstances affecting WD RMAs. Trying to harpoon them for it on social media is very r/ImTheMainCharacter behavior.
Go buy some hot swaps and save yourself the stress.
The point is to share the poor customer experience and think twice before you buy WD products. It's not their fault that they were hacked, but isn't it their fault that the RMA was promised to be processed in 5-7 business days and still hasn't been processed?
Im going to shit on you
Nobody is idiotic enough to be buying WD products right now. Every single person on this sub knows that WD RMAs will not be available until the company announces that they are back up and running.