Beware! Western Digital will not honour RMA

This is warning to anyone who would use WD’s advanced recovery service. It can end up costing you.

I bought an internal WD hard drive last June from Scan computers (in the UK). The drive failed last month, and I contacted WD for a repair. Since the drive was pulled from a server, I went for an advanced recovery.

I submitted my serial number as read from the drive – a picture of a MyBook appeared, which I thought was odd, but after checking the serial number on the disk matched that returned by their data diagnostics tool, I continued onwards. I naively assumed there would be no problem so long as the serial number was correct. I submitted the RMA on the 16th May.

A few days later, I received a THE WRONG DISK - a WD MyBook instead of an internal drive. What followed was at least 10 emails from them, each of which corresponded to a call. At first, they doubted that I had acquired the drive properly:

Dear the_renegade_option,

Please send us the proof of purchase of your drive.

Sincerely, Morgan Western Digital Service and Support http://support.wdc.com

I sent them a picture of the drive, and the receipt from Scan computers, on the 19th May. 12 days later, on the 31st May, I received this:

Dear the_renegade_option,

Thank you for your patience. Here is the update from my team.

Apparently the model is not wrong, but the unit we originally shipped to Walmart was an external My Book drive. The drive inside must have been >taken out of its original enclosure and sold as a standalone internal. This kind of actions voids WD warranty.

So what we advise you to do would be to go to the place of purchase with this statement to see what they can do for you.

Please let me know on the outcome whatever it is, and we will see what can be done from there as your demand is genuine and honest.

Sincerely, Morgan Western Digital Service and Support http://support.wdc.com

Seems a bit odd. Scan computers has been around a long time and I'm sure they wouldn't have gotten the disk from an unsavoury source. Not to mention I don't know if Walmart even has a presence in the UK.

After several more phone calls, and emails which were not responded to for nearly a week at a time, I was informed on June 16th that not only would they not do a warranty replacement, they would not even arrange to pick up the wrong disk. I'm not sure why I am responsible for their supply chain issues, but oh well.

Dear the_renegade_option,

I do apologise for the confusion created during this communication. I have gone through the case with the RMA team and they have confirmed that they are unable to issue a UPS label, as perWD's warranty and >replacement policy. Since the advanced RMA has already been created and a replacement product has been shipped, WD will not be assuming the costs for the shipment of >the replacement device back to WD's collection centre.

I remain available for further clarifications.

Sincerely, Demi Western Digital Service and Support http://support.wdc.com

It turns out that they felt it was my fault their tool accepted the RMA request, and thus I should have to pay the cost of posting it back. I wrote a complaint and they provided me a link to elevate the complaint. I emailed as formal letter of complaint as I could.

Dear the_renegade_option,

Thank you for your message. I have escalated your request, we will get back at you as soon as possible. WD strives to exceed customer's expectations. If you feel that your expectations have not been met and would like to escalate your case to the next >level of support, please click here or copy and paste the link below in your browser.

<Link redacted>

Sincerely, Morgan Western Digital Service and Support http://support.wdc.com

I received no response, despite the promise of a response within a day. I was unable to elevate my request on the phone to someone with more authority - as they explained, only a few people can speak to customers.

So I am defeated; I just have accept having to pay £10 to return their disk. If I'm lucky they won't also bill me the cost of the replacement drive (as it's getting very close to the deadline).

On the upside though, I did get my disk replaced by Scan. They were excellent!

• They accepted the disk without issue, far outside the normal month after purchase I'd have expected.
• They agreed it was faulty and replaced it with another internal drive.
• They arranged for collection and return of the drive, all without charge.
• I handed my disk over to DPD on Sunday, and got my replacement disk on Thursday.

Tldr; Beware of WD's advanced disk recovery service - they refused to honour my warranty, despite the fact they acknowledged it was valid. And they made me pay to post the disk back. And buy stuff from Scan computers, because they understand good customer service!

Edit: They did decide to issue a UPS label after all. Unfortunately, that only happened the day after I paid £11 to post it. The gesture is appreciated, however.