FreeAgent Products

[pped]

Bought a FreeAgent Desk 1TB in Jun2009. Discovered that some files can't be read. Ran a Sea Tools Long Test & found there r bad sectors. Warranty expires in Jun2014. Raised an RMA 24Mar2011 & drove over 60km to return the set to its collection hub UPS in UEP Subang Jaya, Malaysia same day. I was happy to receive replacement w upgrade to 1.5TB on 30Mar2011. Ran same test on 31Mar & found the set was worse than my 1TB. I really had a shock. I quickly raised an RMA on 31Mar & called its AsiaPac call centre in Singapore same day and told Ms Chin about my unhappiness. She tried to pacify me by promising to arrange pick up of the faulty hdd from my home but she never did or call me. I had been trying to its toll free line since 1Apr but the line was either busy or the interactive voice system was always looping me back to the first level. After a few days trying, I couldn't wait any longer. I drove another 60km to UPS in UEP SJ and returned the 1.5TB set on 5Apr2011 in the morning. Since 5Apr, I'd been checking for next few days the status of my RMA and it flagged "Awaiting return of HDD". I had to call UPS Seagate Return HDD division few times about my return. Finally I had a response on 8Apr. An hour later, my return of the 1.5TB was acknowledged. I waited for few days for Seagate Singapore to process the return & called up its toll free line but was no avail. I went into chat room on 12Apr and a person named Omar said they will escalate the process, allocate and ship out a set to me as soon as possible. I called up the Singapore call centre 13Apr & spoke to Adibf & she told me I've to wait for another 3 to 5 business days as there wasn't any refurbished unit available in the warehouse. I have to queue until there is one which means SG is waiting for a set to be dropped from somewhere and only then they could ship it to me. Until then, I just have to wait. Is this how the warranty process or system work at Seagate? };=(@

[FrustratedUser]

I've had a similar experience with Seagate "Asia" Support.. Even the return was having a bad sectors and after 3 returns, I've stopped using it :-). Atleast from the experience that i've had this looks to be as expected.

[Cantbecanit]

Thanks for dropping by to say so, perhaps you might like to add that you are dealing with the Asia side of the company in post 1, quite possibly they do suck over there, but ppl worldwide will read this, and there's no consideration for the amount of ppl who return good drives either, they can't just say ok here's another, they have to be tested, and that takes time, I grant you you shouldn't have a drive returned with bad sectors on it already though, that is poor imo, so send an e.mail to management and make them aware things in certain parts of the world aren't working to spec.

[FrustratedUser]

Well Yes. I'm dealing with Asia Side. Well being a support person myself, i even tried the normal escalation process(available on the screen where we check status for Support Ticket). The Support person when he called me sounded very helpful but the actions didnt reflect that Being  a home user after 3 failed returns(Seagate out here doesnt provide pickup/return service you actually need to walkin to nearest Seagate service centre to get the warranty claimed). i've bought another competitors drive and using this as secondary drive.  Since i couldnt do anything to my drive, i made sure that we dont use it atleast in our department where i work.  Reading your post, i do understand that this is possibly for U.S Seagate where service may be better my comment is ONLY for seagate support in Asia (India). If there is an escalation matrix available i would appreciate that.

Thanks Again.

[Cantbecanit]

PM Asktheleaf next week, she will then boot it further up for consideration, tbh you aren't the first Asian country user whose had this treatment, so you will be doing head office a favour highlighting it.