Seagate not honouring hard drive that's 'out of warranty'.

MyRealNameToo

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81895421#Comment_81895421

Broadly because it's the internet and there arent millions of investigators checking every one of the 100s of millions of new pages created and updated every day.

Some people will knowingly do fraudulent stuff, with some its simply ignorance and they see everyone advertising the product with 5 years warranty so do the same. The warranty however probably only applies to authorised sellers but neither you nor they actually read the warranty to realise that.

The fact their VAT number claims they are working from a HMRC office is a big red flag to me. Generally would say to contact them anyway just in case they are willing to engage and deal with the problem but it's generally best to do your research before buying from an unknown company than after ordering.

B0bbyEwing

I contacted them this morning to give them chance to do/say something about it.

I'll be contacting Amazon after work to see what they say.

I'm not expecting anything from either & will put it down to experience & leave an appropriate review which in the grand scheme of things won't do diddly squat but there's not much else I can do beyond that.

Side note - read a Reddit post from someone this morning. Flew from the UK to America to buy 10x 28TB Seagate hard drives.

Their flights + the hard drives came out cheaper than buying the hard drives alone from the UK.

Nuts how we get the rough end constantly on pricing but such is life I guess.

noitsnotme

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81895834#Comment_81895834

Side note - read a Reddit post from someone this morning. Flew from the UK to America to buy 10x 28TB Seagate hard drives.

Did that not require them to commit fraud by not declaring the drives at customs on arrival back in the UK? If they had declared, or been caught, they would have been lumped with VAT and duty.

MyRealNameToo

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81895834#Comment_81895834

They've not declared their imports else they would have had to pay 20% VAT plus duty, if they paid what they have to probably wouldnt be. If you are going to do illegal things why not go the whole hog and get knock off ones, assuming they are for resale.

Is it nuts that the UK taxes are higher or nuts that the biggest cause of bankruptcy in the US is medical bills? There are masses of problems with people not taking the right medications because they can't afford the dose their GP has prescribed for things like diabetes and heart failure.

The US also has few consumer rights, here there are massive protections but a company being liable for defective products potentially for up to 6 years has a material cost associated to it which us companies dont have to carry.

B0bbyEwing

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81895845#Comment_81895845

No idea you'd have to read the thread yourself. I was on limited time before work.

B0bbyEwing

Interesting one from the seller here.

What's the Amazon Returns window/timeframe on defective items?

MyRealNameToo

If Amazon is the seller you can normally initiate a return for up to 2 years yourself. After 2 years you need to deal with them rather than being able to self serve. The law effectively gives you up to 6 years but refunds can be less use and so by that point it may have little value depending on exactly what we are talking about.

JSmithy45AD

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81895834#Comment_81895834

I've always found Amazon willing to bend over backwards to help the customer.

B0bbyEwing

At work with my last post so have limited time to type out much.

Basically the seller responded & said I'm NOT out of Amazon's returns window for defective items. Basically I'm to package it up, return it & Amazon will issue me a full refund.

Which isn't great as I want an 8TB hard drive but I suppose it'll be money towards an extortionately priced new one.

So question to you knowledgeable folk -

is it ok to connect this hard drive to my laptop via an enclosure & USB3 and run a wiping program (no idea what sort yet, haven't looked in to what's suitable) or will it take forever via that method & it needs to be connected to a PC's motherboard really?

Additional question - these recovery programs, can they recover files once one of these wiping programs have been ran or not? I've read differing tales.

Because if files can STILL be recovered then 1) what's the point and 2) how do you make it so that there's nothing recoverable, no matter what recovery wizardry they're using?

victor2

I've used (free) DBAN in the past to wipe a drive. Takes a long time, especially if you select multiple writes and deletes, but apparently very effective!