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

B0bbyEwing

Now correct me if I'm wrong but this reads to me as though this drive was sold in America, then that person returned it (sold it on, whatever), it one way or another made its way to the guy who I ended up buying from & then I obviously received it.

So I didn't get a new drive after all, I got a used drive which would probably be labelled 'refurb', whatever that means, but is probably just a used drive that was formatted & re-sold.

Or could there be another scenario?

victor2

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81898349#Comment_81898349

Could be it was bought (in bulk?) in the US by the person who sold it to you. So it was still brand new when you got it, just well travelled!

B0bbyEwing

Of course.

Well lesson learned. If it's a drive that's going to matter then buy from manufacturer or approves resellers.

LightFlare

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81898349#Comment_81898349

Probably the same person off Reddit

Exodi

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81898349#Comment_81898349

Doesn't have to be so nefarious, could be as simple as a wholesaler buying in bulk from Seagate but selling outside of their domestic market. Nothing there necessarily suggests it being used - sold in their context doesn't have to mean to an end-user.

I interpret Seagates reply as that they might help you remedy the situation if you were in the US.

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81898434#Comment_81898434

It's not just drives, it applies to all things really. If you want the option of relying on the warranty, you need to ensure you comply with the letter of their terms.

The high end laptop scenario I mentioned earlier has exactly the same issue. Laptops imported from the US are usually significantly cheaper, however the manufacturer will not honour the warranty for a different country (even despite having regional subsidiaries). Hence why many people in this space opt to buy from Amazon (as the seller, not just on their platform) as they provide their own form of warranty.