Hitachi RMA support : bunch of bastards!

[CougTek]

I sent a DOA Hitachi 7K1000.D 1TB in RMA. The process was easy and they quickly shipped me back a replacement drive. I received it last week, but I put it aside since I didn't need it immediately.

Today was the day I opened the bag. The drive felt heavier than I remembered the single-platter 7K1000.D was. Then I noticed the drive part number... motherfuckers!!!!!!!!!!!! They sent me a 7K1000.C with a 6Gbps interface. The platters' areal density is lower, the max transfer rate is lower, the electric consumption is higher and the 7K1000.C is notorious for having jigsaw-like transfer rate patterns. That's supposed to be an equivalent product to the dead one I sent?

I'd like to have the son of a bitch at their RMA center who chose to send me this piece of shit in front of me right now. I'd strangle him until my fingers touch and behead him with my bare hands. AAAARRGGHH!!!!!! I have to break SOMETHING!!!!!!!!!!

 

[CougTek]

I sent their support an e-mail explaining my disappointment and omitting the strangulation and beheading part. I'll see what their reply will be.

 

[LiamC]

Who needs LOLCats when we have you? You made my day.

Actually, that's disappointing that Hitachi did that.

 

[paugie]

I'd like to have the son of a bitch at their RMA center who chose to send me this piece of shit in front of me right now. I'd strangle him until my fingers touch and behead him with my bare hands. AAAARRGGHH!!!!!! I have to break SOMETHING!!!!!!!!!!

Wow!
I'd really like to know the next chapter.

 

[CougTek]

The next chapter is that I have a new phone now. The former one didn't make it. Replacing the door from my computer room will be more complicated as I broke the door frame too.

 

[MaxBurn]

Entertaining but not buying it, pictures or it didn't happen.

Frankly on the drive you are lucky to get same size and spindle speed. Matching and coming close on the series wasn't bad for their warehouse guys. No personal experience with hitachi other than my work machines.

 

[BingBangBop]

The next chapter is that I have a new phone now. The former one didn't make it. Replacing the door from my computer room will be more complicated as I broke the door frame too.

I'm having a hard time visualizing how you threw the phone hard enough to damage the door frame. Air Cannon?

 

[CougTek]

Those were two separate events. My fist met the phone while my foot met the door.

I received a reply from Hitachi :

Hello Coug,
Thank you for contacting Hitachi GST Technical Support. I'm very sorry for what happened, it is indeed a mistake on our part, however we can correct it. Please create a new RMA for the replacement drive, and then call our support line and explain what happened, also make reference to this case number, xxxxx. We can create a shipping label to recall the drive from you and ensure that you receive a proper replacement with a drive of P/N: (W)0F13180, of which we do have a small quantity for warranty replacement. You can contact our support line at the following number: 1.888.426.5214 Toll Free 8 AM-6:00PM PST If you have any further questions, please feel free to ask.

I guess I'll have to postpone any strangulation plans of Hitachi employee for now.

 

[CougTek]

Entertaining but not buying it, pictures or it didn't happen.

Broken phone
Broken door frame

Blurry, but taken with my dumb phone. Now you know why I don't post in the digital photography thread.

 

[MaxBurn]

Back in the service I knew a guy like you. During lunch or after work we would kick the crap out of his car before leaving. He had a used car and the entire driver side of it was smashed in, passenger side was perfect. We pretty much all agreed he had anger management issues too.

 

[LunarMist]

Holy crap. I wonder what would have happened if the drive had been a 7K1000.B? :rambo:

 

[CougTek]

Holy crap. I wonder what would have happened if the drive had been a 7K1000.B? :rambo:

The United States would have declared war to Québec for harbouring a human weapon of mass destruction...

 

[sechs]

Who owns HGST now?

 

[CougTek]

It's pretty obvious when you deal with their support that Western Digital has yet to merge their support department with Hitachi's. The RMA support building isn't the same either. The filling form and phone support are different too.

You can say what you want about WD's products, but their RMA support is IMO the best in the business. I'm not talking only about hard drives. I have yet to deal with another company that offers such a smooth troubleshooting and replacement customer experience.

 

[Mercutio]

I've made that observation as well. That doesn't make up for the fact that their drives fail as a foregone conclusion, but at least they're good at getting you another shitty drive.

 

[ddrueding]

Practice does make perfect

 

[LunarMist]

If that were the case, Seagate would have the experts.

 

[Gilbo]

I hope Western Digital's purchase of Hitachi doesn't cause the reliability to go to shit.

Hitachi's have been by far the most reliable in my experience (and others' for that matter). It would be a shame to see the best hard drive manufacturer disappear.



(It's worth mentioning that Backblaze --who buy a shit-ton of hard drives-- say the reliability of Hitachi's standard drives exceeds the reliability of Western Digital's enterprise products...)

 

[sechs]

Don't worry. Western Digital *will* screw this up.

 

[CougTek]

I would strongly advise against using IBM's DFT 4.16 to low-level format Hitachi's new drives. I used the utility to llf the 7K1000.C they sent me yesterday and after some 28 hours of work, it only did ~30% of the formatting. I estimate it will need almost four days to complete the job.

Also, I called them twice in order to get a shipping label for the wrong drive they sent me (the one that's currently being low-level formatted) and they appear to be too dump to send me one. The second time, the support guy told me they were waiting for me to create an RMA for the drive, which I did five days prior to my call. I gave him the RMA number and I was supposed to receive an e-mail by the end of the day or the next day. Well, three days latter, I still haven't received any news from them. I'm having a lot of trouble for a single, simple RMA of a DOA drive.

 

[LunarMist]

I would strongly advise against using IBM's DFT 4.16 to low-level format Hitachi's new drives. I used the utility to llf the 7K1000.C they sent me yesterday and after some 28 hours of work, it only did ~30% of the formatting. I estimate it will need almost four days to complete the job.

Also, I called them twice in order to get a shipping label for the wrong drive they sent me (the one that's currently being low-level formatted) and they appear to be too dump to send me one. The second time, the support guy told me they were waiting for me to create an RMA for the drive, which I did five days prior to my call. I gave him the RMA number and I was supposed to receive an e-mail by the end of the day or the next day. Well, three days latter, I still haven't received any news from them. I'm having a lot of trouble for a single, simple RMA of a DOA drive.

So why would you do that?

 

[CougTek]

Because I used the drive to make a backup of a customer files and I don't want to send anyone's personnal files loose in the wild. I'm pretty sure you protect your data as well.

 

[Bozo]

I use Partition Wizard to erase hard drives. It's free.

 

[LunarMist]

Because I used the drive to make a backup of a customer files and I don't want to send anyone's personnal files loose in the wild. I'm pretty sure you protect your data as well.

I see, but there are faster ways.

 

[CougTek]

I received a reply from Hitachi :
I guess I'll have to postpone any strangulation plans of Hitachi employee for now.

They sent me back another 7K1000.C instead of a 7K1000.D. Unbelievable. Screwing twice on the same RMA. Way to go Hitachi!

 

[Handruin]

You seem way less pissed than originally. Did anything get broken this time around?

 

[CougTek]

Nope, I'm zen like a Japanese elder. I sent them an e-mail. At this point, I think I'll try to re-send them the drive just to have them pay shipping once more, even if it apparently makes no sense to try receiving the proper drive from them.