Seagate bad RMA service

[Tannin]

I don't generally sell Seagate drives these days, but I happen to have a 500GB Barracuda 7200.12 which was DOA and needs to be returned. So I went to the Seagate website and ran through the hoops.

Long story short, the Seagate website REFUSES to accept the RMA. It admits the drive exists, it admits the drive is under warranty, it admits that I have a valid Seatools failure code, but on the form you have to fill out it obstinately says "The data in the highlighted field is invalid. Please correct it." and NO FIELD IS HIGHLIGHTED. Furthermore, I have triple checked every single field in the form, even making stuff up to keep the mindless form happy (such as a fax number - what century is this again?) but nothing changes it.

This isn't just an oversight, this looks very much like a deliberately "half-broken" web app which saves Seagate money by refusing to service legitimate warranty claims.

Discuss .....

 

[LunarMist]

Maybe it is deliberate but I would not rule out incompetence.

 

[sdbardwick]

Tannin, put on some latex gloves, hold your nose, and try the process using Internet Explorer (might even need to use compatibility mode).

 

[LiamC]

Tannin, put on some latex gloves, hold your nose,

I wondered where you were going with that for a minute...

:rofl:

 

[Mercutio]

Sending RMAs to Seagate apparently has a lot in common with the best kinds of porn.

 

[time]

I've just wasted 20 minutes of my life proving to myself that Seagate's online RMA procedure works correctly.

I dug up a Seagate drive serial number from my sales database, plugged it in, got the warranty confirmation AND the relevant distributor with a suggestion to try their RMA.

I then tried to break the customer details validations with different combinations, but they were too good for me. It either told me explicitly what was wrong or I ended up at the final stage, with all my details accepted and waiting for me to pull the last trigger.

Browser was Opera 11.11. I also checked the HTML source for these pages and couldn't find the words "correct" or "highlighted" - the validation messages don't use those terms.

 

[LunarMist]

Could Tony have a bogus drive that is not covered by Seagate?

 

[LunarMist]

Sending RMAs to Seagate apparently has a lot in common with the best kinds of porn.

They use gloves?

 

[Tannin]

Nope, genuine drive, Seagate agree that it is under warranty. I do have an alternative RMA method available (through the wholesaler), or else I can try sdbardwick's latex method. Ran out of time this week. I'll try again next week.

 

[Mercutio]

They use gloves?

I'll bet you don't really want me to elaborate so I'll just say, deliberately without linking, that you could google "Crashpad" and become enlightened. And also that it would be a bad idea to do that from work.

 

[LunarMist]

I'll bet you don't really want me to elaborate so I'll just say, deliberately without linking, that you could google "Crashpad" and become enlightened. And also that it would be a bad idea to do that from work.

No thanks, I won't click. It was just a small joke.

 

[mindspring]

I registered just to post my experience with the Seagate form - 'The data in the highlighted field is invalid. Please correct it'

I had put AAA BBB as my first name!! Removing the space or putting a ' - ' between the 2 first names fixed it!!

Hope this is useful for anyone who come across it.

 

[Mercutio]

Given Seagate's current web-based RMA service, I have to phone in my RMAs because my postal code doesn't align with what their address auto-correct thinks it should be.

Their phone service is fast and easy, which I guess is a good point.

Though it has been my general experience that the better a company's RMA experience is, the shittier their products are. I haven't done a WD RMA in a good long while but at one time that was a well-oiled RMA machine.

 

[MaxBurn]

The seagate trouble code thing tied into their seatools disk diagnostic is just a way to filter out the people who don't know what they are doing and are returning good disks. Like me on the last one I sent back.

 

[LunarMist]

What is the code for the Seagate drive keeps scratching/screeching and is not detected by the OS? :tdown:

 

[MaxBurn]

They mention that code on the RMA page actually. Very helpful like.

 

[ngvancuong88]

Thanks for your help

I registered just to post my experience with the Seagate form - 'The data in the highlighted field is invalid. Please correct it'

I had put AAA BBB as my first name!! Removing the space or putting a ' - ' between the 2 first names fixed it!!

Hope this is useful for anyone who come across it.

 

[connint]

I had exactly the same experience: where the form simply would not be accepted and yet no field was highlighted with an error! However, I finally got it to work by un-checking the box at the bottom where I had indicated I was a "Reseller". After that the form was happy. Oh well, so much for user-friendly support.

 

[Tannin]

Thanks Connint, maybe that was it. (Never mind that I am a reseller.) But I have stopped bothering with RMA hard drives these days: Seagate send you refurbished drives that are perfectly good for all purposes except attaching to a computer or storing data, so it's easier just to throw them away.

 

[Mercutio]

Whereas good RMA service is of course the only reason to buy a WD drive, being that concrete bricks serve better as both magnetic data storage and a building material.

I will say that I haven't had a problem with a refurb drive in any recent time frame. I usually relegate them to use as backup media, but I can think of a few dozen drives with "Refurbished by Seagate" stickers on them that have been in service for years at this point. Sending them back may not be worth the expense, but the returned products don't seem to be any less reliable for being refurbs.

 

[MaxBurn]

I used to think the reverse and specifically hunt out the recertified seagate drives because they were better than retail, I think I have three 2TB recertified out of the 13 drives I have and all were perfectly fine.