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Thread ID: 122433	2011-12-21 05:55:00	WD hard drive warranties	CYaBro (73)	PC World Chat

Post ID	Timestamp	Content	User
1249883	2011-12-21 05:55:00	Just had an email from Western Digital saying that from the beginning of next year all drives that were coming with a 3 year warranty will only be 2 years now. :( This is the Blue and Green range of drives. The Black and Raid editions will still be 5 years.	CYaBro (73)
1249884	2011-12-21 06:30:00	It doesn't start for drives sold till January 2012. ( as highlighted below) So any current drives will still have their full time warranties. Dear valued partners, As of January 2nd, 2012 WD® will be revising our distribution warranty for our desktop and mobile hard drives (WD Caviar® Blue™, WD Caviar Green™ and WD Scorpio® Blue™ product lines) to 2 years. Our WD Caviar Black™ and WD Scorpio Black™ products will continue to support a 5-year limited warranty period. This new warranty policy will be effective for drives shipped from January 2nd, 2012. It is important that you take a moment to update your website(s) and collateral to reflect this change for effected drives shipped after January 1st, 2012. All drives shipped to distributors prior to Jan. 2nd 2012 will retain the current warranty terms. Because of existing inventory in the distribution channel there will be a short period of time when some drives with a 3-year warranty will be sold at the same time as drives with a 2-year warranty. If you have any doubt about the warranty of a drive you purchased, you can go to support.wdc.com, select Warranty and RMA Services and proceed to the Warranty Check page. WD’s AV, enterprise and branded/retail products warranty terms remains unchanged. We thank you for your continued support and preference for WD hard drives. In the near future we will be unveiling an extended warranty offering with special pricing for valued partners like you; please stay tuned for details. If you have further questions or inquiry, please don’t hesitate to contact us. Sincerely, SelectWD	wainuitech (129)
1249885	2011-12-21 06:44:00	Wonder if the Thailand flooding has anything to do with this whatsoever...	pcuser42 (130)
1249886	2011-12-21 09:14:00	I've noticed that when you check the warranty status on the mfg's website it does not necessarily give you all those years from your actual purchase date ....	Nomad (952)
1249887	2011-12-21 09:28:00	It wont, as not many Shops actually register so to speak when the Drive was actually Purchased to the manufacture. That's why its best to hang onto the receipt which will show the date a person actually brought it. Its also another reason some shops only put a crappy 1 year warranty on parts that actually have longer, chances are very high the component sold with a 1 year warranty will still be well within the real manufactures warranty. Example: a HDD purchased by a shop may be one of lets say 50 + brought at once. When I get components from suppliers generally they are purchased when required, that way they don't sit in a cupboard unused for months or years before being sold.	wainuitech (129)
1249888	2011-12-21 09:37:00	Wonder if the Thailand flooding has anything to do with this whatsoever... From www.computerworld.com "WD would not give a reason for its warranty change, but the spokesperson denied it had anything to do with flooding in Thailand, which has severely affected the company's ability to manufacture products." WD could have just said we heard Seagate were changing and there's no Samsung left to embarrass us with longer warranties.	PaulD (232)
1249889	2011-12-21 17:15:00	Seagate dropped theirs too.	pctek (84)
1249890	2011-12-21 17:30:00	I've never actually used the 'extended' warranty of a HDD, any that have failed on me have done-so either prior to the 1 year mark, or well after the 3 year mark when it wouldn't have mattered...	Chilling_Silence (9)
1249891	2011-12-21 20:18:00	Its also another reason some shops only put a crappy 1 year warranty on parts that actually have longer, chances are very high the component sold with a 1 year warranty will still be well within the real manufactures warranty . I bet the real reason for a 1 year warranty is that the profit margin is so low, they simply dont want to have to deal with warranties after 1 year	1101 (13337)
1249892	2011-12-21 20:33:00	I bet the real reason for a 1 year warranty is that the profit margin is so low, they simply don't want to have to deal with warranties after 1 year NOPE-- I can tell you why they only put on a one year warranty. Its got nothing to do with profit margins (kind of). What the shops do, is tell the customer the component has a one year warranty when in fact it has longer -- usually the customer knows no different, so the shop then says you have to purchase a new drive as its out of its 1 year warranty. So the customer pays up for a new drive. Quite simply if a HDD fails within REAL warranty the shop simply makes a warranty claim to the supplier, the supplier (wholesaler) does all the paper work, and sends the shop a replacement, which in turn is then meant to be given to the customer or if the shop has already given a replacement the shop keeps and can sell the replacement drive. The faulty drive is then sent to the repair agents or manufactures by the supplier (wholesaler). So by saying its out of warranty, the shop then sells a new drive and keeps the replacement one and sells that as well. It doesn't cost the shop anything to do warranties apart from a few minutes doing a RMA. It costs the Shop nothing to put on the real warranty time, thats why any GOOD shop, system builder will in fact give the full time as allowed and not try to rip off customers with wrong warranty times. All the computers I build have different lengths of times for warranties depending on what the part is. For example a HDD may nave 3 years, the optical drive may have 1 year, the mother board may have 3 year etc	wainuitech (129)
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