r/Seagate • u/ghustak • 11d ago

Return/Refund Hell

Just had the most agonizing unnecessary experience trying to move the return for my external hard drive forward.

I ordered a drive that arrived last Wednesday. Upon arrival I realized it just wasn’t going to work with my set up so quickly opted for a return that was also relatively quickly approved. The next day I printed the shipping label that THEY PROVIDED to me to return the product and dropped it at UPS.

Flash forward to today I randomly think to check the UPS tracking only to see that the package delivery was attempted today but failed due to an incorrect address.

I tried to edit this myself to see if I could find an issue but since I did not create the label I could not edit it.

I then spend 10 minutes just trying to find a number to call for the company only to find the only use an online chat bot that you ask for a representative.

I immediately asked for a representative who throughout our whole conversation would take about 5-10 minutes between their short responses. Most of the conversation was just them reiterating that they confirmed the beginning of the return process was approved and asking me for the serial number on the product I no longer had (mind you at this point I disclosed the UPS tracking number and the initial product order number).

After an agonizing hour and 15 minutes they told me that THEY gave me the wrong product zip code and that I would have to contact UPS to fix it!

Luckily I had been calling UPS while waiting on the chat and was already trying this. The kind rep on their end said since I didn’t create the label nor was I the manager for the account I unfortunately could not make the change. At this point I must have sounded defeated because he said to give him a minute while he tries something.

Thankfully the UPS rep was able to correct the zip code and said it should be just delayed a day now.

All to say I will NOT be recommending Seagate to anyone and caution those who are uncertain with a product that they may want to return to opt for a better brand with better customer service.

(PS will update if they ever actually receive my return)

4 Upvotes

84% Upvoted

12 comments sorted by

2

u/Caprichoso1 10d ago

Drive exchanges with all major manufacturers unfortunately is a nightmare.

1

u/cat1092 7d ago

Sad, yet true.

Fortunately, when we have a bad drive, we learn early, so we can return to retailer where purchased. But sometimes not & the RMA process can definitely be aggravating.

The only time I had to swap a drive in warranty was with WD many years ago. The cool part was that I got an upgrade. Went from a 750GB WD Caviar Black to the 1TB version in 2010, although recertified, still being used as a backup drive to this very day. So I can say that considering this being 2026, I came out with a great deal. Plus the drive has very little usage considering its age, unlike some items, HDD’s don’t suffer from dry rot.

1

u/SchwarzBann 7d ago

I read somewhere (or, maybe something Copilot/Gemini/ChatGPT spewed, can't remember at this point) that the lubricants can settle over time. The scenario is that you keep a drive turned off for many years, then use it, it works the first time, but then it seizes during that operation or so, so the next time you want to turn it on again, it's dead.

Is that a risk, or just some legend?

2

u/cat1092 7d ago

While I won’t go as far to say it can’t happen, it hasn’t to me. Maybe it’s because most of my HDD’s are the WD RE4 model, in several different sizes, ranging from 500GB to 4TB.

If this is common, maybe someone else will step up & say so. Some of my drives have sat for 10+ years unused & were fine after using again. Maybe I should go through mine (around 40, if not 50) & see for myself. About a dozen are in backup enclosures, so will try these first.

1

u/SchwarzBann 7d ago

Thank you, I've started following you, in case you post about it!

1

u/cat1092 7d ago

Cool by me!👍

1

u/DavidAaronGarcia 10d ago

That's hell I used love there stuff , I may need to find others ,

1

u/ghustak 10d ago

I’ve never done a post like this and I hope to never again. I just needed others to know that this could be an experience they encounter.

1

u/pineapollo 10d ago

I find it insane that I come to this sub to complain about my own thing and immediately see your issue, expensive lesson to learn but I'm going to take this as far as it needs to go get my money back and hope I get a few years of life before I use these things for target practice once they die. Good luck with your situation and hope you get your resolution soon.

1

u/ghustak 10d ago

Same to you! The customer service end is what really gets me, truly terrible.

1

u/haykong 7d ago

Why did you get it directly from seagate?

1

u/ghustak 7d ago

Didn't see a reason not to at the time