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Seagate has some funny requirements for RMA shipment...
- Thread starter Sojuuk
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HeavensCloud
Oswego, not shitty as Buffalo
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Yup. Just like a rebate form.
DuronClocker
[H]ard|Gawd
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Not sure about bubble wrap, but I can completely understand them saying no peanuts or newspaper.
I had to RMA a 120GB Seagate 2.5" drive a few years ago. It was annoying to have to wait on the phone for someone for nearly 45 minutes, but he got everything taken care of quickly. They ended up replacing it with a 160GB model. I was happy, and that drive still works today, now in an external enclosure.
I had to RMA a 120GB Seagate 2.5" drive a few years ago. It was annoying to have to wait on the phone for someone for nearly 45 minutes, but he got everything taken care of quickly. They ended up replacing it with a 160GB model. I was happy, and that drive still works today, now in an external enclosure.
Can you tell me why you understand because I completely don't
also they are gonna be in plastic clamshells anyways what do they care what surrounded them
/dev/null
[H]F Junkie
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When I do RMA's I always do advanced replacement.
1) I get the replacement first
2) I get proper packaging
3) Prepaid shipping label is cheaper than if I try to ship it myself...
1) I get the replacement first
2) I get proper packaging
3) Prepaid shipping label is cheaper than if I try to ship it myself...
greengolftee87
Limp Gawd
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it was probably shipped in an anti-static bag in anti-static bubble wrap. ESD is the only reason I can think of to disallow the first 2. Secondly newspaper sucks as packing material
Two main concerns: ESD and shock protection. All three packaging materials you listed are terrible packaging for hard drives in general. Primarily because all three generate static charges and all three are not a very secure method of shipping a drive. What seems acceptable for most people isn't acceptable at all when it comes down to guaranteeing consistency. The drive manufacturer has to be able to look at the box after receiving it and know that no damage could have occurred during the shipping. That's what the standard form fitting foam + static shielding bag (and sometimes plastic clamshell) provides.
Did you purchase that bubble wrapped drive from Newegg?
Newspaper generates static charges too
It's not as obvious to us but it generates enough to become a liability when it comes to ESD sensitive components.Never had a problem with Seagate RMA's. They were kinda funny with the requirements but I ended up just shipping the drives back how I got them (usually from newegg). In an Anti-static HDD bag + bubble wrap + peanuts, or an anti-static clamshell (which I think was from a WD drive I had) + bubble wrap + peanuts. I always make sure to keep those HDD anti-static bags for this very reason. And it's convenient if I ever have to move a HDD.
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Archaea
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yeah I gambled myself when i recently shipped back a momentus drive. newegg uses an antistaic bag and bubble wrap..if that's how I got the drive (I did) why should I ship it back to them any differently. If they don't return my RMA'ed drive with a five year warranty that died in one year I'll be PO'ed.
It is a bad way to ship a drive. When ZipZoomFly used to be in business I always ordered all of my HDDs from them because they knew how to ship them correctly. anti-static bag inside a foam shell, usually also in its own box. Newegg is a complete crapshoot when it comes to hdd packing, some times they pack it correctly other times not so much.
Every time I've had to RMA a HDD (mostly Western Digital) I've always had the OEM cross ship because you can reuse packing material that the they send the replacement in.
Seagate generally doesn't sell single bulk drives to end users. All the drives they ship are either retail kits for consumer use which are packed in boxes properly, or bare drives for whatever use to OEM/Dealer/Distributor channels. Those are packed in 5-40 drive shipping boxes, with vacuum formed foam channels. The fact that whatever dealer sent you your drive packed it with peanuts, bubble wrap or a combination of the two is completely immaterial as far as Seagate is concerned. They generally don't complain, but it is completely within their rights to refuse the return if you don't follow their rules.
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BlueLineSwinger
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I RMAed a Seagate a few months ago. I sent it in one of the Post Office's standard boxes, with the drive wrapped in a ESD bag and bubble wrap. Received the replacement without any issue.
FWIW
FWIW
Yes, this.
Newegg's drive packaging is the main reason I buy drives primarily from Amazon now. Fast shipping and it's packaged right. More importantly, if they do ship it incorrectly they'll ship a replacement very quickly and pay for return shipping of the original drive. Newegg would never do that
Old Hippie
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As you can see from the previous responses, they're not that strick on packaging.
I've sent RMAs the "Wrong" way with no problems but an advanced RMA is the ticket for easy livin'.
I perfer the advanced RMA method also.
---
I don't think static discharge is a big deal for shipping hard drives.
I do agree that manufacturers lack the ability to test all the methods that an individual might chose to use for packing and thus give very strict requirements. But for the most part they are not in the business of turning down claims.
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I don't think static discharge is a big deal for shipping hard drives.
I do agree that manufacturers lack the ability to test all the methods that an individual might chose to use for packing and thus give very strict requirements. But for the most part they are not in the business of turning down claims.
yes, that's the whole point of advanced replacement.
ok. some companies charge you upfront and then refund the amount later. obviously I was not charged up-front.
Doing an advanced replacement with Seagate requires you to pay upfront when you choose the shipping option. If you didn't enter your credit card info when processing the RMA you aren't getting advanced replacement.
Dangman
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Whenever I get a RMA'd drive back from Seagate, I just keep the packaging and reuse it again for the next RMA. They really can't complain since it's the same packaging they were using to ship drives to me. Haven't done advanced replacement with Seagate for years as a result of me keeping those packaging.
Funny story. - About 18 months ago I had to rma some 750GB 7200.10's. I packed up the 5 drives that had to go back and just for shits and giggles threw an ST251-1 5 1/4" HH in with the package. When I got the package back I got my 5 drives back, plus an ST4383 5 1/4" FH ESDI drive with a note saying "here is an equally worthless drive with equally worthless interface. Tag, your it". Everyone in the office laughed our asses off.
drescherjm
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Hmm. They upgraded my work RMA last week. The 4 7200.10s and 7200.11s I sent in got replaced with 7200.12s. I took pictures of this to show the 5 drive box they sent me although I have not uploaded them.
/dev/null
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How much does it cost you to ship it without advanced replacement?
My quotes from UPS (just shipping it to them, no advanced RMA) was > than the adv replacement fee.
What the hell???
So i use chkdsk (win 2k3) to test the replacement drive from seagate. This is a 2TB drive. Here are the results:
I also noticed the SMART stat that this drive is one step away from critical on the temperature history.
Are they kidding?? Am I missing something???
So i use chkdsk (win 2k3) to test the replacement drive from seagate. This is a 2TB drive. Here are the results:
I also noticed the SMART stat that this drive is one step away from critical on the temperature history.
Are they kidding?? Am I missing something???
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Looks like you got a brick as a replacement. Happens sometimes. Call support and bitch, they will send you a return prepaid label to swap the drive out a second time.
Well, Seatools "long" test just completed on this thing, and it says it "passes". Of course, seatools offers no supporting information for its judgement.
Actually, I'm not sure I've ever seen Seatools fail a drive.
I need something credible to confirm the weirdness.
I see seatools fail drives all the time at work and I've had it fail on my own drives before too. I RMA'd a Seagate hdd in a USPS small priority flat rate box, forgot what I packed it with but definitely wasn't to their specifications, they did not reject my RMA.
Archaea
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They replaced mine with an anti static bag wrapped in bubble wrap.