Western Digital Technologies
reviews and complaints

hi guys i want to share about wd thats western digital hdd service, i reside in mumbai, i bought a new assembled computer, within few days hdd stopped working so i gave a call to wd service they came to my home & took the product to delhi for replacement.My RMA NO. was-[protected]., as the policy says that we gets the product within 3 to 4 days after 6 daye i called wd tollfree service they said they have recieved the product but it will take time because stock was not available, what should i do with this?this is not my problem & i keep calling them till 1 month, friends wd company is very best, but customer service is the worst they just gives fake promises & 1 day i spoke to senior mst Arif he also kept on facking me that i will receive it within 2 days, & 1 day i spoke to Ms Rubika & Mr. Alam Senier to Arif they apologise me & she dispatched the product at that time & i received the product after 1day of that, & guys guess what? i got 320GB hard drive instead of my 160gb Harddisc & i really thanks to the wd company_______thank you

I recently bought a Western Digital IDE Hard disk drive 320GB from a reseller. When I installed the Hard disk, it would not work. I had checked by an engineer who told me that the Hard disk was defective, however because the product came with replacement warranty I contacted the Western Digital support center.

After speaking to one of their representatives who told me that the serial number was invalid. I was directed to sent the snapshot of the HDD. On the very same day I sent them the snapshot. After waiting for a few day I didn't get any response from Western Digital. I contacted them; the representative told me that they has received the snapshot of my HDD, and will contact me with the correct serial number within 24hrs. that was on June 3rd 2010.

Since then I have contacted them by phone 5 times and sent them the snapshot 3 times. Every time I call the Customer service number the representative tells me that it will take 24hrs.

I think I am being cheated; however western digital has a good name and I am still going to be optimistic, and hope to see my product replaced.

I'm writing from Turkey. I bought an external drives in Iowa in January (actually I live in Turkey, but I went to U.S.A. for internship so I bought this external in there) I used it a few months but there is a problem with the external cable. I think there is a loose connection because if the cable moves a little bit, the connection goes. The connection always diseppears and I have to fix the external to the pc again.

I want to change this USB cable with the new one. There is a warrany also. I hope you'll help me.

I strongly agree Western Digital Customer Suppoer is Diabolical...I have worked in the Industry now for nearly 30 years and have never had dealings with a company whose Customer Support is so bad.
It has been a culture shock having to deal with Western Digital support services over the last few weeks and the high level of incompetence is truly astounding.
I returned 2 faulty drives under RMA's and thats where the problem started.
Both drives were sent by courier and in fact were signed for by Western Digital in Germany on 12 Oct 2009 @ 12.03pm.
I tried using Western Digitals tracking system which is practically useless as its not updated promptly therefore is of no use to customers. It so far out of date that it is beyond belief. RMA's are accompanied by a BarCode detailing each RMA Number therefore its a simple process to scan each RMA receipt on arrival. This would immediately update the RMA Database. I have personal experience with such controls therefore I am astounded that Western Digital cant institute such a basic control system.
I can only assume the SLA has something to do with RMA's being updated approx 10 days after receipt of the actual RMA's. Incorrect Data input give distorted SLA in favour of the companies RMA receipt and turnaround times when in fact WD turn around times are alarmingly atrocious.
Not withstanding the poor RMA controls the Support services by email and telephone are even worse. I sent so many emails to WD Support, perhaps as many as 25, most of which were ignored and never made it onto your their system for some reason. Yet they keep sending me Customer Satisfaction emails to comment on their level of support
Another reason for losing my emails may be that each email i sent requested details of Western Digitals Complaints Procedure. No email was received by me at any time detailing those procedures. Making staff aware of the Complaints Procedure should be pure basics and is always covered in staff training. I am assuming its the same with Western Digital BUT its NOT happening nor are emails being answered compentently. Standard emails are being fired out without even trying to read what the customer has written Where are their internal controls? What's their internal audit teams doing.
I soon got fed up with the emails to Western Digital and the lack of support so I tried to telephoning Western Digital on several occasions. The 0800 Telephone Numbers quoted on the internet do not work.
Eventually I contacted your support staff using an alternative Tel No and have spoken to 3 seperate members of staff. The first being Waldo who promised action...I have seen no evidence of any action and he did not keep me the customer informed of any action taken. The second was Tom. He promised to have a senior member of staff call me to discuss the matter. Again no evidence of any action. In fact I am told he made no record of the call at all. The third was Miguel whome i spoke to at length...21 minutes...he promised to go and find someone for me to talk to...he didnt and when i asked for the Supervisor I was conveniently cut off. Had this not been deliberate, I assume he would have called me back considering he had already asked me for my contact tel no. He did not attempt to call me back.
I spent a further 20 mins waiting on being connected again...and hey presto it was Maguel again. I requested the Supervisor again and finally managed to speak to an apologetic Michael. He as the Supervisor kept apologising. I told him I do not want apologies I want action. I also asked to be able to talk to a Senior member of the Operations Management. The reason being that Western Digital would benefit from some genuine feedback instead of relying on being fed false data on SLA times.
Western Digital appear to have serious issues regarding RMA's, Emails and Customer Support.
Incidentally I am still receiving emails telling me my drives have been received and that the replacements have been shipped. Not at all. The UPS link on the emails does not recognise the RMA details.
This is a shortened version of events and does not do justice to the many hours I have spent trying to communicate with WD. I feel that WD have performed very very badly indeed. I am not saying Western Digital Drives are bad but more that their whole Customer Support setup is bad.

How can Western Digital get away with selling hard drives with such a horrible service life. Just look on the internet to see how many if not all their WD5000YS style drives have failed. I purchased a (NAS)Network Storage Device which contained Qty 2 of these drives. First drive failed at 1 year mark after basically never being used as it was backup for other drive. Second drive failed 3 months later. Each time a drive failed it took out the

power supply for the NAS (looked up on the internet a it is documented that these drives draw excessive power when they fail. Go to Western Digital Waranty site and the only lame thing they offer you is a "Customer Loyalty" upgrade to buy a refurbished device at their price which is higher than they can be bought on the internet for.

My Recommendation is "NEVER NEVER EVER EVER EVER" buy their lame products

with their lame waranty, if you care about any of your data.

i bought a 250gig SATA HDD and i have only had it for a year and a half. The HDD was used as my backups drive and due to it now not working i have sent it in for DATA recovery, i got a phone call and was advised that NO DATA can be recovered. there are very important documents as well as priceless photos from my life which are un replaceable. I think that this is a defect and due to the loss of data and many thousands of rands spent trying to recover the data with no end result i would like i formal letter of appology for the manufacutring company Western Digital and a form of compensating for my losses of data and money, i think this is only fair. please send the letter and any documentation to [protected]@iburst.co.za .
i would like a response to this ASAP.

On July 22, 2009, I purchased a Western Digital 2TB My Book Studio Edition II External Hard Drive from an online retailer, Electronica Direst.com, through Buy.com. Within a matter of a few weeks the drive failed. On August 19th an RMA was issued by Western Digital. I chose to pay for an advance replacement and gave Western Digital my credit card information and was told that a replacement would be shipped out and when they received my defective drive, they would issue a credit back to my credit card. Western Digital’s site indicated that it could take up to 2 weeks to get my replacement. I waited a while and called a number of times. Each time I called I was told that they do not have a replacement drive but they expected them soon. In the meantime, I arranged to have the defective drive shipped back, which occurred on September 4th. Also, during one of my conversations with a support person, he mentioned that the replacement drive I would eventually receive from WD would be a factory recertified drive. So, I paid full price for a 3 week old drive that failed, I have no back-up drive and WD cannot tell me when they will have a replacement drive. So a customer should endure all of this and pay the cost of a new drive? At some point I decided to contact Electronica Direct.com to see if they would replace the drive. At first their site indicated that the unit was now out of the exchange period and they could no longer help me. However today I received an email from them indicating that they would take the drive back. So I called WD support and asked to have my drive returned. The support person looked at my case and said it would ship out within a day or two. Later in the day I wrote to support to request a confirmation number in connection with the return and I was told that they do not return items once they receive them through the RMA process. I mentioned that the retailer was willing to exchange the defective drive, but the support person said my drive is now their property, even though they have not and cannot provide me with a replacement drive. I asked the support person to direct me to a law that gives a company a right to keep someone’s property, particularly if they cannot provide a replacement drive. My request has not been answered. I have copied and pasted the exchanges that I have had with WD support below. If anyone has any suggestions please let me know, it would be greatly appreciated.

8/18/09
I attempt to apply for an RMA and the system shows that I am registered as a reseller and I am not and have never been.
8/19/09

Customer (RAY MASTROIANNI) 08/18/2009 09:01 PM
Hello:

I am trying to return a defective drive. When I try to obtain an RMA, I am being told that I am registered as a reseller and I am not. Please let me know what to do to get an RMA and return this defective drive. I purchased it less than a month ago.

Thank you,

Raymond Mastroianni

Response (Pablo R.) 08/20/2009 09:36 AM
Dear RAY,

Thank you for contacting Western Digital Customer Service and Support. My name is Pablo R.

I apologize for the inconvenience, I check your account and change the setup to customer, you can go ahead and in 24 hours you can try to created the RMA.

Now, if the drive is less than a month old, you also can try to replace the device with the retailer.

I hope that we have met your expectations today and that you are satisfied with our service. If you have any further questions, please reply to this email and we will be happy to assist you further.

Sincerely,
Pablo R.
Western Digital Service and Support

Response (Administrator) 09/04/2009 02:47 AM
Dear RAY MASTROIANNI,

This is a confirmation that we have received your defective drive for RMA
#[protected]. The RMA is now closed. If you have any questions about your
RMA please reply to this email. If the information is correct, please do
not reply back to this email.

RMA Number: [protected]

Customer (RAY MASTROIANNI) 09/04/2009 06:19 AM
>
> When will I be receiving my replacement drive?
>
>

Email Confirmation 09/04/2009 06:19 AM
Dear RAY,

Thank you for your email. If you are inquiring about the status of your RMA, you can check it online from the link below.

RMA Status: http://websupport.wdc.com/websupport/clearexp_scripts/rma_login.asp?lang=en
Current turnaround is 5 to 7 business days for a Standard RMA and 3 to 5 business days for an Advance RMA.

If you have been tracking your shipment and your shipping courier shows that the drive has been received by Western Digital and RMA status shows that the drive has not been received, it means that we have received the drive in our warehouse, but we have not entered it into our system. As soon as the drive is entered into our system, RMA status will be updated and show that the drive has been received. In addition, we will send you an email notification when your drive has been received into our system and when the replacement has been shipped. We apologize for this inconvenience.

If you are concerned about data on your defective drive, please see the link below.

Title: What happens to the data on the drive I sent in for an RMA and how can I retrieve it?
URL: http://wdc.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/wdc.cfg/php/enduser/std_adp.php?p_faqid=997&p_created=1053637589

If your question is not answered above or you have already checked your RMA status and need a more detailed response, just reply to this email and we will respond to you promptly.

Sincerely,
Western Digital Service and Support

Customer (RAY MASTROIANNI) 09/04/2009 06:30 AM
> When will I receive my replacement drive? I PURCHASED THIS DRIVE
> BRAND NEW THROUGH BUY.COM ON JULY 22ND AND IT STOPPED WORKING WITHIN
> 3 WEEKS! I IMMEDIATELY CONTACTED WD AND APPLIED FOR AN RMA TO GET A
> NEW DRIVE AND STILL DO NOT HAVE ONE. THIS IS IRRESPONSIBLE AND NOT
> ACCEPTABLE.
>

Response (Joan R.) 09/10/2009 12:40 PM
Dear Customer,

We apologize for the delay in responding to you. Due to heavy volume, we are currently beyond our normal turnaround of 1 business day.

We realize that some of you may have already found the answers to your questions. In an effort to respond to your needs more efficiently, please do one of the following:

If you have already found the answers to your questions and DO NOT REQUIRE a response from us, please DO NOT REPLY to this email.

If you have not found the answer(s) to your question(s) and DO REQUIRE a response from us, please REPLY to this email. In your reply, you can just state that you still need an answer to your questions. If you do not respond to this email, we will assume that you do not require a response from us.

Thank you for your patience and understanding

Sincerely,
Western Digital Service and Support

Customer (RAY MASTROIANNI) 09/10/2009 03:33 PM
Hello:

I called and spoke with a support person today regarding the brand new defective drive I sent back in the original box. The online retailer that sold me the drive sent me an email today and said I could return the drive and I could get a brand new drive. So please send me back the brand new, defective drive so that I can return it to the online retailer. Please be advised that I have already paid for a brand new Western Digital drive on July 22nd and received it on July 23rd. Shortly thereafter the drive failed. So instead of contacting the retailer, I made the mistake of sending the drive back to Western Digital and have been without a drive for almost one month. Western Digital has brand new drives that they sell on their website but rather than sending me a brand new replacement for their defective merchandise, they had me wait for a reconditioned drive to become available. The support person I spoke with on the phone today did not give me a confirmation number linked to my request of having the brand new, defective drive returned to me. He also said he could not guaranty that the drive would be sent back on an expedited basis. Please send me confirmation that my original drive and original Western Digital box and packing material will be returned to me immediately so that I can send it back to the retailer. I have suffered enough by choosing Western Digital and deserve to have the drive shipped out immediately and on an expedited basis.

Raymond Mastroianni

Response (Joan R.) 09/10/2009 03:47 PM
Dear RAY,

Thank you for contacting Western Digital Customer Service and Support. My name is Joan R.

I do apologize but once you send the drive it can't be requested back. The warranty policy states that re-certified drives will be sent on warranty replacements. For further assistance on this matter I will suggest you to contact us over the phone.

I hope that we have met your expectations today and that you are satisfied with our service. If you have any further questions, please reply to this email and we will be happy to assist you further.

Sincerely,
Joan R.
Western Digital Service and Support
http://support.wdc.com

Customer (RAY MASTROIANNI) 09/10/2009 03:57 PM
Dear Joan:

That was not what I was told. WD issued an RMA for a BRAND NEW drive on August 19th, less than 1 month from the date it arrived in my home. So I have been without a backup drive for nearly a month. How can you sell a product that fails within weeks of use and not have either a replacement product in stock to service what you sell? I was told that my drive, that I paid for would be returned to me. Either send me my property back, direct me to a law that shows me that I forfeited my right to my property or send me a BRAND NEW drive.

Raymond Matroianni

Response (Joan R.) 09/10/2009 04:39 PM
Dear RAY,

Thank you for your reply.

I checked the notes on this RMA and the agent that spoke to you over the phone was going to escalate your request to the warehouse to see if they can send you the drive. The response he got from the warehouse was the same I sent you before. They can't return the drive back to customer because it has been received and processed.

I hope that we have met your expectations today and that you are satisfied with our service. If you have any further questions, please reply to this email and we will be happy to assist you further.

Sincerely,
Joan R.
Western Digital Service and Support
http://support.wdc.com

Customer (RAY MASTROIANNI) 09/10/2009 04:59 PM
Hello:

But that should not be my problem. If someone sends a drive in by mistake are you saying that they can never get their property back? So you will not send my property back, you don't have a replacement drive and you will not send me a new drive? Either send me back my property immediately, send me a new drive or show me where I can find the law that gives you the right to keep my property. Telling me that someone from a warehouse says he can't send my property back is not acceptable. At the end of your replies you continue to say that "I hope that we have met your expectations today and that you are satisfied with our service". After all of the hardship your company has put me through, how could you include that statement. I just want my property back and you have no right to keep it.

Be Guided Accordingly,

Raymond Mastroianni

Response (Joan R.) 09/10/2009 05:04 PM
Dear RAY,

Thank you for your reply.

I do apologize but once the RMA is requested and you send the drive it becomes Western Digital's property. When you created the RMA you agree to the terms that this procedure has. Unfortunately once the drive is at the warehouse and has been received they can't send it back

Sincerely,
Joan R.
Western Digital Service and Support
http://support.wdc.com

Customer (RAY MASTROIANNI) 09/10/2009 05:10 PM
Hello:

But you cant live up to the terms, so I want my property back. I was never told that if I send my drive in, I would not be told when I would get a replacement. I used sound judgment and assumed that a replacement drive would arrive in a reasonable time frame. Please show me where it indicates that by agreeing to the terms of the RMA I have given up my property rights or conveyed them to Western Digital.

Customer (RAY MASTROIANNI) 09/10/2009 06:16 PM
Would you please either send me my property back? Or end my a new drive? Also, where does it say that I no longer own my drive.

Western Digital My Book 500GB Hard Drive failed immediately upon storing data. Western Digital will not take responsibility for loss of data for their product failure even though that's the only reason the product exists.

Western Digital macbook hard disk failed after les than 10 months of use - Should be covered by waranty but the Western Digital online support staff (Guo) only interested in pinging email messages backwards and forwards whilst hiding behind the automated response system.
Hard Disk - WD Scorpio Black - 320Gb - WD3200BEKT - S/N - WXE708PF6583 - Product of Thailand.

I purchased a 300 GB external hard drive (My Passport). The thing didn't work right the moment I plugged it in and had to call support to set it up.

I only transfered 1 file to it (18 GB)...and weeks later I went to delete that file and the drive wouldn't let me. I was not able to copy the files to any other drives. The support was worthless. I wasted $120 on this piece of crap and want others to know that I have used a verbatim external drive for over 3 years...EVERY DAY!...and have never hada problem.

My advice. Avoid Western Digital

Western Digital products are junk. Bought a 3.5" MyBook 500GB External Drive on 07/24/07 (17 mths ago) and the drive has already stopped working. I'm not even a serious user. I only used this drive occasionally to store photos and videos, etc. Getting a clicking noise similar to another user that has posted a complaint here, which means the drive is kaput. What's the point in storing your memories on a hard drive that won't last any amount of time. I will never buy Western Digital products again. I have never experienced an electronic device to stop working in such a short time. Especially for something that just sits there and doesn't experience any movement, jarring, etc. Pieces of junk!

I purchased a 500GB external MyBook hard drive on 1/11/2007 and it recently broke. The drive does not show up on my computer. 3 months ago it went in to fits where the drive was only recognized sometimes. I would have to reboot my computer or the drive for it to show up. Now it does not show up at all and makes loud clicking sounds when turned on.

I called support and because it's out of the 1 year warranty I'm out of luck. Also, I'm now out the $250 I spent on it! For that price I think customers should expect better quality from WD. This is totally not acceptable.

I was also informed that I will have to shell out MORE money to get my data off of the hard drive. Thanks WD, your product was absolutely worthless to me. I will NEVER purchase another product from you nor will my company.

This is the WORST computer product I have ever purchased. For the price you would think there would be quality behind the product. I guess not.

Western Digital's customer services is a disgrace! Having sent back a hard drive under warranty, and received notification of its arrival by them, Western Digital have, after three months of waiting, still not sent me a replacement hard drive. Contacting their customer services is a real challenge of patience and frustration. Several emails have gone unanswered, attempts to call by telephone result in long and expensive delays in waiting to speak to a human being and not a machine. The drive sent to them in April 2008, remains with them with no correspondence sent to me (now July 2008). Statement: Under no circumstances buy from this company, they are a huge and major supplier, but look elsewhere for your hard drive requirements. Avoid the frustration.

WD says that its software is compliant and compatible with Apple Macintosh. It shows their logo on their site. In fact, the stuff is NOT compatible with Apple Macintosh computers. To remove their software, a user has to literally erase the disk the software was installed on not before the software apparently burrows its way into the operating system such that no known utility or software can find it to remove it. It's not just that this does not adhere to Apple's software development standards for 3rd party developers, it's that it wreaks havoc on the computer and can ruin a hard disk in that the software runs constantly in the background - yes, even after you've removed any semblance of it (even the Apple technicians at Apple's Genius Bar could not get the software off of the Macintosh disk it was installed on re my experience with this company's crap). HORRIBLE product and they of course don't offer any support of it.

Absolutely horrendous.