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Western Digital No Longer Honoring Warranties on OEM or Bare Drives.

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Can't do that with failed drives.. ;)

Good point. I guess I don't worry much about those because most of them are in my closet still, lol.
 

rtwjunkie

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@taz420nj you insisted that there is no difference betwen bare drives and OEM drives, yet our WD rep, @SuperSoph_WD, as well as the WD letter to Tsunamijhoe above clearly show there is a difference. The problem comes when etailers buy a bank of OEM drives and their associated serial numbers and sell them as bare.
 
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Aquinus

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Well, you did say:

I read that as not noticing that they weren't his drives. :p

That's actually BS. I've bought all 4 WD 1TB from NewEgg as "bare drives." Two of them were DOA and they honored RMA on them. So no, box has nothing to do with it. If the drive was sold to a company that sells a computer with the drive inside of it, they don't honor warranty, you need to contact the vendor. That's really all I got out of this initial discussion.

see post
 

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No, NOT to the end user. I've been buying WD drives for 20+ years (been buying them for resale/business over the past 5 years as I now own a computer repair business), and they have NEVER warrantied or offered RMA to the end user on any drives other than those which come in retail boxes. "Bare drive" and OEM are the same thing. They are meant to be sold to system builders, and the system builder is expected to provide warranty service. The retailer/OEM has their own channel for returning defective drives within the stated warranty period.

It's no different than OEM versions of Windows - Microsoft will not, under ANY circumstances, provide support for OEM versions of Windows, because part of the OEM partner agreement that the OEM/System Builder signs is that THEY provide a tech support channel.

The reason it is more prominent now is that you can pick up bare/OEM drives just about anywhere, including major retailers (such as Newegg, TigerDirect, and brick-and-mortars like MicroCenter), whereas you used to only find them at computer shows (once the hidden treasure of the computer building world, now largely extinct). It doesn't change the fact that the retailer who sold you the drive is expected to honor the warranty. I had to laugh at the guy who claims to be suing WD. It's a waste of money because he is going to lose. If a warranty has been advertised, it is the sole responsibility of the retailer, NOT WD.

http://support.wdc.com/warranty/policy.asp?wdc_lang=en&fid=wdsfDesktop_Blue

Component drives are covered under warranty when sold to the end user. Period. Even their warranty page says this. The specific drives I'm talking about are the Blue EZEX drives. When sold as a Component Drive they should have a 2-Year warranty.

I see someone knows the benefits of disk destroyer. :)

Too much work. I just use this.
 

Aquinus

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http://support.wdc.com/warranty/policy.asp?wdc_lang=en&fid=wdsfDesktop_Blue

Component drives are covered under warranty when sold to the end user. Period. Even their warranty page says this. The specific drives I'm talking about are the Blue EZEX drives. When sold as a Component Drive they should have a 2-Year warranty.



Too much work. I just use this.
You can't re-use or sell the drive for more than scrap if you use that method though. Plus, I would rather see what a 0.308 would do to it. :p
 
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You can't re-use or sell the drive for more than scrap if you use that method though. Plus, I would rather see what a 0.308 would do to it. :p


Yeah I'll have to take some pictures next time I go.. There's not much left after a .338 Lapua Magnum rips through it from 800 yards.. :D
 

SuperSoph_WD

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Hey there again, guys!

I'm sorry for my late response! :( I was on leave for some time, I just can't get enough of summer vacations. :D
From the looks of it though, I'd say you did a pretty good job clearing up that 'OEM' & 'bare drive' confusion for me. It's been quite the discussion so far but with the risk of repeating some of the previous posts (including mine), I'd again like to point out our warranty policy & RMA services: http://products.wdc.com/support/kb.ashx?id=T0fXpW
As well as the short description of the different manufactured HDDs:
OEM = Dell/HP/etc. The warranty is for the whole computer and individual components are not warranted beyond that.
Bare Drive = retailer to user (OEM is Western Digital itself). Only includes the drive. Check the warranty link above!
Retail = retailer to user (OEM is Western Digital itself). Includes fancy box with accessories (e.g. USB cable) and possibly some software


The most important thing to do when getting new HDDs, regardless of the reseller or manufacturer is to check their warranty immediately. I believe this way you'd have the time to react and replace them (if necessary), without actually resorting to any kind of weapons whatsoever. :D

SuperSoph_WD
 
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