I've been a big fan of Western Digital drives for years, but that ended today. And I'm writing this review to warn you about their warranties, based on my recent experience with them.
(If you don't want to read the rest of my admittedly long review, the short version is: if you buy this drive, make sure you CHECK THE WARRANTY STATUS on WD's web site as soon as you get it. If their web site says your drive is an OEM drive, send it back to Amazon immediately and get your money back--because WD WILL NOT honor the 2 year warranty--you're totally on your own if the drive fails within the 2 year warranty period).
I purchased the 3TB Blue version of this drive in April of 2016, confident that if anything went wrong with the drive over a two year period WD would replace the drive under warranty. A few days ago this drive suddenly disappeared from my desktop, and after some testing I figured out that it had totally died. OK, I thought, time to give WD a call and get a replacement.
Not so fast!
I went to the warranty checker on their web site and it said that my drive was an OEM drive and not covered by their warranty. WHAT? Unbelievable!
Without further ado, I called their support number and was told the same thing: this was an OEM drive and not covered.
So I asked to talk to a supervisor/manager. I told the lady that I had purchased the drive from Amazon and that I expected them to honor the two year warranty. She asked me to email her proof of purchase, which I did. She said I would hear from them within 2 business days.
I didn't hear from them after three of four business days, so called them again today. The agent gave me the same story about it being an OEM drive and that as such it was not covered by their warranty. I told him that I had emailed a proof of purchase, showing that I had purchased it from Amazon. Once again, I asked to talk to a manager.
I was put on a very long hold (were they hoping I would just give up?) and when the guy finally came on the line he just reiterated the same thing everyone else had said: it's an OEM drive and we're not replacing it.
I told him there is NOWHERE on Amazon's page that says this is an OEM drive. Nowhere. He said that's Amazon's fault, not theirs. He told me to contact Amazon and get them to replace the drive. I figure that would be a waste of time and effort.
Needless to say, I'm not at all happy. I've been buying WD drives for years. I currently have at least half a dozen in use right now. But today I am looking for another manufacturer.
I'm giving the drive 3 stars. Like I said, I've always like WD drives, so I don't want to just give vent to my frustration and give the drive 1 star. It was a good drive before it failed. I knocked one star off for the fact that it failed after only 20 months. And I knocked off another star for the poor customer support regarding the warranty. I think it's shameful and if they do this to many of their customers they're going to regret it and hurt themselves.
Thanks for reading my review. I hope it helps other people to beware of this loophole where WD can say that your hard drive is OEM even though you bought it from Amazon, and use that as an excuse not to honor the warranty.
Like I said above, as soon as you get the drive, check the serial number on WD's site and if it says it's an OEM, send it back to Amazon and get your money back.
| RAM | 256 GB |
|---|---|
| Hard Drive | 6 TB 1x6TB |
