The original post: /r/datahoarder by /u/battletactics on 2024-07-07 17:31:37.
One of my WD 10TB Reds in my TrueNAS Scale/Plex server died recently. So on June 20 of this year, I requested an RMA for the drive. It was well within warranty - has two years left. I was granted an RMA and started the process. Since this is a server I use quite often, I opted for the advanced exchange which cost me a 25 bucks, and next day air delivery which cost me a few more. Of course they put a hold on my credit card for "market value" of the drive until they receive the old one. Fair enough.
The next day is where things start getting fucky, when I received no drive. I contact support and I'm told that the UPS Next Day Air for which I have paid is for RETURNING the drive. Can someone please tell me who in their right god damn mind would next day air a dead drive for an advanced exchange RMA? Yes, this is my fault for not reading everything in detail but in my defense I have never come across this before. Okay so I screwed myself there, but talking to support I asked them why if everything was paid for, and I have a tracking number, that the drive shows as "Tracking created, package not picked up yet". I was told that it was indeed picked up and I just needed to be patient. Two days later and still no drive and tracking status shows it's still waiting for pickup. I contact support via chat again and funny enough while I was on the chat with tech support I received an email from UPS stating the drive was just picked up. What kind of game are we playing here, WD? on 6/27 I get a notification that my drive has shipped? What the hell? The damn drive shows up on July 3rd. I'm completely floored by all of this. Is WD going downhill? I love their drives and always have. They've always been good to me, but this is completely ridiculous. I wouldn't be surprised if at this point I didn't get my money back once the old drive is returned. Also, they charged me about 112 dollars as fair market value for the drive. 112? Hell, I'd buy 10 of them at that price if they were truly only 112 bucks.
In the interim, I picked up a "renewed" HGST drive from Amazon for 78 bucks. That's right. 10 Terabyte HGST for 78 bucks. Tested it when it arrived and no issues found. It's been in the server for about a week and zero problems thus far.
I'm quite bitter about the whole thing.