a cozy afternoon chat with Seagate/Maxtor warranty support

• Brandon R.: Hi, my name is Brandon R.. How may I help you?
• Chad Miller: Hi. My Maxtor OneTouch III is throwing errors. I bought it about 6 months ago.
• Chad Miller: There is no Maxtor diag tool that I could find, but Seagate's says "VERIFY failed on block -1364701234 Sense data = 0B/00/00
  Generic Short Test FAILED on drive /dev/sg4"
• Brandon R.: Have you tried to run a long generic test?
• Chad Miller: Yes.
• Brandon R.: Same issue?
• Chad Miller: Starting generic long (full sequential verify) test (-1364672513 blocks) on drive /dev/sg4 (^C will abort test)
  Sequential Test 5 % complete on drive /dev/sg4
  VERIFY failed on block 155102208 Sense data = 03/4B/00
  TEST FAILED at block -1079791148 on drive /dev/sg4
• Chad Miller: EOF
• Brandon R.: If your drive is still covered under warranty, you will need to return that drive for a replacement.
• Brandon R.: You can do that by going to this link: http://www.seagate.com/www/en-us/support/warranty_&_returns_assistance/ click "return drive as guest user"
• Chad Miller: I tried. It has a one-year warranty. The web site says "Out of Warranty", but it can't possibly know when I bought it.
• Brandon R.: You have a one year warranty for the time the retailer gets the drive. That is what is covered by our warranty policy. Any extended warranty from that point will be covered by the retailer
• Chad Miller: How can one possibly know when the retailer got the drive? Do you timestamp the box?
• Chad Miller: If i'm in a store and see a Maxtor/Seagate box, I have to find out when they shipped it to the store?
• Brandon R.: The warranty is tied with the serial number, so when we ship the drive out from the assembly plant it is entered into our system. It also makes a difference on who buys the drive, retailers. Different drives will have different warranties based on what Seagate and the retailer agree on.
• Chad Miller: Yeah. So, how can I know when I pick up a box whether the warranty expired yesterday?
• Brandon R.: Normally I would have access to that, but the system we use to check our warranty/serials is currently down.
• Chad Miller: I have to call you, Brandon, when I think about buying a disc?
• Brandon R.: No, your retailer should have the information you are looking for when you purchase the drive.
• Chad Miller: So, Amazon, Besy Buy, CompUSA (RIP), et c., I'm supposed to find someone and ask how many months is already on the warranty ticker? That's outrageous.
• Chad Miller: Surely you can't really think that's feasible.
• Brandon R.: I apologize for the inconvenience. Is there anything more I can help you with today?
• Brandon R.: http://www.seagate.com/ww/v/index.jsp?locale=en-US&name=Seagate_Technology_Limited_Consumer_Warranty&vgnextoid=516fd20cacdec010VgnVCM100000dd04090aRCRD
• Brandon R.: That is a link to our warranty policy. That is about the only information I can provide you.
• Chad Miller: Anything else? I'm not happy with this yet. The box says 1 year warranty. There is no tiny asterisk that says "this year started months ago. Nyah nyah."
• Brandon R.: Also if there is a mistake with the date of purchase then you will be able to send us a receipt and we can get that changed in the system and you will be covered.
• Chad Miller: Date of purchase? Does that matter? I think it does, but this confuses me.
• Brandon R.: I would recommend calling 1800SEAGATE and speaking with a customer service representative, they will have more leverage to help you than I will. I am just a basic tech/warranty representative.
• Brandon R.: Is there anything more I can help you with today?
• Chad Miller: This is my only seagate product, so no.
• Chad Miller: Else, I'd want to know when the other warranties disappeared without my possible knowledge.
• Brandon R.: Thank you for contacting Seagate, take care and have a good day.
• Chad Miller: For the record, Brandon, I'm terribly annoyed with Seagate's hidden warranty condition.so far.
• Chad Miller: I don't think you can help, though.
• Brandon R.: I do not have access to that information, I apologize. Our warranty policy is laid out in the link that I sent you and will do a better job of explaining it than I could.
• Chad Miller: Right. Okay.
• Brandon R.: Thank you for contacting Seagate technical support, take care and have a good day.
• Brandon R. has disconnected.