Hitachi Hard Disk Warranty

[alphonse]

Just bought 2 Hitachi Hard Disk recently from sim lim square but when checking on HGST website, found the warranty to be only 2 years. Have contacted HGST about it and they reply below which is not good. Should I take the hard disk back to the shop for an exchange or contact convergent since warranty card is under them? For people who are going to buy hitachi hard disk or have recently bought, better to check your warranty.

Dear Sir/Madam,

Thank you for contacting HGST Asia Pacific Technical Support Centre.

No, I am afraid the distributor will not give the extra warranty to you. HGST will only give the extra warranty if you purchase the drives within 3-5 months of the ship date. In this case, the ship date was April 2012, we are NOT able to give you extra 11 months warranty.

As I mentioned, if you just purchased these 2 drives and found that the drives are almost 1 year old drives already, that means you are losing close to 1 year warranty on these drives, I suggest that you please go back to your place of purchase to ask them to exchange to a drives closer to March 2013 time-code.

In Singapore, most shops honour a 1 to 1 exchange for purchases within the 7 days period. Please do that as soon as possible else the reseller may not want to help.

Thank you.

Regards, TechSup
#############################################
We support Hard Disk Drives sold through Distribution channel only.
HGST Asia Pte. Ltd., a Western Digital company
UEN 200209023K
Tel : (+65) 6840 9595
Email: support_ap@hgst.com
Tollfree : 1800 001 685 (Australia), 400 8866072 (China), 800 933 683 (Hong Kong), 00080 0650 1244 (India), 0018 0365 7854 (Indonesia), 1800 80 6016 (Malaysia), 1800 1651 0597(Philippines), 0800 44 6449 (New Zealand), 1800 8409595 (Singapore), 0080 165 1647 (Taiwan), 0018 0065 6450 (Thailand)
Website: http://www.hgst.com

 

[koreanlover]

Then the receipt is useless ah ?

 

[uncle168]

the manufacturing date is printed on the white sticker on the HDD

usually the shop can sell the HDD within a few days after they get the stock which is why they keep minimum stock

my HGST HDD has 3 years warranty from the website less about a month

u may want to PM convergent with your serial number and check your warranty instead of HGST

if my HDD uplorry, i will RMA with convergent with receipt, if u want to RMA with HGST, they will go by manufacturing date

 

[alphonse]

This is the reply from Convergent Systems (S) Pte Ltd which is not encouraging.

Hitachi will honor you the 3 years warranty.

If you got any issue in the future; your Purchased Receipt shall be the Official Date of warranty
and you have to alias with Hitachi themselves.

For further enquiries, please call Hitachi at 1800-840-9595.

Have foward the Hitachi email to them, see how they respond.

 

[turtle splash]

Does this applies to seagate and western digital hard disks too?

 

[uncle168]

when i RMA with Achieva for WD, they follow the receipt date for 5 year warranty even when online warranty on the website has expired 2 years ago

it is strange that the HDD you've brought is 1 year old, usually the stock is about less than 1 month old especially for HDD which is fast moving and they don't keep stock

you can try to ask the shop to change for you new stock

if cannot print the email from convergent and keep with your receipt, if HGST don't RMA, go to CASE

keekeekee

 

[alphonse]

Now Convergent say the hard disk not under them. I going back to the shop for an exchange as they give me convergent warranty card when it not.

 

[watzup_ken]

The warranty should go with the date on the receipt. Hitachi will go with the manufacture date as a fall back. In case someone loses the receipt, you can still RMA it. Funny thing is that Convergent has been distro for Hitachi for sometime, so I would have thought this will be under them.

 

[uncle168]

i don't think they will change for you unless it is DOA

i also don't know whether my HGST HDD is from convergent or not

but ah neh keep saying convergent don't worry

keekeekee

 

[halocast]

which shop u buy from?

how come can give convergent card, but convergent say the hdd not theirs?

?

 

[Convergent Systems SG]

Now Convergent say the hard disk not under them. I going back to the shop for an exchange as they give me convergent warranty card when it not.

Hi,

As mentioned in my previous email to you; your HDD is not under Convergent Systems distribution.

Care to tell us which shop gave you the wrong Warranty Card?


*** Ian ***

 

[MichaelTan]

@alphonse

All Convergent drives, they are new and fresh. They are not 1 year old.

The dealer you bought has given you Convergent's warranty card but the drive is not from Convergent. There is a possibility that the dealer gave you a warranty card from Convergent to deceive you that the drive is from us, since Convergent is a trusted supplier.

In most cases, these are limited warranty single year drive and purchased through black market or gray channels. What is the shop you bought it from? You may want to post to warn other users.

If you want to check warranty length, you can go here:

Warranty/RMA

For example, this is a Touro Mobile Pro 500GB drive, serial number: 81GSWZ6A, authorized for sale in Singapore ONLY.

If the drive is sold in India, and enter region: India, Hitachi will treat it as a pirated/blackmarket/stolen item/gray market/parallel import, you will get this message:

Serial number: 81GSWZ6A
Warranty date: (YYYY-MM-DD) Product valid for warranty return outside India. Return to Point of Purchase.

So, you have to return to DEALER not Hitachi

However, if you enter it in the correct region (Singapore) and the serial number correctly, it will state:

Serial number: 81GSWZ6A
Warranty Expiration date: (YYYY-MM-DD) 2016-01-19

This will enable you to catch the fraudsters and parallel import drives which are old and beyond warranty. Gray market/stolen drives usually have almost expired warranty. Today, in the age of smartphones, you can catch these dealers and expose them.

As additional info to you, alphonse, the drive you bought, both these drives are purchased from another distributor - but this is going to be an isolated incident as today, Convergent is the sole distributor for Hitachi in this region.

Since the dealer sold you aged drive as new, you should go back to the dealer and ask for his warranty.

 

[alphonse]

Have went back to the dealer and they are referring me back to Convergent. The 2 hard disk are confirmed for Singapore as it is found in Hitachi warranty check under Singapore. Anyway, I will be including that sales person and the shop name in the email. I will need a confirmation from Convergent that the 2 hard disk is not from you and I will bring the case back to dealer.
As the shop is not 1 of those problem shop in Sim Lim Square, I am been patient in dealing with this issue as I have bought many hard disks over the years from them and this is the only isolated case.
I do not know where in the supply chain that went wrong to cause this issue.
But I will advise people to check their warranty no matter which brand of hard disk they buy to ensure that they are getting the correct warranty period.

 

[alphonse]

Just an information for all.This is a reply from Hitachi about warranty which I think no one knew about.

"HGST will only give the extra warranty if you purchase the drives within 3-5 months of the ship date. In your case, the ship date was April 2012, so Hitachi is NOT able to give you extra 11 months warranty."

So even if you buy a Hitachi Hard Disk which is up to 5 months old from the ship date, they are able to give up to an extra 11 months warranty from the expired date on their web site warranty check as long as got the invoice.

 

[winners]

@alphonse

All Convergent drives, they are new and fresh. They are not 1 year old.

The dealer you bought has given you Convergent's warranty card but the drive is not from Convergent. There is a possibility that the dealer gave you a warranty card from Convergent to deceive you that the drive is from us, since Convergent is a trusted supplier.

In most cases, these are limited warranty single year drive and purchased through black market or gray channels. What is the shop you bought it from? You may want to post to warn other users.

If you want to check warranty length, you can go here:

Warranty/RMA

For example, this is a Touro Mobile Pro 500GB drive, serial number: 81GSWZ6A, authorized for sale in Singapore ONLY.

If the drive is sold in India, and enter region: India, Hitachi will treat it as a pirated/blackmarket/stolen item/gray market/parallel import, you will get this message:

Serial number: 81GSWZ6A
Warranty date: (YYYY-MM-DD) Product valid for warranty return outside India. Return to Point of Purchase.

So, you have to return to DEALER not Hitachi

However, if you enter it in the correct region (Singapore) and the serial number correctly, it will state:

Serial number: 81GSWZ6A
Warranty Expiration date: (YYYY-MM-DD) 2016-01-19

This will enable you to catch the fraudsters and parallel import drives which are old and beyond warranty. Gray market/stolen drives usually have almost expired warranty. Today, in the age of smartphones, you can catch these dealers and expose them.

As additional info to you, alphonse, the drive you bought, both these drives are purchased from another distributor - but this is going to be an isolated incident as today, Convergent is the sole distributor for Hitachi in this region.

Since the dealer sold you aged drive as new, you should go back to the dealer and ask for his warranty.

To put it simply, your company will not honor any warranty if the HDD is not from your import.

If every importers were to behave like you, then the world will be in chaos. For example, if I bought my HDD in Singapore and I had to be outstation for 1 year in Hongkong. Unexpectedly, it failed whilst I was in Hongkong and you'd expect me to be able to make the RMA only back in Singapore. Don't you think this is ridiculous and insensible? For a $100 HDD and you want me to fly back to make the RMA.

Anyway, now knowing that this is the way your company operates, I guess I'll never touch another HITACHI HDD again. Furthermore, I'll also warn all my friends and relatives about this issue when they are sourcing for HDDs.

Come on, almost all of those reputable Notebook manufacturers have been offering International Warranty since 5 years ago and yet the cheapskate $100 HDD from HITACHI is still practicing the ancient trade of offering local warranty only. Shame on HITACHI and its agents.

In addition, I may intend to bring this matter up to CASE because HITACHI claims to give 3 years warranty for their HDDs, but never was it mentioned that it's effective only from their own manufacturing date, not from the date of purchase by the customer. This is very misleading and I would even call it cheating as well. We'll see what CASE will have to say on this.

 

[Convergent Systems SG]

Hey Guys,

Michael left me a note to say that he will reply by Monday as he is currently out of the country.

Have a great weekend guys!

/jt

 

[uncle168]

WARRANTY statement - English

HGST website say warranty start from date of purchase but warranty information on website is from date HGST sell to convergent

so it becomes our problem when the dealer cannot sell the HDD?

when i RMA my WD HDD, the staff look at the receipt date even thou my HDD warranty on the website expired 2 years ago

if this is the case, does convergent ask dealers to return HDD they can't sell?

this doesn't make sense as HDD is not a perishable goods like milk which can be returned and exchanged

convergent should honour warranty from date of purchase for all HGST drives in singapore as it is the sole distributor

otherwise HGST should consider having more than 1 distributor to enforce competition just like WD have achieva, SiS and Eternal Asia

 

[alphonse]

I believe that we should all let Convergent find out more details about my 2 hard disk before we come to any conclusion about this issue.

Convergent can also give us more details about their stand on the warranty for Hitachi hard disk under them.
If the start of our warranty is from our date of purchase on the invoice?
What to do if we bought Hitachi Hard Disk which are more than 5 months old from the shipped date from Hitachi?
How to get warranty if we bought the Hitachi Hard Disk in Singapore but may have to work overseas like in winners question?

 

[winners]

this doesn't make sense as HDD is not a perishable goods like milk which can be returned and exchanged

convergent should honour warranty from date of purchase for all HGST drives in singapore as it is the sole distributor

otherwise HGST should consider having more than 1 distributor to enforce competition just like WD have achieva, SiS and Eternal Asia

Excerpt from the HGST's website warranty clause:


"How long does limited warranty coverage last?

This limited warranty lasts for 1 year, 2 years, 3 years or 5 years, or a fixed period from date of purchase, depending on when and where it was originally purchased. To determine the warranty specifically for your product, visit www.hgst.com. A valid proof of purchase may be required to prove eligibility. If you do not have a valid proof of purchase, the limited warranty period will be measured from the date of sale from HGST to the authorized distributor."

From the above, it clearly states that warranty will be effective from date of valid proof of purchase. Convergent is denying the full warranty claims to Alphonse because according to Michael, his 2 HDDs are not from Convergent. On the other hand, Alphonse was given the Convergent guarantee cards for those 2 HDDs. Rightfully, Convergent should accompany their official guarantee cards with their HDDs as prove of their authorized products. Otherwise, it will be very misleading and there is no way to find out at the dealer's shop until one has already bought it, bring it home and checked it online based on its serial number. By then, it would be too late to seek for a recourse.

Anyway, HDDs are very portable items, unlike cars and motorcycles which are are very unlikely to be taken out-country. So, by imposing only local warranty claim for HITACHI HDDs in Singapore is in fact severely crippling the choices of RMA by the customer. I swear I'll never buy another HITACHI HDD again and will also discourage all my friends and relatives from doing so.

Just for information, when I registered my WD HDD on their website in May 2012, I was even given an additional 3 months warranty for online registration.

 

[uncle168]

i was wondering why HGST HDD are cheaper than WD and Seagate HDD

i believe convergent will honor warranty from receipt date but now the problem is how did 2 1 year old drive surface in SLS?

eagerly awaiting convergent's reply