[Discuss] newegg

[blu at nedharvey.com (Edward Ned Harvey (blu))]

For anyone who's interested, here's the epilogue of the story:

Per support discussion with newegg, I should RMA the drives directly with seagate, and then when I get the replacements, I can RMA those drives with newegg for refund.  

I contacted seagate directly, who promptly RMA'd the drives, no questions asked, advance replacement - they immediately shipped me the new drives in their official packaging so I could use that packaging for return.  I had to pay return shipping.  I then packed the newly replaced drives in newegg packaging, to send back to newegg...  And guess what.  My newegg RMA had already expired, and they declined to extend it.  There was no conceivable way of expecting seagate to get me the replacements any faster, but it still wasn't fast enough to satisfy the newegg RMA window.  So Eff them.

I managed to sell my newly replaced drives, to recuperate my cost without newegg refund.  I only lost a lot of time, a one-way shipping cost, and a lot of respect for newegg customer service.

I have since purchased hard drives again from newegg, this time in retail packaging.  When shopping newegg, they have "Retail Kit" and "Bare Drive."  The retail kit uses official packaging from the mfgr.  It costs exactly the same as the bare drive.

Moral of the story:  If you buy from newegg, don't buy bare drive.  Buy retail kit.  Seagate is excellent for RMA's.  If you need to return a drive, don't bother with newegg support, return to seagate.