Who supplies warranty on OEM vs Retail hard drive

[phkhgh]

Spent a good while "chatting" w/ NewEgg & Seagate - India about OEM vs "Retail" hard drives. I'm definitely getting the "let's avoid answering that question" from NewEgg, concerning if there's a warranty and how long.

NewEgg clearly states on their site that many "OEM" Seagate internal drives drives have 5 yr parts & labor "Manufacturer's Warranty" (on the specific HDD specs page).

Seagate - India, tells me that drives designated as OEM will NOT have any warranty (or support) honored by Seagate to the end user.

For those w/ experience in this, what's the actual truth about OEM drives & warranties, from NewEgg or any other E-tailer? Is NewEgg (& other online retailers) WRONG about the warranty, or is Seagate WRONG? They can't BOTH be right.

Here's a link to an article about the seller Ebuyer & complaints about them stating a 5 yr warr on OEM Seagate HDDs
http://www.channelregister.co.uk/2007/06/21/ebuyer_seagate_hard_drives/

Thanks.

[YODA74]

Many types of OEM hardware components come with the same warranty as retail boxed ones. One well-known exception is hard drives. Retail boxed hard drives often come with a three or five year warranty, while the warranty of OEM Drive is the responsibility of the reseller.
NewEgg is a reseller there for there resposability...

http://www.seagate.com/ww/v/index.jsp?locale=en-US&name=Seagate_Technology_Limited_Consumer_Warranty&vgnextoid=516fd20cacdec010VgnVCM100000dd04090aRCRD

Only consumers purchasing Seagate products from authorised Seagate retailers or distributors may obtain coverage under our limited warranties.

[phkhgh]

Thanks Yoda74,

Most w/ an opinion on this seem to be missing the point. It's not a question of who should be responsible for OEM warranties. The question is, WHAT and WHERE is NewEgg's written policy? Their customer service could not provide it to me, as of yet.

Agreed, the warranty on OEM items would be handled by the reseller (if in fact, it IS honored). That IS the question... where is NewEgg's written policy regarding this?

Do you know of something in writing that specifically spells out for which items, how when & where NewEgg will handle warranties on OEM items, and how the customer can (easily) determine before purchase, what warranty applies?

On NewEgg's site, for this OEM Seagate HDD, item N82E16822136073, they clearly state it has a "5 year manufacturer warranty." (Just copy/paste the item # in NewEgg's search box) Seagate however, also clearly states there will be NO warranty honored by them to the purchaser for OEM items.

Similarly, NewEgg shows on this OEM WD HDD, item N82E16822136073, it has a "3 year manufacturer warranty. Yet, their policy clearly states,

Manufacturer's Warranties

* Return for refund within: non-refundable
* Return for replacement within: non-replaceable

Newegg.com does not offer any express warranties.

Cheers.

[YODA74]

Seagate Customer Support Centers
Seagate offers worldwide customer support for Seagate and Maxtor products. Seagate direct OEM, Distribution, and System Integrator customers should contact their Seagate customer support representative for warranty information. Other customers should contact their place of purchase.
http://www.seagate.com/www/en-us/about/contact_us/

Products that state "This item can be returned to the product manufacturer only" must be returned directly to the product manufacturer for repair or replacement, unless otherwise required by law. For these items, the warranty policy provided by the product manufacturer explicitly requires that any returns, repairs etc. be requested and processed directly by the consumer (or "end-user") of the item.

http://www.newegg.com/CustomerService/ReturnPolicy.asp#4

It also depends if newegg buys these in bulk from seagate or if there buying in bulk from a pc manufacturer such as Dell or some other distrubutor some times mfg's get a surpluse and places like newegg just buy the excess bulk from them and this is where warrenty are useless for oem..

Personaly if your haveing a problem with the drive and you cannot get any satisfaction I would see a contract lawyer and for around $50.00 he can give you the correct direction to go in..And advise you who has to cover the warrenty..

But for anything under 100.00 I wouldn't worry about a warrenty But if I were buying a HDD for 200.00+ then I wouldn't buy from people like newegg to begin with I would go straight to the MFG. and buy retail...Sorry don't have a diffinitive answer for you!!

[phkhgh]

Thanks Yoda74,
So far, I'm puzzled why NewEgg's customer service (2 different people) couldn't clear this right up for me. That's all I'm asking. Seems a pretty reasonable request.

Could be wrong, but seems like NewEgg is purposely being evasive or avoiding clarification (with me, at least). If they always "take care of their customer" and honor most mfg warr on (most, many) OEM items, why don't they just tell me that, instead of saying, "You need to contact the Mfg"? Maybe others have NEVER had a prob getting NewEgg (or other retailers) to warranty an OEM item - that's great!

I don't even OWN the HDD yet. I'm just trying to find out what the warr will be, and who will honor it. When the seller basically says in writing, "the information listed here about this item's warr 'may not be accurate or current,' " it sort of confuses me. I'm funny like that.

** NewEgg's product descrip page for several OEM HDDs (Seagate, WD, other?), they VERY clearly state, just above where they show the "Manufacturer Warranty" info (just an example from one "OEM" HDD):

"Below is a summary provided for convenience only and may not be accurate or current. Click here for full details.

* Manufacturer Limited Warranty period (parts): 5 years
* Manufacturer Limited Warranty period (labor): 5 years"

Sorry, but to most people w/ even basic understanding of such written policies or statements, that's a disclaimer that means, "This info is not legally binding - at all."

[classicsoftware]

Seagate is the only drive manufacturer that I know that clearly marks their drives as OEM and they DO NOT honor any warranty. The answer, buy Western Digital.