Anyone here done a RMA with Western Digital? I have a question

[Luke]

So they have these three options for RMA:

 

 

 Standard RMA

Create a standard RMA. WD will send you a replacement after we have received your defective product.

 

 Advance RMA

Create a Advanced RMA. Please remember to send us your defective product to avoid a charge on your credit card.

 

 Express RMA

This service is only for products with an eligibile service plan.

 

 

So from what i understand Advance RMA is just a more convenient way because they send the hard drive out immediately and only charge you the value of the drive if you end up not shipping yours back to them instead of them sending it out once they've receive your old drive like with a standard RMA. 

 

One thing though is that i read a comment on a forum of someone saying this "yeah WD is really good for RMA. Just request the RMA, they will send you another drive, and in that same box, you put your old drive, and they will pay for postage for return, you're done."

 

 

I'm in no rush so i was going to just choose standard RMA but if they cover the shipping cost with Advance RMA i might as well choose that option although i can't find anything on their website saying that they do. Has anyone used the Advance RMA process before? Help is much appreciated.

[d3sl91]

 

So they have these three options for RMA:

 

 

 Standard RMA

Create a standard RMA. WD will send you a replacement after we have received your defective product.

 

 Advance RMA

Create a Advanced RMA. Please remember to send us your defective product to avoid a charge on your credit card.

 

 Express RMA

This service is only for products with an eligibile service plan.

 

 

So from what i understand Advance RMA is just a more convenient way because they send the hard drive out immediately and only charge you the value of the drive if you end up not shipping yours back to them instead of them sending it out once they've receive your old drive like with a standard RMA. 

 

One thing though is that i read a comment on a forum of someone saying this "yeah WD is really good for RMA. Just request the RMA, they will send you another drive, and in that same box, you put your old drive, and they will pay for postage for return, you're done."

 

 

I'm in no rush so i was going to just choose standard RMA but if they cover the shipping cost with Advance RMA i might as well choose that option but i can't find anything on their website saying that they do. Has anyone used the Advance RMA process before? Help is much appreciated.

 

 

It may have changed, but, When i was doing dozens of these for work a few years ago, we never got free return shipping, was always a $5-6 label from USPS. But I could be mistaken, it could have changed, and I could have forgotten how it actually worked. 

 

Therefore:

@Captain_WD

[JefferyD90]

Okay, so they DO hold the funds on the credit/debit card. So, let say, the part cost $100 and you have $500 available in your account, you will only be able to use the card for $400 UNTIL they get the product back and remove the hold. Although with this hold you will not be responsible for the money on your monthly invoice.

And when I did it, yes they covered shipping both ways.

[NumLock21]

Your responsible for shipping charges when you set the drive back to them and they're responsible for the shipping charges when they send the drive back to you.

Advanced RMA, they will need your credit card. They sent a recertified drive to you first and you send them back your broken drive. It must arrive by a certain date (forgot how long), if they don't receive it by then, they will charge your credit card. I did advanced RMA and I remember still having to pay for shipping.

The stanard is pretty self explainatory, send bad drive back, and they sent you back a recertified drive. It's all very easy, just fill out the online form and you're all set. Best thing to do is to run the WD diagnostic to get a error or report, that way it's much easier to tell them what's wrong with your drive.

[Captain_WD]

 

So they have these three options for RMA:

 

 

 Standard RMA

Create a standard RMA. WD will send you a replacement after we have received your defective product.

 

 Advance RMA

Create a Advanced RMA. Please remember to send us your defective product to avoid a charge on your credit card.

 

 Express RMA

This service is only for products with an eligibile service plan.

 

 

So from what i understand Advance RMA is just a more convenient way because they send the hard drive out immediately and only charge you the value of the drive if you end up not shipping yours back to them instead of them sending it out once they've receive your old drive like with a standard RMA. 

 

One thing though is that i read a comment on a forum of someone saying this "yeah WD is really good for RMA. Just request the RMA, they will send you another drive, and in that same box, you put your old drive, and they will pay for postage for return, you're done."

 

 

I'm in no rush so i was going to just choose standard RMA but if they cover the shipping cost with Advance RMA i might as well choose that option although i can't find anything on their website saying that they do. Has anyone used the Advance RMA process before? Help is much appreciated.

 

 

 

Hey Luke, 

 

@JefferyD90 and @NumLock21 described it pretty good. 

If you go through the website here: http://support.wdc.com/warranty/policy.asp?wdc_lang=en#rmayou can find under Notes/ Return Material Authorization (RMA) this: "Authorized returns are to be shipped prepaid and insured to the address on the RMA in an approved shipping container" I would, however, contact out phone support for some additional details. 

Make sure you follow the procedure steps and the appropriate containers and wrappings.

Feel free to ask if you happen to have more questions

 

Captain_WD.

[GregJ]

Be careful with the advanced RMA, they will bill your credit/debit card, and it takes about 30 days for them to refund you the money once they receive the drive.  Sometimes you also have to keep on top of them, to mark the returned drive as back in inventory as they get a lot of the drives in at once and don't always process it in a timely fashion.

[brighttail]

I've done two RMA's with WD.  One standard and one express.  The standard one I had to pay for the postage to send the drive back.  The express one, they sent me to a website to print out a waybill and they paid for it.  Technically you are supposed to pay for the shipping back to WD on most of their devices according to the EULA, but a tech can normally override that by asking a supervisor.

 

They did put a hold on my CC for the retail cost of the drive and it was dropped about 3 days after I got notification that they had received my product that I shipped.

 

That being said, WD by far is the best RMA experience I have ever had.  Zero issues. I had one velocorapter that was literally 4 years 363 days, so 2 days left in warranty and they replaced it no questions asked or trying to delay for a couple days.

 

Very good service.