Western Digital - RMA Courier Pickup Service has gone to the dogs!

mach9

Das Layzeemeister
Skilled
Yea, it's happened again. A few days after i praise a brand for good customer service and RMA experience ---- it comes back to haunt me :lol:

I'm in the process of RMA'ing (or trying to RMA) a 1TB Mybook Essential with WD. Now I'm no stranger to their RMA process having done it successfully without the tiniest hiccup twice in the past.

This time, things have gone wrong. And for an idiotic reason. It appears these guys have NO control over directly coordinating or validating their inbound backend coordination with courier agencies. My theory is that they've got one of those typical cost escalation/payment delay etc etc "Indian" centric reasons for their utterly pathetic logistics process for inbound courier movements which include pickup. However this seems to be somewhat recent (unless others have faced this issue much before as well)

I had my pickup scheduled for the 19th of January. The drive is still sitting pretty n all packed up on my table. No sign of ANY courier that WD has tied up with. A countless number of calls to their helpline has no effect either - Reason? - They only "update" and "escalate" (I think the word "escalate" MUST be DEFINED and PLASTERED for their call center guys to understand that it means a heightened priority achieves a better and more effective response) it to their "storage warehouse" and courier handling department - whatever that is and whoever they are. BUT - there's always a BUT - they have no other means of finding out any further details, no call logs, no 2 way information dialogue, no telephone number (AND WE ARE IN A DIGITAL AGE?) NOTHING.

In short, in today's day of optimized workflows and process driven methodologies - HUMAN INTERACTION - is just non existent in 1 area... and an entire customer service experience is ruined.

I repeatedly asked them for a local courier contact - anyone that i can call in the whole of Mumbai (I live in Mumbai proper - Dadar area) and they still don't have any help because they DON'T KNOW who handles the courier allocation or pickup assignments at the other end of their "call log system" :happy26:

No SIR! you're just doomed. So for all of you who are facing this issue or need to handle WD RMA's in the future... Don't waste your time. There is an option apparently where you can send in your drive with ANY courier to their office as a TO PAY shipment & WD says they will pay for the shipping charges. (Though they were unclear on my question to them about valuation of the drive & insurance charges etc). I think it's risky.... but since WD's courier pickup now officially sucks worse than a sour lemon.... it's the only option i guess.

If my drive doesn't get picked up by Friday (which will make it over 2 weeks since i registered my RMA) ... I will send it to them with BlueDart & update you guys on how it goes.

//END OF RANT//

PS. - Consider yourselves warned about WD's courier pickup service. Metro City or not... looks like they've gone to hell
 
after sending them probably the 5th follow up email.. i got a call from WD backend & FEDEX showed up late evening yesterday to pick it up. So from the time of registering the RMA it's taken them 19days.. and from the scheduled date of pickup it's taken then 5 days...

colossal waste of time. WD really need to get a grip on their logistics coordination to get it back to previous standards.
 
Ok so WD again responded superbly. Apologising for the courier delay, they already kept a replacement model allocated and ready to ship as soon as my drive reached them. My drive reached them on the 24th and on the 25th a replacement drive was already shipped out to me.

Since today was a public holiday, I expect the drive to be delivered tomorrow. Clearly WD excel at their support and warranty... but the courier service and logistics linkup seems to be in a mess
 
Ok so WD again responded superbly. Apologising for the courier delay, they already kept a replacement model allocated and ready to ship as soon as my drive reached them. My drive reached them on the 24th and on the 25th a replacement drive was already shipped out to me.

Since today was a public holiday, I expect the drive to be delivered tomorrow. Clearly WD excel at their support and warranty... but the courier service and logistics linkup seems to be in a mess

I faced the same problem (no pick up) screamed a little at RMA, got a call back and promised the same as above, Pick up is on monday, so lets see what happens
 
@mach9
Wait till you get the replacement drive before you post a appreciation :) .
My personal experience , i had asked for a pickup .. pickup came in 3 days time , i contacted WD with my RMA number i was told replacement will be shipped out next day evening , i call after 2 days they say they shipped out replacement . I waited for 10 days , no replacement arrived ... contacted them again they told they mistook the RMA number and told will be shipped out soon in 1-2 days . I call them after a week they say they dont have a stock , will ship a different model in 2-3 days , they ship in 5 days and it reaches me in 3 days and to my sad luck , recieve a defective piece again . Same procedure repeated , overall RMA took me 2 months time.
 
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The fastest way to get your replacement WD drive is to send it to them at your own cost.
Let me rephrase that: The fastest way to get your replacement WD drive is by walking into the nearest AFL branch and handing them over your box packed defective HDD. They'll ship to Bangalore within a day and WD will bear the courier charges. You'll then receive a replaced HDD within a week or so.
 
believe me, WD has not gone to the dogs, if this would have been other country like US or EU, WD would have been pulled to court for the same reason but the system of this GOD FORSAKEN COUNTRY where the customer is the dog.

just BRIBE & get away with anything.

Only POLITICIANS in this country seems to have unity, irrespective to with party they belong to, and not common people which can be fooled very very very easily.

FOR ONCE LET BRING THIS COUNTRY UNDER PRESIDENTS RULE.
 
and I thought their service had become really awesome after they tied up with FedEX for pickups and delivery . I applied for RMA , pick up happened in 2 days and I received the replacements in just 2 more days. Complete RMA done in just 4 days .

Location : Navi mumbai

At times the local FedEx guy wont do pick up at all until it shows up on their logs , in such cases it is best to visit local FedEx office and hand over the package to them .
 
Never had issue with WD RMA,in my case they always send advanced replacement without receiving faulty drive. Awesome service.
Screen shot of recent RMA
sshot-1.jpg
 
LOL... bit in the rear again.

Guess what? my drive was shipped quickly by WD.. it arrives in Mumbai.... & is now stuck with FEDEX because apparently... WD didn't include the correct "documentation" . There's some problem with clearing the drive.. because FEDEX says they need some documentation/invoice details etc specifying this drive was a replacement and not a new sale piece etc.

i was like WTF! literally stunned! I told FEDEX and WD.. this is not the 1st time that they're handling shipments from WD! FFS! they had a bulk logistics agreement in place and this was a regular activity for them, still this had to happen?? JESUS CHRIST!
 
Guys, apparently Flextronics have screwed up a lot of shipments lately by shipping the drives on AWB's without attached Invoice copies for value declarations @ octroi checks into Mumbai. Apparently a lot of consignments are pending delivery with FEDEX in Mumbai because the invoices have been bundled off and sent separately to the various branches instead of accompanying the HDD shipments (weirdly)!

A lot of HDD's are lying with FEDEX in Andheri
 
I faced the same problem (no pick up) screamed a little at RMA, got a call back and promised the same as above, Pick up is on monday, so lets see what happens

No one turned up, called and screamed again today morning, They said they will set up an advanced replacement, a courier will come with the replacement, and I have to hand over the old drive to him.

Lets see
 
I finally got my drive today.. but only after calling 4 different people in FEDEX and some intervention from their seniors in Bangalore. Crazy experience!
 
Mumbai people can drop their HDD for RMA without packing to the following address

F1 Services
13, Kala Bhavan, 3rd Floor,
3, Mathew Road
Opera House,
Mumbai – 400004
Tel: 022-43119700

they will check the HDD physically and then send it for RMA

I submitted mine on 29/1/13 at 4pm & got the new one by Fedex on 31/1/13 at 11.00am
 
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