I order things on eBay all the time. I take my chances with "Mystery boxes" and "AS-IS" items, etc.
This item I purchased was a BRAND NEW HARD DRIVE. Never opened, never used, etc.
I get the hard drive to put into my laptop, I install Windows on it and use it. Fine, right? Only for the first day or two.
Every time I booted up my laptop after that, I'd get errors saying "Hard Drive Status: BAD Backup and REPLACE". It would eventually get into Windows, and the error would pop up saying "THIS DRIVE WILL FAIL SOON, BACK UP DATA NOW" or something to that effect.
On the listing it states:
This is a brand new IDE 60gb laptop hard drive from IBM/HITACHI that carries a full 30 day warranty from IBM/HITACHI. It is a Hitachi travelstar 9mm/slimline type and fits in all laptops that will accept a hard drive. 4200 RPM/16 Heads. Packaged new from IBM/HITACHI. Model number: HTS51060G9AT00. This can also go under IBM ATA/IDE part number: 0A25827.
UNITED STATES SALES ONLY!!!!!!!! NO EXCEPTIONS!
NO SHIPPING TO P.O BOXES, HAWAII, CANADA,OR PUERTO RICO. WE SHIP USING UPS-GROUND ONLY.
ALL OUR PRODUCT IS PACKAGED VERY WELL.
NO CONSOLIDATED SHIPPING EXPENSE, ALL ITEMS ARE $9.50 EACH NO MATTER HOW MANY SOLD.
PAYPAL AND MONEY ORDERS ACCEPTED. PLEASE NO PERSONAL CHECKS. ALL ITEMS SOLD COST $9.50 PER ITEM FOR SHIPPING NO MATTER HOW MANY ITEMS WON. NO EXCEPTIONS!
RETURNS ACCEPTED WITH ORIGINAL PACKAGING WITHIN 30 DAYS FOR EXCHANGE.
THANKS AND GOOD LUCK!!
***PLEASE CHECK YOUR CONNECTORS! THIS IS AN IDE.***
So I go to the Hitachi website for the warranty (It says Hitachi on the drive itself, why it says IBM in the listing is a mystery.) and I put in the serial and stuff to check the warranty. There is none. It expired in 2004.
I email the seller and he tells me "Oh No problem, just send the drive back to me and I will refund your shipping and give you a new drive."
I send it back, and get a new drive two days later. He still hasn't refunded my shipping, but it was $5 and I wasn't too concerned about that at the moment. I wanted to see if this hard drive worked.
This one lasted a bit longer than the other one, but still produced the same error. I've decided enough is enough, I do not wish to wait for another hard drive, hoping that it works. I email the seller asking what my options are. He tells me I can mail him the hard drive and he will refund my shipping for both times + give me my money back for the purchase. Great! I'll do that.
I sent out the hard drive last week. I'm sitting here waiting for a refund. What happened yesterday? I got a package. Another hard drive. No way. Why was I getting this? I CLEARLY asked for a refund in the email, and on the PayPal Complaint I filed. (On PayPal it also stated that if I send my hard drive back to the seller they would refund my account.)
I email him today, and get this response:
I will take care of this on monday pls send the board back and I will give
you a refund for that as well.
WHAT?!? How am I supposed to make time for this now? I've already left work early to mail the other two! (I work 8-7pm M-F and can't make it to the post office during business hours) We already left each other positive feedback, so leaving him a negative isn't an option. The PayPal complaint is filed, we'll see how that goes.
I just hate how I can buy something brand new and both times it was defective.
What a deceptive seller!