In mid-July 2009, I purchased a Verbatim 500g desktop drive from an office supply store (needed one quickly). It came with a three year warranty. In early December 2009, it failed (it wouldn't power up). I emailed Verbatim TS and requested an RMA #. After a couple of exchanges, I got the RMA # and returned it (shipping on Dec 20th). It arrived to them on Dec 30th and they shipped a replacement on Dec 31st, arriving Jan 8th.
Nothing unusual or strange in any of that. The first issue was CS. When I hadn't heard anything (prior to receiving the replacement drive), I attempted to contact them via email and then phone. I got receipt confirmation emails but no responses. I called the number they provided in their email but it was always fast busy. So I dug out the 800# and called them. The person answering the phone was clearly located in ***. They were polite and apologized for the lack of response and said the replacement had been shipped and they would send me the tracking number which they did.
When the replacement unit came in, it was DOA (wouldn't power up). I emailed back but got no response. So on Monday of this week (it is now Thursday), I called and spoke with a woman in TS. She said they would immediately ship me another unit with a return label for the DOA unit. I was told I would get a call and email within 24 hours. On Tuesday afternoon, no call or email. So I called again. This time, I get a man (from the same geography) who reviews the case and said that the supervisor would contact me within 24 hours to resolve the issue. When I questioned his "guarantee" he assured me it would happen. He said the supervisor had been in meetings and just hadn't gotten around to it yet.
Well, I was out of town on Wednesday and, you guessed it, no call or email. So I called this morning (Thursday) and spoke with the same TS man from Tuesday. He had me on hold and finally transferred me to the supervisor. The supervisor told me that the case had never been escalated to him and that he was unaware of it but that he would arrange for a replacement drive (and return label) to be issued. I asked him if I had been lied to by the first two TS people and he said it appeared so. I asked for his name and got his first but he refused to give his last. I asked for a phone number for him and he told me to call the 800#. Finally, I asked for the name of a person (and phone number) for the Verbatim US headquarters in NC. He said they were not allowed to give that information out. He apologized and said he would personally call me back with the shipping information.
I decided to track down someone at Verbatim's US offices in NC. On the Verbatim website, there is no number for the corporate office. I used yellowpages.com and found it. I called the number and couldn't find a CS department. I tried one of the departments listed and eventually got to the operator who answered as "security." I explained what I wanted and was told to hold. I was transferred to a number, which went to a voice mail (no name for the voice). I left a terse message.
A couple of hours later, a woman called my number and left a message (we were out) saying that my message had been passed on to the VP of Marketing who should be getting in touch. About 30 minutes ago, I got an email from the VP saying he was launching an internal review to see how they could improve and that he was sending out a replacement drive with a return label for the DOA unit. I emailed back and offered to explain the details so he had information to use in his investigation (no response yet).
I'm suggesting that one, consider whether they want to invest in a Verbatim unit, not because of the potential for failure (everything fails at some point) but because the CS side is so poor. Did writing this help me feel better? Yes, a bit. I certainly hope no on else has the opportunity to go through this type of event and thus, suggest there may be better alternatives for external drives.
