PrimeABGB - have I been cheated?

[astrono_me]

Hello,

This is not a hardware related help per-se, but about an issue I am facing with a Seagate Exos drive.

Purchased online from PrimeABGB on January 16, 2021. Hard disk arrived via courier to my place in Bangalore a few days later.

The drive was DOA. It wasn't detected by the system and there was a clicking sound coming from the drive. I wrote back to PrimeABGB and they asked me to send an email for RMA.

I sent the first email to rma@primeabgb.com on Jan 21 and there was no response. I sent a follow up email on Jan 25th and there was no response. I called the number given on their website and I got an automated reply saying they aren't taking calls and email is the only way to contact them.

I raised an RMA request on the Seagate website and got an RMA number from Seagate. Before sending the drive back to them, I called Seagate's toll-free number. To my surprise, the agent told me that they will not handle the RMA for this drive because it is an OEM drive. They asked me to contact the vendor.

Now I am stuck. I am unable to get through to PrimeABGB. Seagate is refusing to assist me because it is an OEM drive. (I did not know it was an OEM drive when I purchased it).

Now, I don't know what to do. Can someone offer me suggestions?

Thank you

 

[nRiTeCh]

Ring them directly as OEM drives cannot be sold like this separately. Its a huge shock Prime getting into such practices.

 

[r4hul]

What I will do in this case is that I'll use the Seagate website to actually check the warranty. It will tell you if it is OEM or not. If no oem, ring Seagate again, if OEM then call prime.

 

[Emperor]

Check their FB/Twitter Account and send/post message there

 

[FXGalvatron]

they aren't taking calls and email is the only way to contact them.

Damn. Not taking calls?

 

[astrono_me]

Ring them directly as OEM drives cannot be sold like this separately. Its a huge shock Prime getting into such practices.

They have only one number on their website. 91-22-6740 2000. Right now, that number only has an automated message saying they are not available on phone due to COVID. All queries only handled via email.

What I will do in this case is that I'll use the Seagate website to actually check the warranty. It will tell you if it is OEM or not. If no oem, ring Seagate again, if OEM then call prime.

The Seagate website says the drive is in warranty till 2025. I was even able to generate the RMA on the Seagate website. I am required to ship the defective drive to Chennai. I called up Seagate to confirm if they have a local office where I can drop off the drive and that is when the Seagate agent said that for OEM drives, the customer has to approach the vendor directly.

Check their FB/Twitter Account and send/post message there

Will do that. But I hope the folks reading this on TE also are aware of what they can possibly get into when buying from PrimeABGB.

Damn. Not taking calls?

There is only 1 number on their website and it plays an automated voice message which says they aren't taking calls. They aren't responding to emails either.

 

[letmein]

Dude. I was about to purchase the same drive from them. Had even posted in the hot deals thread.

 

[r4hul]

The Seagate website says the drive is in warranty till 2025. I was even able to generate the RMA on the Seagate website. I am required to ship the defective drive to Chennai. I called up Seagate to confirm if they have a local office where I can drop off the drive and that is when the Seagate agent said that for OEM drives, the customer has to approach the vendor directly.

So the Seagate page confirms that it is not an OEM drive plus you generated RMA. So just go and ship or do whatever to do the rma. You can try to call the Seagate customer care again and tell him/her that the website says otherwise.

 

[nRiTeCh]

Will do that. But I hope the folks reading this on TE also are aware of what they can possibly get into when buying from PrimeABGB.

I always buy all internal hdds by walking physically in a shop.. or have a local meetup for a used deal. I don't trust couriers for the hassles of issues arising and then this case type issues..then chasing from pillar to post and fighting on forums with the seller.

 

[astrono_me]

I always buy all internal hdds by walking physically in a shop.. or have a local meetup for a used deal. I don't trust couriers for the hassles of issues arising and then this case type issues..then chasing from pillar to post and fighting on forums with the seller.

If you know of a local dealer in Bangalore who sells the Seagate Exos drive, please let me know. I asked and no one had it. I am planning to buy another one anyway.

 

[JMP]

If you know of a local dealer in Bangalore who sells the Seagate Exos drive, please let me know. I asked and no one had it. I am planning to buy another one anyway.

May I ask why you are specifically looking for an EXOS drive ?
Is it for home / office use ?

 

[burntwingzZz]

shttps://www.seagate.com/in/en/support/service-centers/

stop lollygagging

directly go to the the service center mentioned above link and start gathering email id`s and all the phone numbers if they dont accept your hard drive ,even if indian email id dont reply back than

in such scenarios what you could do is start mailing US mail id than ask them to provide some asia head email id etc email ids , get your RMA of HDD first

than escalate prime abgb

If i recollect the market sells products in two ways , the OEM officially launches the product in india and supports it , or the seller or one or two importers import it in the market and distribute amongst the shop ,so if you get the product from the second channel you need to go to the shop or actually get hold of the importer or /distributor .

Secondly the normal hard drives at least in India come in those protective plastic bags on which there is an importer sticker/label there you would get details of the importer ,you can also start mailing them

 

[astrono_me]

May I ask why you are specifically looking for an EXOS drive ?
Is it for home / office use ?

Because 12TB Baracudda drives aren't available here. This is for personal use.

shttps://www.seagate.com/in/en/support/service-centers/

stop lollygagging

directly go to the the service center mentioned above link and start gathering email id`s and all the phone numbers if they dont accept your hard drive ,even if indian email id dont reply back than

in such scenarios what you could do is start mailing US mail id than ask them to provide some asia head email id etc email ids , get your RMA of HDD first

than escalate prime abgb

If i recollect the market sells products in two ways , the OEM officially launches the product in india and supports it , or the seller or one or two importers import it in the market and distribute amongst the shop ,so if you get the product from the second channel you need to go to the shop or actually get hold of the importer or /distributor .

Secondly the normal hard drives at least in India come in those protective plastic bags on which there is an importer sticker/label there you would get details of the importer ,you can also start mailing them

Let me pay a visit to Inspirisys Solutions.

​

 

[superczar]

They have only one number on their website. 91-22-6740 2000. Right now, that number only has an automated message saying they are not available on phone due to COVID. All queries only handled via email.


The Seagate website says the drive is in warranty till 2025. I was even able to generate the RMA on the Seagate website. I am required to ship the defective drive to Chennai. I called up Seagate to confirm if they have a local office where I can drop off the drive and that is when the Seagate agent said that for OEM drives, the customer has to approach the vendor directly.


Will do that. But I hope the folks reading this on TE also are aware of what they can possibly get into when buying from PrimeABGB.


There is only 1 number on their website and it plays an automated voice message which says they aren't taking calls. They aren't responding to emails either.

If I were you, I would have shipped the drive out if I was able to generate the RMA .
It would be reasonable to expect Seagate (or their authorized agent) to adhere to their SOP once a RMA is generated rather than relying on what an agent (possibly half trained) said over the phone.

Having said that, it’s unfair to you to have to RMA a DOA items rather than having the seller handle it.
Unfortunately that is the reason why I try and stick to amazon for most orders even if I have to pay a small premium in some cases.
Most traditional Indian businesses, even if well meaning have a tendency to use ad-hoc methods - as evidenced by the lack of email response to your queries.
While such ad-hoc procedures work well 8 out of 10 times, That’s a trap best avoided by the end customer lest they end up being in the unlucky 2 (or 3)

And thanks for sharing your experience - It only reinforces my belief to try avoid any purchases via the B&M house route

 

[atiamd]

And this is why we should buy from Amazon as much as we can. Their 10 day replacement policy is God sent. Even if they charge a slight premium over these sites. Also, in Bangalore, SP road is a much better option. Use primeabgb only if you are in Mumbai, itdepot only if you are in Chennai, mdcomputers if you are in Kolkata etc.

I ordered a case from itdepot to BLR. The guy who delivered was amazingly rude. He put the case on the floor by force in front of ME. Imagine what he would have been doing behind me. Then, the galls on that guy, he asked me for a tip. A TIP.

Now, I only order small little stuff worth less than 2k only from these sellers. e.g. everytime I have ordered a monitor from Amazon, there were backlight bleeding, which were replaced the next day, no questions asked. Has happened twice in the last 3 years. (LG 24 inch )

I have also ordered from SP Road (Ankit Infotech). I use this shop to buy PC components like CPU, graphics cards, motherboards, RAM, PSU, coz they are much cheaper here. What I do is I dunzo them. Or they also arrange like an auto rickshaw delivery, lol. Old school, but works.... Storage devices, monitors, headphones, peripherals always from Amazon. Coz they need most replacements and are not too much more expensive than the local shops. This shop covers DOA only.

I am not very surprised that even PrimeABGB would behave that way, esp. with customers they know will never visit their shop. When I lived in Mumbai 10 years ago and they were not a big name, they were good. I had gotten my graphics cards, CPUs etc. from there, home delivered, no issues ever.

 

[vaibhavyagnik]

Try sending the email to neelima.thokale@primeabgb.com she handled my RMA for Gskill RAM about 3 weeks back. It was a Gskill RAM bought in 2013. My RMA went pretty smoothly!

 

[astrono_me]

If I were you, I would have shipped the drive out if I was able to generate the RMA .
It would be reasonable to expect Seagate (or their authorized agent) to adhere to their SOP once a RMA is generated rather than relying on what an agent (possibly half trained) said over the phone.

Having said that, it’s unfair to you to have to RMA a DOA items rather than having the seller handle it.
Unfortunately that is the reason why I try and stick to amazon for most orders even if I have to pay a small premium in some cases.
Most traditional Indian businesses, even if well meaning have a tendency to use ad-hoc methods - as evidenced by the lack of email response to your queries.
While such ad-hoc procedures work well 8 out of 10 times, That’s a trap best avoided by the end customer lest they end up being in the unlucky 2 (or 3)

And thanks for sharing your experience - It only reinforces my belief to try avoid any purchases via the B&M house route

The drive costs 23k and I wasn't not comfortable sending it to Chennai via courier. I'd stick with Amazon or some reputed for the same reasons as you mentioned. Unfortunately this drive wasn't available with them. And just for the record, PrimeABGB is an authorised dealer of Seagate products as mentioned on the Seagate website. I completely agree that Indian business are nowhere close to even small business from China. I have ordered tons of small items from Aliexpress and have always been satisfied. The seller or AE always made sure I had a resolution, the few times that I have had product or delivery issues.

Try sending the email to neelima.thokale@primeabgb.com she handled my RMA for Gskill RAM about 3 weeks back. It was a Gskill RAM bought in 2013. My RMA went pretty smoothly!

Well, I sent another email to sales@primeabgb.com, this time, linking to this thread. I told them about how their reputation is taking a hit. The sales team copied the RMA team and Neelima. Let's see how this ends.

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Inspirisys Solutions, which handles warranty and service for Seagate, requires customers to create a profile on their website before approaching them. This process is separate from the RMA process on the Seagate website. Unfortunately, the Inspirisys website behaves like it was coded in the 90s. I wasn't able to create a profile using Safari, and when I re-tried on FF it said my account already exists. Never could get to re-register/retrieve password/username after that. Again, this is to let people know the hassles of getting RMA for a DOA item you paid for.

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UPDATE: After I linked this thread in my mail to sales@primeabgb.com last night, THINGS MOVED PRETTY QUICKLY. I got a call from PrimeABGB and they said they are arranging for a pickup.

Thank you everyone who responded! Will report back once I get the replacement.

 

[t3chg33k]

Their RMA department is responsive but it takes some effort to get through. Didn't have a rejection till date. But yeah, the sales ID works the best since they respond to price queries on that.

Still remember going to their shop 15 or so years ago when it was a back alley shop.

 

[SunnyBoi]

UPDATE: After I linked this thread in my mail to sales@primeabgb.com last night, THINGS MOVED PRETTY QUICKLY. I got a call from PrimeABGB and they said they are arranging for a pickup.

It is shameful this is the amount of effort needed for you to get a replacement for a DOA product. I hope you get your replacement soon and put all this behind you.

Have they responded to why Seagate said this was an OEM drive? As far as I understand, you have paid retail price for a retail product. What if the replacement goes bad and Seagate denies you warranty later on?

I'd never give any business whatsoever to PrimeABGB looking at their attitude.

 

[t3chg33k]

This is an Enterprise drive and the RMA channel is a consumer one. I am pretty sure they only deal with retail drives. In fact I remember reading reviews about Exos drives in the past on Amazon and people have been unable to claim warranty from Seagate.

Seagate must have a separate setup for Enterprises but then they expect to deal with the IT department of companies and not individuals.

I had a friend working in an IT department who made purchases from PrimeABGB as a vendor. Probably, they should have a separate portal for Enterprise purchases and not sell them to individuals to avoid such issues.