Costco & Seagate Terrible Combination Together, They Market WELL KNOWN FAULTY products. The only support they offer for this product is an additional $300.00 CHARGE... What a RIPP-OFF! Internet

Your accusations are ridiculous. Blame Seagate, sure, they are the manufacturers of the product. Blame Costco, why? Because they sold you a product that failed after a short time? If that was the case, do you not think almost every retail store out there would have multiple lawsuits against them for products they sold that failed?

I find it extremely laughable at some of these cases posted on this site. Someone blaming Costco for dog food that made their dog die, someone blaming costco for a tv that died 1 week after warranty, someone blaming costco for a hard drive failure, and the hard drive company is "scamming" people, by selling a product they know is faulty, and the only way to recover their data is to charge them $300 for it? Here is a news flash.... most hard drive failures are unrecoverable, so i doubt Seagate makes a whole lot off of that.

Let me ask you something, Have you ever bought a new car? Why dont you go screaming to the dealership that sold you a new car and after a year you find out the car needs new brakes, because the brakes that are put on new cars are not meant to last more than a few years! Oh but the dealership didnt make the car, they only sold it to you, but still they are scammers, right?!

To me it sounds like you have never had a product fail on you before, and miraculously your product has lasted the entire lifetime that you have owned it!

You cannot blame the store that sold you the product, unless the store is not honoring some kind of agreement, whether it be a warranty that comes with the product, or a warranty purchased in addition to, which in this case, does not sound like it. Plus if you read the little warranty pamphlet that comes with your hard drive, you will see in there that they do not guarantee any of your data. they will only guarantee your drive, and yes, if you try to recover your data, it will void the warranty. A lot of computer related products do not let you open the product without it voiding some kind of warranty. BTW, $300 is fairly cheap for data recovery, especially since they only keep it if they recover something... 

So again, please tell me how Costco is to blame for this? Are they to blame for all products they sell? They sell numerous unhealthy products, like candy bars, and other processed sugary foods. So when you get diabetes from eating a box of candy bars, does that make Costco scammers for selling it? "Mars, Inc are scammers cause they sold me a product they knew would make me fat and get diabetes, so why is Costco selling it!"

give me a break....

If your data was that sensitive and confidential, as a computer user, you should know to always keep multiple backups.  

Here is some reading material for you. 4th paragraph down. "What does our warranty not cover"
http://www.seagate.com/support/warranty-and-replacements/limited-consumer-warranty/

   This guy just wanted someplace to vent because he was angry that his hard drive died.   It's clear from his follow ups that there was no ripoff.  Just a product that failed while under warranty.   It happens.  

   In this case he just seems to be taking it as a personal affront.   It is typical that someone with a "ME" centric outlook would think that Seagate and Costco were conspiring against him in an effort to sell defective hard drives that they would have to immediately replace.  Sure, that makes a lot of sense :-)

" What I expect Coscto as well as Seagate to do is sell honorably, reputable products. Not ones that are WELL known to FAIL with a months time of use. "

   OP, I went hard drive shopping recently too.   If you can name me a model that does not have a lot of complaints on the web, I would love to know what it is.    If you really do your research, you'll find that all brands and models of these USB drives have issues.  That's why I recommended you buy two of them. 

If you are going to write a RipOff report then have the guts to stick to your claims if you think you are right. If you realize you are wrong..just admit it and move on.  But when you post things that conflict with each other it destroys what ever credibility you may have had.

In your original report you stated...
The data could not be recovered and now I have lost more than 400GW of my client information. How costly and embarrassing this has been for my company.
But you later said...
Even though I told you that I have my data, you still keep mentioning the same thing which has nothing to do with again,

So which is it?  Did you lie in your original report to try and make your claims better, or did you lie in your updates trying to "save face" realizing that you were just plain stupid to not keep backups?

I never said they didn't stand behind their BOGUS warranty, I said the product sucks as well as their/your customer service. Further, that the whole thing is a SCAM! SCAM! SCAM!
-  You call them up they send you a cable..unfortunately that did not work.  Then they say they will send you a new drive.  Yep, what a horrible scam for a company to actually stand behind their warranty, what is the world coming to.  Oh wait the "scam" in the beginning was that they wanted to charge you for data recovery.  Why would that even matter..remember you already had the data...or did you?

Back to your original post for one other of your comments...
Costco also has a 3 strike rule with their suppliers. Anything that goes wrong and strike 3 your out... be it sipping shortage, late shipment, warranty issues, product performance, etc.
- Can you please point us to where this 3 Strikes Rule is posted?  I would understand such as shipping shortages or late shipments.  But if your "product performance" is supposed to include a 0 percent failure rate, they would have no suppliers at all.  After all if they sell 5000 of these Hard Drives throughout the US and you are saying if 4 fail they are out..that is totally unrealistic.  That is why there are warranties..which by the way Seagate stood behind.

Oh and if you actually looked around this site you would realize that accusing someone that they are an employee is SOP on this site when a poster disagrees with what is said.  This is generally done when the OP has nothing to defend their actions so they start throwing out what ever they can to try and discredit the (often very valid) comments.  Oh and if you haven't figured it out I am not an employee of either Seagate or Costco

What is bogus about their warranty?

Your hard drive failed within the warranty period. The manufacturer replaced your hard drive. They fulfilled the contract they have with you. You didnt lose any data because you say you had it all backed up. Where is the ripoff here? The Seagate/Costco did what they said they would do and fixed your drive.

Also, if you think anyone here is working for seagate or costco you are insane.

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Ha Ha Ha!... You guys are ridiculously funny and obviously representatives of Costco/Seagate. It is a trip how personal you take this... much more than I have, I am laughing out loud!. What do you do all day? attach yourself to someone elses issue and follow it? seriously, GET A LIFE! nothing you said addresses PRODUCT PERFORMANCE! if you purchased a new car should it go out in a month and you chalk it up to "It's just premature failure!" that's just plain dumb! ha ha ha. the simple fact that you are following this and respond so quickly proves that you are a Costco/Seagate representative(s) hired to rebuttal anyone who voices the SCAM!

I never said they didn't stand behind their BOGUS warranty, I said the product sucks as well as their/your customer service. Further, that the whole thing is a SCAM! SCAM! SCAM!

Even though I told you that I have my data, you still keep mentioning the same thing which has nothing to do with again, addressing PRODUCT PERFORMANCE. You are taking this way too personal, relax a little... but then again, you are just doing your job! "Costco/Seagate representatives" Not bad either! but, definitely not good. Hope you gentlemen give your wives this much personal attention! If so, then you are happily married! It seems to me that you guys REALLY NEED TO GET OVER IT! I did right after I wrote the initial complaint.

I simply want to forewarn others here just as I and many others have in the many blogs and tech boards on the web that also expresses the "SEAGATE SCAM". Hey, good luck finding them, there are so many you really have your work cut-out for you "Costco/Seagate representatives".

You may respond again but i won't see it, like I said I've been over and will not check back when I receive your auto-reply that, still, does nothing to address the POOR PRODUCT PERFORMANCE and SEAGATE SCAM! I already knew you guys wouldn't do anything about it in the first place. However, I will make sure that anyone I know NEVER purchases your products.

GOOD LUCK GENTLEMEN

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"I have lost more than 400GW of my client information... I did not say I do not have my customer information"

"How costly and embarrassing this has been... Embarrassed I am not"

Make up your mind.

"MANY others on the web with the same EXACT problem"

All hard drives eventually fail. Yours failed prematurely. Get over it. You were not scammed because the manufacturer will back the warranty.

you should have simply wiped out the hard drive via a direct connection to you r desktop. this means , you take the thing apart hook it to your motherboard and wipe it out by writing zeros several times. this is currently the only way to assure that the drive is use less outside of putting a nail through it. THEN instead going through seagate. for a claim return for refund to costco. REGARDLESS of what the included papers say about "not returning to place of purchase" some info about hard drives and usb ports.
1. a usb port (2ports) side by side share the power which is a max. of 500ma. at 5 volts . you would have to split the load across two different ports. meaning the can NOT be on the same side.
2. there is not a motherboard made today to handle a desktop drive from a usb port.
3. ALWAYS opt for a drive that utilizes a separate power adapter. REGARDLESS of what the manufacturers says is possible.  reason being as a hdd no matter what size or purpose tends to heat up and draw more power to exceed in many cases more that the usb ports can handle. i have seen some laptop drive(2.5") exceed a draw of 3 amps.  thusly shorting out usb ports.
4. never forget that the power in is in AC current and the power out is DC current.
5. BEST SOLUTION: remove old hdd from pc get one 50% larger set aside a partition for backing important files and your done. or back files to a dvd. almost fool proof.

Obviously you guys simply like to read only what you you want than what is there. Perhaps your responses should have been in form of questions. At least then, you could provide a more educated response.

What I expect Coscto as well as Seagate to do is sell honorably, reputable products. Not ones that are WELL known to FAIL with a months time of use. Why don't you two do your homework and find MANY others on the web with the same EXACT problem.

Nowhere did I say that I expected either one of them to provide free data recovery. My complaint simply states how dissatisfying their product performance as well as customer service is and highlights the well known scam.

I didn't ask for anything free, I only asked for a GOOD, SCAM-LESS PRODUCT, backed by the same customer service.

Embarrassed I am not, I did not say I do not have my customer information. The subject was Costco and a Seagate hard drive. That is where the data was lost I have a Western Digital that is MUCH MUCH more reliable. Further, I keep hard discs and scanned copies as my profession requires this type record keeping.

If your response is not helpful than you shouldn't respond what was your purpose. Now you are both WRONG! Don't you have something else to do? Seriously!actually

Look, personal computers have been around since the early 80s and from the very beginning backups have been a crucial part of owning one.

The concept has been around for 30 years and these days there are MANY very easy methods of backing up whatever needs backing up.  There really is no excuse. If you have crucial data like you are describing you need at least 2 or more copies.  Grandfather, father, son is a time honored method that has been around even longer.

The right thing to do is just admit you screwed up and vow to do better backing up important data in the future.

Hardware and software can, and does, fail, that's a fact of life and it should not create a disaster, just an inconvenience.  Get yourself prepared right now in case it happens again.

   Seagate owes you a replacement drive.  Neither Seagate nor any other manufacturer includes data restoration in their warranty.  

" I have lost more than 400GW of my client information. How costly and embarrassing this has been for my company. "

  You should be embarrased.   It's the 21st century.  Even small business owners know that they have to keep backup copies of important data.  Sadly, your embarrasment has nothing to do with the drive manufacturer.

   External USB hard drives are not known for their reliability (compared to internal drives), particularly the ones that are powered by the USB cable.   I only get about 1.5 years life out of a USB drive, on average.  If you're going to store important data on them, I suggest you buy two and copy the data to both drives.

"I hoped that Coscto would be "Very Willing" to support its customer but I was wrong."

What do you expect Costco to do?

The warranty covers repair or replacement of the hard drive but it does not include data recovery. That is the policy with all hard drive manufacturers. You are responsible for keeping a backup of your own data.

"I have lost more than 400GW of my client information. How costly and embarrassing this has been for my company."

What is GW? The term is gigabyte, known as GB. You should have more than one backup of something as important as client information.

"I know that Costco nor Seagate would take it lightly if the same happened to them."

I'm sure their data is backed up.