Can't say, I never bought a Verbatim model, but bear in mind that Verbatim do not actually make hard drives, they only make the enclosure, fit a drive supplied by one of the major drive manufacturer's, then stick their own name on the outside.
So comparing Verbatim external hard drives with WD ones is not really valid as Verbatim ones may have a WD or Seagate hard drive inside them (or some other brand).