Toshiba refuses to replace large hard drive that was under warranty — company offers refund at the purchase price, not the higher current retail price

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A disappointing move from a major hard drive supplier.

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A Reddit user took to the social media platform to complain about Toshiba, which, they said, refused to honor the warranty on a 20+ TB enterprise hard drive. The documents Tom’s Hardware examined indicate that Toshiba refused the warranty replacement on the grounds of no available stock and a possible wait time of one year for a replacement 24TB model.

According to the r/DataHoarder post, the company where the user worked bought several 20+ TB hard drives a couple of months ago for their storage array. When one of the drives failed, they returned it to Toshiba, only to be told that their only option was a refund at the original purchase price. The company didn’t offer to replace the broken hard drive with a new one from their stock, meaning they’ll have to purchase a new drive at a significantly higher price today.

This is definitely a disappointment for any buyer, especially in the corporate setting, as they don’t often base their purchase decisions solely on price. Instead, they consider reliability, longevity, and the manufacturer's guarantee of support. Refunding an item at its original purchase price makes sense for the company. However, most users feel that the least a PC manufacturer can do is replace it with the same component (or a similar one if it’s no longer available), even if it’s more expensive.

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“I'm guessing they saw dollar signs from the AI bubble and sold off their safety stock or are seeing an unusually high failure rate in those drives,” 615wonky said on their post. “Both reasons to stay far away.”

Other manufacturers are also taking extreme measures as the AI-driven shortage of memory and storage chips is pummeling the PC market. Another Reddit user had an issue with the Silicon Power RAM they bought, being slapped with a 15% depreciation fee for returning defective RAM sticks. This wouldn’t have mattered much if the prices of memory modules stayed flat, but the fact that a pair of 8GB DDR5 RAM sticks now costs more than $200 (compared to less than $55 for pre-shortage prices) means that the money they received from the return isn’t enough for even one 8GB DDR5 memory module.

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Jowi Morales
Jowi Morales
Contributing Writer

Jowi Morales is a tech enthusiast with years of experience working in the industry. He’s been writing with several tech publications since 2021, where he’s been interested in tech hardware and consumer electronics.

42 Comments Comment from the forums
  • Dementoss
    Toshiba seem fair enough to me, I wouldn't want to wait for a year or more, for a replacement and, expecting a refund greater than the price paid is unreasonable.
    Reply
  • mrdoc22
    And that's why you have spares (hdd)
    Reply
  • yngndrw
    Dementoss said:
    Toshiba seem fair enough to me, I wouldn't want to wait for a year or more, for a replacement and, expecting a refund greater than the price paid is unreasonable.
    It's very common to get the next model up as a replacement, when the original is not available.

    Logitech do this all the time, as an example.
    Reply
  • mrdoc22
    yngndrw said:
    It's very common to get the next model up as a replacement, when the original is not available.

    Logitech do this all the time, as an example.
    Yes, but the problem here is that they have sold the production too the highprice, so they don't have some spares for replacement, so it's just cheaper too give the customer money back for the faulty hdd.
    Reply
  • yngndrw
    mrdoc22 said:
    Yes, but the problem here is that they have sold the production too the highprice, so they don't have some spares for replacement, so it's just cheaper too give the customer money back for the faulty hdd.
    And that is Toshiba's problem. The customer should not be inconvenienced because Toshiba's product didn't meet the required durability metrics or due to Toshiba's poor business decisions.

    Therefore the expectation of receiving a suitable replacement product is, in my view, perfectly reasonable.
    Reply
  • Kicapan07
    Being refunded the purchase price seems fair enough to me? You aren't speculating and you're not out of pocket anything. In fact, you get to use a product for an amount of time AND get back the full amount you initially paid.

    If they give you the current retail price, you would be profiting from it so purchase price seems like a fair compromise.

    I am fine with this policy as long as the reverse is also true, meaning if the retail price drops from when you bought it but you are still given the initial money you paid for it (IE in both cases purchase price is what's refunded). People might counter that prices never drop but they actually do in the storage industry, gluts happen all the time due to storage.

    What I am not okay with is if the company will not allow you to choose the purchase price refund option if it is higher than current retail price. Purchase price refund should *always* be an option either party can choose. That also splits the risk equally between company and consumer. I am not okay if that is not true, however I am okay with purchase price refunds.

    "Another Reddit user had an issue with the Silicon Power RAM they bought, being slapped with a 15% depreciation fee for returning defective RAM sticks. This wouldn’t have mattered much if the prices of memory modules stayed flat, but the fact that a pair of 8GB DDR5 RAM sticks now costs more than $200 (compared to less than $55 for pre-shortage prices) means that the money they received from the return isn’t enough for even one 8GB DDR5 memory module."

    This is I agree with the article is unfair, there shouldn't be a depreciation fee at all and that kinda puts an unfair burden . They bought it for a specific fee, they should get back that in full. The market price of the RAM now whether lower or higher is irrelevant, just give back the defective product under warranty and reverse the transaction the consumer initially paid for. I think that is fair for both side but this defective fee shenanigan is not.
    Reply
  • mrdoc22
    yngndrw said:
    And that is Toshiba's problem. The customer should not be inconvenienced because Toshiba's product didn't meet the required durability metrics or due to Toshiba's poor business decisions.

    Therefore the expectation of receiving a suitable replacement product is, in my view, perfectly reasonable.
    Yes, you CAN get a product a suitable replacement product,
    if it's not more expensive else you get the money.
    Reply
  • yngndrw
    mrdoc22 said:
    Yes, you CAN get a product a suitable replacement product,
    if it's not more expensive else you get the money.
    But if the price has gone up due to availability, or increased storage demand from AI, you as a customer are now disadvantaged even though they are offering you the same amount back.

    Your buying power has decreased over the period, due to inflation and the price increases.

    If an insurance company decides to write off your car, the amount they offer you will be enough to buy an equivalent replacement. This is because the value of the written off vehicle depends on what else is avaliable. A long time ago my dad was in this situation and challenged the amount the insurance company offered. The insurance company then demonstrated that they could find an equivalent vehicle and spec for that amount, but they did so by looking at the currently avaliable vehicles.

    Again, in this situation Toshiba guaranteed that their product would meet a specific specification on durability and their product failed to do so. It's on them to make this right, while minimising the inconvenience of the customer.
    Reply
  • mrdoc22
    yngndrw said:
    But if the price has gone up due to availability, or increased storage demand from AI, you as a customer are now disadvantaged even though they are offering you the same amount back.

    Your buying power has decreased over the period, due to inflation and the price increases.

    If an insurance company decides to write off your car, the amount they offer you will be enough to buy an equivalent replacement. This is because the value of the written off vehicle depends on what else is avaliable. A long time ago my dad was in this situation and challenged the amount the insurance company offered. The insurance company then demonstrated that they could find an equivalent vehicle and spec for that amount, but they did so by looking at the currently avaliable vehicles.

    Again, in this situation Toshiba guaranteed that their product would meet a specific specification on durability and their product failed to do so. It's on them to make this right, while minimising the inconvenience of the customer.

    In the garanti periode, It's up to the company, first repair it a couple of times,
    or send a replacement or just pay the money.
    Reply
  • GiinTak
    ... That's exactly what you would expect to happen. Refund of original value, replacement at similar value, or upgrade with consumer bearing the additional cost. This article is nothing but social media whining...
    Reply