Warranty caveats: Toshiba exemplifies reduction of coverage

MacFixIt reader Alen Shapiro describes a noxious case of warranty reduction from a manufacturer of iBook hard drives that resulted in refusal to replace a defective unit.

Alen writes:

"Just got off the phone with Toshiba Warranty support. I have a drive that was a direct replacement by Toshiba of a failed iBook 40Gb 2.5 (model MK4019GAX). The original drive was purchased in August 2003, we're on our 3rd failed drive since that time and would like to get it replaced while we're still in the manufacturer's stated 3 year warranty period. Trouble is, Toshiba claims the drive is not in warranty. Seems they (Toshiba) replaced it last time with a unit that had a manufacture date in 2002 which they say is out of warranty. The original drive, they say, was manufactured Feb 2003 so they won't replace based on that either.

"I called back and was told I must speak with Corporate on 949 583-3000. Turns out Corporate only deal with laptops, hard drive problems are dealt with by the Hard Drive Division 510 651-6798 who do not have their own Customer Relations people. In other words no one is monitoring customer treatment or policy for Toshiba hard drives. I've bounced back between Corporate (949) and Hard Drive (510) five times now trying to get through to some responsible Management or Customer Relations person. [...]

"I've never heard of this kind of policy before and have always gone by purchase date as warranty cut-off. After all, how would I know if the stated manufacture date is accurate or if a manufacturer under warranty-return pressure was trying to cut down on their exposure by inventing some 'convenient' (to them) date? Is this a new standard policy that drives can sit in a manufacturer's warehouse eating up end-user's warranty time? Do we now have to ask the manufacture date when we purchase a drive so we know how much warranty is left? This is absurd and, I believe, indefensible."

If you've experienced a similar failure to honor a warranty based on manufacturing circumstances, please let us know.

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