Re: What do I get from my HDD warranty claim?

Question

I can see lots of posts with the same problem I had and lots of talk of invoking warranty but I can't find anyone explaining the pitfalls of doing this - unlike most forums the search function only seems to check titles not content (?)
I ask because I recently had my warranty claim accepted - but the lack of information is absolutely breathtaking.
Hope you can help - there's nowhere else to turn ^$^
*This is the problem:*
I got no email communication after the acceptance with a case ref.
The case ref led me to a case document containing nothing except what I told them - even if I added my email to the search.
The first time the doc came up it had a high-toll phone number in it - I didn't note it because I was hoping for some emails - the number has now disappeared.
I checked daily and found no more information - at some point I stopped adding my email to the search - I now find this was a mistake - a mailing label has now appeared - WITH NO INFORMATION WHATSOEVER.
I desperately need to know if they are going to fix my Canvio 2GB or not. A replacement is no use to me - I'd rather cut the damn thing apart and try to get at the disk directly myself.
This is critical - it's not a toaster or a TV etc. it's really sold as a safe. If you buy a metal safe and it goes wrong the manufacturers will get it open by hook or crook and give you back your precious documents, manuscripts, family photos etc. (even if you have copies elsewhere) - they won't trash the thing and send you an empty one in exchange!
This is the only place to turn that might work (presumably because it costs Toshiba nothing).
Thanks.
^$^ The Toshiba site is useless - most of the relevant links don't work, most of the ones that do take you round in circles, there is NO contact address or phone line unless you want to talk to the Press team (of course). It is a shambles - an amateur one at that.

Answer 1

Hi Dr Lamp,
I replied to you first but the forum software chose to overwrite it with my reply to Francesco_1 (pretty amateurish coding) - fortunately I'd kept a copy (on a disk not made by Toshiba).
Thanks for replying. You are right about the issues but I still need Toshiba to provide a proper contact point.
I have not contacted the UK service because that is not the team that is handling my case - the guys involved are in Regensburg (they of the disappearing telephone number) - it's pretty obvious from the UK service page that money not warranties are involved with their input.
I do have the original Warranty document but responsibility for the data integrity is specifically excluded - it even cheekily says "you are responsible for backing up data" - in what? Another Canvio that is equally unreliable perhaps? Should I have two more to back up the first two? and so ad infinitum?
It seems more positive where it does say it "covers the parts and labour required to restore your disk to full working order. Toshiba will at its option, repair or replace any defective ... parts".
However in legal terms this does NOT mean they are committing to any efforts AT ALL to retain the data in usable form - it allows them to make the decision that suits them - if it takes them 2 minutes to fix such problems then they would probably rather spend 1 minute reformatting it.
Companies will always take the quickest, simplest and shortest route to fulfilling their legal obligations...If the process of restoring 99% of the data means the disk is only 99% in full working order they would almost certainly just format it.
As it happens there is a strong possibility that the USB to Serial interface only needs replacing - the disk itself might be fine.. but I'm not sending it anywhere without some assurance that they will make reasonable efforts to retain data.
Since (like a safe) you wouldn't buy it unless the data was worth 10-100 times the cost of the hardware - it follows that the warranty is at least 90% useless - at least unless they are prepared to give some more information.
I would like to suggest they have a go but return it to me if they fail so I can rip the thing apart and access the serial interface directly - *but there is no contact point!*
Regards.