I strongly agree Western Digital Customer Suppoer is Diabolical...I have worked in the Industry now for nearly 30 years and have never had dealings with a company whose Customer Support is so bad.
It has been a culture shock having to deal with Western Digital support services over the last few weeks and the high level of incompetence is truly astounding.
I returned 2 faulty drives under RMA's and thats where the problem started.
Both drives were sent by courier and in fact were signed for by Western Digital in Germany on 12 Oct 2009 @ 12.03pm.
I tried using Western Digitals tracking system which is practically useless as its not updated promptly therefore is of no use to customers. It so far out of date that it is beyond belief. RMA's are accompanied by a BarCode detailing each RMA Number therefore its a simple process to scan each RMA receipt on arrival. This would immediately update the RMA Database. I have personal experience with such controls therefore I am astounded that Western Digital cant institute such a basic control system.
I can only assume the SLA has something to do with RMA's being updated approx 10 days after receipt of the actual RMA's. Incorrect Data input give distorted SLA in favour of the companies RMA receipt and turnaround times when in fact WD turn around times are alarmingly atrocious.
Not withstanding the poor RMA controls the Support services by email and telephone are even worse. I sent so many emails to WD Support, perhaps as many as 25, most of which were ignored and never made it onto your their system for some reason. Yet they keep sending me Customer Satisfaction emails to comment on their level of support
Another reason for losing my emails may be that each email i sent requested details of Western Digitals Complaints Procedure. No email was received by me at any time detailing those procedures. Making staff aware of the Complaints Procedure should be pure basics and is always covered in staff training. I am assuming its the same with Western Digital BUT its NOT happening nor are emails being answered compentently. Standard emails are being fired out without even trying to read what the customer has written Where are their internal controls? What's their internal audit teams doing.
I soon got fed up with the emails to Western Digital and the lack of support so I tried to telephoning Western Digital on several occasions. The 0800 Telephone Numbers quoted on the internet do not work.
Eventually I contacted your support staff using an alternative Tel No and have spoken to 3 seperate members of staff. The first being Waldo who promised action...I have seen no evidence of any action and he did not keep me the customer informed of any action taken. The second was Tom. He promised to have a senior member of staff call me to discuss the matter. Again no evidence of any action. In fact I am told he made no record of the call at all. The third was Miguel whome i spoke to at length...21 minutes...he promised to go and find someone for me to talk to...he didnt and when i asked for the Supervisor I was conveniently cut off. Had this not been deliberate, I assume he would have called me back considering he had already asked me for my contact tel no. He did not attempt to call me back.
I spent a further 20 mins waiting on being connected again...and hey presto it was Maguel again. I requested the Supervisor again and finally managed to speak to an apologetic Michael. He as the Supervisor kept apologising. I told him I do not want apologies I want action. I also asked to be able to talk to a Senior member of the Operations Management. The reason being that Western Digital would benefit from some genuine feedback instead of relying on being fed false data on SLA times.
Western Digital appear to have serious issues regarding RMA's, Emails and Customer Support.
Incidentally I am still receiving emails telling me my drives have been received and that the replacements have been shipped. Not at all. The UPS link on the emails does not recognise the RMA details.
This is a shortened version of events and does not do justice to the many hours I have spent trying to communicate with WD. I feel that WD have performed very very badly indeed. I am not saying Western Digital Drives are bad but more that their whole Customer Support setup is bad.