# Help !!! Duplicate WD Black Internal HDD ??



## bhavikv9488 (Jan 28, 2013)

Hi Guys,

I got a new WD Black 1TB Internal hard Drive from Lamington Road, Mumbai. As my Seagate HDD was crashed and i had read many neagtive reviews for the Seagate drives, i planned to go for WD Black Drive which has a higher warrant/support period. 

When i was buying the HDD, i asked the store guy what is the period of the warranty applicable for this drive (as i had read it online that it has a 5-year warranty), but he responded that its only 1 year. Thinking that he may not be knowing the details, i got it. 

Also, he informed me that in case if you face any issues with the HDD return it to me and i will replace it within a day and do not go to the WD SC as it would take minimum of 10 days. After listening to all this it brought a huge suspicion in my mind but the only thing that made me get that HDD was the price. I got it for 4500 which was marginally lower than the market price.

Now that suspicion kept on growing in my mind while returning back home, i immediately went to the WD website and tried to see the product registration and the warranty status of the Drive. Was not surprised to see that the Serial number was invalid. Also later i found that the model number WD1000AKDS model does not exists on the whole website.

I googled the result for the Model no. and I found just one result of a guy who had faced the same issue of duplicate HDD.

I am in worry now as to what step i should take. I have raised a case with WD to find the genuinity of the product ( which i am sure that it isnt for which they would not be of much help) and waiting for their response. I have not yet called up the store guy just to await for WD's response.

Guys please help out what should I do ahead ??


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## Myth (Jan 28, 2013)

The low price and warranty for a 1tb wd black should have alerted you in the beginnning.

It could also be a second hand product. Ask him to take it back and give you a new original one. 

Or else wait till someone with experience in similar matters suggests a working solution to this problem.


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## saswat23 (Jan 28, 2013)

Is that shop not a reputed one? 
And as he has agreed to provide you a replacement, so obvoiously he has plenty of such drives. 

Did he give you an invoice for this?


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## mohityadavx (Jan 28, 2013)

If you are willing to take the effort you could get a refund by a consumer complaint or not even that first send him a letter which in the end says that if you he does not resolve the issue you may take a legal recourse within 15 days

This gets it done most of the time


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## bhavikv9488 (Jan 28, 2013)

Myth said:


> The low price and warranty for a 1tb wd black should have alerted you in the beginnning.
> 
> It could also be a second hand product. Ask him to take it back and give you a new original one.
> 
> Or else wait till someone with experience in similar matters suggests a working solution to this problem.




It did alert me but yesterday being sunday, many shops were all closed and I being a working guy only get sunday's to get it.

The product is sealed in a Antistatic plastic bag which I have not yet opened.




saswat23 said:


> Is that shop not a reputed one?
> And as he has agreed to provide you a replacement, so obvoiously he has plenty of such drives.
> 
> Did he give you an invoice for this?



No, store doesn't seemed to be one. Price and availability just tempted me. I should have also checked the Model number online before going which would helped while buying, My Bad 

And yes he did had many of those drives. 

Yes, I do have a proper printed Invoice for the same.



mohityadavx said:


> If you are willing to take the effort you could get a refund by a consumer complaint or not even that first send him a letter which in the end says that if you he does not resolve the issue you may take a legal recourse within 15 days
> 
> This gets it done most of the time



Yes I would definitely want to do that once I get the Drive/Cash back. Would not hesitate to go the Hard way.


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## Godoftheforbiddenlight (Jan 28, 2013)

bhavikv9488 said:


> Hi Guys,
> 
> I got a new WD Black 1TB Internal hard Drive from Lamington Road, Mumbai. As my Seagate HDD was crashed and i had read many neagtive reviews for the Seagate drives, i planned to go for WD Black Drive which has a higher warrant/support period.
> 
> ...




if you have the invoice then keep it......ask your friend to go and buy the same drive from the same store and record the whole thing....its a sting operation kinda thing after that inform wd about it and ask them for an email stating that the product you have is a duplicate and its a form of piracy then show it to the shopkeeper take back your money at the same time lodge an fir with the local police and take a video of that aswell then upload everything on youtube ans just share


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## bhavikv9488 (Jan 28, 2013)

Godoftheforbiddenlight said:


> if you have the invoice then keep it......ask your friend to go and buy the same drive from the same store and record the whole thing....its a sting operation kinda thing after that inform wd about it and ask them for an email stating that the product you have is a duplicate and its a form of piracy then show it to the shopkeeper take back your money at the same time lodge an fir with the local police and take a video of that aswell then upload everything on youtube ans just share



Yes for that I am awaiting response from WD as I have already raised a complaint with them, lets see how serious they are with the issue and what action would they take from their side.

If not i'll have to do something like what you just stated.


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## Zangetsu (Jan 28, 2013)

Godoftheforbiddenlight said:


> if you have the invoice then keep it......*ask your friend to go and buy the same drive from the same store and record the whole thing....its a sting operation kinda thing* after that inform wd about it and ask them for an email stating that the product you have is a duplicate and its a form of piracy then show it to the shopkeeper take back your money at the same time lodge an fir with the local police and take a video of that aswell then upload everything on youtube ans just share


Not recommended..

@ bhavikv9488: keep the invoice and wait for WD to confirm..then take the printout of WD's response go to the shopkeeper ask for a refund.
if any problem occurs lodge a comlpaint/FIR there in LT Road Police station


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## d6bmg (Jan 29, 2013)

Scan the invoice and post the issue in WD forum with the scanned copy.


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## bhavikv9488 (Jan 29, 2013)

d6bmg said:


> Scan the invoice and post the issue in WD forum with the scanned copy.




Now here's another thing to notice, I checked the Invoice which he gave me and I found he has just mentioned "1TB Hard Disk - 1 Unit - 1 year Warranty".

There is no mention of the company or the product description on the invoice which can help me to fight against him.

Today I just spoke to the store guy on call and have asked him to register my Hard Disk for me on the company website. He said he would try to do that for me and would call back. 

Just trying the peaceful way to get it done.


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## Zangetsu (Jan 29, 2013)

@bhavikv9488: did u check the HDD on your desktop?


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## bhavikv9488 (Jan 29, 2013)

No, I haven't connected yet.

This is the the label on the Hard Disk, I have not yet opened it.


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## tkin (Jan 29, 2013)

^^ There's a spelling mistake, 'limils'


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## image (Jan 29, 2013)

bhavikv9488 said:


> No, I haven't connected yet.
> 
> This is the the label on the Hard Disk, I have not yet opened it.
> 
> View attachment 8689



It appears to be 100% duplicate.

Email all the details (as mentioned on their facebook page), to wdsocial@gmail.com

If WD want, this dealer can even be arrested.


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## bhavikv9488 (Jan 29, 2013)

tkin said:


> ^^ There's a spelling mistake, 'limils'



Ya, also there has to be a mention of 6gbps as the Black series is one.

Darn, what made me not check all this before buying it. 

Badly regretting.



image said:


> It appears to be 100% duplicate.
> 
> Email all the details (as mentioned on their facebook page), to wdsocial@gmail.com
> 
> If WD want, this dealer can even be arrested.




I have already sent a mail to wdsocial@gmail.com with the details and also raised a case with WD support.

Strangely No reply yet from their end.


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## tkin (Jan 29, 2013)

*I made a comparison, you might want to forward this to WD as well:*
*i.imgur.com/AGbBXcO.jpg


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## bhavikv9488 (Jan 29, 2013)

tkin said:


> *I made a comparison, you might want to forward this to WD as well:*



@tkin - You have just given me the ammo !! Something i was just luking around on google, the original packing/label.


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## tkin (Jan 29, 2013)

bhavikv9488 said:


> @tkin - You have just given me the ammo !! Something i was just luking around on google, the original packing/label.


Happy to help, do report how this turns out, microsoft has a policy that if you buy a fake software unknowingly they give you a genuine software if you provide them with the details of the transaction. Lets see WD's game.


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## coderunknown (Jan 29, 2013)

AFAIK, even OEM HDD carry warranty or at least will show up if you check for warranty online. This looks like a WD Blue/Green or some other HDD with a WD Black label.


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## rayfire (Jan 29, 2013)

Dont regret it, u are helping others. me to 
this is something we all just dont look at, ppl sh learn.


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## tkin (Jan 29, 2013)

Sam said:


> AFAIK, even OEM HDD carry warranty or at least will show up if you check for warranty online. This looks like a WD Blue/Green or some other HDD with a WD Black label.


Also another possibility, these could be end of life wd hdds out of warranty(over 5 yrs old), someone bought the lot and then rebadged it, could be 3/4 gens prior drives, like the ones with 8MB cache etc.

If I had money to spare I'd buy this unit, it intrigues me, can't wait to test it and take it apart  



rayfire said:


> Dont regret it, u are helping others. me to
> this is something we all just dont look at, ppl sh learn.


Yeah, next time I go to buy a drive I'd inspect the damn label with a magnifying glass.


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## bhavikv9488 (Jan 30, 2013)

tkin said:


> Happy to help, do report how this turns out, microsoft has a policy that if you buy a fake software unknowingly they give you a genuine software if you provide them with the details of the transaction. Lets see WD's game.



Even I am expecting some response from them, its been 2 days now. 



rayfire said:


> Dont regret it, u are helping others. me to
> this is something we all just dont look at, ppl sh learn.



That was also the reason to post it on TDF as I wanted to know how should I approach to teach these dealers a lesson and also others to know about this products.

We all know that there are such products in the market and there are also people who unknowingly buy them. Its really difficult to identify them when such products you dont buy that often. 

I had a person along with me who was just a commonly found so called "engineer" by many people here who assembles PC also got the same drive for some one. Poor customer wouldn't even come to know whats there in his PC.



tkin said:


> Also another possibility, these could be end of life wd hdds out of warranty(over 5 yrs old), someone bought the lot and then rebadged it, could be 3/4 gens prior drives, like the ones with 8MB cache etc.
> 
> If I had money to spare I'd buy this unit, it intrigues me, can't wait to test it and take it apart
> 
> ...



I wouldn't have come to know about it if I had not try to register the product on the website, since the main reason to go for WD black was the warranty covered.

AFAIK, No other company provides 5-year warranty for the product.


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## Zangetsu (Jan 30, 2013)

1st there was piracy of softwares/games & now a days fake tech devices....
u will get everything fake from micro SD card to pendrive,mobiles everything fake 
but if people have some knowledge about the product they can make out which is fake/original...


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## tkin (Jan 30, 2013)

Zangetsu said:


> 1st there was piracy of softwares/games & now a days fake tech devices....
> u will get everything fake from micro SD card to pendrive,mobiles everything fake
> *but if people have some knowledge about the product they can make out which is fake/original..*.


Did you see the drive? Its a bloody good fake, its so damn good that recently a bunch of such drives were released in the UK and got circulated through official channels, its virtually impossible to make a comparison, unless you carry a sample pic of hdd label in your phone.


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## Zangetsu (Jan 30, 2013)

tkin said:


> Did you see the drive? Its a bloody good fake, its so damn good that recently a bunch of such drives were released in the UK and got circulated through official channels, its virtually impossible to make a comparison, unless you carry a sample pic of hdd label in your phone.


I agree but if you are buying from XYZ (of which u have no history how it sells product) than a step of caution needs to be there
otherwise if u buy from a very good reputed shop (popular one) then there is no way u'll get a fake product.and there are excellent shops in LT Road.



bhavikv9488 said:


> When i was buying the HDD, i asked the store guy what is the period of the warranty applicable for this drive *(as i had read it online that it has a 5-year warranty), but he responded that its only 1 year.* Thinking that he may not be knowing the details, i got it.
> 
> Also, *he informed me that in case if you face any issues with the HDD return it to me and i will replace it within a day and do not go to the WD SC as it would take minimum of 10 days.* After listening to all this it brought a huge suspicion in my mind but the only thing that made me get that HDD was the price. I got it for 4500 which was marginally lower than the market price.



the two points itself shows that there is something fishy


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## tkin (Jan 30, 2013)

Zangetsu said:


> I agree but if you are buying from XYZ (of which u have no history how it sells product) than a step of caution needs to be there
> otherwise if u buy from a very good reputed shop (popular one) then there is no way u'll get a fake product.and there are excellent shops in LT Road.
> 
> 
> ...


Yeah, best thing to do then, note the serial no. and model no, check wd site right there(from a cyber cafe if needed) for genuineness.


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## d6bmg (Jan 30, 2013)

bhavikv9488 said:


> Now here's another thing to notice, I checked the Invoice which he gave me and I found he has just mentioned "1TB Hard Disk - 1 Unit - 1 year Warranty".
> 
> There is no mention of the company or the product description on the invoice which can help me to fight against him.
> 
> ...



Although this is a fraud case (of the shop), but you are to blame for it.
Why did you buy that drive when you were getting at a 1K lower than normal price?? Didn't the fact ever crossed your mind that "why they are giving me this drive at 1K lower price?"


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## tkin (Jan 30, 2013)

d6bmg said:


> Although this is a fraud case (of the shop), but you are to blame for it.
> Why did you buy that drive when you were getting at a 1K lower than normal price?? Didn't the fact ever crossed your mind that "why they are giving me this drive at 1K lower price?"


Its not his fault, sometimes shopkeepers are keen on cleaning stocks and also sometimes they don't know prices, ask Cilus, he got a 1TB WD USB 3.0 drive for 4.5k a long time back(peak of hdd crisis when 1TB retailed for over 6k), also he got a Megalodon for 7k as the store was keen on cleaning stocks, if he bought it for 3k I'd say its his fault, but not as he paid a lot, even in chandni sometimes vedant quotes 400-700/- less than MD.

Good thing is that he has bill, if WD confirms its a fake then he can contact customer grievance cell or even threaten the shopkeeper that he will go to police to get a refund.


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## The Sorcerer (Jan 30, 2013)

Well I created a thread in this section to address WD Black issues this morning but it needs to be authorized by the mods for being put up in public and its still not up :-/

This goes to the OP:
#1. Does you have the bill? If so, do forward it to me without removing the serial number. If you have the picture of the actual product- even better. Do send that to me as well.
#2. What is the store's name?

There has also been an issue in TE where someone bought a WD Black series SATA 6Gbps with 2 years of warranty period. The store claimed that there are 2 versions of Black: 1 with 2 and another with 5 where it costs 1k more. He even said that it is confirmed by WD. I asked WD, forwarded the bill and they said bullshit (not directly) and was going to put 5 years warranty on the serial number. But sadly this guy out of impatience spent 1k more and got 1TB Black 3Gbps. I could have posted in TE, but my account was locked and before that no comments could have been posted freely without moderator's approval. 

Nevertheless WD is trying to be in touch with the guy and trying to find how are WD Black are circling around with 2 years warranty issue as all blacks are with 5 years warranty period- no ifs and no buts. 
-
But this is a more serious issue and if you have the proper bill with you and the picture of the drive, forward it to me.


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## tkin (Jan 30, 2013)

The Sorcerer said:


> Well I created a thread in this section to address WD Black issues this morning but it needs to be authorized by the mods for being put up in public and its still not up :-/
> 
> This goes to the OP:
> #1. Does he have the bill? If so, do forward it to me without removing the serial number. If you have the picture of the actual product- even better. Do send that to me as well.
> #2. What is the store's name?


Pic of the product is here sorcy:
*www.thinkdigit.com/forum/pc-compon...licate-wd-black-internal-hdd.html#post1830687

And I made a comparison: *www.thinkdigit.com/forum/pc-compon...licate-wd-black-internal-hdd.html#post1830771


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## The Sorcerer (Jan 30, 2013)

@tkin: I need it with the serial number and the bill copy. That's why I am asking him to send it via PM/email. But if its not a proper bill, things might be bit difficult, but lets see if something can be done.


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## tkin (Jan 30, 2013)

The Sorcerer said:


> ^^ I need it with the serial number and the bill copy. That's why I am asking him to send it via PM/email. But if its not a proper bill, things might be bit difficult, but lets see if something can be done.


I just PM'ed him the details to contact you, hopefully he will respond.


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## d6bmg (Jan 31, 2013)

tkin said:


> Its not his fault, sometimes shopkeepers are keen on cleaning stocks and also sometimes they don't know prices, ask Cilus, he got a 1TB WD USB 3.0 drive for 4.5k a long time back(peak of hdd crisis when 1TB retailed for over 6k), also he got a Megalodon for 7k as the store was keen on cleaning stocks,



Those are totally different scenario as he have bought all of them, from very reputed store(s) and those stores won't do this kind of silly things to make a very small amount of profit.


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## The Sorcerer (Feb 7, 2013)

@bhavik: No replies?

*bump*


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