Mark, TBowl, Robert, all
Here is the most detailed article I've found on the WDC recall. Not that we didn't know this before, but WDC is in deep trouble.
PC makers work to replace
recalled Western drives
By Joe Wilcox
Staff Writer, CNET News.com
September 30, 1999, 4:20 p.m. PT
PC makers are grappling with a customer service nightmare
following the recall of 400,000 hard drives.
Western Digital on Tuesday voluntarily recalled about a half month's
production of Caviar hard drives, its flagship product, manufactured
between August 27 and September 24.
Although the initial problem may be Western Digital's, PC
manufacturers must face the ire of customers and the expense of
replacing affected drives, said analysts.
"It's a problem, because customers don't blame the drive maker, they
point the finger at whose name is on the system," said one PC
manufacturer, who asked not to be identified.
PC makers generally applauded Western Digital for acting before too
many drives made it into customer systems. Privately, the prospect of
replacing potentially defective drives outraged them.
"It puts a heavy burden on [PC manufacturers], because they don't
normally get reimbursed during the warranty period for the cost of
sending someone out to replace the defective part," said Mark Bates,
analyst with PC Data.
Large PC makers such as Compaq Computer and Dell Computer,
which have established
customer service organizations
and the buying muscle to pass
some cost onto Western Digital,
are best suited to handle the
problem.
"But if I'm a small mom-and-pop
shop, I sold 15 systems and I'm
my own service and support.
That obviously puts a much
heavier burden on me," said
Bates.
Western Digital estimates drives
will fail within 6 to 12 months,
potentially stretching out the
support problem and
jeopardizing customer data.
Western Digital discovered the
problem during stress tests that
put the drives through rigorous
and continual use. About ten
percent of the 6.8 GB per platter
drives failed during testing due
to a faulty drive motor chip.
PC manufacturers are dealing
with the problem in a variety of
ways.
Compaq estimates the recall
affects about 4,600 business
PCs manufactured in Scotland
and shipped to Europe and Asia
in September. Faulty drives
went into several thousand Presario consumer PCs as well.
Compaq recommends that users contact customer service if they
suspect they have a faulty drive.
"Given the number of systems we ship during a month, this is really
just a drop in the bucket," said Compaq spokesperson Hedy Baker.
Gateway would not say how many systems are affected, "but it is a
very limited number of U.S. business desktop line customers," said a
spokesperson.
The faulty drives are 6.8 GB and 13.6 GB models running at 5400
revolutions per minute.
Gateway recommends customers go to Western Digital's Web
site and download a utility to test their hard drives. If they find
a drive is faulty, they can call Gateway customer service for
exchange instructions.
Micron is working with Western Digital on a solution for the
few hundred drives sent out.
Dell is contacting customers directly. "Because of our direct
business model, we know exactly where the bad drives are,"
said Dell spokesperson Tad Druart.
Dell will dispatch a service technician to replace faulty drives
with a new one. "If you don't hear from us in a reasonable
amount of time, you can rest assured that you don't have an
affected system," said Druart.
Dell would a not give specific number of systems, other than
to say it is a "couple thousand" Dimension consumer and
OptiPlex business PCs.
Apple Computer got about 4,000 faulty drives, about half of
which it has returned, said a Western Digital spokesperson.
Many of those drives went into Apple's new PowerMac G4
systems, already in short supply because of an unrelated chip
shortage problem.
Other PC manufacturers, such as Hewlett-Packard and IBM,
do not use Western Digital drives and thus aren't affected by
the recall.
Most of the defective drives went to PC manufacturers, but
some also made it to retail and mail order shops, where
Western Digital had 31 percent of sales in August, according
to PC Data. Maxtor ranked number one, at 34 percent.
Western's deals could be strained
Short term, Western Digital faces serious problems resulting
from the recall, said analysts. The company warned PC
makers it could not immediately replace defective drives
because of a shortage of parts.
Although Western Digital pulled back only 400,000, the
defect affects 1.1 million units, or about one month's supply.
The company must restock good parts before it can resume
full production, said analysts.
"They have lost a substantial amount of a month's production,
it will be replaced by their competitors and they may have
trouble with their customers the next month or two," said Jim
Porter, president of Disk/Trend.
Western Digital will have to go a long way to making the
recall up to PC manufacturers, said Porter. "[PC makers] will
have no trouble getting drives from the other drive makers.
There is no shortage of drives." |
