Beware! Fry's selling used Samsung 1TB drives as new.

kplo

Well-known member
A heads up for those looking to buy the Samsung 1TB Spinpoint drive for editing/storage from Fry's. These are generally very good editing drives. Unfortunately, the first 1 I bought had data on it. Thought it was a fluke and exchanged it for another...that one had someone's document files and an OS on it. After having them test a few before I took one home, it was discovered that ALL of these drives had data on them (one had 4 partitions on it!) We're not talking about some external drive that clearly states it is: "formatted for PC and has backup software installed".
These are allegedly brand new OEM drives (new meaning unformatted and unpartitioned without the retail box). Turns out that ALL the Samsung 1TB drives in ALL their stores have this problem, according to the local mgr. in Burbank.
They blame a "third party supplier". However, instead of returning them to the vendor for actual new drives, Fry's is going to erase the data, reformat them, and sell them as new. Yep, you heard right. They are knowingly selling used drives as new.

I contacted Fry's corporate office, but have had no response as yet. I'm not holding my breath.

Hope this saves fellow forum members some grief when shopping for a new drive or 2.

P.S.: I'm not a Fry's basher...I know that they have a less than stellar reputation among some folks, but I have been a customer there since they opened and have probably sourced parts for over a dozen computers from them, with relatively few problems.

Ken
the Screen Skins guy
 
UPDATE:
I heard from Fry's corporate office this afternoon and was assured that the drives in question would NOT be sold as new drives or advertised as such. They would most likely be offered as some kind of open box deal.

Gratifying to hear. I'm sure that I wasn't the only customer to complain about it, but at least their playin' by the rules and being responsive.

Ken
the Screen Skins guy
 
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