The catch here is that I bought the unit when I lived in the USA, then a few months later I had to move to the UK, and soon after my Linkstation Live started to act up (it cannot complete a backup to the USB hard drive).
I first tried with Buffalo UK: after we attempted to fix it in several ways, they agreed that we needed to substituted the unit. But they don't cover the warranty of a product purchased in the USA. Surprising for a global company, in 2010, but that's the way it is.
I then tried with Buffalo USA: they don't ship outside USA or Canada - certainly not to London. Impasse.
Then I thought I got my break: a couple of months before the warranty expires I had the chance to go back to the USA for one week - this week. Before my journey I submitted the RMA request, provided the Proof of Purchased, gave my credit card details and was charged a $650 deposit to use the "Advance RMA" option (i.e. getting the substitute unit before returning the defective unit - to move the data from one to the other). I even got over the fact that I had to pay extra for 2nd day delivery, and that I had to cover the shipping cost of returning the defective unit. (Again: I have to pay to return a defective unit). I packed the defective unit in my trolley and brought it over the ocean. I am now in the US, for one week, ready to swap LinkStation!
After a few days of silence the bad news: I am told that the substitute unit will be shipped out in a week. Ops: by then I will already be back in London, the replacement unit will wait for my next visit, and in the meanwhile, after 14 days (themaximum time allowed to return the defective unit) I will be charged $650 for a unit that cost me $150 10 months ago.
Anybody has any smart suggestion on how to deal with this situation? The only thing I could do so far is to write an email to customer support asking them not to ship out the substitute unit - will see.
I am a abit confused about the whole $600 thing. Its ridiculous, they should have only charged you what the unit is worth. That sucks, you said they wouldn't ship to the UK but they will ship to the US. I take it you are staying here with family or friends. Can't you have them ship over the unit to you as soon as it gets here, then you can do the transfer of files and ship the defective one back to Buffalo from thge UK. What is wrong with the bad unit? Are you still able to connect to it and see your files? Is it as simple as connecting your 2 units to the same network and copy from one to the other? If so can't you have the person you are statying in the US with do the copy and then ship out the units to you and Buffalo?
Answers to your questions Unhappy09.
I agree charging a $650 deposit for the replacement unit, when one year ago I paid $150 is ridiculous - what else can I say...
I had asked for the replacement unit to be shipped to the US headquarters of company I work for, since I was over for my annual visit. So I cannot ask for somebody else here to do the data transfer for me. What I can do is to ask somebody to forward the unit to London for me, and then I can ship it back from London.
Two catches with that:
- Buffalo wants the defective unit back within 14 days, otherwise they will charge the deposit. This put a lot of pressure on the process: receive the unit in the US, forward to the UK, data transfer, ship back to Buffalo. A full-time job.
- The costs on my side increase exponentially. On top of paying Buffalo $12 for overnight shipping (in the vain hope of getting the unit during my stay in the US), I now have to pay express shipping to the UK, and express shipping back to the US (to comply with the 14 days deadline). I estimate that the whole process will cost me at least 50% of the original cost of the unit. And this is for a defective unit, still covered by warranty.
Finally, what's wrong with the unit: it cannot complete a back-up to the external USB drive. It starts OK, then it randomly stalls (no errors or anything, just it stops copying) and never completes the back-up. I've tried (guided by customer support) to re-install the firmware, change the back-up settings, try the other USB port - nothing. Apparently is a common problem with the LinkStation Live. I assume you'll agree when I say that I cannot live with it, every harddrive is prone to failure and I need to have a copy of my data.
So all in all the only solution we've found so far is throwing a lot of personal money and effort to the problem created by Buffalo's defective unit, by forwarding it to the UK. And it will get so much more expensive if I don't get the defective unit back in time and I am charged the $650 deposit.
Stay tuned: although I had asked Buffalo to stop sending the unit, once I found out about the shipping delay, they just sent me an email confirming its departure from their wharehouse. And I'm boarding my plane in two hours.
Riccume, the stopping the backup issue. Is there a chance that the USB drive is shutting down? I read somewere were some USB drives like mine (Seagate Extreme) have a built in turning off schedule. Winds down after long periods of inactivity. I know it doesnt make any sense since backing up us activity, but you never know. Seems you are correct the cost of shipping back and forth doesnt seem worth it. Why not have the company refuse the package, call Buffalo and let them know that. Then when you get home buy another unit for $150?
Any chance the unit is being shipped any were near Seattle? I wouldnt mind helping you get your stuff transfered over.
Buffalo Technology USA is a subsidiary of MELCO Holdings company, BT UK is a subsidiary too. The financials, and many of the products, are totally separate from each other, even many of the firmwares.
The USA warranty clearly states we only ship to the US and Canada - it's been that way for over 10 years. Buffalotech USA does not warranty products exported outside this area, but exceptions can be made for customers who left the warranty area. Yes, essentially you exported the product.
That's the part we can't change.
Here's the part where we can work with you.
If you email me - memoryman@buffalotech.com , I will look up the notes on your case, and can probably resolve the $650 CC authorization (different than a charge) and get that greatly reduced - it looks like that could have been a mistake. Also, we can extend 15 days to 30 days.
Just email me, let's get a dialogue going, and we'll come up with the best plan to fix this.
BTW - as far as UK support goes - did they check everything:
Is your USB drive formatted in EXT3. All other formats for a NAS to USB drive will be be as compatible. The tools to format the USB drive are in the Linkstation GUI. Once formatted to EXT3, you need an EXT reader to read the data off the USB drive (EXT reader included with the Linkstation). Once I look at your case notes, I'll know a lot more, but I need to hear about the support troubleshooting from your perspective.
Memoryman, thanks for chipping in. I'll email you with the details - long story short is that yes, I tried what you suggest and didn't work. But I'll send you the details.
Since you raise the warranty issue, let me make a couple of points:
- I agree, the small print says that the warranty is only valid in the USA and Canada. Just I'm not used to check the small print when I buy from a reputable, global company. I guess I should have.
- I still cannot get comfortable with the fact that I have to pay for shipping back the defective unit. Difficult to justify, isn't it?
Anyway, I'll stop here. Again I appreciate your chipping in and will send over my support and RMA details.
Unhappy09, thanks for offering your help. When I run a backup the USB drive seems to be on all the time (LED light on, spinning, can be seen on the Linkstation Live GUI), plus it is a bare-bone USB hard drive so I'd be surprised if it had a a built in turning off schedule. I did some googling and it seems that the problem I encounter is fairly common - the Linkstation Live works with some external drives, and doens't work with others. Which makes me wonder whether the substitute unit will work. Will see.
Also thanks for offering to help transfer my data. The unit is being shipped to CT - hopefully some colleague will fly to London soon.
Closing on this topic: I finally managed to successfully back-up my LinkStation to an external USB hard drive, which is now stored in a remote location! Safe again!
How did we get there? Bruce at Buffalo Technical Support (i.e. Memoryman in the messages above) was instrumental. He helped me work within the warranty limitations, in particular by coordinating the shipping of the replacement LS and the returning of the defective LS with my trips back to the States.
And yes, a replacement LS (and patience) was needed.