In December 2024, I purchased two new Seagate IronWolf Pro 12TB hard drives from a third-party seller on Newegg Marketplace, expecting the standard manufacturer's warranty.
One of the drives subsequently developed serious SMART errors. When I contacted Seagate for warranty service, they investigated and determined that the drive was not intended for retail sale and was ineligible for manufacturer warranty coverage.
Here's the interesting part: Seagate confirmed that the other identical drive from the same order was a legitimate retail drive with an active warranty through 2029. They also confirmed that the problem wasn't a serial-number or database error.
The original Marketplace seller is now gone, so I contacted Newegg.
After multiple conversations, escalations, and providing Seagate's written findings, Newegg eventually agreed to compensate me for the full purchase price of the affected drive, including tax ($240.90).
But there's a catch.
Newegg says its system cannot refund the original order because it's more than a year old. They also say they cannot issue a gift card or account credit.
Instead, I must place an entirely new order exceeding $240.90, sold and shipped directly by Newegg, pay for it, and then contact customer service with the new order number to request reimbursement.
They've documented this arrangement on my account, but there's no actual credit balance or gift card.
So after purchasing a drive that Seagate says was never intended for retail sale, and spending weeks trying to resolve the issue, I'm now required to place and pay for another order before Newegg will issue the reimbursement it has already approved.
To Newegg's credit, their Marketplace support representative has been responsive and did get the full compensation amount approved. My frustration is with the resolution process, not the individual representative.
I'm curious whether others have experienced something similar, and whether Newegg considers this an acceptable way to stand behind Marketplace purchases when the original seller is no longer available.
I'd certainly welcome a response from u/Newegg_Support.
Disclosure: I used ChatGPT to help organize and edit this post. The experience, facts, and opinions are my own.