Six degrees (or more) of German Buffalo separation

[pauland]

This post might be a challenge for our German visitors - nothing to do with graphics as such.

Recently I bought a "bargain" Buffalo Linkstation Lite 500GB from a German distributor via amazon UK. To cut a long story short, the drive was shipped to me "new" but actually contained 120GB of data - mostly a music collection but also podcasts and pictures of a trip to the US.

I have informed the distributor of this, but they don't quite seem to get the point and I suspect returning the drive to them would see it wiped and my money refunded.

It looks to me as though the music has (in the most part, anyway) been legitimately bought via itunes, etc., so it could be a substantial loss if it were the only copy.

There can't be many people who have bought a drive like this and lost so much and it seems to me that they might like it back - particularly if they didn't have a backup. It appears that the earliest date for files created on the drive is February this year. Unsurprisingly, the original owner is a German speaker - lots of stuff in German on the drive.

The drive was delivered to me in "Engineering Mode" and unreadable, so I suspect the original owner of the drive had a problem and returned the drive to the distributor.

I am a little reluctant to name (and shame) this distributor, so I think that's as much info as I can give. For the moment the drive is functioning normally.

Maybe this could be a challenge to our German friends to try and locate the original owner!

Paul

[pauland]

Well, I've tried googling all kinds of things in the hope of picking up my German friend complaining about losing his/her music and pictures, but failed miserably. :-(

(sadly I have no idea about doing that in German)

[HayTay]

Paul,

I'm not German, but...

It might be worth contacting the manufacturer of the Buffalo Linkstation Lite 500GB drive to see if the original purchaser sent in the warranty card or filed their warranty information on-line. Even if the first purchaser did so the company will, most likely, not make that information available to you. It's worth a shot though.

Just a suggestion,
HayTay

[ss-kalm]

...Even if the first purchaser did so the company will, most likely, not make that information available to you. It's worth a shot though.

However, they may be prepared to contact the customer and ask him to contact Paul though.

[pauland]

The problem I have is that the item was sold to me as new, so I have a receipt and theoretically two years guarantee. The distributor has agreed to take it back but doesn't guarantee supplying a new unit in exchange and there would be complications if they test the unit and find no fault (well there is no fault now). It may be a language problem or just the usual "by the script" support people.

If I were to ask Buffalo to step in they would probably give me problems over any warranty and if I do return it to the distributor I have a feeling the original purchaser would not get to know about it and I might get a refund and then have to source another at greater cost. I think the unit was probably bought new by the first owner in February.

At the moment I think the best option is to keep the unit and use it, but if I can find the original owner I'd happilly exchange it for another so they could get their collection back.

If I spoke german, I'd search for likely german words or try making a post on a german forum.

[pauland]

On reflection, I will ask the distributor if they know who the original owner was on Monday.

[pauland]

On reflection, I will ask the distributor if they know who the original owner was on Monday.

I and the distributor are not seeing eye to eye.

I have two objectives:

1) To have the distributor contact the original purchaser (with a view towards reuniting them with their data), and

2) To retain the storage unit until I have firm assurances that I will have a replacement not a refund (I can't source another at the price that I paid).

The distributor says they are not allowed to comment on (1)! and they won't guarantee a replacement.

Customer support even went so far as to say that there was no proof about what I was saying unless I returned the unit (I have sent them screendumps of the files - losts of german language stuff, together with thumbnails of the photos). They also say that if it's not returned by friday, I would have to keep it and return it to the manufacturer in case of a fault (fair enough).

I'll see what tomorrow brings.

[kinetica]

For the moment the drive is functioning normally.

Complain to Amazon. That's what I did when a company gave me startlingly rotten service. And I got my money back too. Not from the supplier, but from Amazon. It's one of their guarantees that shopkeepers have to abide by. Use that guarantee, get your money back and move on. Unless you like to write letters.

[pauland]

Complain to Amazon. That's what I did when a company gave me startlingly rotten service. And I got my money back too. Not from the supplier, but from Amazon. It's one of their guarantees that shopkeepers have to abide by. Use that guarantee, get your money back and move on. Unless you like to write letters.

I actually don't want my money back - it would cost me more to replace this drive. I have no doubt that the supplier would refund my money.

It's mostly a clash of cultures/language nuances/unusual situation.

Paul

[kinetica]

"Recently I bought a "bargain" Buffalo Linkstation Lite 500GB from a German distributor via amazon UK."

Well, actually, what you bought was a second-hand drive from an Amazon shop. The original owners have lost their data, let's hope it was just a back-up. And if you don't report him to Amazon he will do it again to other people. Let's hope it's not you again next time. But it won't be if you report him to Amazon. Anyway, that's enough entertainment for one day - I hear a pizza man calling!