I'm sitting here trying to process the Seagate "support" experience I've had over the past nine days, and the only word is "enshittification", per @pluralistic
It's as if Seagate management set out to individually enshittify every single step of the support process to making as close to impossible to get support for a consumer level product, without just saying "Fuck you."
There are virtually no consequences for this deliberate enshittification of their support process. What other options are there?
Seagate no longer have a support number.
Seagate no longer have a support email address.
Seagate have a pop-up live chat. That's it.
The live chat will intermittently lose contact with the server and just say "Error" forcing you to reload the entire webpage.
The only way they could enshittify this process further would be to replace the apparent "live agents" with AI chatbots, and that may well be an improvement.
1st August: my less-than two year old Seagate Barracuda drive failed under warranty. After navigating my way through the live chat, and providing all of my information, I asked for an advance warranty replacement, which i was promised (per the chat logs). I receive an RMA form. I wait.
4th August: I put my RMA details into the Seagate RMA lookup to find out what's happening.
"Invalid details."
I reach out by the Live Chat. I have to enter ALL of my details again, in spite of having an RMA number.
The live agent officiously tells me to "be patient" and "you will get your drive", and that sometimes the form is slow to update.
7th August: The form is still reporting invalid. I reach out via Live Chat again. I provide all my information, yet again. The agent insists he has to create a new case, in spite of me having an RMA number. "This is your case number, please note it down for reference."
Him: "Oh, the lab is waiting for your faulty drive."
Me: "This was advance replacement."
Him: "It wasn't."
Me: "Here's a screenshot of the agent telling me it was an ARO."
Him: "Oh, OK. I'll arrange an ARO. You'll get some forms in your email, and a link to provide credit card details in case you don't send the drive back. This is your case number.
Me: "Fine."
ARO form. Nothing else. No link. No details.
9th August (today): An email from another new person at Seagate with my case number. No other information. I reply via email "What's the next step."
"Thank you for your email, this email address is not monitored. Please use Live Chat."
I. Go. To. Live. Chat.
AI bot: "Please enter all of your information:"
Me: "No. Here's my case number. Sort it out."
Live agent: "How can I help?"
Me: "I received an email from Support. I cannot reply via email. I don't know where my replacement hard drive is."
Agent: "Actually, you can reply via email, it's just faster via live chat."
Me: "Here's a screenshot FROM SEAGATE telling me I CANNOT reply via email."
@grissallia The only real consequence is you not buying Seagate again, but you bought Seagate again. It used to be the best drive brand, but now they're all cheap and unreliable. You'll get better quality, a bit, if you buy the "enterprise" or "NAS" drives, but, on the whole, mechanical drives are shit now. They're good for backups, as long as you have 2 or 3 of the backups.
@bryansmart It's not a consequence to Seagate though. They won't notice if I don't buy another hard drive. They'd notice if a datacenter did, but there's no real downside for screwing over a small number of consumer end-users.
@bryansmart My point was about a one-off consumer boycott being pointless, and that only a large drive consumer making noise would get their attention.
I'm not putting a NAS drive in my desktop PC, I'm not putting a desktop drive in my Synology NAS.
@grissallia Haha. Don't buy higher-end drives from other manufacturers to punish them. You're powerless. You can't get revenge on them, legally punish them, or even hurt them. Buy from others so you don't have to deal with their crap again.
You would think that this has reached peak enshittification.
You would be wrong.
Because it became Kafkaesque at this point (these are quotes!).
Agent: "Actually Seagate has removed all the portal. You can only talk with us in chat"
Me: "Indeed. The chat regularly crashes with an error message, and every time I reach out to chat, I get asked for all of my information again. Even when I have an existing case."
Agent: "We have all the details you can come to chat chat and go a head. Since I have an issue while checking the case you have to explain all I am really sorry for that."
Me: "I literally have NO idea what is going on, why I was emailed, where my replacement hard drive is."
Agent: "Just a minute don't be confused. Do you have any issue in the hard drive."
Me: "I went and bought a brand NEW hard drive this afternoon, because Seagate cannot communicate with me sensibly, and I cannot afford to wait without a hard drive indefinitely!"
Agent: "Let me check with the team and will give you the complete information why this message has been sent."
Me: "Thank you"
[Eons pass. Paul Rudd gets younger.]
Agent: "Do you have any doubt"
At this point I am staring at the screen, blinking slowly. Is this what it feels like to have a stroke? Am I dead? Is Johnny Knoxville about to pop up and hit me with a fucking baseball bat?
Well, you could say I doubt that anyone at Seagate knows what's going on, and that I doubt I will ever regain my sanity, but I'll try and work out exactly what in the fuck is happening here.
Me: "I'm sorry, I need a more specific question. Doubt with regards to?"
Agent: "Yes please ask?"
[Definitely a stroke]
Me: "I literally have no idea what is going on with my replacement hard drive. Or why I was emailed today. So, yes. I guess you could say I have some doubt at this point."
Agent: "I will check and will update you within 24 hours. Please give some couple of hours I will get an solution for this."
Me: "I've given you 9 days and bought a new hard drive because no-one at Seagate seems to know what's going on. I guess I can wait another indefinite time period before starting all over again.
Do you understand that once this chat ends, I have no way to follow it up, other than to start a new chat, and start this all over again?"
Agent: "No need of explain all this again we have all the details with us. Just you can come to the chat and ask the updated on."
[If they have all the details, why do they make me explain it again EVERY. SINGLE. TIME?!
Ah fuck it.]
Me: "I've had to explain it again everysingletime"
Agent: "No need that's what i am saying. I have an issue with checking the previous comments so that only I have asked to expalin."
[Agent has ended chat.]
Here's the kicker. I bought a new Seagate Firecuda 8Tb drive this afternoon, because what other option is there?
@isotopp@grissallia@kauer That assumes that seagate will always be bad, and that samsung won't get bad. Like disk reliability itself, I suspect I and @grissallia will buy whatever's available/good value at the time, and have fate decide how RMAs function with any vendor at the point a drive worth RMAing happens. Had my own woes with samsung (not disks, but looked like a single process covered all products). And bought/returned many failed seagates because they're easier to RMA than WD.
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