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Hard disk fraud: long runtimes on new Seagate hard disks

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Re: Hard disk fraud: long runtimes on new Seagate hard disks

#11

Post by bluedino »

daneel_w wrote: post #6

The same scheme is very common on the market for "new" laptop batteries sold by Chinese retailers on for example eBay. The batteries will come with a reprogrammed charge cycle count of 0, an unlikely serial number of all-zeroes/ones/nines or 123456789 etc., and with about 50% of its marketed capacity. As soon as you bring up a refund/warranty errand with the retailer they will offer a 50% discount for the battery in…

Amazon and eBay should crack down on this crap.

I bought some tools on Amazon, sent them back because of quality issues, and left a 1 star review (they don't allow zero star reviews but that's another issue). Sure enough I get an email offering to send me a replacement, asking me to remove my review, I reported it and who knows what happens from there.

Now, I have had very similar things happen on a website like HomeDepot.com, the manufacturer reached out, sent me a different tool as a replacement, and said I did not have to remove my review but they would appreciate if I did.

Just as bad, IMO. The whole point of reviews is to let other consumers know your experience with the product.

Re: Hard disk fraud: long runtimes on new Seagate hard disks

#12

Post by flotzam »

rcthompson wrote: post #9
anilakar wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And this BS comes from a German company. Oof. Stop pushing EU-wide laws you cannot yourself adhere to.

Are they breaking the law? I don't love that they're requiring either payment or allowing cookies, but at least they're fully disclosing that and giving you the choice. I'm pretty sure that's what the GDPR requires.

"The tactic has been criticised by privacy advocates and non-governmental organisations such as NOYB and Wikimedia Europe, which claim that it is illegal under the GDPR. On 17 April 2024, the European Data Protection Board released a non-binding opinion stating that in most cases, consent-or-pay models do not constitute valid consent within the meaning of the GDPR."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Consent_or_pay

Re: Hard disk fraud: long runtimes on new Seagate hard disks

#13

Post by joblessjunkie »

rcthompson wrote: post #9
anilakar wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And this BS comes from a German company. Oof. Stop pushing EU-wide laws you cannot yourself adhere to.

Are they breaking the law? I don't love that they're requiring either payment or allowing cookies, but at least they're fully disclosing that and giving you the choice. I'm pretty sure that's what the GDPR requires.

GDPR states that consent must be freely given. If there are financial incentives, the consent may be invalid.

Re: Hard disk fraud: long runtimes on new Seagate hard disks

#14

Post by lcnPylGDnU4H9OF »

daneel_w wrote: post #6

The same scheme is very common on the market for "new" laptop batteries sold by Chinese retailers on for example eBay. The batteries will come with a reprogrammed charge cycle count of 0, an unlikely serial number of all-zeroes/ones/nines or 123456789 etc., and with about 50% of its marketed capacity. As soon as you bring up a refund/warranty errand with the retailer they will offer a 50% discount for the battery in…

> As soon as you bring up a refund/warranty errand with the retailer they will offer a 50% discount for the battery in return for you not giving them a 1-star rating.

So I take the 50% and give them a bad rating once the money is in my bank account, complete with the documentation of their bribe for a good review. What do they do, realistically? (Probably get the review taken down by the platform administrators, but I did not contribute.)

Re: Hard disk fraud: long runtimes on new Seagate hard disks

#15

Post by tyfon »

rcthompson wrote: post #9
anilakar wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And this BS comes from a German company. Oof. Stop pushing EU-wide laws you cannot yourself adhere to.

Are they breaking the law? I don't love that they're requiring either payment or allowing cookies, but at least they're fully disclosing that and giving you the choice. I'm pretty sure that's what the GDPR requires.

This is under consideration now due to the meta case.

The GDPR states that consent should be freely given and one can argue that forcing you to choose between payment our tracking is not a free choice but cohersed. I personally think that interpretation is correct.

Since a large part of German media in also doing the same, they are lobbying for this to only apply to "large online providers".

Here is a good writeup on the situation: https://iapp.org/news/a/pay-ok-or-a-third-way-context-analys...

Re: Hard disk fraud: long runtimes on new Seagate hard disks

#16

Post by teddyh »

bluedino wrote: post #11
daneel_w wrote: post #6

The same scheme is very common on the market for "new" laptop batteries sold by Chinese retailers on for example eBay. The batteries will come with a reprogrammed charge cycle count of 0, an unlikely serial number of all-zeroes/ones/nines or 123456789 etc., and with about 50% of its marketed capacity. As soon as you bring up a refund/warranty errand with the retailer they will offer a 50% discount for the battery in…

Amazon and eBay should crack down on this crap. I bought some tools on Amazon, sent them back because of quality issues, and left a 1 star review (they don't allow zero star reviews but that's another issue). Sure enough I get an email offering to send me a replacement, asking me to remove my review, I reported it and who knows what happens from there. Now, I have had very similar things happen on a website like Home…

> Amazon and eBay should crack down on this crap.

Amazon and eBay are companies, which will do whatever is profitable and legal. The entity which should crack down on this is the government.

Re: Hard disk fraud: long runtimes on new Seagate hard disks

#17

Post by lcnPylGDnU4H9OF »

teddyh wrote: post #16
bluedino wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Amazon and eBay should crack down on this crap. I bought some tools on Amazon, sent them back because of quality issues, and left a 1 star review (they don't allow zero star reviews but that's another issue). Sure enough I get an email offering to send me a replacement, asking me to remove my review, I reported it and who knows what happens from there. Now, I have had very similar things happen on a website like Home…

> Amazon and eBay should crack down on this crap. Amazon and eBay are companies, which will do whatever is profitable and legal. The entity which should crack down on this is the government.

Yes and no. Once (if) the government cracks on the retailer, the retailer cracks down on sellers who use their platform.

Additionally, the retailer could actually have ethics of their own and choose willingly to raise the bar.

Re: Hard disk fraud: long runtimes on new Seagate hard disks

#18

Post by greggsy »

cjbgkagh wrote: post #10
daneel_w wrote: post #6

The same scheme is very common on the market for "new" laptop batteries sold by Chinese retailers on for example eBay. The batteries will come with a reprogrammed charge cycle count of 0, an unlikely serial number of all-zeroes/ones/nines or 123456789 etc., and with about 50% of its marketed capacity. As soon as you bring up a refund/warranty errand with the retailer they will offer a 50% discount for the battery in…

This stuff is trivial to detect by the platform. At best the platform could say they don’t search for it, but the only reason not to would be because they don’t want to find it. In essence they’re knowingly outsourcing fraud to sellers.

Handling the seller appeals would quickly become expensive

Re: Hard disk fraud: long runtimes on new Seagate hard disks

#19

Post by teddyh »

lcnPylGDnU4H9OF wrote: post #17
teddyh wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Amazon and eBay should crack down on this crap. Amazon and eBay are companies, which will do whatever is profitable and legal. The entity which should crack down on this is the government.

Yes and no. Once (if) the government cracks on the retailer, the retailer cracks down on sellers who use their platform. Additionally, the retailer could actually have ethics of their own and choose willingly to raise the bar.

> Additionally, the retailer could actually have ethics of their own and choose willingly to raise the bar.

And my grandmother could get some wheels and become a bicycle.

Re: Hard disk fraud: long runtimes on new Seagate hard disks

#20

Post by ajb »

teddyh wrote: post #16
bluedino wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Amazon and eBay should crack down on this crap. I bought some tools on Amazon, sent them back because of quality issues, and left a 1 star review (they don't allow zero star reviews but that's another issue). Sure enough I get an email offering to send me a replacement, asking me to remove my review, I reported it and who knows what happens from there. Now, I have had very similar things happen on a website like Home…

> Amazon and eBay should crack down on this crap. Amazon and eBay are companies, which will do whatever is profitable and legal. The entity which should crack down on this is the government.

The UK now has an offence of "failure to prevent fraud", but it seems to me that it doesn't include this case (it includes things like fraud by employees and associates who "act on behalf of" the organisation).

Amusingly the same legislation also mandates that "A company must not be registered under [the companies act] by a name that, in the opinion of the Secretary of State, consists of or includes computer code.”

So no more "drop tables" company names.

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