On Thu, 17 May 2007 21:00:50 GMT, Pecos
<anortRemOveThIs&2on21@mindspring.com> wrote:

<snip>

>>>a program that would allow me to receive a hard drive via two day air
>>>before returning the bad drive. They would also send the packaging
>>>needed for returning the bad drive (which I need) and prepay for the
>>>return shipping. This would cost $19.99.
>>
>> No you do not need to buy more packing material. When you
>> get the replacement drive cross-shipped in advance, you can
>> take the packing material from THAT drive and use it to pack
>> your failed drive. I have done this many times (every time
>> I could, actually) without problems. So the cross-ship
>> means you have a limited time (think it's 30 days) within
>> which to send them the failed drive or else you are billed
>> for the replacement drive at that point. Your only cost is
>> postage to return the failed drive to them.
>>
>
>I wrote in my statement that they would send the return packaging
>(presumably in the form of the box and rubber foam used to send the
>replacement drive). Was my statement unclear?

You are suggesting paying for packing material and prepaid
shipping. It is an unnecessary cost. When they send you
the replacement drive in advance, that replacement drive HAS
packing material you can reuse to return the faulty drive to
them. There is no need to pay $19.99, only to pay the
shipping fee when you ship it which tends to be far less
(depending on your location, but in the US it is typically
about $6-8 via FedEx or UPS).


>
>And you are right, I do have 30 days to return the bad drive.
>
>With the Advanced Replacement option, the return shipping is prepaid, as
>I stated above.

Yes, but there is no reason to pay $19.99 for this.
Recall that I have done as I described several times. They
didn't reject the return from use of their packing material
and they couldn't even reasonably argue that the packing
material _they_ use is unsuited for shipping the same thing
_to_ you that you are returning.