USB Flash Drives - Buyers Beware

USB Flash Drives

In today's world of technology, there is a need to store a lot of our personal and business data. I for one, am one of those people who take a LOT of digital pictures and videos and need somewhere to store my precious memories. There are many options out there for your storage needs and I like to use the USB flash drives. It is a small stick like devise that plugs into your USB port on your desktop or laptop, and it's very easy to transfer the information you need onto it. You can get them in many different storage sizes to fit your personal needs. Since I have 4 children I chose to buy a 64GB UBS flash drive, but then the question arises for which brand to pick. I recommend researching different brands to find out which one suits your needs. There are ones with a lot of space, extremely secure, unbreakable, waterproof, etc... Once you have researched which make and model that fits your needs, you then have to figure out where to buy them. Now in this downed economy, everybody wants the most bang for their buck, so this is where too many people get scammed.

Always research what your buying before you buy it!

As I had said before, research the product that you are going to buy to make sure it is what you are looking for. I decided that a Corsair flash voyager 64GB was the best for my needs. When I began looking at websites and stores that sold the product I was looking to purchase, I noticed that Amazon.com had the best price. Now I am pretty savvy when it comes to technology and what not, but I never thought what happened to me could happen. I purchased my new USB flash drive from a seller in the UK who sold the device at a reasonable price. I say reasonable because it was only like 10-20 dollars cheaper than a big retail chain store. I'm not sure if all of you are aware of this because I felt pretty stupid when I learned, but I thought (yes I guess I was naive) all products from Amazon.com were from Amazon.com. Needless to say, they are sort of like eBay, in the way that you are mostly purchasing from 3rd party sellers and a few from the actual Amazon.com. (Again, I did not know that) My device came by the last date promised and I was thrilled because all of my memory cards were full and I wanted to get some more picture of my kids. To my surprise, when I went to use my USB flash drive, it did not work. I was a little dumbfounded at this because I had purchased it new and I open the package myself. (I was also thrilled that the seller threw in a mickey mouse "chain" to attach to my new device for FREE!) Now I had done my research about the product I had purchased and did see that once in agreat while (technology is technology) there was a person saying that it did not work properly. I had also read that all that person did to fix the problem was to install something from the manufacturers website to have it work properly or they would exchange the device. This is where I am glad I research products because something didn't seem right with my new USB flash drive beside the fact that it did not work at all.

Don't ever be afraid stand up for yourself!

Since I was in a state of awe that my USB flash drive did not work, I went online looking for what the reasons would be. To my dismay, I found out that people are counterfeiting brand named USB flash drives. I guess I'm not as technologically savvy as I had thought I was. I know that almost everything can be reproduced illegally, but for some reason I did not think in a millions years I could buy one from Amazon.com. (Again this was before I knew about the whole 3rd party thing.) The device I bought from this guy in the UK, was a dud. I immediately wrote to this seller and told him what I had discovered and asked how was he going to correct this problem. Now in all fairness, during my research, I did read that a lot of the time the sellers of such devices do not even know that the product is counterfeit. (Although if I had a company, I would make sure that I knew my product and my supplier.) To make things go by a little easier, I will just insert my emails that went from myself to the seller from Amazon.com. This is also a good way for you to see that you should never be afraid of getting what is rightfully yours. Always try to be nice with whomever you are complaining to because you never know what their story is. For those of you that are not familiar with Amazon.com, sellers who get a lot of positive feedback tend to sell more than a seller with little to no feedback and negative feedback. So my seller offered me $20 for my time to write a positive feedback and so I did, but it was before I had tried my device. (I know! Stupid me!)

• Me:Hello! Well doing a lot more research I am extremely disappointed that I
  have found out that the USB that was sold to me is a fake! I would want nothing less but a real corsair flash voyager 64gb in it's place. How do we go about this?
  

• Seller: I am so sorry to listen about that, can you please try to update your system with the following Microsoft update, and if it still wont work, i will be more than happy to refund you
  
• Me: My system is updated, I was sold a counterfeit USB. Even if it did work I still want a replacement with a genuine corsair flash voyager. Did you even know that your product was counterfeit?
  
• Seller: No, i am really sorry about that if you can send it back to me i will take it back to the supplier and have a word with him , i am so sorry to listen about that.
  
• Me:OK I will be sending it back shortly. Will I get a replacement with a genuine one? Or will this just be a full refund?
  
• Seller: I will try my best to get a replacement for you however that was the last one in the stock from my side, but i will try to get a new from the supplier. Thanks
• Me:OK. Thanks! Yet it seems you supplier is selling you a product that is not genuine. It was a knock off of the real product. Also I see my account was credited for 127, my order was 147. That extra 20 was for a good review. I do not plan on switching my review because I think you were as stunned as I was about the product. You are trying your best to make things right and I appreciate that. Do you reimburse for the shipping to send it back? I will be sending it back on Monday the 28th, seeing as how the post office is closed until then. Again this sucks that this has happened but I do feel that you are trying your best to fix it. Thanks!
  
• Seller: Thanks for understanding and your co operation, i would like you to keep the device with you for the time being and let me check all these things with the supplier as it will make me pay extra from my pocket, and then i will take things further. I hope you can understand Many many thanks for your help and time
  

So that was the end our emails, and I never heard from the seller again. Thankfully, Amazon.com has this A-Z guarantee agreement and so I had contacted them and received the rest of my refund. Many places would like for you to try and solve the problems yourself before you involve the actual company.

 With the experience that I had, I found out the hard way. I am hoping that by reading this, you will be able make better choices in the products you buy. I can not stress enough how important it is to always do your research on your products and where they come from.  USB flash drives will never be sold "used" or "refurbished" if they are coming from the manufacturer. There are reputable websites that do sell "used' and "refurbished" USB flash drives, but inform you first that they as such. If you are questioning yourself if a seller is reputable or not, just move on to one that you know is. If your inner voice is telling you "it's too good to be true" with the price, listen to it. Please feel free to leave comments or your story below as it will only help others reading this.

I can tell you that when I got the USB flash drive home, I waited a day before even opening it. (Time issues) When I did open it, I had a feeling that something was off about it because the only thing in the package was the USB device. To make things easier, I will list the real and fake difference that I found.

REAL 

- Electronic board goes the length of device

- Has a blue indicator light to show that it is working

- Comes with "chain" 

- Comes with accessories  

Fake

- Electronic board only went half way through device

- Indicator light missing altogether

- Missing "chain"

- Came with nothing but the USB flash drive