Complaints

This profile includes complaints for SalvageData Recovery Services's headquarters and its corporate-owned locations. To view all corporate locations, see Find Local Branches.

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  SalvageData Recovery Services

  43 Alpha Park Ste A Highland Heights, OH 44143-2202

  
• 

  SalvageData Recovery Services

  7745 Mentor Ave Mentor, OH 44060-5533

  
• 

  SalvageData Recovery Services

  1488 Mentor Ave Suite 300 Painesville, OH 44077-1809

  
• 

  Salvagedata Recovery Service

  574 Dorchester Ave South Boston, MA 02127

• 

  SalvageData Recovery Services

  1192 W Main St Ste 202 Stroudsburg, PA 18360

The complaint text that is displayed might not represent all complaints filed with BBB. Some consumers may elect to not publish the details of their complaints, some complaints may not meet BBB's standards for publication, or BBB may display a portion of complaints when a high volume is received for a particular business.

• Initial Complaint

  Date:08/12/2024

  Type:Customer Service Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  I mailed in my hard drive about a month ago and have gotten ZERO updates from them since they confirmed receipt on progress or timing of the repair. I want my drive sent back to me ASAP at this point.

  

  Business Response

  Date: 08/14/2024

  We're sorry to hear that your experience wasn't up to the expectations. Our customer support has reached out and working diligently on resolving your issue.

  Customer Answer

  Date: 08/14/2024

  Better Business Bureau:
  
  
  
  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and have determined that this does not resolve my complaint.  For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below.
  
  
  
  You still have my memory card and have given ZERO indication of IF or WHEN I can get it back. 

  
  Regards,
  
  
  **** ******
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
   

  

  Business Response

  Date: 08/14/2024

  We're sorry to hear that your experience wasn't up to the expectations. Our customer support has reached out and working diligently on resolving your issue.
  

  Customer Answer

  Date: 08/14/2024

  Better Business Bureau:
  
  
  
  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and have determined that this does not resolve my complaint.  For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below.
  
  
  
  The business simply cut and pasted the same previous response without any addiitonal information. As I said before, the business still has my memory card and has given ZERO indication of IF or WHEN I can get it back. Customer service simply said it is lost and has no plan for recovery and I have not heard back from them on that.
  
  
  
  Regards,
  
  
  
  **** ******
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
   

  Customer Answer

  Date: 08/20/2024

  My complaint has not been addressed at all. In the business' most recent reply, it simply cut and pasted the same previous response without any additional information. As I said before, the business still has my memory card and has given ZERO indication of IF or WHEN I can get it back. Customer service simply said it is lost and has no plan for recovery and I have not heard back from them on that. The memory card I sent them contains hundreds of pictures from our once in a lifetime safari trip to Africa and this loss is devastating to us!!!!
  
  Regards,
  
  **** ******

  

  Business Response

  Date: 08/23/2024

  We're sorry to hear that your experience wasn't up to the expectations. Our customer support has reached out and working diligently on resolving your issue.
  

  Customer Answer

  Date: 08/28/2024

  Better Business Bureau:
  
  
  
  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and have determined that this does not resolve my complaint.  For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below.
  
  
  
  The business still has no update or resolution of this issue. Their last email simply said "The search effort is still ongoing at this time."
  
  
  
  Regards,
  
  
  
  **** ******
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
   

• Initial Complaint

  Date:08/06/2024

  Type:Billing Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  I submitted my phone for evaluation back in March of 2024, they said there was a chance they could get the data so I went forward with the process and received an email on March 27th saying they were moving forward with recovery. The estimated completion date was April 26th 2024. I have called over 6 times since April to inquire on the status of my device. Each time i call, the representative say they have to reach out to the engineer to get an update, and each time they do they say “The engineer is on lunch I’ll call you back as soon as i hear anything”. I have never received a call back with a real status update other than recovery is ongoing. It is now August and i still have no idea what is going on with the device.

  

  Business Response

  Date: 08/23/2024

  This case was closed and returned back to customer ****************************************************************************************

  Customer Answer

  Date: 08/23/2024

  Better Business Bureau:
  
  
  
  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and have determined that this does not resolve my complaint.  For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below.
  
  
  Yes the case was closed, 4 months after it was estimated to be done. After receiving the phone and opening it up it is obvious ******* **** never opened the phone to attempt data recovery. So i paid and waited for them to not even attempt to recover the data. The only reason they closed my case and sent the phone back finally was because i told their customer service department that i filed a BBB complaint. 
  
  Regards,
  
  
  
  ****** *******
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
   

• Initial Complaint

  Date:05/28/2024

  Type:Delivery Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  Solid State Computer drive died. 'The media' going forward, contacted Salvage Data to retrieve the data and sent the media to them. After a few weeks, they contacted me with a quote. They have a policy "No data, no charge guarantee.".
  
  The quote was *** *******
  The quote was accepted.
  
  On May 8 I Received:
  
  
  We regret to inform you that despite our best efforts your device has been deemed unrecoverable. Please contact your case manager by phone or email at your earliest convenience for more details. If you would like to have your device returned to you, please log into your account and click the "****** *****" button.
  Please note: If no action is taken within 14 days the device will be considered abandoned and securely disposed of.
  
  Also on May 8, enter the site and pay USD 40 via credit card, so the media can be returned on a 2-day Fedex package.
  
  On May 23 contacted ***** ********* , saying that I didn't receive the media, nor a tracking number. They never responded.
  
  The money Is not an issue, the media they never returned is the issue.
  

  

  Business Response

  Date: 06/06/2024

  Shipment sent to the customer: *************

• Initial Complaint

  Date:05/03/2024

  Type:Customer Service Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  In November of 2022, I created a case with Salvage Data to have my non-loading harddrive looked at to determine if it was worth it to recover what was on it. After chatting with a customer service rep, I was informed that apart from me paying for my own shipping costs, there was no cost to receive a repair quote. A month after mailing out my hard drive, I received an evaluation update summary via email, which did NOT include a price quote, which said a rep would follow up with a phone call soon with more details.
  
  Another month later, a phone call had never happened. By January 5th, I sent an email notifying them as such, and requested a price quote. I received an apology, and an updated evaluation with a price quote. The quote was far beyond what I had deemed was worth to spend on repairing the hard drive and retrieving data, and I informed the rep I can been in contact with of this. I requested the drive be returned and asked for further instructions, if there was anything I had to do on my end to initiate them mailing me back my hard drive.
  
  Between January and June of 2023, I sent a total of six emails, requesting the same thing with increased urgency : the return of my hard drive, and instructions if there was anything I needed to do (i.e. preemptive shipping payment) to initiate the mailing. There was zero response. I said I would have no choice but to report that Salvage Data had effectively stolen my hard drive, and still no response came. I lost steam and began to lose hope.
  
  In December of 2023 I began, out of the blue, to receive texts from a different rep at Salvage Data, requesting a consultation so we could "discuss repair of my hard drive." I responded by explaining everything that had happened months prior, and saying I had no desire to work with Salvage Data further. I requested, yet again, via text, that they return my hard drive to me. My request and message was never acknowledged. I still need my property returned to me.

  

  Business Response

  Date: 06/06/2024

  The drive was shipped to the customer

  

  Business Response

  Date: 06/06/2024

  The drive was shipped to the customer

• Initial Complaint

  Date:02/27/2024

  Type:Billing Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  We reached out to *********** on 12/22/2023. They informed us that an emergency evaluation of our data would cost $4,200. We paid that via credit card and dropped off the drives to the Cleveland lab. After evaluation, they told us that they were confident that they could successfully recover the data and the cost would be $39,540. I sent them a list of the VMs (Virtual Machines) that I was running explaining that only Volume 1 was corrupted across the 10 hard drives that I dropped off. I received an external hard drive with the VM files (.vmdk files, flat files, logs, etc) that are associated with the VMs in VMware on 1/6/2024. When I copied these files over to my host servers and tried to boot them, I got the same data corruption error that I was getting before I sent them in. When I contacted them about this they told me to mount the VMs in a virtual environment and then I could pull the data off the VMs. I informed them again that I didn't need the data from the VMs as I had all that backed up and I needed the VMs recovered. They sent me a second external hard drive on 1/26/2024. This one included the only 2 VMs that I hadn't rebuilt on my own because at this point it was over a month since our data was corrupted. This also contained extracted files and folders from those VMs. Again the VMs would not boot after mounting all the files to the host servers and I never recovered these VMs. One I rebuilt from scratch and the other I switched to a cloud-based backup service since it was our backup server. I informed them that I wasn't able to use anything they provided and didn't think we should have to pay the remaining $39,540 since they said if they weren't able to recover anything there would be no charge. They still claim that they provided recovered data and we owe them even though the data they provided wasn't what I asked them to recover. They offered a $10,000 discount and threatened to turn us into claims so we sent them a check on 2/27/2024.

  

  Business Response

  Date: 03/13/2024

  Unfortunately the work has been performed as promised and the discount that has been already offered covers any outstanding issues. There will be no additional discounts of refunds offered as such.

  Customer Answer

  Date: 03/15/2024

  Better Business Bureau:
  
  
  
  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and have determined that this does not resolve my complaint.  For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below.
  
  
  
  This is not an acceptable response.  They are claiming to have provided the services as promised.  This is not the case or I would not have filed the complaint to begin with.  We were told that if they were able to recover the data there would be no charge.  The data they provided was still corrupted just like when I sent it in.  They did make a second attempt to pull some folders and files from the virtual machines, but this isn't what we needed or asked for.  I needed to recover the virtual machines themselves.  They knew this was the case as the first set of data that I received only had the virtual machines and the files needed to rebuild them.  If they thought I needed the files and folders off of them to begin with then why didn't they send them the first time?  This was a ploy to say that they provided me with data and to justify demanding payment.  This is no different than me taking my vehicle in for an oil change and they put new tires on it and demand that I pay for it.  They promise that if the data is recoverable there is no charge, but they leave out the part that if they can recover even one file that you aren't needing then they charge you the full amount.  This was also an emergency service that I paid for that is supposed to have my data back within a week or two and it was over a month later that they sent me the second drive with the files I didn't ask for demanding payment.  

  
  
  
  Regards,
  
  
  
  **** ******
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
   

  

  Business Response

  Date: 03/18/2024

  Thank you for reaching out and sharing your concerns. We understand your disappointment and the frustration that comes with the situation you've described. We want to assure you that we have carefully reviewed the services provided and the subsequent actions taken.
  In recognition of the discrepancies between your expectations and the service delivered, a $10,000 discount was applied to the total cost of the service. This substantial reduction was made in good faith to account for any perceived shortfall in the service provided and to demonstrate our commitment to customer satisfaction.
  We believe that this discount fairly compensated for the issues encountered and reflects our earnest attempt to resolve the matter amicably. As such, we consider the account of this transaction to be settled, and no further refunds or discounts will be issued.
  We value your business and regret that we have reached an impasse. However, we must stand by our decision as a final resolution to this matter. We believe that the steps we have taken show our dedication to rectifying the situation to the best of our ability.
  Thank you for your understanding.

  Customer Answer

  Date: 03/19/2024

  Better Business Bureau:
  
  
  
  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and have determined that this does not resolve my complaint.  For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below.
  
  
  The only service that was provided as promised was the evaluation and we paid the $4,200.  I am not seeking a refund for this.  However, we asked for the VMs to be recovered on Volume 1 and every one of the VMs that we got back was still corrupted.  This isn’t providing the service as promised.  Another thing that was promised was that if we didn’t get our data back that we were seeking there wouldn’t be a charge.  What about that promise?  When this was told to our sales representative he then provided the same corrupted VM data but also extracted the files and folders from the VM which we never asked for.  You offered a $10,000 discount but still charged us almost $30,000 for something I wasn’t able to use.  I had to spend the next 80+ hours a week for multiple weeks rebuilding all our VMs from scratch.  I even had ****** ******* trying to help me get the VMs restored with the data I got back from *********** and they weren’t able to make it work because the data was still corrupted.  
  
  
  
  Regards,
  
  
  
  **** ******
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
   

  

  Business Response

  Date: 03/26/2024

  As previously stated. Work has been completed, data has been rendered to the customer on this case and any outstanding debts have been paid. We are unable to offer any additional assistance.

  Customer Answer

  Date: 04/11/2024

  These documents include the Emergency Quote for data recovery.  An Expedited Quote that states around a 2 week turn around (cheaper and slower).  What they did send me was longer than 2 weeks to get here even though it didn't work and they still charged the more expensive option.  Other documents include pdf files from emails.  One is an email I sent *********** letting them know that I wasn't able to use any of the data and since it was well over a month that I had already rebuilt everything on my own.  There is one in there with ***** ******* helping me recover data from my own backups after I had to create new VMs since the data was still corrupted on the VMs *********** sent back.  There is another file on there with the emails between **** *******, ***********, and myself.  There is a receipt for the Evaluation Service that they provided and I am NOT disputing this charge as they completed this fully.  There is another pdf file showing the files that they provided for one of my VMs.  You can see there are ***** ****** ***** *** *** files that are all for rebuilding a VM.  There are no data files that they gave me initially and this proves that they knew I was trying to recover my VMs and not just data files or they would have included them the first time.  The last file is emails from ****** ******* where they tried to recover the data that I received from *********** and it failed due to the files still being corrupted. 

• Initial Complaint

  Date:12/23/2023

  Type:Customer Service Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  This company has single handedly been the worst nightmare ive ever had trying to do profesional buisness. They look lagit on there website with the fancy lab and gadgets, but after dealing with these people who give you the run around and mess with your head, its hard to imagine they are anything but a bunch of crooks with a fancy fake picture. First of all, they did not get anything back on my hard drive that wasnt there to begin with after my un erase wizard software, and they broke my external hard drive into pieces and sent it back a mangled wreck. I truley believe these guys to be criminals stealing data for extortion and black mail perposes. I reported this company to the fbi on the matter. I highly recomend the bbb investigates as well and this compony that fronts as inteligent individuals gets taken down for the harassment and criminal activity i can see other people have experienced on this site that you do not send your hard drive to these people unless u want them to do deep fakes with your data and frame you for a crime you didnt do to try to get you to send them money. Finally they gave me a refund, i noticed it seems like my pictures on my iphone looks fishy like some one had been looking threw them, to this day it still scares me. Thats what i get for looking threw some one elses phone, but reguardless, these guys are definetly crooks. Stay away and shut em down.

  

  Business Response

  Date: 01/08/2024

  We apologize for not replying earlier as this appears to have been a complete nonsense of a baseless accusation fueled by delusions. We are not going to entertain any more time replying to Mr. We apologize for not replying earlier as this appears to have been a complete nonsense of a baseless accusation fueled by delusions. We are not going to entertain any more time replying to *** ***********

  

  Business Response

  Date: 01/08/2024

  No clarification required. Customer sent media for service, service was performed. Customer data was not present on the device.

• Initial Complaint

  Date:10/09/2023

  Type:Sales and Advertising Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  This year, a flash drive I used to store files for my math class broke, so I sought a data recovery company. After an initial inquiry was made, two employees pursued me in a predatory manner. A man told me that after he quoted a price point that I had to put a card on file to begin service. I said the quote was too high. He said the actual price might be lower and my card on file would not be charged until I selected to take the data. I explained that I don't have much money and that almost $600 was an exorbitant amount for me to spend. He assured me that I would not be charged until the files were in my possession. A couple months later, a woman called and said that I had to approve the list of data. Once again, I expressed reservations and told her that I didn’t think I was going to use the service because I couldn’t afford it at this time. She claimed that verifying the list would not be the same as purchasing the data. In other words, once the job was done, I had to verify if the info seemed accurate. It did, so I said yes and “approved” the list.
  
  I decided ultimately not to take my files back because as a teacher the cost was way too high. Fast forward five months and I am getting harassed by creditors claiming I owe this company almost $600.
  
  I called today and spoke with two women. Both claimed that by giving my credit card and viewing the list that I was “approving” the purchase and now owe them $600. I explained that their other employees had informed me differently, I explained my circumstances. They were apathetic and impatient, and stated they were owed money and that I was responsible. Repeatedly they told me that I was in the wrong and owed them money despite the information about my experience that I shared. I feel swindled, taken advantage of, lied to, and robbed. Their policies are unclear, misleading, and ultimately unfair for average consumers. This company should be liable for the way they mistreat people.

  

  Business Response

  Date: 10/09/2023

  I understand that this has been a challenging experience for you, and I genuinely appreciate your feedback. It helps us identify areas where we can improve. Our policies are clearly described in our Terms and Conditions and all our representatives provide the information that is stated there. As such, the device was sent in to be recovered, a service has been provided and a payment is expected for the provided service. As no payment has been provided yet, we are unable to offer a refund. Once the collections matter is settled, a customer will be provided with their recovered data as per service agreement.

• Initial Complaint

  Date:03/31/2023

  Type:Product Issues
  Status:

  ResolvedMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  In August of 2022, I contacted Salvage Data Recovery to help me recover data on a malfunctioning external hard drive. I am a photographer and this was a disc containing primarily photo files, which are extremely valuable to me. I was told I had to send it in for evaluation. It is totally unclear where they are located physically. It's an 800 phone number and no location or address is provided. I was given a local location to drop off the drive. After several days and no response regarding the receipt of the hard drive I reached out for confirmation. I was told the drive was misdirected/mishandled at the drop off location, but it was now at the appropriate location and being evaluated. Again all of this communication is via an internal system of theirs with a generic email, support@datarecovery. They quoted a price of $1088 to recover what they can and return on a drive "that's in good working order". This was the cheapest offer in their array of time periods for completing the work. This is a lot of money with vague description of what I would get in return. To repeat, the specifics of the repair, including their evaluation report, and back and forth communication are done via a closed system in which I don't have a transcript or record of now. Nonetheless, I proceeded because I was in a bad situation with the potential loss of all these photo files. The cheapest choice also was expected to take 2 to 5 weeks. I was forced to pay the entire sum up front. Approximately a month later I received notice that the recovery was done. Fast forward to March of 2023, six months later and the recovery drive they sent has stopped working. They will not remedy the situation without me starting another evaluation process. Given the sum of money paid, this doesn't seem to be a reasonable remedy. Even a car repair for a given part has a warranty to function for a decent amount of time. Salvage Data is saying that their work is only good for 30 days. That doesn't seem reasonable for $1000.

  

  Business Response

  Date: 04/03/2023

  Thank you for reaching out to us with your concerns. We understand the importance of the data on your hard drive, especially as a professional photographer, and we apologize for any inconvenience you have experienced.
  
  First and foremost, we would like to clarify that Salvage Data Recovery is a data recovery service provider, and we do not manufacture hard drives. Our primary responsibility is to help customers like you recover their valuable data from malfunctioning or damaged storage devices. As such, we are unable to offer a warranty on the hard drives themselves.
  
  That being said, we value your satisfaction and want to provide a resolution that is fair for both parties. Although it has been longer than 30 days since we completed your initial data recovery service, we are willing to offer a one-time courtesy replacement of the hard drive to help resolve the issue you are currently facing.
  
  However, we must inform you that as per our terms and conditions, the original data has been erased after the 30-day period. This is in accordance with our data privacy and security policies. To retrieve your data once again, we would need to perform a new data recovery service, which would be subject to our standard evaluation process and fees.
  
  We understand that this may not be the ideal resolution, but we want to assure you that we are committed to providing the highest quality data recovery service possible while adhering to industry standards and best practices.
  
  Please let us know if you would like to proceed with the courtesy replacement hard drive offer, and if you are interested in engaging our data recovery services again. We are here to help and will do our best to address your concerns.
  
  Once again, we apologize for the inconvenience you have experienced and appreciate your understanding.

  Customer Answer

  Date: 04/03/2023

  Better Business Bureau:
  
  
  
  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and have determined that this does not resolve my complaint.  For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below.

  It seems to defy logic that a company is allowed to charge a premium for a service and then place the results of that service on a product that they aren't willing to stand behind.  If I had paid $100 or even $200, I might be able to accept this response as reasonable, but I paid over $1000. If you are providing a service on a piece of equipment that you can't guarantee for a reasonable amount of time, then you shouldn't be providing the service.  If the company isn't willing to recover what they can on the hard drive they provided to me for $1000, then give me my money back because I essentially have nothing to show for that fee.
  
  
  
  
  [To assist us in bringing this matter to a close, we would like to know your view on the matter.]
  
  
  
  Regards,
  
  
  
  *** *******
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
   

  

  Business Response

  Date: 04/04/2023

  I understand that you're frustrated that your new hard drive failed again just 5 months after we recovered your data. However, our 30-day warranty period is a standard policy that we apply to all of our services, and unfortunately, we cannot provide free service outside of that period.
  
  It's important to note that while we take every precaution to ensure that the data we recover is fully functional and usable, we cannot control the reliability or longevity of the storage media itself. We do provide guidance to our customers on how to properly maintain and backup their data to help avoid future data loss.
  
  Nevertheless, we understand the importance of your data and we would like to work with you to find a solution that meets your needs. We can offer a discounted rate for our service to recover the data from the failed hard drive, and we can also provide guidance on how to properly maintain and backup your data in the future to help avoid similar issues.
  
  Please let us know if there's anything more we can do to assist you, and we'll do our best to find a solution that works for you.

  Customer Answer

  Date: 04/05/2023

  Better Business Bureau:
  
  
  
  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and have determined that this does not resolve my complaint.  For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below.

  I have rejected this offer only because there is no option to accept but be given greater detail on your offer to recover data at a discounted rate given the very brief period that the hard drive I received from you worked.  I simply cannot afford, nor do I think it reasonable, to pay anything close to the $1000 rate that I have already paid to recover "some" of my photos.  I feel I already paid for services that should last far beyond 5 months. Please be mindful that these files represent years of my work.  Ten years, in some cases. This is work I can't replicate. These are long hours I spend on the road seeking ideal weather for dramatic landscape scenes or portfolio work.  If these files are lost, the work is lost.

  Can you please be very specific about what you are offering?  Any vagueness leads me to believe that I'm setting myself up for really nothing from your company.

  I do appreciate your offer and hope we can find a place of reason.

  Thank you,

  ***

  
  
  
  
  [To assist us in bringing this matter to a close, we would like to know your view on the matter.]
  
  
  
  Regards,
  
  
  
  *** *******
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
   

  

  Business Response

  Date: 04/05/2023

  You would be sending the device over for diagnostics. Once we establish the nature of the failure and the issue, we will determine the quote for this recovery and a 20% discount will be given.

  Customer Answer

  Date: 04/09/2023

  Better Business Bureau:
  
  
  
  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and have determined that this does not resolve my complaint.  For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below.

  It appears my initial response to the last response from the retrieval company didn’t get posted.  Not sure why. Regardless, my response is the following.  I have to reject only a 20% discount which is essentially communicating to me an $800 fee for a job I’ve already paid $1000.  I don’t find this reasonable, nor can I afford it.

  
  
  
  
  [To assist us in bringing this matter to a close, we would like to know your view on the matter.]
  
  
  
  Regards,
  
  
  
  *** *******
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
   

  

  Business Response

  Date: 04/10/2023

  Since the services have been rendered  and delivered as promised and since we do not offer media and data warranty past 30 days, unfortunately there is nothing else we can offer. Should you decided in the future, you'd like to pursue the recovery, we will gladly extend the 20% discount.

  Customer Answer

  Date: 04/18/2023

  [A default letter is provided here which indicates your acceptance of the business's response.  If you wish, you may update it before sending it.]
  
  
  
  Better Business Bureau:
  
  
  
  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me. 
  
  
  
  Regards,
  
  
  
  *** *******
  
  
  
  
  

• Initial Complaint

  Date:03/27/2023

  Type:Product Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  On February 27, I dropped off an external hard drive locally in Brooklyn, NY. It was shipped without my knowledge to Ohio, where it was to be assessed. The assessment took longer than promised, but I received an email on March 6 that it was ready to be discussed. I scheduled a phone call with my case manager, ***** ********, on March 13, 12:45pm. He did not call me. I tried calling him and there was no answer, then it was busy. I tried calling a different number from his email and someone answered said they were just a drop-off point for SalvageData and they couldn't tell me anything. I had to call numerous times just to speak with someone, and by that time, I figured it was a scam. I spoke with a sales rep named ***** ******* on March 21 by pretending I had another drive to submit - just to get someone to take my call. He said they were super busy. I told him I just wanted my property (the drive) back. He told me it would be $40 for the "free" consultation, to overnight my drive back to me with 2-day Fedex. He said the $40 was "somewhere in their terms of service!" The whole transaction was super suspicious. I paid the $40 and received my drive back, but I can't tell if it works because it was broken when I sent it in. I want my $40 back. I would've gladly walked back to the place where I dropped it off, just about a mile from my house. That seems fair to me.

  

  Business Response

  Date: 03/28/2023

  Thank you for reaching out to us and sharing your concerns about your recent experience with our services. I apologize for any inconvenience or confusion you have faced during this process. We value your feedback and want to address your concerns in a transparent and respectful manner.
  Regarding the $40 fee, it is important to clarify that this charge covers the cost of return shipping for your external hard drive. While we understand that you were not initially aware of the shipment to Ohio, our terms of service state that the evaluation center may be located in a different state, and the return shipping fee may apply in certain circumstances.
  I apologize for the delay in communication and the confusion surrounding your interaction with our staff. It is not our intention to create an impression of being unresponsive or unhelpful. Our team strives to provide efficient and professional service, and we are taking your feedback seriously in order to improve our process.
  Please note that our goal is to assist customers with their data recovery needs and provide the best possible solutions. In your case, we understand that you ultimately decided against proceeding with our services, which is why the drive was returned to you.
  Unfortunately, as the $40 fee pertains to the return shipping costs, we are unable to issue a refund for this amount. We understand your frustration and would like to assure you that we will continue working to improve our services based on your feedback.
  Thank you for your understanding, and if you have any further questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to reach out to us.

  Customer Answer

  Date: 03/30/2023

  Better Business Bureau:
  
  
  
  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and have determined that this does not resolve my complaint.  For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below.
  
  
  
  
  I do understand the cost of shipping, but it's only fair that I should be able to walk and pick up my return drive at the same place I dropped it off. I waited for WEEKS to hear from an employee. I'm thoroughly convinced something scammy is going on here. I will continue to pursue a refund through all available channels. Please reconsider - your employee told me that he had hundreds of cases and couldn't even reply to cases. If this is the case - the fault is YOURS for not responding, putting the onus on me, and not accommodating people who trusted you with the care of our property. It's not my fault you didn't hire more people so I could've spoken to someone weeks ago, before this problem escalated.
  
  
  
  Regards,
  
  
  
  ******** *********
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
   

  

  Business Response

  Date: 04/03/2023

  Our terms and conditions are clearly described on our website.

• Initial Complaint

  Date:03/21/2023

  Type:Customer Service Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  They offer Emergency evaluation service with a $500 fee. They advertise that someone picks up the disk for our convenience, but they let me ship it myself. Their offices located in this city look virtual.
  
  In addition, I paid another $40 to get back my drive but they didn't ship it yet. The "case manager" never receive my calls (instantly transferred to voice mail) after I refused their recovery servive and notify my intention for the return.

  

  Business Response

  Date: 03/21/2023

  We have multiple options for pickup and shipping the device to the lab that is best suited to perform the diagnostics and recovery of a failed media. Not sure what appears to be the issue here or how we can help as the customer refused to even discuss the service. The emergency diagnostic fees are rolled into the cost of recovery if it's approved. Customer declined the recovery service and asked us to ship the device back (yesterday at the end of the work day. 

  Customer Answer

  Date: 03/27/2023

  Better Business Bureau:
  
  
  
  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and have determined that this does not resolve my complaint.  For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below.
  
  
  
  

  First, “Door-to-Door pickup” is stated on your website. Do you argue the “Door-to-Door pickup” is included in the “Recovery service” but not in the “Evaluation service”? It doesn’t make sense. The manager who takes charge of my case customers guided me to send my drives to you, take the “Evaluation” first, and then decide whether to take “Recover” or not. “Recovery” is not the option I can choose before I send my drive and before I take the Evaluation. Besides, the manager didn’t explain the situation like you are saying. He told me there was no available person for pick up even though I requested the “Door-to-Door pickup” twice.
  
  I am not confused about the procedures. I definitely could see the “Door-to-Door pickup” on the webpage that guides to choosing “Emergency evaluation”. Interestingly, that webpage is hidden behind the multiple layers of webpages, which can be encountered after requesting a quote. But, fortunately, I made a screenshot and attached it to this thread. Please see attached. 
  
  
  Second, as I said before, your diagnostics just repeated what I informed you. You said that “there is no file list to be provided since the data is not accessible until the recovery is complete”. What I don’t understand is that nevertheless, the manager told me by phone that 70% of files may be recoverable. In addition, the email you sent me shows “We are confident that we can retrieve data from your failed media”. Please see attached. Even if you cannot see the file list, how did you know you were confident that you could retrieve files that I want to recover? How could your manager guide me with assurance to pay $700-$1500 for recovery? That’s why I want to see actual proof of the evaluation. 

  
  
  
  Regards,
  
  
  
  *** *** ***
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
   

  

  Business Response

  Date: 03/28/2023

  Even in the screenshot as we've pointed out - there is no mention of Door-to-door pickup. We've already explained why a pickup was not an option as it would take valuable time away. Once again - no one forced you to select expedited evaluation, that was your choice to proceed with that. What is included in the evaluation has been explained. There is nothing more that we can assist you with.

  We provided the necessary evaluation report, there is no additional documentation that will be available. Evaluation % is offered from data compilation from previous cases.