Fields Data Recovery USA, LLC

While the file was "empty", it was recovered, and functional. We will not be issuing a refund.

Initial Business Response /* (1000, 7, 2015/10/12) */
This client sent his hard drive using our free Next Day Air UPS inbound service, and after free diagnostics agreed to pay for a recovery attempt on his hard drive, at an expedited pace. The terms of this were clearly outlined with the client...

over the phone, and he was made well-aware that this recovery attempt was beyond our "no recovery, no fee" service. Situations like this are also clearly outlined in our terms and conditions, and the client signed a credit card authorization form with the terms clearly outlined.
Unfortunately, this recovery attempt was unsuccessful and the clients original hard drive was returned.

This client paid for the recovery of his data on May 24, and the data was shipped on the drive he supplied on June 2. This was delivered on June 6. On June 29 the client contacted us requesting his original drive be returned, which was shipped the next day. On July 1, the client contacted us to...

explain he was having problems with his backup drive. He was provided a free inbound shipping label that he has yet to use, to send back both his original and backup drive for re-recovery. Re-recovery is necessary because this was beyond the 7 day "warranty" period outlined in our terms and conditions (found on our website, and emailed upon arrival of his drive in our lab) that the client has to review recovered data. Even though it was beyond that period, we have offered re-recovery at no cost to him. The client reviewed a listing of recovered data prior to making payment, and the backup drive was checked for functionality and to ensure it contained all recovered data prior to dispatch. He has paid a nonrefundable fee for data recovery services that have been provided. We are unsure why he's had problems, but certain we can rectify any issues. All he needs to do is send either the original drive, or the backup drive using our prepaid shipping label.

I addressed this fully on 7/12/2016: This client paid for the recovery of his data on May 24, and the data was shipped on the drive he supplied on June 2. This was delivered on June 6. On June 29 the client contacted us requesting his original drive be returned, which was shipped the next day. On July 1, the client contacted us to explain he was having problems with his backup drive. He was provided a free inbound shipping label that he has yet to use, to send back both his original and backup drive for re-recovery. Re-recovery is necessary because this was beyond the 7 day "warranty" period outlined in our terms and conditions (found on our website, and emailed upon arrival of his drive in our lab) that the client has to review recovered data. Even though it was beyond that period, we have offered re-recovery at no cost to him. The client reviewed a listing of recovered data prior to making payment, and the backup drive was checked for functionality and to ensure it contained all recovered data prior to dispatch. He has paid a nonrefundable fee for data recovery services that have been provided. We are unsure why he's had problems, but certain we can rectify any issues. All he needs to do is send either the original drive, or the backup drive using our prepaid shipping label. - I believe we were offered arbitration in this case. I did not receive a call about this, but can see an attempt was made. We keep the original hard drive unless a specific request is made when shipping data, so that we may quickly and easily re-recover data if necessary. In this case, he requested the drive back, and as soon as he had his original drive he claimed his backup had no data - putting us in a position that we would be unable to re-recover, and to where we did not have his data on file any longer because it was well beyond the 7 day period that we hold data (Secs. 5.4-5.6 of our Terms and Conditions: 5.4 The client agrees to inspect or to procure to inspect the goods delivered at the earliest opportunity after delivery or attempted delivery and in any event within five calendar days of delivery or attempted delivery. Any claims for shortfall in delivery of goods, or claims that the goods do not comply with the order agreed with Fields Data Recovery, must be notified in writing within seven calendar days of delivery. Claims made outside of this time period may only be resolved at the discretion of Fields Data Recovery. 5.5 Fields Data Recovery will retain a copy of your recovered data for a period of seven days from the date of dispatch. During this period Fields Data Recovery will answer any queries concerning the recovered data and, if required, provide further copies. On occasions, with the client's consent, Fields Data Recovery may retain a copy of your recovered data and/or digital image beyond this point. In circumstances such as these, Fields Data Recovery reserves the right to charge a fee for duplicate copies of data, data storage, management and security. 5.6 The client and Fields Data Recovery agree that the sole and exclusive remedy for any unsatisfactory work shall be at Fields Data Recovery’s discretion. Fields Data Recovery reserves the right to either (a) try additional attempts by Fields Data Recovery’s engineer to remedy any unsatisfactory work, or (b) to refund the amount paid by the client in full or part. - We offered him an attempt at re-recovery, but he refused to return either his original device or the backup drive that contained his data. We even emailed a prepaid UPS return label for him to send these in, sent on July 1, 2016. Instead of sending, he claims to have taken to a computer shop that does not specialize in data recovery.

The client sent his device for data recovery services, which we performed. His PCB was damaged, which we corrected with a PCB/ROM swap and SATA conversion, and then unlocked the drive using the passcode he provided. He has provided photos, and the damage he's shown is the damage we observed after...

removing the drive from the hard drive enclosure. Not only is this piece not necessary for data recovery purposes, but this was part of the reason his drive failed in the first place.

As the client has shown, we informed them of exactly what they would be receiving prior to making payment. They will be issued no refund.

Complaint: [redacted]
I am rejecting this response because:<
This is entirely untrue. The vast majority of the data sought to be recovered was current filed for the past 3 years. The backup files were a minimal portion of the data. At no time prior to the assurance, in writing, that they could recover all my data did Fields inquire as to the specifics of the data sought to be recovered. They simply informed me, after reviewing the drive, that ALL data was recoverable. I had other copies of the backup files so that is of no use to me. It was the current files I was seeking and they completely failed to recover a simple byte of all that data.
Sincerely,
[redacted]

These statements are incorrect, and we will be in touch with the client today to direct her towards the data that was recovered.

Complaint: [redacted]
I am rejecting this response...

because: They broke every promise to provide service in a timely manner. The burden of proof should be on them to provide more information that will show they tried to ship this in good faith. Even their response was not performed in a timely manner.    
Sincerely,
[redacted]

This client initially sent us the wrong package (some curtains meant for Amazon.com) and we arranged to have her hard drive sent. It was received, and noted that it had previously been opened by another data recovery company (their label was attached to the drive). A day later this was deemed...

unrecoverable due to severe platter damage. An email was meant to be sent informing her of the unrecoverable nature of the drive, but was mistakenly not sent. 6 days later the client called back very upset when she was informed the drive was unrecoverable. We returned her curtains to Amazon, and her hard drive to her exactly as it was received - an internal, Seagate hard drive, completely sealed. We document each package as it is received with photographs to ensure we return exactly as it was received. There is no doubt that we received only a sealed, internal hard drive, which we returned in the same fashion - the only difference being a sticker with her job number was attached. Her drive was with another company prior to our evaluation, and our diagnostics confirmed theirs - the drive is unrecoverable due to severe platter damage, damage that was present before submission to the first company. We apologize for any delay in informing the client of no recovery, but are unsure why the customer is taking this stance. Again, we received an internal, 3.5" Seagate SATA hard drive that was previously opened for diagnostics by another data recovery company. We confirmed their evaluation (severe platter damage, no recovery possible) and returned her drive in the exact same condition as it was received. There is nothing that the client sent that was not returned.

We recovered all possible data from Mrs. [redacted]'s hard drive in mid-July. This data was a backup set of data, comprised only of a set of compressed files in a stucture similar to 000001.zip, 000002.zip, and so on, and so forth. After receiving her data she emailed stating we did not get the data she...

wanted, and provided a list of folders that were "empty". These folders must have been contained within this backup set, as we had never seen those, or any trace of them. Because these were "empty", we suggested to her that maybe an alternative method of extraction of the recovered data would help, and offered to do this for her via remote desktop access. She refused this assistance. We are confident we recovered all data from the drive, and remain confident that with our assistance she could use this data in the way that she wants. However, she will not accept help. We will not offer or consider a refund in this case, as we have provided her with the 468GB of data promised as recoverable. If she still has an unaltered copy of the recovered data we may still be able to help, all she has to do is accept our offer of remote desktop access. Thank you, [redacted]

The drive was found to have damaged read/write heads, and parts were required for the recovery attempt. The client was made aware of the risks of the procedure, and that no guarantees could be made in regards to success. Unfortunately after much work, the drive was deemed unrecoverable as the...

platters sustained damage too severe for recovery.

Complaint: [redacted]
I am rejecting this response because: The company mentioned in their initial and only email that the data have a very good chance of recovery and that is whey I agreed on proceeding with the repair, below is the exact email I received from them "Diagnostics have completed and we will have to source an identical drive to use the read/write heads. I’ve summarized the engineers’ findings below: - The disk would come ready initially but as soon as access was attempted a busy and ready state would be attained. - Drive required a re-power. At this point a continual servo error from the terminal with knocking was noted. This relo fault is typical of head failure. - A headswap will need to be performed on your drive. The total price for this recovery would be $640.00. Because we have to purchase parts, though, $400.00 would be due upfront (non-refundable) and the balance due upon successful recovery. At this point we cannot say for certain what data is recoverable, but most of similar attempts result in a complete, and full recovery. Please let me know if you have any questions." As I understood from the email that there is at least 80-90% chance of recovery. Also their horrible customer service made  me be sure that they are not a professional company and they have possibly sent my hard drive to a third party for repair and that is why they are dragging their feet and delaying the return of the hard drive to me. I am sure they have not done or fulfilled their tasks and they should be responsible for their actions.
Sincerely,
[redacted]

This client will have his drive by the end of this week, we have performed the work he contracted us to do.

Complaint: [redacted]
I am rejecting this response because:This response is incomplete and misleading.  Mr [redacted] is fully aware of my absence from my residence related to my work interviewing harmed patients around the country.  We discussed this in my cell phone conversations on May 25 when I arranged to have the new retail drive sent overnight to his business while I was on the first leg of my trip from Dayton-St Louis-Oklahoma City-Alamogordo-Tucson-Palm Springs-Los Angeles-Bakersfield--Sacramento-Salem-Seattle and the return on 29 June. I can provide hotel and gas receipts to demonstrate the drive was not received until my return on 29 Jun.  It was on 29 Jun that I received the damaged hard drive with no data and no documentation, and no original drive.  I was told the drive was erroneously formatted in MAC format.  It was not.  After many tries on MAC and PC and then evaluation by [redacted] and [redacted] digital, I learned the drive was damaged when it arrived and is unusable and must be replaced.  The 100% negative reviews describing the unsavory practices of Fields Data Recovery and my recent experience documented in the emails I have provided give me no confidence that I can take any more risks I losing my data.  I must not risk losing more time, data, or hard drives.  Again, I refer you to the email chain and the documented practices of FDR on [redacted]t.Fields Data Recovery has recovered no data, damaged my new retail hard drive.  I have received no value for the fee of $640 and the $70 hard drive.I do not ask for compensation for the new damaged hard drive.  I do request refund of the $640.
Sincerely,
[redacted]

The email the client references specifically says there is a free return option for media. Had he provided only media for recovery, there would have been free option. However, because he provided his entire laptop, there was no free return option. According to our returns policy, found on our...

website, there is a $59.00 fee that is due for return of a laptop.

We provided a full list of recoverable files to the client prior to when she paid. We could not have done anything more to let her know what was recoverable. She received all of these files.

This was sent to the client in the specified timeframe. It was then returned undeliverable. We then shipped, with tracking, on October 3. USPS tracking [redacted].

Mr. [redacted] paid a nonrefundable fee to attempt recovery on his hard drive. This was completed, but unfortunately was unsuccessful. We can provide photographs documenting the physical work undertaken if necessary. This is being returned to the client. No refund will be issued.

She has received all recoverable data, which includes, but is not limited to, the 30,000 files she was informed were recoverable at the time payment was made. She has refused to allow us to remotely assist her, which limits our ability to help. At this point we are confident that she has, in her possession, all files and folders that she was informed were recoverable. Should she decide to accept remote assistance we can point her to exactly where those files reside on her backup drive. This matter is closed within Fields Data Recovery, with the exception of our offer to remotely assist.