GearBits

Followup to 'Avoid This Secure Digital Card!'

Things are looking brighter regarding the faulty SD card I received from eCost.com.

Upon calling them, they told me to contact Smart Modular. Not wanting to deal with yet another company, I asked why eCost wasn't willing to handle this return? The rep informed me that only Smart Modular could issue an RMA for this unit, and if I returned it to eCost, she couldn't guarantee I wouldn't be charged a restocking fee. What crap...eCost is definitely slipping down a few notches in my personal list of preferred tech vendors.

So I called Smart Modular at the number eCost gave me. I was referred to Jim Schwarz, the Technical Services Manager for Smart Modular. I left Jim a voicemail and expected to have to call him again tomorrow. To my surprise, 10 minutes later, Jim calls me back.

Jim confirms that this card reflects a "new design" for SD cards. He offers to send me a replacement card (one that works, I presume) in exchange for me sending this card back to them (on their FedEx account, even). Sweet...now that's good service! Once I get the replacement card, I'll post another followup. For the moment, however, I'd still recommend holding off purchasing these cards, at least from eCost.com, until this issue gets sorted out. When/if it does get worked out, Smart Modular may turn out to be a really good source for affordable SD memory!