Iomega Screenplay Multimedia drive issues

Mackey1977

Hi,
I recently sent an e-mail to Iomega regarding the 1.5Tb version of their multimedia hard drive. I've purchased 2 of them over the past 45 days, and both have suffered with massive over heating. One eventually died from it. The second i noticed after 1 day of use. I sent both back and Pixmania both times confirmed the goods were faulty. I've previously owned the 500Gb version which had no issues at all. Here is the e-mail I sent them, in which I tried to be as courteous as I could. As I really love the product.

"
I’m writing to inform you of my experiences in buying two of your products from Pixmania recently. Having purchased an Iomega Screenplay 500Gb multimedia hard drive last year in PC World in Dublin, I was extremely impressed with the device. I even advised 4 of my friends and 2 of own family to purchase the device also and they’ve been very impressed.
At the end of May I decided that I’d like to upgrade to the newly available 1.5TB version. I sold on my own one at a reduced rate to one of my friends who also was massively impressed by the device. I placed the order on the Pixmania site as it offered a pretty impressive deal compared to other retailers in terms of the 500GB and 1TB versions. Pixmania were the only place I could find the 1.5TB version at a reasonable price. I placed the order on May 27th. The device cost me €209 which I also purchased Zen Engagement (guarantee of a replacement after the 16th day – refund before that) + shipping. I noticed after a few weeks that the device was overheating quite badly. I’d let it cool, and within an hour it was very hot again. Within another few days, it stopped working completely. I sent this back to Pixmania and as it was after the 16th day, I received back credit of €209 on my Pixmania account, having spent close to €250 (Zen Engagement and Shipping).
I decided not to let one faulty hard drive put me off the Iomega Screenplay product. Using the credit I received from Pixmania. I purchased the device again, again selecting Zen Engagement and paying for the lowest form of delivery. This still came to about €243. I placed that order on July 21st and received the item on Friday 24th July. Within 45 minutes the hard drive was over heating again. After an hour I had to turn it off to avoid further damage. I left it for the weekend, and tested it again on the Monday 27th. After the same thing, I decided to send this back to Pixmania. As I was within 1 week of purchasing the device, I got a refund for Zen Engagment also, but I’ve lost out on the amount for shipping the 2nd device. Another €15 roughly. Pixmania confirmed on both occasions that the item was faulty.
Rather than go through the heartache of trying to find a Screenplay 1.5TB that doesn’t overheat whilst just being plugged in, I’ve decided to get a full monetary refund from Pixmania. I still have people asking me to recommend multimedia hard drives, and I honestly can’t fault the 500Tb version that you produce. It’s a fantastic product. I’m writing this letter, as a huge fan, I hope that you can look at the problems you seem to have with the 1.5Tb version of your hard drive, and try and rectify them. Hard drives should not get that hot after 45 minutes use. At this stage if someone asks me to recommend a multimedia drive of over 1Tb, I’ll unfortunately have to recommend a normal hard drive and perhaps a media player such as the WD Media Player. I do hope you rectify these issues, and I may come back as a customer in the future."

I work in IT and deal with these sorts of issues on a weekly basis so I do know what a faulty hard drive looks like. I've my IT grievances on a daily basis so I know the difference between the good multimedia drive and a bad one. Here is the reply I got today on it. Which I find is the nicest possible way of telling me to "Get lost"

Thank you for contacting Iomega Europe.

Thank for your letter. This overheating issue was discussed with technical department and it was stated that there is no issue with any of ScreenPlay HD series products as enclosure on the unit works as heatsink.

If you require more information, please do not hesitate to contact us again.

Kind regards,

Iomega Inside Sales


IOMEGA Team


Any one have any experiences of this? Either the overheating of Iomega Screenplay products, or the disregard that was shown for a complaint made.

red face dave

I am having problems with Iomega aswell, I am now on my 3rd 500 gb hard drive and this has to be sent back aswell. I was onto pixmania and now they want me to pay for postage for a 4th time. I have never used such a bad company and will never again

Mackey1977

What's happening with the 500Gb versions? I've had one, and seen quite a few, and they all seem to be fine.

red face dave

The first one just stopped working
the second one would not connect to computer
This one the standby button wont work

I am going mad here:mad:

foggy_lad

ye are mad paying postage to send obviously faulty goods back to pixmania! they should be arrranging collection free and replacement or full refund as these products although regarded as media should still be reasonably durable!

Mackey1977

It's not the postage sending it back that's the problem. Pixmania will refund that. But if you want to get a replacement, you have to pay for postage to get it sent to you. That's why i stopped dealing with them. I'm still annoyed with Iomega for this ridiculous response. I could have fried an egg on the hard drive.

_Whimsical_

I was considering buying an Iomega drive but decided against it after reading online customer reviews. The general consensus seems to be that their customer service is very poor. Alot of people have complained that when they returned drives to Iomega that were dead on arrival they recieved deconditioned drives as replacements. Now I know that as your contract of sale is with the retailer the point of return should always be the retailer, however I think a policy like that is underpinned by a disregard for the customer.I would expect a shoddy response to an email from them.

JDxtra

What did you expect? Far too much info in your letter to Iomega. Next time stick to the relevant facts about the device if you want them to take you seriously. Support staff are under pressure to get through requests quickly so waffling about Zen Engagement doesnt help your case!!

JDxtra

Oh, and Zen Engagement is a total scam. Your product was already covered by warranty.

LadyTBolt

Hey guys, I am so sorry to hear all the bad luck with the Iomega drives but at the same time I am thrilled to know that Iomega Hard Drives are generally crap.

This is because my partner and I purchased an Iomega Hard Drive. One evening he went to work and when he came home it just wasn't working for him. I wasn't near it but I got the blame for breaking it. He said I dropped it. I never touched it. Whenever it was turned on it made this noise like it was loading or something. We have had countless arguments. He sent it back to be replaced and he received a reconditioned unit in its place. I haven't seen it, I don't want to see it and I want nothing to do with it. So when it breaks the next time (as it probably will) I will tell him it's broken as he bought a heap of Sh!te to begin with.

It sickens me the money spent on this and all the stuff we lost due to the faulty unit. But I am glad to know it's because the unit is rubbish!

leex

Thanks for the info on Iomega products - you have successfully put me off buying one of these products.

Solid Snake

Hey guys,

I've had my Iomega Screenplay 500gig for over 18months now and absolutely no problems with it. It has worked fine since the day I bought it. One note would be that the fan can be a little loud but that's it so I'm surprised at the 1.5TB.

As for the enclosure of the product acting as a Heatsink, that's complete boll!cks! It might help somewhat but definitely wouldn't dissipate enough heat that a TB would generate. I would say bad design on the TB as obviously they're overheating. If you're anyway technical a small fan from maplins and some wire and solder would solve the problem, but that's besides the point.

You should buy a Multimedia hard drive cradle from Ebay and then fit it with what ever hard drive you want. Way cheaper! And some of them are quite good, HDMI, 2 USB ports.

Anyway best of luck.

Cabaal

and this is why the last Iomega product I bought was a Zip drive for 100MB disks, constructions of their products is pretty poor imho

Delobrien

I bought a 500g screenplay 5 months ago and now its making this clicking noise and my TV and laptop won't recognise it. I emailed pixmania and they said send it back with invoice which I don't have anymore. even if they do fix it will all my stuff be wiped from it? All help is appreciated

Soundman

Delobrien wrote: »

I bought a 500g screenplay 5 months ago and now its making this clicking noise and my TV and laptop won't recognise it. I emailed pixmania and they said send it back with invoice which I don't have anymore. even if they do fix it will all my stuff be wiped from it? All help is appreciated

Do you not have the invoice that they sent you in your email? As soon as you purchase from them they would have sent you a digital copy as well as sending a paper copy with the unit itself.

Going on what you say, the drive is dead or very near, so they won't be repairing it. They will just send you a new unit. So, yes the contents of your drive will be lost.

pappyodaniel

I just upgraded to the iomega screenplay 1 tb hdd. It contains a function where i can record from the television. I can't get this to work. Have you any help on this matter. Which lead goes well, i.e is it connected to the sky+box or the tv? I've tried everything!

moonbug33

Thanks for all for posting, I was about to buy a Iomega 500gig screenplay HD, I wouldn't buy one of these now. What are the alternatives?

Mackey1977

Nothing wrong with the 500Gb screenplay. I had one, but i ran out of space. it was a fantastic buy.

I've bought 2 1Tb drives at about 80 euros each. Then I bought the Western Digital media player which cost about 100. If i were you i'd go down that route. There is a also a device i bought on ebay for about 30 quid that can connect to a hard drive (in a similar way to the Western Digital Media player). Problem with the screenplay is that you're paying for the fact that its a multimedia drive and can play on a tv. If either that functionality or the hard drive breaks, you're goosed..

the_syco

On my 2nd Iomega external HDD. The first died after 9 months. When the 2nd dies, I'll prbably go for a Western Digital external.

Mackey1977 wrote: »

Then I bought the Western Digital media player which cost about 100.

Aye, have the WD TV, and it rules :cool: