Back in February Buy.com had what any reasonable person would consider a good deal. They were selling a set of two 1GB flash drives for $48, with a mail-in rebate for… $48. I could use a larger flash drive, so I placed the order. There was some problem with the order, saying it was out of stock. Since it had the MIR, I needed to get it to send in the rebate form in time. I decided to wait a week before cancelling the order. After several days, I got notice that my drives had shipped. “Nice!” I say. Until they arrive, and start corrupting data. Both of them. So I called up Simple Tech, and they agreed to replace the drives. I had to pay shipping out there, but they would pay to ship the replacements. So, I got the package ready and forgot about it for several weeks. Then I mailed it USPS for 69 cents, despite their warnings that it might cause delays. I figure a delay was worth the extra $4 in shipping that FedEx or UPS would cost.
Well, about a week later I got the replacements. I copied some files to them immediately, and then brought them to work the next day to test them out. Corrupted data! I called Simple Tech again, and they asked for the number on the drives, and once I gave it to them, they immediately said they’d replace them again. And pay shipping both ways. So, they must have a bad batch or something. Which makes me wonder if that’s why they had the rebate. But anyhow.
They went out to them UPS Ground, and it’s taken all week just to get there. I expect they’ll send them back to me the same way they did before, FedEx 2nd Day Air. Hopefully they will, at least. And then I can get the re-replacements this week, and see if they actually work.

I got the rebate check last week, though, so even if they don’t work, at least it didn’t cost me anything (except the shipping first time).