Fujitsu responds to hard drive failures

BELOW IS A REPLY Keith Warburton of the British PCA trade group has received from Fujitsu Europe after we published an open letter earlier.

Warburton comments: "The PC Association has received a reply to the open letter it sent to Adam Harris at Fujitsu Europe. It doesn't say anything that the company hasn't said before. We shall see if there is any further response from the company in Japan. But let's not hold our collective breath.

"Speaking generally, if a company is facing a potentially massive-scale failure of one of its products, it would be difficult for it to make any meaningful comment at all, not just for reasons of shareholder confidence but also becasue it might well be concerned about possible legal action from aggrieved customers."

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Warburton socks it to Fujitsu over hard drive failures

FUJITSU EUROPE LIMITED
Hayes Park Central, Hayes End Road, Hayes, Middlesex UB4 8FF
Telephone London (020) 8573 4444 Facsimile (020) 8573 2643
VAT Registration No: 340 6900 76 Registered No 157652

AH/met
30th September 2002
Mr. Keith Warburton PCA UK

Dear Keith

Thank you for your letter dated 27th September.

You correctly point out that when you contacted this office we informed you that "we had received reports from some customers of higher than expected failure rates on certain desktop drive models". We take such reports seriously, we have followed up each one with the customer concerned, and have acted accordingly.

This remains our policy and we will continue to treat all our customers in a fair manner.

It would be quite wrong for me to discuss individual cases, nor will I respond to the speculation on failure rates and other comments as stated in your letter and elsewhere in the press. We are of course concerned by the high failure rate as reported by some of the people you mentioned, but these are certainly exceptional cases.

Furthermore, I can confirm that, should one of our customers experience a drive failure, then Fujitsu will of course support each and every one according to our warranty terms.

As you requested I have forwarded your letter to my colleagues in Japan for their reference.

Yours sincerely

Adam R. Harris Vice President Fujitsu Europe Limited