Does Flat Rate Data Recovery Work?
One of the things many of our customers ask us about is “flat rate” data recovery. It’s a common idea, and one that is frequently pushed by some of the smaller, less equipped data recovery companies on the web. The idea is, you send the drive, and they’ll charge you a $199 or $299 price and recover your drive. If they can’t recover the drive, meanwhile, you just pay for the shipping. Sounds like a great deal, right??
Well, sometimes it is. But most times, it is not. This is because hard drive recovery services that offer this kind of data recovery pricing schedule are banking on one thing: they will always make money, no matter what. And this is because if you have a minor logical problem like a file system issue or a simple operating system breakdown, these shops can immediately solve your problem. Sometimes, in 10 minutes or less. Meanwhile, you’re out $299. Sound like the kind of recovery deal you’re looking for? Probably not. But this isn’t the end of where “flat rate data recovery pricing” benefits smaller shops.
An Important Fact
One thing you should know about companies that offer “$299 flat rate recovery” is this: they rarely have the equipment or environment (a Clean Room) that will actually enable them to physically rebuild and repair your hard disk. Many of these companies won’t even open a hard drive, owing mainly to the fact that opening a hard drive without a clean room – an environmentally-controlled room that is certified to either Class 1 (only 35 maximum particles per cubic foot of air) to Class 100 (3500 maximum particles per cubic foot of air) – is actually quite dangerous to not only the drive, but the files on it.
Clean rooms are expensive – expensive to install, and not cheap to maintain. But they are the hallmark of any professional data recovery shop. If a company has not invested in a clean room, they simply are not a hard drive recovery shop. They may call themselves that, but without the skills and equipment to perform actual on-site physical hard disk repairs, they are certainly not a business that any hard drive manufacturer would certify.
The $299 Trick
So, what these smaller companies will typically do in a scenario where they know that they cannot recover the drive with either simple external parts replacement or simple software use is to tell you, “this drive is unrecoverable”. They will say, “the drive is far too damaged for us to fix”, or make up some other excuse, and then charge you for return shipping.
Sound fishy to you? It does to us, as well. But it’s a fact that 30% of people that come to Hard Drive Recovery Associates have already been told that their drive is unrecoverable. Obviously, we know that is almost never the case, and this is because we have a track record in the industry, and, not to belabor a point, but we are a manufacturer-certified data recovery service. Any shop offering $299 recoveries is usually not.
Why Waste Time?
Save time by giving us a call!
Because you’re reading this article, you’re at least saving yourself the time that many others waste on non-certified “technicians”. But you’re probably asking: “how much does HDRA charge?” That is a question which we always answer this way: call us. Describe to us your drive issue, and we will provide you with a real, guaranteed estimate.
We won’t ask you to send us a check for $299. Or tell you that $199 on your Visa card will get you a careful examination by our technicians. No, that’s for some of the other companies out there.
What we can tell you is that once we have an idea of your drive’s issue, we will give you a price estimate. An honest, affordable price estimate on data recovery that you are free to compare with other shops either online or in your city. And if you find a price that’s better, let us know. We bet you we can beat it.
So, if we think we can recover your drive for $95, we will tell you. And if we can’t, we’ll pay for the shipping. On the other hand, if we think the drive cannot be recovered for less than $500, we will also tell you that.
We don’t want to waste your time. We’re here to help get your data back. It’s really as simple as that.
For a free drive evaluation, call us toll free at the number above, or click here.