This week I messaged Lexar: Where is my warranty-replacement card, Lexar SD 64GB 2000x (it comes with a 5-year warranty).
Two weeks prior I mailed the SD card by authorized RMA to a firm in Tennessee: a loose image protector "slider switch" that wouldn't stay in position.
Simple replacement; why hasn't it arrive?
"Thank you for contacting Lexar support. I see in our system that we have received the defective product, however we have not shipped out your replacement as of yet. The delay is due to our recent move into new ownership which has caused a large amount of backed-up orders. Our warehouse is working diligently on processing all outstanding orders in a timely manner. We will be sending out your replacement as soon as possible and we appreciate your patience."
Elsewhere I came across the message below, another person wondering where his replacement card was? The troubling part: It was posted 4 months ago!
The issue centers around Micron's sale last year of Lexar to a Chinese firm named Longsys (a very large well-recognized name in Asia).
4 months ago (the user quipped)
"For those who have been through the Lexar RMA process, you will understand the pain... RMA delivered to them over 2 weeks ago. I called to get an update and was told "we're in transition to the new owner and are getting a new system, we have no idea how long it is going to take to ship replacements". I asked if we are talking weeks? months? years? Should I just buy another one elsewhere? "We have no idea... we keep telling the new corporate owners we need to ship replacements but they have not responded."
Yikes! My recent two-week wait was duplicated by another person four months previous!
A PR statement from the new owner said: The Lexar name isn't going to disappear, but it is changing hands. Micron may have killed the brand internally, but the actual
name and
branding rights have been sold to Chinese flash storage company Longsys.
In announcing the acquisition, Longsys CEO Huabo Cai said, "Existing customers can rest assured that the innovative solutions and excellent support that they have experienced from Lexar will continue. The mission to make Lexar the go-to brand for high-performance removable storage continues, and we will expand upon it to offer even more compelling solutions as the age of wireless and big-data impact the consumer storage markets."
So we will still be able to buy Lexar-branded storage products, but will they be of the same quality? Longsys has been around since 1999 offering products in the embedded memory, solid state drive, memory card, and USB flash drive markets. If you own a storage product carrying the
Foresee brand, that's Longsys. It seems like the perfect home for the Lexar brand considering Longsys' existing product line-up.
Yet their warehouse remains empty. Across at least four months? It's an ominous sign.