14. Return Material Authorization (RMA)

A Service Request must be opened to engage the VDURA Technical Support team. For a failed part, use Report Hardware Failure/RMA (see chapter 8).

14.1 RMA Process

If hardware is identified as failed, VDURA will issue an RMA for the failed part if it is either covered by warranty or is under a valid service program. All shipping costs (both ways) are covered by VDURA for warranty and service program customers. To process an RMA, customers must provide VDURA with the failed part’s serial number and confirm the delivery address.

• Continental Europe: All customers in continental Europe will be sent replacement parts from Veldhoven, Netherlands. Notwithstanding customs issues, customers located in the European Union generally receive their parts on the next business day, if RMAs are submitted before 10:00 AM US Eastern Time. Countries not part of the EU are shipped “best effort”; parts usually will be delivered in one to three business days, depending on customs delays.
• United Kingdom: All customers in the UK will be sent parts from Basildon. RMAs for the UK must be submitted prior to 8:00 AM US Eastern Time to be delivered next business day. Again, customs issues may impact delivery times.
• United States and the rest of the world: All other (non-European) customers will receive replacement parts from the United States. Customers in the United States will receive their parts next business day if their RMA is submitted before 4:00 PM US Eastern Time.

All deliveries and returns are usually trackable when shipping information becomes available, after approximately 12 to 24 hours. You can find the shipping details on the Service Request or RMA in question.

14.2 RMA Return Process

RMAs will be kept open in our CRM system until the failed parts are returned. Failed parts must be returned to VDURA within 30 days for US customers and 60 days for non-US customers. Return of failed parts helps keep our costs low and allows us to identify any specific hardware failure trends. Additionally, we do failure analysis by request.

Customers that fail to return parts may be invoiced for the list price of that part, or VDURA may suspend RMA service for customers that continuously fail to return failed parts in a timely fashion.

14.3 Third-Party Product RMAs

VDURA uses several third-party products, such as switches, in our storage solutions. RMAs for these products are usually stocked by the manufacturers of that product. If an RMA is required for one of these products, and service has been purchased for them, then VDURA will initiate the RMA with the equipment manufacturer, who will drop ship the replacement to the customer.

14.4 Secure Media and Hardware Disposal Options

Customers that cannot return non-volatile hardware components containing user data can upgrade their VDURA service contracts with the following two support subscriptions for secure media/hardware disposal. Both programs are available on a per-node basis.

• HW-Support-NBD-NR-MEDIA: This plan is a support subscription option that provides next-business-day support and allows customers to remove NVMe and SATA drives from Director and Storage Nodes after an authorized RMA has been issued. Once the items have been removed according to support procedures, the customer reassembles and returns the node(s) in a manner similar to a regular RMA.
• HW-Support-NBD-NR-NM: This plan is a support subscription option that provides next-business-day support and allows customers to destroy Director and Storage Nodes after an authorized RMA has been issued. Note that HW-Support-NBD-NR-NM includes the services described in HW-Support-NBD-NR-MEDIA.

14.5 Statement of Volatility

VDURA realizes that attention to detail is critical for secure environments to be successful and therefore provides a detailed Statement of Volatility for all component hardware that is shipped.

For legacy hardware, ask VDURA Customer Support for the most up-to-date Statement of Volatility document. For V5000 hardware, please contact VDURA for further assistance.