Let’s assume that you have a data recovery case and you’ve already shopped around for quotes. The prices all sound a little steep. Well, before we dig any deeper in this I want to make a very important point here. If you have visited/contacted three different recovery labs and each has quoted you approximately the same price, the chances are that the recovery required will not be an easy case.
Then you contact another recovery facility and the price they quote you is twice as cheap as all the other quotes. Even if it sounds a bit odd that there would be such a wide space between the other quotes and this one – it gets your attention. You think about for a little while then you make your decision. So, you choose to take it there because, at this point, you really have nothing to lose.
Well, in actual fact you do – your data.
If someone quotes you a price that seems too good to be true for something like a clicking hard drive, and you’ve already got higher quotes from other firms, beware. This is a classic sign that points to the possibility of you getting taken advantage of.
Let me explain further.
There are companies that will take your hard drive and see that it entails far too much work to attempt a recovery. They already know you are not prepared to spend a lot of money on the recovery so they will give you a low ball price quote that you won’t be able to refuse. For about 95% of the time that this happens, there will be a trick of some kind attached.
They will ask you for an upfront parts replacement commitment.
This should be your sign that you are about to get scammed… big time.
What will happen is they will take your money and wait for about a week. Then they will contact you with the bad news.
This actually happens more often than you think and it continues to happen. There happen to be thousands of companies that advertise themselves as being data recovery firms and several of them are just scammers. I wrote a blog some time ago about the things you should look for when choosing a data recovery firm. Review it as it will assist you in finding the right fit for your data recovery project.
I will also mention here that within this industry, the scammers are well-known.
Fields Data Recovery, dataretreival (formerly or also known as datarecoverycorp), fileretreival and datarecoup are a few of them. Do yourself a huge favor by staying away from any of these guys. A quick Google search will reveal a lot more details on them that will verify what I have said.
Now that I’ve covered that, I also want to let you know that there are many companies out there – and good ones – that are in the data recovery business and they will perform these duties at a far cheaper price than others. This doesn’t mean they are all scammers. What has really hurt this industry is the fact that there are so many companies that claim to be data recovery experts who are just ripping off innocent customers who are at a vulnerable place seeking data recovery.
It’s easy to see.
If your hard drive was at risk and you knew that the files on it could be lost forever – and you didn’t have a backup somewhere or a recent backup – you’d been a little bit stressed about the situation. This is where the scammers excel. They will actually prey on your fears and work you until they get your business.
Data recovery is typically not a cheap fix. If you encounter a service that offers a really cheap price, you need to do some investigating first. Always ask for references. Whatever you do, do not rely entirely on online reviews. Yes, some of them will be useful but an online review can easily be posted by someone who is working closely with the data recovery firm you are doing your homework on.
Checking references is a far better approach to follow as you will be able to speak directly with someone who can tell you far more than an online review can. HDDGuru is a great place for that exact purpose. Hopefully, they can put your fears to rest and give you the information you need to make an informed decision.
You may get lucky and find a data recovery firm that will fix your problem, have good references and get the job done without costing you a bundle. But these are pretty rare situations.
Do you have a damaged hard drive that requires some attention? We can help you with that. Just contact us and provide the details so that we can get back to you with a price quote.