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It’s absolutely fraud, at scale and across state lines. They started selling product A, under a particular version number. They then substituted inferior produ

It’s absolutely fraud, at scale and across state lines. They started selling product A, under a particular version number. They then substituted inferior product B as the same version number, deceiving customers who were attempting to buy product A. They did this with what seems like explicit intent to trick customers attempting to buy product A into accepting the inferior product B. I think it speaks to the overt criminality of modern businesses that they did this. I hope we start seeing RICO and organized crime prosecutions against executives for this behavior.

sschueller 5y ago
They also surely didn't ship the slow units to the reviewers...
caconym_ 5y ago
+1 I was wondering about the legality, since this seems to me to be bald-faced fraud and part of a consistent pattern at WD and other manufacturers. I guess the sticking point is proving that they deliberately used faster components in earlier units to get good reviews? I'm sure they've been very careful to keep their conversations on this matter off the record. If only we had a government more interested in protecting its people from corporate malfeasance.
kragen 5y ago
This kind of line-extension fraud is pretty common. Pyrex used to be a brand name for borosilicate glass, the kind you can safely heat to red heat on a Bunsen burner, and became popular for home baking dishes as well. At some point Corning started selling tempered soda-lime glass in the US as "Pyrex" as well, which can explode if subjected to thermal shock, a decision that causes several cooks per year to end up covered in turkey grease and glass shards. Saran was Dow's trademark for polyvinylidene chloride, a superior chemical protective layer, which became popular as a plastic wrap as a way to preserve food against evaporation and rancidification through oxygen ingress; now Dow sells Saran Wrap that contains no Saran, instead consisting of polyethylene, which permits literally a thousand times as much oxygen through. Similarly there are lines of Sudafed that contain no pseudoephedrine, Kaopectate that no longer contains kaolin or pectin (only in the US), and so on. In electronics, substituting inferior components after the initial launch of a product has become routine, and it isn't even always intentional fraud; the manufacturer may honestly believe the new, cheaper parts are equivalent to the original parts. I think you will see organized crime prosecutions against executives for this behavior, but only in PRC.
- jakemauer 5y ago
  I didn't realize that Saran wrap changed formulations. I just did some googling[0] and apparently it was because the original material emitted chlorine and other unspecified toxic chemicals when burned in municipal incinerators. 0: https://journaltimes.com/business/local/ceo-explains-why-sc-johnson-hobbled-saran-wrap/article_55000b9a-88cb-5786-a36e-3835f1d820ce.html https://journaltimes.com/business/local/ceo-explains-why-sc-...
  - kragen 5y ago
    Yeah, just like PVC pipes, PVDC emits HCl, chlorine, and organochlorides if you burn it. (Not as nasty as the cyanides that come from burning meat, but still nasty.) But they stopped selling it everywhere, not just places that have municipal incinerators, and (just as with WD) they didn't change the name.

sschueller 5y ago

They also surely didn't ship the slow units to the reviewers...

caconym_ 5y ago

+1 I was wondering about the legality, since this seems to me to be bald-faced fraud and part of a consistent pattern at WD and other manufacturers. I guess the sticking point is proving that they deliberately used faster components in earlier units to get good reviews? I'm sure they've been very careful to keep their conversations on this matter off the record. If only we had a government more interested in protecting its people from corporate malfeasance.

kragen 5y ago

This kind of line-extension fraud is pretty common. Pyrex used to be a brand name for borosilicate glass, the kind you can safely heat to red heat on a Bunsen burner, and became popular for home baking dishes as well. At some point Corning started selling tempered soda-lime glass in the US as "Pyrex" as well, which can explode if subjected to thermal shock, a decision that causes several cooks per year to end up covered in turkey grease and glass shards. Saran was Dow's trademark for polyvinylidene chloride, a superior chemical protective layer, which became popular as a plastic wrap as a way to preserve food against evaporation and rancidification through oxygen ingress; now Dow sells Saran Wrap that contains no Saran, instead consisting of polyethylene, which permits literally a thousand times as much oxygen through. Similarly there are lines of Sudafed that contain no pseudoephedrine, Kaopectate that no longer contains kaolin or pectin (only in the US), and so on. In electronics, substituting inferior components after the initial launch of a product has become routine, and it isn't even always intentional fraud; the manufacturer may honestly believe the new, cheaper parts are equivalent to the original parts. I think you will see organized crime prosecutions against executives for this behavior, but only in PRC.

jakemauer 5y ago
I didn't realize that Saran wrap changed formulations. I just did some googling[0] and apparently it was because the original material emitted chlorine and other unspecified toxic chemicals when burned in municipal incinerators. 0: https://journaltimes.com/business/local/ceo-explains-why-sc-johnson-hobbled-saran-wrap/article_55000b9a-88cb-5786-a36e-3835f1d820ce.html https://journaltimes.com/business/local/ceo-explains-why-sc-...
- kragen 5y ago
  Yeah, just like PVC pipes, PVDC emits HCl, chlorine, and organochlorides if you burn it. (Not as nasty as the cyanides that come from burning meat, but still nasty.) But they stopped selling it everywhere, not just places that have municipal incinerators, and (just as with WD) they didn't change the name.