Corsair Flash Voyager 64GB - Fake?

Hotrod · #1 05-21-2009, 03:07 AM

Hi all

I recently purchased a new (sealed) Corsair Flash Voyager 64GB thumbdrive. Now I purchased it from a company called Deals Direct based in Sydney, Australia. Here is the listing:- http://www.dealsdirect.com.au/p/cors...usb-2-0-drive/ (this is the 32GB listing but the 64GB was listed exactly the same way). This company is selling these still, and I have emailed Corsair regarding these possible fake Corsair products.

I noticed the following:-

* "Note: this is a refurbished model. Serviced and tested by technicians, it comes to you backed by a full 12 month manufacturer warranty." As far as i know Corsair dont sell refurbished original Corsair Voyager Flash drives, they are not even listed on the Corsair store at all. Corsair's warranty is 10 years.

* "Corsair Flash Voyager 32GB USB Flash Drive - Refurbished Model - Blue." Again, as far as I know Corsair dont sell refurbished original Corsair Voyager Flash drives, they are not even listed on the Corsair store at all.

I received the item today and it comes in a sealed plastic package, no usb cable, no cd, no lanyard. The back of the package has English / French / Espanol / Dutch / Italian / and Russian. Bottom left hand corner has Document Number: 45-00141-03C. Nothing indicates where the Voyager is made on the packaging. Bottom right hand corner at the back has the Corsair logo with Copyright 2008 with the FCC / CE / logos.

How can I confirm this is in fact an original Corsair Flash Voyager 64GB? If its fake can I get it exchanged under RMA via Corsair? I just tested this new one and the end of it is very soft, there is a bulge in the middle of it and the LED does not light up when access. There is also no writing anywhere on the metal USB connector. Also, it does not show "Corsair Voyager" when inserted. The white "64GB" where the LED is suppose to be just fell out.

I have attached the 100MB file test via HDBENCH Corsair what do I do?

RAM GUY · #2 05-21-2009, 01:01 PM

You need to contact the reseller and see if they will replace it for a genuine product as we do not and have never sold refurbished products to anyone. Other wise I would complain to the reseller and the web store posting that.
Can you post a picture of the back of the package that came in?

Hysteria72 · #3 05-21-2009, 07:58 PM

Hotrod

I bought a 64gb from Deals Direct too. It is definitely a fake:
- It's only about 7cm long
- No light comes on when inserted
- No manufacturer ID recorded in properties
- doesnt come with either a lanyard or a chain that connects the lid to the unit
- DOA and will not format in XP. Will format in Vista
- No manufacturer ID in Control Panel - Device Manager
- Doesn't come up as a Corsair USB stick when you plug it in
- packed vertically in what appears to be a sealed pack, rather than horizontally like genuine sticks
- Tested with H2testw v1.4 software that tests USB sticks - it suggests this is a 4gb stick that has been hacked to appear to be 64gb
- if you copy 64gb of files to it, nearly all of them are corrupted when you try to read them. This is indicative of a fake
- lid design is not like it is on originals (eg. Nothing can be attached to the lid)
- no writing/numbers on the metal connector

Agg · #4 05-22-2009, 01:43 AM

Does the drive work ok, or is it faulty? Including speed, whether or not it corrupts data, and if it can be filled to capacity.

mattyman · #5 05-22-2009, 03:22 AM

I bought one of these too but haven't received it as yet, however I just received the following email from DealsDirect. It looks like they've identified the issue and are doing their best to fix the problem.

Hello Matthew,

Our records show you recently purchased a Corsair 64GB Flash Voyager USB 2.0 Drive from DealsDirect.com.au

We have been made aware yesterday morning that a shipment of these drives recently received from the USA may have contained some counterfeit product. We have completely isolated the stock since receiving this information, however, some of the drives have unfortunately been despatched.

Early next week we will send you a reply paid Return Authorisation to send this back to us for a full refund.

In appreciation of your co-operation, we will also be offering a token of apology to all affected customers.

Kind Regards,

DealsDirect.com.au Customer Service

Wired · #6 05-22-2009, 04:06 AM

Still doesn't address the fact that they claim to be selling refurb'd drives w/ manufacturer warranty when Corsair doesn't sell them like that.

Hotrod · #7 05-22-2009, 05:17 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mattyman

I bought one of these too but haven't received it as yet, however I just received the following email from DealsDirect. It looks like they've identified the issue and are doing their best to fix the problem.

Hello Matthew,

Our records show you recently purchased a Corsair 64GB Flash Voyager USB 2.0 Drive from DealsDirect.com.au

We have been made aware yesterday morning that a shipment of these drives recently received from the USA may have contained some counterfeit product. We have completely isolated the stock since receiving this information, however, some of the drives have unfortunately been despatched.

Early next week we will send you a reply paid Return Authorisation to send this back to us for a full refund.

In appreciation of your co-operation, we will also be offering a token of apology to all affected customers.

Kind Regards,

DealsDirect.com.au Customer Service

I got the same email today, I think I stirred up a hornets nest buy hey they are fake and not genuine.

Catacaustic · #8 05-22-2009, 09:29 AM

I to purchased one of these, as it seemed like a great deal. To be hoenst, I would not blame Corsair, or Deals Direct, as I'm sure that they've both been the victim of a scam trying to rip everyone off.

Mine was the same as other reports here are... Works to a point, but try to write to much (anything over ~4GB0 and everything is corrupted. I could not format on XP, but coudl format on Mac, and this was the first warning sign.

Hoenstly, Corsair has aid here that they are not rela, and i did find this thread by a Google search, so that's proof that it's a big deal, and people can find it if they look.

Even if they don't look... Deals direct has done the best that they possibly can by sending out the prepaid return satchels to everyone that's bought one. Most places would say 'send it back for a refund", but they realise that something has gone horribly wrong, so they are trying to minimise the damage to themselves, and to Corsair.

Just seems like they were the unlucky victim of some nasty buggers trying to make a fast buck. It is a shame that us consumers had to find out this way, but these thins do happen, and lets be honest.. If you get a full refund, and only have to suffer a bit of disspointment that you didn't get what the (fake) suppliers seaid that it was, you're still not losing out, so it can't be all bad. i know that this won't stop me dealing with either company. :)

Hysteria72 · #9 05-22-2009, 11:09 AM

I haven't received the email that you guys have from dealsdirect, YET - but they already sent me the return details and my stick is in the mail on the way back to them.

Agree they seem to be handling it well - though not sure why they need the fakes back - I'll be satisfied enough when the money is returned, including postage cost.

I suspect they move quantities of products with small margins - and don't pay a lot of attention to the product they are actually selling...

RAM GUY · #10 05-22-2009, 11:14 AM

Well it turns out that we did sell some of these refurbished drives to one of the distributes but they were not for resale they were going to bundle them with other products. But not sell them as a resale item is my understanding.

jonkvh · #11 05-22-2009, 07:26 PM

I also bought from DealsDirect the 64GB drive. Had a whiff something wasn't right soon as the package came out of the bubble wrap. What gave it away was the flimsy rubber casing, you could actually feel the circuit board within no problem.

I'd given up on buying large capacity drives like this after getting burned on ebay 3 times, even the sellers didn't know they were fakes.

I do think Deals Direct have handled this well though.

Wondering if you could just get them to replace it with the 32GB one instead they have in stock ?...

Hotrod · #12 05-23-2009, 12:58 AM

What I would like to know is if the Corsair Voyager's on Deals Direct website were all meant to be genuine from Corsair in the USA, or were these fake from day one and sold as genuine for profit? Interestingly enough Deals Direct are still advertising the 8GB, 16GB, 32GB (which is now the same price as the 64GB model) Corsair Voyager flash drives for sale here: http://www.dealsdirect.com.au/search/corsair/

If all were genuine then how did the fakes get in the shipment from Corsair? Considering most online stores sell the same Corsair Voyager Flash 64GB for around $250 then how could Deals Direct sell them so cheap?

I wonder who is responsible for all this?

jonkvh · #13 05-23-2009, 01:15 AM

Hotrod, good points all of them, didn't occur to think of the original supply side of things although, it does seem that these weren't bought direct from Corsair.

But, does this mean Corsair would punish the supplier to Deals Direct also ?

The other thing I meant to add before was that, as soon as I opened the drive in Windows, there was no TrueCrypt software on the drive as I'm sure was on my previous Corsair Voyager drives I've got... and ofcourse no CD but that's already been mentioned.

Hotrod · #14 05-23-2009, 01:38 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jonkvh

Hotrod, good points all of them, didn't occur to think of the original supply side of things although, it does seem that these weren't bought direct from Corsair.

But, does this mean Corsair would punish the supplier to Deals Direct also ?

The other thing I meant to add before was that, as soon as I opened the drive in Windows, there was no TrueCrypt software on the drive as I'm sure was on my previous Corsair Voyager drives I've got... and ofcourse no CD but that's already been mentioned.

The Ram Guy said this "Well it turns out that we did sell some of these refurbished drives to one of the distributors but they were not for resale they were going to bundle them with other products. But not sell them as a resale item is my understanding."

Therefore, this would indicate Corsair sold them as refurbished, but were not allowed to be resold afterwards as they were going to be bundled. So how did Deals Direct get them? Still if refurbished where did the fakes come from and why didnt anyone else notice this? I believe Deals Direct may be punished if they knew this issue beforehand but kept quiet hoping that no one would pick out these were not genuine. Plus geniune Flash Voyager's have a 10 year warranty, not 12 months.

Also all Corsair Flash Voyager drives show as "Flash Voyager" when plugged into a USB port in Windows, and by default the drive is labelled "Corsair". I know this because I have an original 32GB version already. There are so many questions around this, and I hope that once Corsair find out how all this happened and why no one else discovered the fakes. There are so many questions about this whole matter.

Hysteria72 · #15 05-23-2009, 02:22 AM

Ramguy

Can I suggest Corsair post some detailed specs on your Corsair.com site so people can easily find them. Its all very well going to a support forum to ask if something is fake, but for example if people knew that originals always display in Windows with a certain device description it would be really helpful.

I'm also a bit hesitant to trust what someone on a forum says is right or wrong, because even if they are saying it in good faith people tend to be wrong.

I've looked on Corsair.com and can find precious little pictures of an actual Flash Voyager 64gb. Also I can't find anything that tells me what comes with it (eg. cord, lanyard, cd, etc) and nothing about its dimensions or anything else.

If my business was being ripped off like yours is, I'd have detailed information helping people avoid fakes....

Not sure if you agree with anything I've said above but my 2 cents worth....