Spent $200 on a 'certified' data recovery service and got nothing back

I had a dead hard drive with family photos on it, so I paid a shop in Denver $200 upfront for a recovery, and after 3 weeks they said 'unreadable platters' and returned it empty-handed. No refund, no partial credit, just a shrug and a bill. Is there actually a way to vet these places before handing over cash?

2 comments

2 Comments

abby_scott1mo ago

That Denver shop sounds like a total ripoff, I'm so sorry you lost both the photos and the cash. I've been burned by a place in Phoenix that promised "no data, no fee" and then hit me with a 'diagnostic charge' anyway.

hill.hugo1mo ago

Yeah those places are the worst with the hidden fees. Had a shop in Austin try to pull the same thing on me after they couldn't recover anything from a dead external drive. They were all "we don't charge unless we get the data" until it was time to pay. Suddenly there's a $75 bench fee for "attempted recovery" even though they literally just plugged it in and said nope. The whole industry needs better rules because it's way too easy for these guys to bait and switch like that. Should be illegal to charge anything if they don't deliver what they promised lol.