Your SSD and RAM warranties are worthless now, but these escalation tactics actually work

Published Sep 3, 2026, 7:30 AM EDT Monica J. White is a journalist with over a decade of experience in covering technology. She built her first PC nearly 20 years ago, and she has since built and tested dozens of PCs. PC hardware is her main beat, and graphics cards and the GPU market at large are her main area of interest, but she has written thousands of articles covering everything related to PCs, laptops, handhelds, and peripherals. From GPUs and CPUs to headsets and software, Monica's always willing to geek out over all things related to computing. Outside of her work with How-To Geek, Monica contributes to TechRadar, PC Gamer, Tom's Guide, Laptop Mag, SlashGear, Whop, and Digital Trends, among others. Her ultimate goal is to make PC gaming and computing approachable and fun to any audience. Monica spends a lot of time elbow-deep in her PC case, as she's always making upgrades, testing something, or plotting out her next build. She's the go-to tech support person in her immediate circle, so she's never out of things to do. Whenever she has spare time, you'll find her gaming until the early hours and hanging out with her dog. Times are tough for RAM, SSDs, GPUs, and whatever else comes to mind. Close to a year of the RAM-pocalypse has left the market bone dry, and the aftershocks are reverberating throughout more than just the store shelves. Warranties are affected, too. When you buy RAM with a lifetime warranty or an SSD with five years of coverage, you'd think that means you can sleep soundly for that time frame, at least as far as those two components are concerned. But with skyrocketing prices, a warranty is no longer something you can take for granted. RAM and SSD warranties are starting to fail customers A refund no longer equals a replacement I've spent my fair share of time ranting about the sorry state of the PC hardware market here at How-To Geek. I hope you'll forgive me if I do it some more today, because the state of things is getting worse instead of better. Not only are the prices still atrocious, but now, we're getting more and more reports of manufacturers failing to account for that when handling warranties. When an SSD or RAM fails, the natural route to take is to reach out to the manufacturer to start the Return Merchandise Authorization (RMA) process. In such a situation, many manufacturers will send you a replacement component, or, at the very least, reimburse you for whatever you spent when you first bought it. You're probably seeing why the latter can be a problem. SSDs and RAM were much, much, much cheaper just a year ago. Being reimbursed based on purchase value from a year or two ago is meaningless in 2026, when you have to spend way more. Let's use the Crucial X10 Pro 2TB external SSD as an example. Amazon's price history reveals it sold for under $195 in September 2025, compared to $362 now. Getting a $195 refund wouldn't get you a new equivalent SSD; not even close. One Redditor, who has since been banned (but their story has been covered by Windows Central), tried to RMA this exact SSD in its 4TB version. Given that Crucial is stepping away from the consumer market, the response was disappointing: the manufacturer said it had no SSDs to give out, so it has to resort to refunds. But the refund offered was 230 euros, which is much less than the current retail price of 500 euros. The same company was also recently called out for issues with RAM warranties, where Micron/Crucial offered a mere $241 in refund instead of the current retail price of $1,400. The warranty fine print may actually let them do this Lifetime = duration, not the remedy Credit: Patrick Campanale / How-To Geek Dodgy as this might sound, it's not illegal. Manufacturers know how to set up warranties in such a way that offering these refunds is in line with what you're agreeing to when you make a purchase. This is because a lifetime warranty doesn't mean lifetime replacements. All it tells you is how long the product is covered, while the actual remedy is buried deeper in the warranty terms. Crucial, for example, often gives the choice to repair or replace a defective product, but in this situation, the lines are blurred, what with Crucial no longer dealing with consumer stuff. The other options are store credit or refund, with refunds being limited to the lower of the original purchase price or its current fair market value. These fine print details aren't limited to Crucial/Micron. Of course, not every warranty works like this, which is why it's worth actually reading one before you shop, especially these days, when replacing a faulty SSD or a RAM kit is a chore. Don't accept the first refund you're offered Push the claim past front-line support Credit: Nick Lewis / How-To Geek The refund options described above are less than great. Although it's unclear how these particular stories ended, similar customer complaints crop up every so often, and this is only bound to get worse as the RAM-pocalypse continues. If this ever happens to you, your first step should be not to be too quick to settle. Manufacturers may lowball you by offering the same prices as what you bought the products for years ago, but do your research before you reach out. Prepare listings and proof that there's no way you can get an equivalent product for whatever they're offering, and don't be afraid to ask them to escalate your case. Ask for equivalent hardware instead of the exact same model An out-of-stock piece of hardware isn't your only option Credit: Sydney Louw Butler/How-To Geek Similarly, with this shortage in full swing, you might run into a situation where the manufacturer simply can't replace your SSD or RAM kit with a 1:1 product. In the case of Crucial/Micron, this is a bigger problem; other manufacturers may be able to offer you something else. Settling for a different product is a better deal than being given a third of the price to buy something equivalent on your own. However, this may lead you to a different set of problems: you may be offered an SSD or a RAM kit that's worse than your own due to the current prices. Keep an eye out for the specs and stay vigilant. You shouldn't be forced to downgrade due to the problems manufacturers are currently facing. If escalation fails, what's next? You do have some options Credit: Patrick Campanale / How-To Geek Let's say you've escalated the case, asked for a fair refund, and requested an equivalent replacement. If the manufacturer won't budge, what then? First, make sure you have the whole exchange documented, including the warranty terms, your proof of purchase, the RMA details, and the refund you were offered. You want a solid paper trail. Most of all, come prepared with the current prices of equivalent hardware to prove that whatever you're being offered From there, you can try to take the complaint higher up the chain. Reaching out to the company's social media channels can be highly effective, although this depends on the brand. Reddit is also a solid option, provided the company actually monitors it. Lastly, look into the consumer protection options available to you in your country. A long warranty isn't enough anymore SSDs and RAM both have famously long warranties. Makes sense. Many of them never die, although on the flip side, some SSDs can fail at 100% health. But now, the problem may not be the SSD or RAM being poorly made; the problem lies in it being replaced if something does happen. Stay vigilant and fight for your rights if that happens, as those things are too expensive to just let go.