SALVAGEDATA Recovery Services Avis 

DON'T USE THIS COMPANY. They quoted me over $2K to retrieve my data. I told them I couldn't afford that and asked them over and over to please return my hard drive. They will not. It's been months and nothing. I have lost valuable memories. I'm just heartbroken.

Heck no! $3,500 quote to recover some pics and videos from a HD. $40 to ship back to me for a 6oz HD. What a joke, and very misleading.

I was traveling in Asia this summer and I dropped my laptop and broke the screen. I also got the laptop wet since it was in my backpack and the PC wouldn’t start up. A friend of mine had used Salvage Data and referee me to them. They saved the day and I was able to get my laptop back up and running in a couple days. I highly recommend their services and the cost was reasonable.

Chose this company out of desperation because it was the first one to show up online. Someone close to me passed and I wanted pictures and videos from an old hard drive. The hard drive was in pretty decent condition. The only problem was I dropped it a few times so it was clicking and was not connecting to my laptop. After I sent in the hard drive, I then decided to go back and look into this company and realize that I made a mistake so as I was awaiting their call I was expecting to hear a ridiculous price after reading reviews. This company lost their mind, quoted me $2200 for a few pictures and videos. Yea no thank you.

You know the feeling you have when you leave the car dealership? The fast-talking salesman feeding you a line of bull? That's the same experience you'll get with SalvageData.

First, I will lead with that they did recover my data. That's the reason for the two stars. Everything else was with their business practices.

Be warned, they record your telephone conversations, and do not notify you. That's legal under Ohio law, where they are based, but shady. It's not transparent, and erodes the trust with the company you've entrusted your data to.

They assign your "case" to a "case manager," and that's the only person you'll talk to, no matter what number you call. It's just like your salesman at the car dealership. After they had evaluated my device, I got a call from my manager, telling me about all the problems they found and how difficult a job this was going to be. I was half expecting him to sell me undercoating next.

When he talked price, he used inaccurate language that led me to misinterpret the price quote. In the end, I paid $700 more than I expected because of this. They used their recordings against me to show me what I had agreed to. If you choose to business with them, get any quote or agreement in writing. I'd also voice that you do not consent to being recorded or ask for a copy of the recording.

When I objected to the price, they essentially held me hostage with my data. There was no meeting in the middle or understanding the position of the customer. They didn't even acknowledge what had happened. Just demanded payment.

While my data was recovered, I could have accomplished the same thing through another vendor for about half the price. Shop around -- you'll get the same service and a better customer experience elsewhere.

You'll also notice that this company has blocked Google reviews, and curates the reviews it allows you to see on their website.

Update: When originally talking to my case manager, I asked if my device (phone) would be returned to me at the end -- I had plans to trade it in with my service provider for a new phone. Imagine my surprise when my phone was returned -- as a box of disassembled parts. After contacting SALVAGEDATA they agreed to put it back together, as long as I would pay two-way shipping. At that point, I wanted nothing else to do with the company and found a local vendor to work with instead.

All positive reviews of this company are fake.

One of THE WORST experiences I've ever had with a company!!! They took my order and I shipped my important SSD to their company. I received a case number and then *** crickets *** NEVER heard from them again.

I've emailed them, called them, called a rep in charge of my case, called their emergency number, and also scheduled a phone session with my "rep" which they completely blew off. I have never heard from them after their initial receipt of my order and SSD shipment.

What a disaster! It has been 21 days so far -- but -- I have a feeling of doom about this company and now about ever seeing my SSD again. For f___s sake! I will promptly update this review if ANYTHING changes.

If I could give 0 Stars I would. Absolutely the worst experience I have had with a business such as this in the 20 years of my business. We own a wedding photography studio and unfortunately had an issue with one of our drives. We took the drive to a local partner of Salvage Data (we thought it was done there locally, but no it is sent out somewhere else). We were told we would have an assessment within 24-48 hrs that would give us insight into if and what would be recoverable. It was 2 weeks later before we heard anything it was only a quote that was ASTRONOMICAL. The quote we were given was 3X - 4X what we were quoted from other companies in the past. Upon speaking with our representative he offered a lower price solution that would result in a slightly slower turnaround. We were told 3 weeks. Fast forward 6-8 weeks later and it was finally finished and only a fraction of the data was recovered. We were then told we had to pay 2x the retail cost of the "cheap" drive they would be putting the recovered data on. We felt throughout this process we were being held hostage. Aside from all of this there is a MAJOR issue with communication. You are assigned a case manager, and if you think they are going to respond to your emails...think again! Avoid SavageData like the plague!!!

Sent in a hard drive to be recovered, first they told me it was 100% recoverable, when I got data back more than 2/3 was missing from what I sent in. When I contacted them they said they recovered all that was possible. All data was videos. When I went to play videos most of them were corrupted. In essence, them saying my drive was 100% recoverable and having to pay full price before they start recovering with no refund possible, I actually received less than 10% of my data as usable.

SalvageData bricked my laptop and will not provide any support.
I sent my laptop to SalvageData for data recovery. Immediately upon going through the effort of sending it in, they informed me it was not recoverable because of the type of laptop it is. They could have told me this without sending it in. They warned me that they would probably have to delete the data from the hard drive after attempting recovery, which was fine. But when I received my laptop it now will not even power on to the firmware to reinstall the OS, making it completely useless. They destroyed my laptop. I have called them multiple times and emailed for support and when I finally got a response they told that they will not provide any support.

In their only reply to me via email they said, "All we did to the device was removed the SSD drive for testing. We took a look at the SSD to determine its nonrecoverable status and then re-installed it in the machine."

This rings as dishonest because this model of laptop has the SSD soldered onto the logic board and it cannot be removed. Now the problem I am having is exactly the kind of thing that happens when the logic board is damaged or tampered with improperly. When I asked for clarification 7 days ago I received no reply.

Not sure if these are fake reviews, but this company is in dire need of improvement. I would give this company 0 stars if I could. Was excited to find a company that would retrieve my information for a 'reasonable' price. My account rep, George, was great at first. Very responsive/receptive and willing to work with me, but little did I know I was being set up for a BIG disappointment. Once they received my old 4GB flash drive, that's when ALL COMMUNICATION STOPPED! I stressed that I wasn't in a hurry, just keep me up to date on progress. I NEVER received any updates after about the first month. When i did call in, around months 3,5, and 6, I always received the same excuse that they were working on it and should be done soon. After 9 months, I finally decided to give up, and magically once I placed the request to return my flash drive, it was done. I didn't feel good giving this company my business, to stuck to the refund/return plan. Also note, you don't have to pay $40 for the return of your equipment, you can also pay for your own label, and email to the POC for less. I stress to you, PLEASE DO NOT USE THIS COMPANY. THEY DON'T KEEP THEIR PROMISE AT ALL. Not sure how they even stay in business with customer service like this.

Hei no body answer my case since it created and i don't know next to do because the email just loading and loading to generate the pdf.. also the agent Chris morrissey never reply my emails.. so how could i send my broken micro sd there? Please contact me

Please read before considering Salvage Data for data recovery:

My 4tb WD external hard drive stopped connecting to my laptop, so I found this company to try and recover the data. First I dealt with Mateo, who sent me a FedEx slip to mail it. He lost my package and it took 2 weeks for them to track it down. He stopped responding after a week. I randomly got a call from Cameron who then took over my case, and he assured me he'd call me the next day with an update. Cameron never called me back and after another 2 weeks, some guy named Chris took over. He took my payment info (they had the nerve to try and charge me 1900 bucks, but I got them down to 600), and said the recovery was in progress and I'd have it back in a few weeks. A week later with no response, I got a message saying they couldn't recover it and they charged me 40 dollars to ship it back (it probably cost them 6). I just received the hard drive, but without the outside case or the nice after market zipper case I sent it in, just the opened up drive - like they gave up and never put it back together.

This company was a nightmare to deal with on every level. A total time-suck, impossible to communicate with, and a rip off. Do not go near them.

Sent Salvage Data a small flash drive (16 Gb) for data recovery. They gave me a quote of $647 for data recovery. When I then wanted my drive back they required a $60 shipping fee to return my own drive. Seems like a bitter payment for not using their services. Very unhappy with this kind of hold your drive for ransom business technique.

They charge $40 for return shipping if you don't pay $2,000 for their quote on repairing a hard drive. Not advertised anywhere.

Chris was unable to recover my sd card from my samsung phone due to the type of card it was. However, he did his best; not his fault equipment doesn't support Samsung sd cards which he was deeply sorry he couldn't. When I requested my card back he was an excellent customer service agent and he took care of cost of shipping my sd card back to me which I should receive by Thursday this week. Thank you Chris keep up the good work.

My computer went black screen. Couldn't get it to populate once it booted up. I contacted Salvage Data. The first young lady I talked to said it sounded like they could fix it but she'd have to refer me over to a higher level colleague for details. I asked her if I would be able to drop it off at their Cincinnati office and she said yes. I said I would call back when I had more time to be transferred and talk. So I did that and was told the same thing about dropping off and was sent an email to sign up for service. I started to fill it out but the only option I was given was shipping so I called again and they said I couldn't drop it off and had to ship it. I agreed and they sent me the FedEx office address I would need. Meanwhile I discussed the details of what had happened and explained I needed data recovered from Office and also maybe my photos from a trip. So they encouraged me to send it and said the cost would be $300-$800. I said I would consider 300 or 400 but 800 would be out of the question for a handful of documents and some pictures. I went to the FedEx office they told me to go to, 40 minute round trip drive, and was told they had no idea what I was talking about and never heard of Salvage Data. I was quite surprised so I called the number I had been given for follow up and - this was the only reason for 1 star instead of none - the rep I had been assigned walked the FedEx manager through the process and they accepted my shipment. I was told I would hear on 1/13/21 what the cost would be. I did not. I did hear today. Was told it wasn't a very difficult issue, they could get the data, and the cost would be $668.00!!! Wow, wonder what they consider serious. Only about $140.00 more room for them to charge. I told them just send it back to me as I couldn't see paying that huge amount for the little bit I wanted off the drive and I felt they were not forthcoming. I said who gets the $300? He said, oh, you know, if you accidentally deleted something you needed to recover. I reminded him I had made it very clear what I needed and recovering deleted files was never mentioned by me so he should have let me know, based on all the information, it would be a higher cost and I never would have sent it. You be the judge if you want to do business with them.

Was told it was a free evaluation and would not be charged if data could not be 95% recovered but then they called and told I had to pay $200 because the drive had been previously opened. None of this was information was given to me before drive was mailed to SalvageData. I paid the fee around 2Pm and by 10am then next morning they told me data was not salvageable. Another $40 to get drove back. I would steer clear of this company.

Don't waste your time. Incredibly disappointing experience. At first, they seem very responsive and eager to help you - but once you send in your device, it's crickets. I sent my device in on 10/8 and received an email that they would be able to recover my work and would get back to me within 48 hours. Checked back in on 10/14 and 10/23 and was told someone would reach out to me. Called this past Monday, still no response. I just paid $40 to have the device returned to me since clearly I am getting nowhere with this company. Waste of time, waste of $40 and I am no closer to recovering my data.

I was really glad that salvage data was able to recover all my data from a damaged HDD. They took about 18 business working days and they aren't cheap as some said but if the data means a lot to you, it's priceless. Thanks SDRS!