To better grasp the severity of the Fields Data Recovery SCAM, it is important to remember that this document was composed on Wednesday, August 9, 2017. I will be very specific with the dates of my communication with Fields Data Recovery so that you will better understand the outrageous arrogance of their sales representatives. Mine was named Eric Keck, and he is a complete lying S.O.B. The reason I am composing a thoroughly detailed report of this exchange is to assure you that I am not a crank who looks to smear companies because I’ve got too much time on my hands. What I have included is the absolute truth, and you should regard any 5-star review for Fields to be suspect. If Fields is so wonderful, why do so many people have the same experience I had? Google “Fields Data Recovery Scam” and see what comes up!
In my initial contact with Fields, I was assured they were “the second largest data recovery firm in the U.S.” I am assured I am dealing with a group of complete professionals.
To cut right to the chase before I get into details, on Wednesday, April 19, 2017, I mailed to Field’s the hard drive from my PC that had crashed the previous October along with a brand new Toshiba Canvio Basics 1T external hard drive I had purchased for $55 on Amazon for the recovered data. The data on my crashed HD represents over four years of work I had done on my PC. Additionally, I paid $400 for the recovered data I never received after a period of over SIXTEEN WEEKS!! I consider everything to be lost, will report the $400 as an act of fraud to my issuing bank, and will be reporting Field’s to the Attorney General in Missouri. I kept all email communication in a folder on my PC, so every single word quoted is 100% accurate. If they try to sue me, I’ll bring it all to court!
Timeline and Text of Communication
Tuesday, April 18 I received an email from Fields containing the text below and two .pdf documents (one a UPS shipping label, and the other a form I had to fill out identifying my hard drive and the specifics of what I wanted done). I carefully packaged my materials wrapped in bubble wrap and shipped it the next day, April 19. The email was an introduction to Fields and what they do. Note the following:
As discussed, we can offer you a free diagnostic which would mean getting a report on any faults – usually within 24 hours, an online file list of any recoverable files and a fixed price quote. You don’t have to accept the quote and if you don’t then I would be able to arrange to send your Media back to you (we have a free USPS option).
Wednesday, April 19 I received the following email, along with two .pdf documents (one the Fields Terms & Conditions Agreement, and the other their policy about returning crashed hard drives). Here is the substance of the email:
Re: Data Recovery – Job Number 727905
I would like to take this opportunity to welcome you to Fields Data Recovery. We are pleased that you have chosen to use us to help you with your data recovery needs. We can confirm that we have received your hard drive and it has already been entered for a diagnostic analysis. The exact service level will have been agreed with your account manager who is at hand to help you if you have any concerns.
Tuesday, April 25 I received the following email from Eric Keck:
Hi Kevin,
We have recently finished backing up your data. We are happy to say the recovery was very successful. We were able to work through bad sectors, head swap and slow responding problem which was resolved. The price to get your data back to you will cost $1,230. We do have a same day discount, which would bring your total $1115 (Same day discount is for individuals who purchase their data the same day its recovered). Contact me when your get a chance. Thank you!!Eric Keck
I sent the following email:
Dear Eric:
While I am very pleased to learn my data is recoverable, I am electing to have my hard drives returned without the data backed up, per your “no obligation quote.” The data simply is not worth the quoted price of $1,230. Thank you for your help in this.
That same day I received another email from Keck, stating that a local recovery service would be willing to perform the recovery for $960. Again, I declined, as my initial research into data recovery services uncovered numerous services at estimates of $300 to $500.
A few hours after I declined the second estimate and requested the return of my two hard drives, I received an email from Keck:
No problem Kevin.
Now, here’s where things start to reveal the SCAM that is Fields Recovery!
Wednesday, May 10 Fifteen days after Keck agrees to return my two hard drives, he sends me this email:
Kevin, I want to apologize for our shipping department not getting your device out to you yet. For the inconvenience, we can get you your data back to you for $400. We plan on getting it back to you very soon. Feel free to touch base with me when you get a moment. Again, I apologize for the delay.
Okay, we’ve gone from $1,230 down to $400 just to apologize for the two-week delay at their shipping department! Remember, there are no data recovery outfits that assure you of a set price before they take your hard drive (there is no way they can promise a successful recovery until they know what caused the HD failure). So once they recover the data, all the work is done. If you don’t accept their price, that means all their work is for nothing.
Anyway, I was delighted with the significant reduction, and since $400 is well within my budget, I accept the offer
Friday, May 12 I telephone Keck and pay $400 with my credit card.
Wednesday, May 24 Keck sends me an update on my order:
Good Kevin,
It appears that there was an update this morning by shipping by you are in line your shipment.
Eric Keck
As I write this, it is Wednesday, August 9, seventy-seven days after my account manager, Eric Keck, notifies me that my order is being prepared to ship. SEVENTY-SEVEN DAYS!!!
Friday, June 23 It is now thirty-nine days since I was told the shipping department was on the cusp of sending my order. Nobody in the shipping department responds to my communications. Frankly, I am livid. I telephone Eric Keck and told him in no uncertain terms if I don’t have my order delivered in the next seven days, I’m going to savage Fields Data Recovery like a bad case of HIV on every social media platform I can find. Once I make that statement, I hung up the phone. I am finished listening to the lies of Eric Keck.
I have been completely civil and professional in all my communications with Keck and Fields Data Recovery, but I am at my wit’s end. It is clear that my assurance of an imminent shipment was a lie, and for all I know, no data recovery was ever performed.
Two hours after I make that phone call, Keck copies me on an email to the shipping department:
Please get his original back. He says he is going to bash us on social media if he does not receive it by next week.
He then sends me the following:
Kevin,
I took $400 dollars for data recovery. As I am not in the shipping department, or have anything to do with them. It personally isn’t my fault he didn’t send your original back to you, but I understand that you are upset that you need it back. I don’t think trying to stirring things up with me is going to do you any good, because I am the one hounding shipping for not getting out to you.
Eric Keck
This is the last communication between myself and Fields. Please note the utterly tone-deaf statement Keck makes.
“I don’t think trying to stirring things up with me is going to do you any good, because I am the one hounding shipping for not getting out to you.”
Yeah, Eric, you’ve been a priceless help in that department! You’re entrusted to act as sales rep for the company, but some chimpanzee high school dropout in the shipping department still has a job with “the second largest data recovery firm in the U.S.”
CONCLUSION
And there are the facts of my experience with Fields. I can swear in court to the 100% accuracy of what I have written. I hold no hope whatsoever that I will ever see my data or hard drives ever again. But if I can put a dent in Field’s business stream, I fully intend to. If anyone reading this needs data recovery, for the love of God, DON’T GO TO FIELDS!
I now have no fewer than three cloud auto-backup services (Evernote, Dropbox and Microsoft OneDrive). If my hard drive crashes again, I will NOT go through this ever again!