Creative Support horrible - Zen did not work upon arrival

[QuestGod]

I just wanted to share my experience with the Creative Nomad 'Zen', and the support I received. Before I bought this product, I really liked Creative Labs, and supported them greatly. After my experience, I don't think I'll be dealing with them again.

Jim Helm

Here is the letter I sent to their support if you are interested:

Hello,

I'm writing to let you know about the support experience I
had when your company shipped me a defective product. It
was not pleasant, and I will most likely not buy Creative
products in the future. I measure the quality of a
company not only by it?s products, but how it stands
behind those products when there is a problem.

I recently placed an order for the Nomad Zen MP3 player.
I placed this order via the Creative website. My order
was placed on a Monday (10/14/2002), and arrived the next
Tuesday (10/22/2002). When my Nomad Zen arrived, it did
not work. I called technical support, and they determined
that the hard drive was bad, and that I should call
customer support to have it replaced. I was informed,
since it was broken when I received it, that they would
help me to expedite a replacement. I spoke to 'Robert',
who was very helpful.

I then contacted Customer Support. Once I explained to
the representative what happened, they said that they
could get me a replacement. I asked him how long it would
take, and I was informed that I could have it cross-
shipped (if I let them charge my credit card), and that it
would ship out the same way I had ordered it. (In this
case, UPS 2 day shipping). I was informed, however, that
I would have to wait a possible 3 business days
for ?processing?, before the order shipped. He said that
if I was willing to pay more for the overnight shipping,
my order would ship out the next day. He informed me that
to upgrade to overnight shipping, it would cost $7.00.

I asked the representative if they could wave that fee,
since I ordered my part and it arrived defective. I was
put on hold while he checked with his supervisor. When he
returned to the phone, the answer was simply, ?No?. At
that time I asked about a refund. He informed me that I
could NOT get all of my money back (even thought the
product was shipped to me defective), but that I would
have to forfeit the shipping costs. I asked to speak to
his supervisor at that time.

I then got to speak with ?Sean?. It?s because of people
like Sean that I will look elsewhere in the future for my
PC Audio and portable audio needs. I again explained my
situation, and he again stated that Creative Lab?s policy
was to NOT upgrade the shipping, and that I could NOT get
all of my money back. He then informed me that the
previous representative did not tell me that an overnight
order would ship the next day. I stressed that he was
mistaken, and that is exactly what the representative told
me.

Here I was, having just spent $400.00 on a piece of
equipment that does not work, and Creative Labs (Sean)
refused to budge one inch to make things right. I did NOT
want to wait another week and a half for a replacement,
nor did I want to pay more than the $400.00 I had already
paid.

I ended up having the product cross-shipped, and I HOPE
that it works this time. I do know, for the future, that
I will no longer be spending my money with Creative. I
have been a long time loyal customer, but when a company
refuses to give up $7.00 when they send out a defective
piece of equipment to make a customer happy, I realize
that this is NOT the customer focused company I want to be
dealing with.

Jim Helm

 

[Tab]

Heh, you should write them a letter.

 

[CalebTG]

Creative has always been like this.
Their support has always been sub-par.

Unfortunatly, they know the power of their monopolies

What is worse is you should see how ruthless they can be to their competition (many Aureal fans out there despise Creative Labs greatly, I'm one of them).

 

[QuestGod]

I wrote them a letter, but I doubt it will do any good. (I sent it to their US HQ and Asia HQ). Some companies will 'do the right thing', but I didn't get that fuzzy feeling at all from Creative Labs.

I'm very dissapointed. I've used (and Loved) Creative's products for a long time. I don't feel like backing a company that really doesn't care about their customers.

Jim

 

[Lore]

Keep us posted as to their response!

 

[Kingofcomputer]

I want to add that Creative company is horrible.

I bought a Creative wireless pcmcmia lan card, there is a notice about the xp driver from the cd is not certified and I should just use it but it still doesn't work (something conflict with xp's own wireless connection stuff) . Need to get a new xp driver (completely different architecture from the one in the cd) from Creative's office or download from the web (how can one download working driver from the web without working internet connection?). This shows how's a bad hardware manufacturer's ethnic. A good hardware manufacturer should take back their products and change the driver disk/disc or send new working driver disk/disc to retailers to let them add it into the package.

 

[XMan]

Customer service seems to be a lost art.

 

[Toxic]

I wouldn't piss on creative if they were on fire. Most of their products are marginal in my opinion, and their support is terrible. They do, however, have name brand recognition. If they didn't, I seriously doubt they'd still be in business. Speaking for myself, I would LOVE to see them go (and stay gone).

Now, let me tell you how I really feel

 

[ojai00]

I guess my odds of getting the Zen are out the window