My 'Zen' did not work when I received it. I DO NOT recommend it, not only for this fact, but because of the experience I had with their customer support. This is NOT a customer focused company.
Jim Helm
Here was the letter I sent to them, 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
Jim Helm
Here was the letter I sent to them, 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
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