Help required from those who have RMAed before

Hi

so my creative zen micro is busted... and i called in today to get an RMA #... but the line was so choppy and broken up i could hardly make out anything. the process was very long and tiring trying to communicate with them (i dont support creative at all btw... this was the last product i bought from them... they dont even have a 1800 number?!)

anywho... i have the RMA #.

- i must display this on the outside of the package?

- i bought this last year on dec 24, 2005. the warranty should last til dec 24, 2006. today is dec 14, 2006... should i be worried that by the time it reaches them, that my warranty will be over and the product will no longer be able to be fixed?

- i must pay a $25 fee in AMERICAN funds... will the people at the post office help me?

- they recommended that i get a tracking number... is this necessary?

- i've never shipped anything in my life. what is the process like? if i need to protect my mp3 player that im shipping back, where can i obtain bubble wrap or packing peanuts or whatever?

- one of the problems is battery life... should i have it fully charged when sent to them? (the problem is that it is advertised for 12 hours of battery life when really it only lasts me 3... so will they see this if i have it sent fully charged to them?

thanks so much,
ming.

Originally Posted by mingcourt

Hi

so my creative zen micro is busted... and i called in today to get an RMA #... but the line was so choppy and broken up i could hardly make out anything. the process was very long and tiring trying to communicate with them (i dont support creative at all btw... this was the last product i bought from them... they dont even have a 1800 number?!)

anywho... i have the RMA #.

- i must display this on the outside of the package?

- i bought this last year on dec 24, 2005. the warranty should last til dec 24, 2006. today is dec 14, 2006... should i be worried that by the time it reaches them, that my warranty will be over and the product will no longer be able to be fixed?

- i must pay a $25 fee in AMERICAN funds... will the people at the post office help me?

- they recommended that i get a tracking number... is this necessary?

- i've never shipped anything in my life. what is the process like? if i need to protect my mp3 player that im shipping back, where can i obtain bubble wrap or packing peanuts or whatever?

- one of the problems is battery life... should i have it fully charged when sent to them? (the problem is that it is advertised for 12 hours of battery life when really it only lasts me 3... so will they see this if i have it sent fully charged to them?

thanks so much,
ming.

- You received your rma so you are good at this point in terms of warranty. You would have been refused otherwise.

- I would not write on the box itself, place the number on a label sticked on the box. I used to work for a computer returns department, and any writing means the product has the potential to be rejected.

- Just ship on registered mail. Go Xpress Post. This is to protect YOU if the product is lost, not them.

- Packing in old newspapers is perfectly fine. As long as the product is protected from damage where the manufacturer can't find an excuse to refuse it.

- Don't worry about the battery charge, just ship it - they are responsible for testing it.

Not 100% sure about the post office, but pretty sure they have American money orders available.

Originally Posted by mingcourt

anywho... i have the RMA #.

So far so good

Originally Posted by mingcourt

- i must display this on the outside of the package?

The previous poster says not to, but I did anyways. It's just the packaging so there shouldn't be any reason why writing on the packaging would result in them not taking it. By clearly showing your RMA number on the box in multiple places means there will be no mistake in which RMA # the package is associated with.

Originally Posted by mingcourt

- i bought this last year on dec 24, 2005. the warranty should last til dec 24, 2006. today is dec 14, 2006... should i be worried that by the time it reaches them, that my warranty will be over and the product will no longer be able to be fixed?

Your package will be post dated I believe no matter which shipment method you used. So as long as you do this asap you should be fine.

Originally Posted by mingcourt

- i must pay a $25 fee in AMERICAN funds... will the people at the post office help me?

What is this for? I'm assuming you mean that you have to pay these funds to Creative but why? The post office won't help you with putting a money order in the package...you have to get that from the bank. But still not sure what this is for since your product is under warranty.

Originally Posted by mingcourt

- they recommended that i get a tracking number... is this necessary?

If you go with XPRESSPOST this will be provided on the receipt and you can then check it online. This IS recommended as the previous poster said to protect you in case your package is lost.

Originally Posted by mingcourt

- i've never shipped anything in my life. what is the process like? if i need to protect my mp3 player that im shipping back, where can i obtain bubble wrap or packing peanuts or whatever?

I got mine from work and previous purchases of computer equipment. Creative might have a shipping policy where they might not accept newspaper packed returns so look into it.

Originally Posted by mingcourt

- one of the problems is battery life... should i have it fully charged when sent to them? (the problem is that it is advertised for 12 hours of battery life when really it only lasts me 3... so will they see this if i have it sent fully charged to them?

I hope this is not the only problem you're sending it back for. From what I remember, you have to "train" your battery in order to get the most out of it. But as a previous poster said don't worry about charging it.

Hope this helps a bit...

What is this for? I'm assuming you mean that you have to pay these funds to Creative but why? The post office won't help you with putting a money order in the package...you have to get that from the bank. But still not sure what this is for since your product is under warranty.

there is a service fee that goes along with it... creative is dumb, like i said... so... yeah. the labour of the warranty goes for 90 days or something stupid like that...

I hope this is not the only problem you're sending it back for. From what I remember, you have to "train" your battery in order to get the most out of it. But as a previous poster said don't worry about charging it.

haha no, this is not the only problem. but even if i havent "trained it", it shouldnt give me only 1/4 of the amount i should be getting off the bat.

the other problems i was having was the headphone jack was loose or something.. so when i plug in, i get all this static... and then the power button (which is a slider on the ZEN MICRO) is loose... so when i slide it over to turn it on/off, it doesnt respond...

so they have started to ship it back! woohoo... 1st successful rma.


however... it says on the website that the mailing address back is

Toronto, CA XXX XXX

and not
Toronto, ON XXX XXX

should this be a concern??

happy new year mingcourt! sorry to hear about your zen, if you need any assistance just PM me. good luck and i hope this replacement performs better for you. need speakers? you know i have everything

I had the absolute worst experience with Creative's online tech support.I
I filled out their online tech form explaining all the problems my nephew was having with his Zen Micro, and requested an RMA number. Four emails later I still didn't have the damn RMA number.
I finally had enough of their assinine repetitive questions, told them they'd just lost a customer, and fixed the Zen myself.

will they think that the address is in california? or since there is a postal code, recognize that its in canada?

Creative has always been known for great products with HORRIBLE CS. They often didn't drivers for many products with large user bases and as you experienced its a hit or miss with their CS. Glad it worked out for you.

post office first directs mail by the zip/postal code then by the address.....

My Micro battery crapped out on me after one year of use- it got to the point that it would only hold an hour's worth of charge on factory settings. Thankfully, I had an extended warranty via FS- I paid an extra $30 and they gave me a Vision: M 30GB in exchange on the spot.

The loose headphone jack on the Micro is a very well known problem- mine had a touch of that as well- see the Creative forums for discussion.

Yes, I love Creative and their products, top-notch quality and sound, but some of the tales I have read about their CS dept. has convinced me to buy extended warranties.

So far I have returned two Creative players in three years- a Muvo player whose volume buttons both broke, and my Micro. Both times I was given an over-the-counter exchange at FS with my service plan. Definately worth it. My first exchange was the MuVo 512MB to a 6GB Micro, second was for the Vision.

Maybe it is just that I have a great FS location?

Anyways, glad to hear that your RMA went well. Would you be interested in a pair of Micro cases? I would be willing to give them to you as I have no more use for them...

Regards,

Fenian

i use to do RMA's for a computer liquidators put the RMA number somewhere on the packaging