In my last entry, I wrote about Creative Labs, then someone named T.C. commented that I'm unhappy with any electrical device I've owned, but that is not the case. I've been very happy with all of my electrical devices, I'll even research the hell out of it before making a purchase to make sure it will fit my needs, have the features I want and support my budget. All of the Creative Labs products I've owned and currently own, I've been very happy with. However when making purchases directly from Creative Labs, their sales support is truly terrible. Any other company, the response would be quick, usually within an hour. Not Creative, it takes them 1 whole day which is unacceptable, especially when dealing with shipping.
It wasn't just this recent issue, there have been at least 2 previous issues with notification and shipping. I recently sent my Vision: W in for repairs. No status updates or notification that it had been shipped back to me or what was repaired. Just silence for over a week then it shows up on my doorstep, literally, just placed there by the shipper. What if I had been away for a week or two? I wouldn't have known my device was shipped back to me, someone could've walked off with it...
In January of 2005, I had ordered a set of earphones directly from them, which showed it was in stock. After checking back the next day, my order showed that the earphones were out of stock and still got charged for the purchase. After having to call them a couple of days later to find out why, somehow they were able to find a set and send them. In 2002, I had order a power adapter for a Nomad mp3 player and was sent a carrying case for a different mp3 player.
I have owned, in the past, a SoundBlaster 16, SoundBlaster 32, SoundBlaster 64, a SoundBlaster Audigy, the Audigy 2, the Cambridge SoundWorks DTT 2500 5.1 Speakers, a Creative MuVo Tx, a Creative Nomad, the Zen Micro, Zen Travel Dock and Sub-Woofer and recently the Zen Vision: W 60 gig and the Zen Stone. For the office I have a set of 2.1 speakers, the SBS 380 and soon the Cambridge SoundWorks Radio 730. I would have gotten the 735 but it only supports the iPod, if it supported the Vision: W, I would've gotten that.
A year ago, I was having issues with the headphone jack on the Zen Micro, I had sent it in once before while it was under warranty and got it back repaired. Then, several months ago, I was having the same issue with the headphone jack, it was out of warranty, I knew that, I would've been willing to pay them to repair the headset jack cause I was going to give it away to a friend, it works fine, just when you use a headphone, only one side will work at random. Did creative response? NO, nada, nothing, so screw that, I fixed it myself, I didn't want to, but I did it so that I could give it to a friend.
So, when I buy electrical devices, I usually name brands, this way, I know the quality of the device is what I'm also paying for. My expectations are higher because of that. If I buy a 2nd rate name brand, I don't expect much of it, I get what I pay for. I've expected Creative Labs to have higher standards of quality, higher standards of service and willing to please the customer so that they'll be loyal customers and willing to promote Creative Labs through word of Mouth.
Creative Labs should advertise themselves more to the American public for product recognition, most people, you ask about mp3 players, they'll say an 'iPod", when you mention Creative Labs, they'll say "Huh?, what's/who's that?" Stores here do more to promote the Apple product than they do for Creative Labs, if they do carry them at all. They need to stop thinking like their the only thing in town, listen to their customers more and think like their in second place all the time cause right now, it seems like their in 5th place.
To T.C., it may seem like I'm never happy about the electrical devices I have, but is in fact, never satisfied with the ones that I purchased, mostly because by the time I can get the latest gadget, there is something new coming or already out. At the time, I may have underestimated my personal requirements. Another reason may have been because at the time, the device that I've complained about may have done exactly what I wanted but a new version of the device may have been released that may have improved features, like for example, my digital camera.
At the time, it was very good for what I was doing, but even with research, as I used it more, I found the performance didn't perform as I needed it to.
つづく ( To be continued... )
