My Refurbished Zen V Plus Experience

[the_hackman]

I've been a happy Zen V Plus owner since Christmas '06. This is despite the fact that I did have to have the original replaced for $25 last year because the screen went bad. This probably happened when I got it damp.

A couple of weeks ago I decided to order a refurbished 2gb version for each of my two kids. I kept seeing these great sales for $35.99. It took Creative a few days to ship them, which was no big deal. Well we finally got them, but only one of the two worked properly. The other was really scratched and beat up, and I suspected that wasn't good. Well, I turned it on and it was stuck at the logo screen. The only way I could shut it off was to stick the end of a paper clip in the reset hole. The computer wouldn't even recognize it even though I have two other Zen V Pluses in working order. Well, I tried charging the battery for a while using my wall charger, but the computer still wouldn't recognize it. Then, I put it in recovery mode and tried formatting it. It hung on that option. Then I tried reloading firmware. This nearly completed, but it got to the end and it still hung. It still froze at the logo screen. At this point, I figured that even if I were persistent enough to get it working, I wouldn't be able to trust it.

I finally gave in and called Creative. After putting me to the test, making sure I had loaded drivers properly and etc., they agreed to RMA it. Here's the kicker. Most places will advance the replacement and not charge your credit card unless they don't receive the replacement with 15 or 30 days. Not so with Creative!! They wanted to charge my debit card immediately and give me a refund when they received the refund. I was not going to allow them to do this on my debit card, and I don't use credit cards anymore. Nonetheless, I shipped it back immediately. By immediately, I mean within hours of receiving the defective one.

My theory is that because it took Creative almost a week to ship the two players, they must have been low on stock. They probably shipped me something that wasn't QC'd just to fulfill the order. Hopefully we'll get the replacement right away, in good condition, and my faith in Creative will be restored.

[CrowdAds]

[MrZucchiniHead]

my experience with my refurbished zen was pretty much the complete opposite of yours. it arrived in about 3 days, arrived in perfect condition except for a little mark in the back of it, about the size of a pin head. i got it around october of last year, and it's still working fine, never had any issues with it.