Never buying another Creative product again

Question

To anyone at Creative who might be reading this,
I recently submitted the following question to Creative email support: "When do you plan on releasing updated drivers for the Audigy 2 line which will support Vista and be compatable with the Service Pack installation? (The lack of up to date drivers currently prohibitsupgrading to SP according to Microsoft) Thank you."
In return, I received the email below. As a long time supporter of your company, I'd like your team at Creative to know that this canned, non-reply pretty much guarantees that I will never buy another Creative product again. The notion that a simple email query can't be answered if it's more than a year after the purchase date is laughable. Especially when it's related to your company failing to keep up to date with the roll-out of one of the most common operating systems in the world.
Thank you for so clearly indicating the little regard with which you hold your customers.
----- Original Message ----
From: Creative Americas Customer Support < [email protected]>
Dear _,
Thank you for contacting Creative Labs regarding your Audigy 2 Platinum.
From the detailed description provided; I understand you wanted to know
when will updated drivers for Audigy 2 be release so that it can support
Windows Vista. I would like to apologize that you have to go through
this issue on your sound card.
However, based upon your product's date of purchase 27/4/2003, it
appears you're beyond the complementary telephone (60 days) and e-mail
( year) support period.
If you are covered under a Creative Care Protection Plan (CCPP) and are
within the warranty and service coverage of your plan, please reply back
with the e-mail address the plan was purchased under, as well as your
CCPP order and reference number.
If you are beyond your complimentary support period and not covered by a
Creative Care Protection Plan, there are helpful support options that
are still available to you.
. You may take advantage of our free web support services by visiting
www.**bleep**.com to access the following resources:
Knowledge Base of expert solutions, frequently asked questions, and
reference material
Download drivers and application updates
Auto update will automatically detect and download the latest updates
for you (not available for all products)
Product documentation
Tutorials
User-to-user customer discussion forums
2. You can purchase a Creative Tutor session to receive expert help and
advice from a Technical Advisor by phone. Each Creative Tutor session
is only $2.99 and covers one support issue for up to 30 minutes. To
start, simply call -405-707-8777 Monday through Friday from 9AM until
6PM Central Time. Please have your credit card ready when calling.
3. If you believe you product is in need of repair and wish to simply
pay for an out of warranty repair, you're welcome to reply to this
message to request an out of warranty repair. Simply confirm your
product's name, model number, serial number and an advisor will provide
you with a repair quote and instructions on how to safely ship your
product to Creative.
4. You may utilize 3rd party on-line forums and discussion groups that
can be found using on-line search engines.
However, you may want to download and install the updated driver and
software applications from our download site which is more compatible
with your Windows Vista.
DOWNLOAD LINK: http://us.creative.com//support/downloads/
-Select ?Product Type? + ?Product Categories? + ?Product Name?, once you
have select your product option, select the ?file type? + ? Language? +
? Operating system?.
If you would like to search for additional solutions and for future
references, you can search through our Knowledge Base website, http://us.creative.com/support/kb.
Again, I apologize for the complications that you have experienced and I
understand where you're coming from. Meanwhile, you might want to take
advantage of our products and accessories.
Bring out the vibrancy in your entire music playback with the Creative
Aurvana Live! Headphones. Lightweight and ergonomically designed, the
Aurvana Live! is perfect for listening to music on the move or for your
home entertainment use. Constructed with revolutionary driver technology
and in-depth acoustic tuning, it deli'vers a natural and faithful audio
presentation akin to a li've performance. Sharp transients and dynamic
passages are handled with effortless finesse. For realistic music
listening, look to the Aurvana Li've! today.
For more information regarding our accessories please refer to this
link:
http://us.creative.com/products/product.asp
Thank you for choosing Creative Labs.
Sincerely,
**removed**
Technical Support
Creative Labs Americas
Original Message Follows:
==================================
Subject: CLI - Technical Support Request - (Audigy 2 Platinum)
Self Description: Advanced PC User
Region: Americas
Country: United States of America
Support Inquiry: ID(5) I need help with a third-party software
application
Product: Audigy 2 Platinum
CCPP Certificate Number:
Serial Number:
Purchase Date: 27/4/2003
Operating System: Windows Vista 32-bit
Creative Model Number:
Computer Brand/Model:
Processor/CPU:
Memory:
BIOS Type/Revision:
System Board/Chipset:
Detailed Problem Description:
When do you plan on releasing updated drivers for the Audigy 2 line
which will support Vista and be compatable with the Service Pack
installation? (The lack of up to date drivers currently prohibits
upgrading to SP according to Microsoft) Thank you.
==================================
*Please remove the names of our email advisors per the forum rules. Dale-CL
Message Edited by Dale-CL on <span class='local-date'> 03-26-2008<span class='local-time'> 2:0 PM To anyone at Creative who might be reading this,
I recently submitted the following question to Creative email support: "When do you plan on releasing updated drivers for the Audigy 2 line which will support Vista and be compatable with the Service Pack installation? (The lack of up to date drivers currently prohibitsupgrading to SP according to Microsoft) Thank you."
In return, I received the email below. As a long time supporter of your company, I'd like your team at Creative to know that this canned, non-reply pretty much guarantees that I will never buy another Creative product again. The notion that a simple email query can't be answered if it's more than a year after the purchase date is laughable. Especially when it's related to your company failing to keep up to date with the roll-out of one of the most common operating systems in the world.
Thank you for so clearly indicating the little regard with which you hold your customers.
----- Original Message ----
From: Creative Americas Customer Support < [email protected]>
Dear _,
Thank you for contacting Creative Labs regarding your Audigy 2 Platinum.
From the detailed description provided; I understand you wanted to know
when will updated drivers for Audigy 2 be release so that it can support
Windows Vista. I would like to apologize that you have to go through
this issue on your sound card.
However, based upon your product's date of purchase 27/4/2003, it
appears you're beyond the complementary telephone (60 days) and e-mail
( year) support period.
If you are covered under a Creative Care Protection Plan (CCPP) and are
within the warranty and service coverage of your plan, please reply back
with the e-mail address the plan was purchased under, as well as your
CCPP order and reference number.
If you are beyond your complimentary support period and not covered by a
Creative Care Protection Plan, there are helpful support options that
are still available to you.
1. You may take advantage of our free web support services by visiting
www.**bleep**.com to access the following resources:
Knowledge Base of expert solutions, frequently asked questions, and
reference material
Download drivers and application updates
Auto update will automatically detect and download the latest updates
for you (not available for all products)
Product documentation
Tutorials
User-to-user customer discussion forums
2. You can purchase a Creative Tutor session to receive expert help and
advice from a Technical Advisor by phone. Each Creative Tutor session
is only $2.99 and covers one support issue for up to 30 minutes. To
start, simply call -405-707-8777 Monday through Friday from 9AM until
6PM Central Time. Please have your credit card ready when calling.
3. If you believe you product is in need of repair and wish to simply
pay for an out of warranty repair, you're welcome to reply to this
message to request an out of warranty repair. Simply confirm your
product's name, model number, serial number and an advisor will provide
you with a repair quote and instructions on how to safely ship your
product to Creative.
4. You may utilize 3rd party on-line forums and discussion groups that
can be found using on-line search engines.
However, you may want to download and install the updated driver and
software applications from our download site which is more compatible
with your Windows Vista.
DOWNLOAD LINK: http://us.creative.com//support/downloads/
-Select Product Type + Product Categories + Product Name, once you
have select your product option, select the file type + Language +
Operating system?.
If you would like to search for additional solutions and for future
references, you can search through our Knowledge Base website, http://us.creative.com/support/kb.
Again, I apologize for the complications that you have experienced and I
understand where you're coming from. Meanwhile, you might want to take
advantage of our products and accessories.
Bring out the vibrancy in your entire music playback with the Creative
Aurvana Live! Headphones. Lightweight and ergonomically designed, the
Aurvana Live! is perfect for listening to music on the move or for your
home entertainment use. Constructed with revolutionary driver technology
and in-depth acoustic tuning, it deli'vers a natural and faithful audio
presentation akin to a li've performance. Sharp transients and dynamic
passages are handled with effortless finesse. For realistic music
listening, look to the Aurvana Live! today.
For more information regarding our accessories please refer to this
link:
http://us.creative.com/products/product.asp?
Thank you for choosing Creative Labs.
Sincerely,
**removed**
Technical Support
Creative Labs Americas
Original Message Follows:
==================================
Subject: CLI - Technical Support Request - (Audigy 2 Platinum)
Self Description: Advanced PC User
Region: Americas
Country: United States of America
Support Inquiry: ID(5) I need help with a third-party software
application
Product: Audigy 2 Platinum
CCPP Certificate Number:
Serial Number:
Purchase Date: 27/4/2003
Operating System: Windows Vista 32-bit
Creative Model Number:
Computer Brand/Model:
Processor/CPU:
Memory:
BIOS Type/Revision:
System Board/Chipset:
Detailed Problem Description:
When do you plan on releasing updated drivers for the Audigy 2 line
which will support Vista and be compatable with the Service Pack
installation? (The lack of up to date drivers currently prohibits
upgrading to SP according to Microsoft) Thank you.
==================================
*Please remove the names of our email advisors per the forum rules. Dale-CL
Message Edited by Dale-CL on 03-26-2008 12:10 PM

Answer 1

Boz968 wrote:
Looks to me like they gave you very good advice and places to look to solve your problem yourself.
Please suggest to us how you would resolve this problem with any of those resources? This is a known compatibility problem between Audigy series soundcards (amongst others) which can only be resolved with updated drivers which have not been written yet. It affects both recently purchased cards and older ones. In the future, I would suggest becoming more familiar with the problem before jumping in with comments (also reading the original post helps).