The 1 year warranty is only good for 7 d

Question

We recently bought a Zen (20Gb) for our teenage son. The power pack (the charger that came with the Zen) expired after just a few days (perhaps 5 days of use!). However, when we took it in for repair (my wife went personally to their office here in Singapore because the telephone support system was so incomprehensible), she was told that THE -YEAR WARRANTY DID NOT APPLY to the power unit.She was told that the power-pack only had a 7-day warranty, which had of course expired.Has anyone else had problems with Creative not honoring their warranties?
Additional note: We have followed this up with Creative, who have confirmed that their warranties only apply to the main item with the serial number on it and their warranties do NOT apply to any included accessories such as power units. They describe it as "a gesture of goodwill" that they give a 7-day warranty on these items.
Message Edited by ianprescott on -08-2005 06:49 AM

Answer 1

ianprescott wrote:Thanks for the apology.As regards using another power unit to charge the Zen ... I suspect that using anything but a genuine Creative charger will invalidate the warranty on the main unit (except for the charging that might happen via the USB port). Then I have no warranty at all!
Then even without a charger, you're in no better situation than I am. I have a Zen Micro, which, like most of the newer Micro packages here in the US and many other countries, didn't come with a charger. It usually gets charged thru the USB port, but I use a third-party charger occasionally. (The Micro can only be charged by USB; it doesn't have a standard DC-adapter plug like the Zen 20GB does.)
Creative's warranties in both the US and Singapore exclude damages for "improper use of any electrical source" (which would include misuse of third-party chargers), "undue..electrical stress", or "electrical surges"--but not just because you used a third-party charger. Due care in selecting the charger (I already told you it's 5VDC; the tip polarity is marked on the Zen 20GB) can take care of that, especially with assistance from a local shop in Singapore that primarily sells those kind of add-ons (similar to RadioShack here in the US). And if you're really worried about using the "correct" charger, you can always buy another adapter from Creative.