Why I will no longer be a customer of Creative.

Question

/ I am the president of a web development firm who uses Skype and a Creative webcam to communicate with our clients around the world. This morning, we had to re-load our computers' OS because of some issues we were having, and when I went to look for the drivers for our web cam, there were none at all on the Creative website. It is a model that is still on sale at the Creative website and my local best buy, but there is NO information on this product in your support section. It is code # VF045.
I then called the Creative customer support folks to be informed that I would have to pay $5.00 for a CD to be SNAIL MAILED to me as they do not provide the drivers for this product on their site.
Are you kidding me? That is absolutely rediculous.
Last year we over $30,000 dollars on computer hardware and software and we expect that to go up. But I am now researching alternate webcam and audio products, because if this is the way you guys treat your clients and customer base, good ridance. Rest assured, as an influencer to my clients and staff, I will do what I can to recount this to anybody that will listen.

Answer 1

I am a computer technician with over 30 years experience and have bought 2 ZEN Stones. Both turned themselves into bricks shortly after the warranty period. As a knowledgable technician I researched the problem on Creative's support venues and attempted all suggested solutions before filling out the requisite support form. I provided all the necessary troubleshooting information.
The result? A very polite totally lame canned response that make it obvious my problem submission was not read. In fairness I have to comment that the response is par with most online support. It seems corporations are not interested in provideing a quality support product to their clients. Why else would they outsource to offshore countries you cannot understand for phone support and provide such lame canned responses?
They just don't care. Period. It costs less so corporate greed wins out and customers be ****ed.
If I could have found an email address for the CEO or any Corp officer I would have sent this to them.
Below is my correspondence with support. Creative Labs be ****ed!
Thank you for the standard, typical, canned reply for laymen.
Please forward this reply to your supervisor, your customer satisfaction
executi've, and your CEO, as I even more disatisfied with Creatives Labs now.
Perhaps they are able to read.
It is extremely obvious that my information was not read at all.
If it had been read you would have seen that I have already done all the
steps you suggest.
I am a computer technician with over 30 years of computer repair experience.
I have serviced personal computers since they first began to appear .
Before attempting to contact you I research the problem on your web site,
which by the way I found to be of little use and poorly done as a support
service.
I tried the suggestions for rebooting and resetting this now worthless rock.
I know about drivers, device manager and scanning for new devices. I own 4
PCs that I build myself. The device was tested on 2 of them and a DELL
laptop. It's broke. It a rock. A piece of junk.
I did not write to you with ANY expectation of getting any useable
suggestions for making this pieces of garbage work again. Neither was I
seeking an RMA, knowing full well that an RMA request would be rejected
because:
a) I cannot prove a purchase date and
b) even if I could produce a receipt for this rock , it is out of the 30 or
90 day warranty period.
What I did write to Creative Labs for was, to indicate my extreme
dissatisfaction with this worthless rock product line and Creative Labs as a
whole. Having already wasted my money on 2 models of rock and having both
of them fail completely in less than a year is more than enough bad
experience for me to express my displeasure and relate that displeasure with
Creative Labs and it's products to my friends and any one else thats willing
listen.
Furthermore your ( Creative Labs' ) lame canned response is more reason for
not ever buying a Creative product again, as it only shows that you do not
even read the information provided by your customers that are experiencing
difficulties with your poor quality products.
The Stone is a piece of junk and the support is no better.
L W
----- Original Message -----
From: "Creative Americas Customer Support"
<[email protected]>
To: "
Sent: Monday, June 22, 2009 7:5 PM
Subject: Re: CLI - Technical Support Request - (ZEN Stone with built-in
speaker) (KMM9063478I5977L0KM)
Dear ,
Thank you for reaching us at Creative Technical Support; we appreciate
the opportunity to assist you.
I understand your ZEN Stone with built-in speaker does not work
properly. I apologize sincerely for any inconvenience this caused you.
Please try the following troubleshooting information.
. Verify the player&rsquo;s detection in the Device Manager.
-Check the Device Manager, click Start, Settings, Control Panel and
System.
-Select the Hardware tab and click the Device Manager button.
-Click the + next to Uni'versal Serial Bus Controllers.
-Click the + next to Disk dri'ves.
2. If the player does not appear at all or appears but with an error
code, please refer to this knowledge base article:
Error "Driver Not Found" During Installation
http://support.creative.com/kb/ShowA....aspx?sid=4782
3. If the player is detected in the Device Manager without any errors,
please check if the player is listed under My Computer. If the player
does not appear in My Computer, you may need to manually change the
dri've letter assigned to your player. Pease refer to our knowledge base
article:
&ldquo;MuVo, ZEN Nano, ZEN Nano Plus or ZEN Stone Not Listed as a Removable
Dri've in Windows Explorer&rdquo; by following this link:
http://support.creative.com/kb/ShowA....aspx?sid=2254
If possible, try to connect your ZEN Stone player on another system and
see whether able to get it to recognize on that system.
However, if the issue still persists, you may need to send your player
for repair/replacement. Please follow this link to have an RMA issued
for your product:
http://us.creative.com/onlinerma
If you still require assistance, please reply to this email with any
previous correspondence to ensure the quickest and most accurate
service.
Best Regards,
Technical Support
Creative Labs Americas
Original Message Follows: ------------------------
==================================
Subject: CLI - Technical Support Request - (ZEN Stone with built-in
speaker)
Name:
E-mail Address: Self Description: Advanced PC User
Region: Americas
Country: United States of America
Support Inquiry: My Creative hardware stopped functioning correctly
Product: ZEN Stone with built-in speaker
CCPP Certificate Number:
Serial Number: c8pf229802m2589q
Purchase Date: Jan/07/2009
Operating System: Windows XP
Firmware Version: unknown
Creative Model Number:
Connected To:
Detailed Problem Description:
This is the 2nd and Last creative stone I have bought. This one like the
last worked for a few months and just quit. It is no longer recognized
on a usb port and does not show up any wheere in my system. After a
reset the light will come one and that is it. Period. Nothing more until
the rese button is pushed again and then the idiot light goes out. The
Recovery and format processes do not work as this player does not get
detected by windows no matter what is done. I am SO disappointed with
Creative Labs Stone PLUS and Stone plus with speakers turning into a
real stone that I will NEVER again purchase ANY Creative Labs product
ever again. Furthermore I will relate to anyone and everyone I know that
I am extremely disatisfied with Creative Labs.
==================================
Edit: Advisor name removed for privacy reasons.
Message Edited by KokChoy-CL on <span class='local-date'> 06-29-2009<span class='local-time'> 09:03 [email protected]