is there a repair facility for out of warranty players or is it impracticable?

SanDisk MP3 players Sansa® Clip | Sansa® Clip+
1

My 2 GB Sansa Clip - refurbished, no longer works.

 

My computer, a HP Laptop with Windows Vista OS and Windows Media Player 11 does not recognize it.

 

When powered on it does not get beyond the Sansa logo.

 

Bottom line: I hate putting things that can be repaired into the trash unless absolutely necessary. Please advise.

 

Is anyone aware of a repair facility for out of warranty players or is it impracticable?

2

psrrobbins wrote:  

Is anyone aware of a repair facility for out of warranty players or is it impracticable?

 

It may be repairable.  The problem is that repairs are too expensive compared with buying a new one.

As an example, I had a CD player that broke.  The repair shop wanted $70 to even pull the cover off (this was at least 5 years ago.)    I went at it myself and it turned out all it needed was a rubber belt, costing under $2.

 If you aren’t skilled enough to try it yourself, you are probably looking at a minimum of 1 hour labor charge with no guarantee of successs.  Compared to buying a new/refurb for maybe $25? You might even get a couple bucks for your broken one on Ebay from someone who wants to scavenge it to fix their own.

 

 Edit: one easy thing you can try is a new USB cable.  On a couple of clips I’ve found the connector doesn’t work well with old cables.

Message Edited by donp on 09-01-2009 08:15 PM

3

DonP,

Thanks for the info and advice. As I have 6 other working MP3 players, including 3 different SanDisc Sansa models, I will permanantly retire this one.

Generally speaking, I have had very good luck purchasing refurbished Sansa’s at Woot.com at what I believe to be reduced prices.

You are right in that it is both easier and less expensive to replace a non-working player than to repair it.

4

Another easy thing to try is downloading the firmware again and reloading it in the player. Sometimes the firmware in the player becomes corrupted. Before doing that, you could try connecting the player to the pc and formatting it via the pc(I guess for players 2 gig and below FAT should be used, and for over 2 GB FAT 32 should be used?). See if this helps. If the players boots completely, then reformat it again using the player’s menu before loading songs on it.

5

Most cellphone repair places also take care of other small electronics. Lookup cellphone repair in googlemaps to find the places near you. Unlike other shops they ususally don’t charge an hourly minimum, but may have a small nominal fee for advanced diagnostics prior to repair. It is true that very often it may not be cost effective, e.g. if an LCD goes out on a $35 player and the replacement costs $20 in parts + install, it would be cheaper to replace. The repair place by me does small fixes like the notorious clip power lead for $5-10 while you wait. It’s worth a shot, especially as most shops will tell you if repair is possible before you commit. 

6

“The repair place by me does small fixes like the notorious clip power lead for $5-10”

In areas where rents are high, they might charge $30 or more just for opening an electronics item and giving an estimate. In areas where rents and salaries are low, they might spend over half an hour working on a player and charge $5-10.

I used to get the soles on my shoes replaced. There was a  store near here that would replace the soles on a pair with Vibram soles for $26. On shoes that sold for around $100(and perhaps $70 on sale) it was worth it. Now I can’t find a place to do it for less than $45, and I can often find the shoes for $50-60 a pair.

Message Edited by JK98 on 09-06-2009 11:59 AM

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the median household income in my neighborhood is $109,502. there are no electronics repair places. that’s why you drive 10 minutes away and find a cellphone repair place.

8

Of course, making the repair issue more “difficult” cost-wise is the fact that the Clip+'s prices now often are lower than that of similar Clip units.

This disposibility is kind of saddening.  Maybe someone will figure a way to collect and ship malfunctioning units to an area where labor costs are low enough to make repair cost-effective.