Sansa customer service is horrid

Just today, after owning a Sansa Clip 4GB for 3 days, & that scratches as easily as the wind blows, I called customer support, whom then didn’t feel they could handle the complexity of the call so I was transferred to Tech support and was met by a smart-alec that continued to insist that I should take the unit back to the store where it was purchased, even though it was a gift and that option is very burdensome.  The sarcastic tech rep was unbelieveably rude and argumentative, ultimately causing me to give up and assure him that I will be taking the unit back when I can and getting full refund and NEVER purchasing their products again.

Be weary of their very helpful customer service *wink…

Worst I’ve ever experienced…and their general support email is returned as undeliverable…what does that tell you?

Pathetic!

Message Edited by Numbnerve on 10-21-2008 01:11 PM

well scratches technically fall under the physical damage category which is not covered by the manufacturers warranty. I can tell you one thing there is no company I know of that would warranty scratches on a device. Plus you have only had it 3 days so the place of purchase would be your best bet.

I know you are frustrated, but (just my opinion) if you projected the same ‘tone’ and attitude with the Customer & Tech Service rep as you have here; I don’t blame them for a little smart-alecness and defensive/augumentative response. Sounds like you were being a d!ck and although customer service people are supposed to ‘grin & bear it’ when it comes to ‘out-of-control’ customers, they are still in fact, only human and don’t appreciate it when they are belittled or chewed out for something that is clearly not their fault!

The old saying, “You can catch a lot more flys with honey than you can with vinegar” still has merit. :wink:

I know you are probably frustrated, but (just my opinion) if you projected the same ‘tone’ and attitude with the Customer & Tech Service rep as you have here; I don’t blame them for a little smart-alecness and a defensive/augumentative response. Sounds like you were being a d!ck and although customer service people are supposed to ‘grin & bear it’ when it comes to ‘out-of-control’ customers, they are still in fact, only human and don’t appreciate it when they are belittled or chewed out for something that is clearly not their fault!

The old saying, “You can catch a lot more flys with honey than you can with vinegar” still has merit. :wink:

I know you are probably frustrated, but (just my opinion) if you projected the same ‘tone’ and attitude with the Customer & Tech Service rep as you have here; I don’t blame them for a little smart-alecness and a defensive or argumentative response. Sounds like you were being a d!ck and although customer service people are supposed to ‘grin & bear it’ when it comes to ‘out-of-control’ customers, they are still in fact, only human and don’t appreciate it when they are belittled or chewed out for something that is clearly not their fault!

The old saying, “You can catch a lot more flys with honey than you can with vinegar” still has merit. :wink:

It is silly that the Fuze doesn’t include a skin with a clip on it in the package. I guess Sandisk wants to give retailers a chance to make a huge percentage markeup on a skin for it. In reality though, most retailers don’t stock skins for the Fuze. this in turn frustrates consumers. Consumer satisfaction would imo be much greater if a skin with a clip on it was included in the package. What would this cost? Perhaps under $1 a unit?

Radio Shack sells a 3 pack of skins for the Fuze for $20! Who needs 3 of them, especially when one is orange and one is pink, and just one is black. Why don’t they sell a single skin in black or clear color for $7 or $8?

Message Edited by JK98 on 10-24-2008 05:18 PM

Hi Tapeworm, JK98 and anyone else.

To the poster, these units are a small piece of technology. With no disrespect to you - treat it for what it is. I do agree with you. Yes there are legitimate gripes about customer service.

JK98 - I recently joined ABI and read some of your posts. I have some of your same interests. (replaceable battery)

Since this is the “anything goes be kind forum”, I would like to voice my observation with SanDisk / Sansa.

For the $$$, they put out a pretty decent product. What I fail to understand is the direction they took with the players.

I just received a new c240 I purchased for cheap thru Amazon. The firmware upgrade went off without a hitch. Fortunately, it is a v1 which means I can Rockbox it. That will of course enable larger micro sd cards and I believe the ability to play vorbis files.

I really am very new to this mp3 player scene, and after purchasing some 8GB Fuze’s, a new “old” e130, e280 and now this c240, for me the c200 series is perfect.

Back to SanDisk / Sansa direction. I am at the end of the “baby boomer” generation. My parents were depression era folks, and growing up, it was quite hard to understand what they were talking about at the dinner table. I am for now fortunate enough to have a secure job with a decent salary. With everything going on around us, I now understand my childhood dinner conversations. I bought the SanDisk products for one reason. They were the innovator of flash media. With the C & E 200 series, I believe SanDisk was at the front of the competition. A decent product was put out, with the ability to change the battery, and in theory, if taken care of should last a long time.

With the Clip and Fuze, came planned obsolescence.

With the state of the economy GLOBALLY, people, if not already doing so, are not going to be so fast to spend their money on “throw away” items.

Chrysler, before Lee Iacocca, almost went down the tubes. GM is in serious trouble. It would be nice to see SanDisk go back to their leadership role, and stop worrying / copying  other manufacturers. Improve the build and functions, add more longevity to products like the C & E series, and sell their flash products at a competitive price and let the competition try to copy them. 

Time to get off the soap box. Good luck to everyone navigating through these uncertain times.

Mike 

Mike -

Eloquently said; are you a politician? :smileyvery-happy: Given your recent ‘customer service experiences’, you have every right to “wail on 'em” but you didn’t. The fact that you own so many SanDisk units shows that you believe them to have an excellent product, even if the company’s philosophies are different than yours. You also seem to realize that mistakes occur and sometimes a series of ‘boo-boo’s’ just happens to fall on the same customer. Call it fate, mis-aligned stars, your turn at the trough, whatever.

Having many years experience in retail sales, I too know that sometimes you just can’t ‘buy a break’! Sometimes every one down the line (or up the chain) does everything they can to right a wrong done to a customer who got a defective product or bad service, yet no matter all the good intentions, every further step goes wrong and the customer suffers even more. A comedy of errors, if you will.

These are nightmares in the customer service part of any business. All one can do is do their best to avoid them, but every once in a while, someone’s going to end up on the short end of the stick. Unfortunate, but true. No one endeavors to give bad service. If they do, they won’t be around for long, no matter the quality of their product.

Hello mstubie. I am frustrated since so few players navigate by folders and have a card slot. My older player navigates by folders, but only has a gig of storage so I wanted something with more storage and bought a Fuze. I find navigation by tags to be so frustrating! Some tags may be missing, or there may be slight variations in tags, and files may not be sorted as expected. I also hate the use of a built in battery, and want to use  AA or AAA batteries instead. There is a good chance that the next mp3 player I buy will navigate by folders, or by either folders or tags.

Hi JK98,

This really isn’t the place for this, but… I bought a 2GB TrekStor iBeat extension [FM]. Runs on one rechargeable AAA. Built like a little tank. Love the thing.

I found only 2 downsides. 1st I wish the volume could adjust up just a tad higher. 2nd it doesn’t play OGG Vorbis (although that isn’t such a big issue). It does sound great with high quality (V2) lame 3.98 encodes and my relatively inexpensive Senheisser CX300’s.

It has an expansion slot for standard size SD cards. (They claim 2GB max) but surprise to me, I use a SanDisk 4gb micro sdhc with an adapter and it plays flawlessly. (I read in a review somewhere that a guy was using an 8GB). I have no tunes directly in the player.

There is one firmware update on their site, which I did, but have no idea what it upgrades. I’ve been getting 6-8 hours using a 1200 mAH NiMH rechargeable battery. Has an fm radio and does support folders. It plugs directly (no cable) into usb port. I use mp3tag and keep my music well housekept & use a card reader to copy & paste my folders. 

Check out their web site - google TrekStor. I got it from Amazon under $50-. I think there is a 1GB unit for less $.

H O W E V E R !!! If the AAA battery thing ISN’T a big issue, I have to say the Sansa c240 v1 with the latest firmware update, and latest stable Rockbox release (V3.0), blows the iBeat away. It doesn’t have a AAA battery but it does have a rechargeable/replaceable battery. I’m so impressed with it I just bought 2 more from Amazon, to stash away before they all disappear. [Sorry Sansa Store]. If you decide to get that, buy the wall charger/car charger combo for under $8 including shipping.

Best of luck to you on your quest.

Mike

Thanks Tapeworm,

I know way back in the beginning I came out with both barrels blasting. Yup - stuff happens. I am not a politician, just a dispatcher for 20+ years. I’ve been on the “other side”

of the coin and man can it get ugly. Sometimes I feel like going to work with a target on the back of my shirt, and a Steve Martin bow and arrow on my head :smileyvery-happy:

 Take care.

Mike

I have always received great service from their support.

we must have talked to the same people. i have been trying for 6 months to get them to let me buy or they can replace a defective battery. i have called and emailed at least 20 times. they are rude and very unhelpful. they keep saying"you battery is on way" i have never been treated so rudely by any company that i purchased something from. the store that i bought it from won’t do anything because they (sansa) don’t allow anyone to sell their batteries. i am so frustrated. $100.00 was a big investment for me. hope someone in power reads this and makes some changes. i have told everyone i know to avoid sanasa products