4 more days till the 4gb!

Let the countdown begin my babies!  :smileyvery-happy:  Any idea on which stores will carry it in stock?

Message Edited by chris1207 on 02-11-2008 09:15 PM

I to am looking forward to purchasing one of these.  Wonder if Best Buy will carry it?  Only places I’ve seen it for pre-order are SanDisk store and Amazon.

It would be nice to just drive down and get one on Friday!  *crosses fingers*

I wouldn’t count on Best Buy having it first. They don’t have the 8 GB Sony 818 in stock & several other retailers already have it. They don’t seem to be interested in selling a lot of MP3 players judging by the way they are displayed @ my local store. The display models are firmly fastened to the display. You can’t even pick one up. All you can do is poke it & in some cases (Samsung P2) the ty-wraps are covering the power switch so you can’t even turn it on. I know that they probably have a problem with people breaking them, but come on, get a clue & either display them properly or not at all! I wouldn’t care so much except that I have a credit to spend there & they don’t carry any of the three choices on my short list. Toshiba T400, Creative Zen 16 GB & Sony 818.

What retailers are likely to carry the 4gb Clip?

shopsansa.com is offering 10%off till end of march… you can purchase one here.  the promo code is forum210

I entered the code on the shopsansa site but it did not take a discount.  Perhaps because it is a pre-order?

Not meaning to harsh anyone’s mellow, but … I think I’ll wait until you guys test-drive the 4GB model for a while, before I buy one.  :wink:

In theory it should just be a new memory chip, but in reality, there could be some kind of widespread manufacturing defect, similar to the set of Clips that went out with the self-discharge problem.  I generally order my stuff over the Internet, and don’t enjoy wrapping flawed items back up and driving them to the Post Office.  Come to think of it, I don’t even like driving to my nearest Best Buy.

And then, who knows, maybe there’ll be a necessary firmware upgrade or two.

And in case anyone thinks I’m giving Sandisk a hard time …

http://reviews.cnet.com/mp3-players/sandisk-sansa-clip-2gb/4852-6490_7-32577902.html?tag=lst

(Please add your own review!)

Today’s the day!  :)  Happy 4GB Day, folks!!!

If anyone sees the 4GB Clip available for sale at a retail location, please post where.  I’d like to try and pick one up on my way home from work today (Washington, D.C. metro area).

Thanks - Jon

I thought the 4GB clip was supposed to be available on Friday.  Why does the Sansa Clip website still say “preorder”?  Missed deadline, perhaps?

With only a “backordered item” e-mail from SanDisk earlier in the week, I sent them an e-mail yesterday (Feb 15th) asking when the 4GB I had ordered would actually be sent out.

So far I have gotten NO reply…

Amazon today (Feb 16th) still has this notice on their website: “This item has not yet been released. You may order it now and we will ship it to you when it arrives.” I had placed an order for the new 4GB Clip last week through Amazon, but then canceled it when the estimated shipping date came back as “April 7”. I hope SanDisk will be fulfilling their direct online orders before then!

:mansad:

I’ve found that emailing Sandisk is hit-or-miss, especially when it’s not a technical issue.  Much better to call.

Yeah, “hit or miss.”   More like, “miss or miss.” 

I’m really impressed with the 2GB Clip I own, so I’m pretty bummed about the customer service I have(n’t) received.  I, too, have been following the release date online for quite some time and approached various retailers about when to expect the 4GB Clip in their stores (WalMart, Staples and Best Buy).  Noone had any knowledge that there was going to be a 4GB released and they couldn’t find any evidence of one in their systems for now or any time in the future.

Soooo… I used the email link from Sandisk’s website to request information about when to expect the 4GB in stores and also asked what it would mean for me to “Pre-Order” one from their website.

No reply.  Bummed.

I called their support number Friday and was transferred several times, but was ultimately unable to get to a department that would have any knowledge of when a product would be release.  I had to quit trying after running out of time.

Today, I called and actually talked with someone who had an answer, but I really wasn’t happy with what I heard or how it was told to me.  The guy I talked with was blunt to the point of being rude.  He told me, “Noone at Sandisk can tell you when a product is going to be released.”  I was really confused, because… didn’t they already do that on their website?  I believe they told us February 15th.

I kindly said, “I’m not sure I understand.  Noone at Sandisk has any knowledge about when a new product will be released?  Noone at the whole company?”

He repeated, very dryly, “Noone at Sandisk can tell you when a product will be released.  Sorry.”

And that was the end of our conversation.

A little tip for Sandisk:  the people on the phone are your single most important asset in retaining and recruiting customers.  A better response would have been, “I’m sorry, but manufacturing has been delayed and we aren’t at the liberty to give verbal notice of an expected release date.”  Or something like that.  How about providing some kind of option for people interested in the product?

There was no mention of the Pre-Order option.  He didn’t even ask what product I was interested in!  Isn’t that valuable information to Sandisk?  I would think that think that Sandisk would find that kind of information very useful.  I would LOVE to know that people are anticipating the release of my new product so much that they took the time to email and call customer service.  My company spends tremendous amounts of money researching who our clients are, where they come from and how to keep them.

If anyone from Sandisk is monitoring this forum… A little help here?

Thanks!

Joe

What help are you asking for at this point?  At ABI, it was posted that SanDisk has said that it has not yet received the Clips in.  I am sure that when the inventory is received, shipments will commence.

What is ABI?

Well, whatever ABI is, I guess that little bit of information you provided is at least some help.  So, part of the answer is that Sandisk has actually not received the Clip themselves. Thanks for that tidbit.

I wasn’t really complaining about the unavailability of the Clip as much as the lack of a reasonable response.  I pride myself in my own customer service and get a little miffed when I don’t think things are handled the way I would have handled them, especially given that I was really hoping that the rest of the company’s departments would live up to the performance of some of the really great products I have purchased from them.  I occasionally invest in companies like Sandisk, but my first criteria for investment decisions is always customer service.  I believe it is the most important factor in any company’s success.

That’s all.

I can certainly wait for the new Clip, my current one will do just fine until the 4GB is available.

clipjoe;

For what it’s worth, I’ve found Sandisk’s technical support to be very helpful.  But, when they’re asked questions that involve sales etc., they do tend to get a bit abrupt with the “we have no idea” response. (Part of the curse of being a techie seems to be a need to control and dominate one field of knowledge and never be forced to stray from that field … and I say this as a techie.)

Received this today:

Dear Customer,

We would like to take this opportunity to thank you for visiting Shopsansa.com.

In response to your inquiry, please be advised that SANSA CLIP 4 GB SILVER US STILL HAS NOT BEEN RECEIVED IN OUR WAREHOUSE. We do apologize for the delay as the release date was 02/15/08. Please note that we are at the mercy of the manufacturer. As soon as the item becomes available for fulfillment we will send it out to you immediately once an order has been placed. Please note, that we will not charge you for this item until it leaves our warehouse.

Please let us know if there is anything else that we can do for you.

Sincerely,

Roseanne Scott

Go.ShopSansa.com

Customer Service

866-744-1444

csv@shopsansa.com

Thanks for the help everyone.  That letter is a great response.  I will probably get the same one when they get around to it.  Still looking forward to getting the new Clip (I don’t mind being a guinea pig for this model).  I’ll just keep checking the website.

Take care,

Joe