Sansa Store Buyers Beware!

MP3 players Sansa Clip | Clip+
1

Don’t repeat the mistake I made in purchasing the 4GB Clip from the Sansa online store.

Sansa Store Buyer’s Beware: No Returns are Available on the Clip, if the package has been opened! So much for the stated “30 Day Satisfaction Guarantee!”

See Sansa Customer Service reply below to my request to return the illegible 4GB Clip:

Dear Customer,

We would like to take this opportunity to thank you for your order
recently placed with Shopsansa.com.

In response to your inquiry, unfortunately being the product has been
open we are unable to accept the return. We apologize for any inconvenience.

Sincerely,

Go.ShopSansa.com
Customer Service

csv@shopsansa.com

Maybe Sansa should talk with the 4GB Clip reps on this forum, who acknowledge the design flaw in their product (can’t navigate the screen in daylight, due to the reflective screen on the 4GB Clip).

2

I don’t understand how you’re supposed to be satisfied without trying the product.  It makes no sense at all.

3

Put it in contest with your credit card (assuming that’s how you paid). Outrafeous!

4

@cllipman wrote:
Put it in contest with your credit card (assuming that’s how you paid). Outrafeous!

Good idea!

5

I am a bit outrafed my self!  I think a rethinking of the satisfaction guarantee is in order.  As a bonus, think about the condition of a brand new Clip 4GB that has been turned on, then repackaged.  Oh, the humanity!  A fingerprint!!!

Let’s be constructive, then.  Future marketing solution for the Sansa Store: make the customer happy, and accept the return for credit or refund, as long as the device is undamaged with the original packaging.  The returned device can be tested, and offered as a previously opened device, at a reduced price.  Let’s do the math: compare list price- down to reduced, then a retailers discounted price- and a reduction from that.

Yes, I know there’s a logistical change, but I am talking about the logic of customer service and net costs for the manufacturer.  Dissatisfied customers are absolute marketing poison in my book, and dissatisfaction because of, NOT the product, but the SERVICE, is absolute brain damage. 

In this case, we are talking about Sansa fans who are buying not at a discount, but at list price, from a company they trust.  If the situation isn’t right, it’s time to adapt and overcome, as we say.

These devices are as new as it gets, and with any product, there will be roll out wrinkles.  As Sansafix has posted, the new firmware is an improvement most of us can be quite happy with, and the display issue will be solved to everyone’s satisfaction, with those who don’t agree sticking with the 2GB, or waiting for a future date, maybe a Fuze?

How many of you here would be happy to purchase that same “previewed” Clip 4GB right here and now?  The answer might be surprising.

Bob  :smileyvery-happy:

Happy with my own brain damage!)

7

…And if the Sansa store is going to charge retail price for their products- then they should offer retail service- i.e. a liberal return policy. (I never by from manufacturers’ stores).

I’m getting mixed signals from SanDisk- I don’t know what to think. On the one hand…I like their responsiveness to user feedback on the 1 & 2 GB Clips and their constant improvement via firmware updates…on the other hand, they seem to have major quality control issues- as so many of the Clips are on the market with some severe defects…and they allowed the 4GB’s to slip out onto the market without apparently ever having been in the hands of a consumer…as they shipped them with a major defect (Screen brightness issue). The latter seems to undo the benefit of the former.

8

Good engineering department, poor marketing and QC depts.

9

At least I’m seeing the requisite leaks about the new Fuze, well done…compared to the surprise design rollout of the e200v2.

How about neutron_bob, Miikerman, Cllipman, PromisedPlanet, (there are a few more out there), the new Unofficial SanDisk Sansa QC Crew?

It’s fun being the test / QC department, eh? Get those earbuds back on, gentlemen!!

Don’t forget the staff meeting coming up.

Bob :stuck_out_tongue: 

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@neutron_bob wrote:

At least I’m seeing the requisite leaks about the new Fuze, well done…compared to the surprise design rollout of the e200v2.

 

How about neutron_bob, Miikerman, Cllipman, PromisedPlanet, (there are a few more out there), the new Unofficial SanDisk Sansa QC Crew?

 

It’s fun being the test / QC department, eh? Get those earbuds back on, gentlemen!!

 

Don’t forget the staff meeting coming up.

 

Bob :stuck_out_tongue: 

Well, customer-provided QC has worked well for Microsoft.  And others.  But Sandisk isn’t quite in such a dominant position.  :slight_smile:

11

Well, Microsoft is an issue unto itself when critiqued in terms of customer support.  Just try and solve a WiMP (windows media player) functionality issue.  One can get an answer with a credit card?  :angry:

Thus, the floor of customer service has been established at a low point indeed.

I’m happy to deal with SanDisk as the underdog.  No fruit based systems for me. 

Bob  :smileyvery-happy: 

13

It’s precisely that proprietary connection that allows for a future docking station.  Perhaps, along with the landscape arrangement of the screen, that was the driving thought.

I do like the inherent simplicity of the Clip’s mini-USB port.

I would hope that the Fuze’s connector is identical to the standard e200 series cable.

Who’s turn is it to bring the pizza to the next meeting?

Bob  :wink: 

14

The Fuze and E200 interface connectors are the same.

15

Funny how the Sansa Employee doesn’t address the original post but has no problem answering a silly litle question.

WOOT WOOT TOOT TOOT

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@tootbaron wrote:

Funny how the Sansa Employee doesn’t address the original post but has no problem answering a silly litle question.

 

WOOT WOOT TOOT TOOT

 

If you were a Sandisk employee who was assigned to monitor a user forum and help out with product technical issues, would you take it upon yourself to explain the return policy of the Sansa store?

18

@miikerman wrote:

Absolutely agreed.  Although as I’ve noted, manufacturers with e-stores often seem to try to avoid returns for refund.

 

At the very least, SanDisk should “repair” its satisfaction guaranteed policy to note and make apparent and clear that while one may get a store credit with a return, refunds, no.  (Of course, this cuts against a satisfaction guaranteed statement.) 

Miikerman: at technical clarification- Sansa “Customer Service” offered no credit to me in my request to return the flawed 4 GB clip (my return request was submitted to Sansa one week after I received it and had a chance to use it and realize it was unreadable outdoors). My undestanding is that they do not offer even a credit return.  No return, no credit or refund. If the customer opens the Clip package, done deal.

Message Edited by calkid on 03-17-2008 11:57 AM

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@miikerman wrote:
Please note that as a result of the monitoring here, the initial matter was referred back to Customer Service for further consideration.

 

Which is a nice thing, but I don’t think it’s appropriate to bash the Sandisk employee(s) that DO participate in this forum because we may not like the way the Sansa Store is run.  Personally, I’m amazed (though pleased) that Sandisk participates in the forum at all, never mind the fact that they’re so responsive to technical issues, rolling fixes into firmware upgrades etc.

20

@promisedplanet wrote:

@miikerman wrote:
Please note that as a result of the monitoring here, the initial matter was referred back to Customer Service for further consideration.

 

Which is a nice thing, but I don’t think it’s appropriate to bash the Sandisk employee(s) that DO participate in this forum because we may not like the way the Sansa Store is run.  Personally, I’m amazed (though pleased) that Sandisk participates in the forum at all, never mind the fact that they’re so responsive to technical issues, rolling fixes into firmware upgrades etc.

Apologist.

22

The Sansa Store issue isn’t being ignored.

On the above thought, I’d rather be an apologist than a Scientologist.  Or a herpetologist.  Come to think of it, Plato, Aristotle, and Socrates were apologists too.

Bob  :wink: