Greetings from a lurker with a problem…
I cracked the LCD screen on my Zen Sleek today 
and I’m wondering what my repair options are.
Creative says it will do repairs on problems covered by the warranty, but unfortunately, that doesn’t cover Accident-Prone-User :smack: I fired off an e-mail to their customer support department asking whether they did non-warranty repairs, and at what cost.
My other option is Best Buy. Their service page says that they do some repairs, with or without warranty, but it’s rather vague as to whether they can fix mp3 players. Still, I’ll probably take my Zen there and try my luck.
Has anyone tried to get repairs done through Best Buy or Creative? If so, stories? Warnings? Rants? Advice?
I figure the Dope will be faster than the 3-5 business days for e-mail answerage that the companies promise…
Snarky,
I had to get my Zen Micro fixed under warranty. The hard drive broke when I plugged it in for charging. Go figure. It took about 2 weeks in Creative’s shop: one week for them to sit on it, another week to determine they’re out of stock of my model. Then it shipped unexpectedly.
They replaced my unit. They did not repair it. Possibly they don’t actually have repair technicians but only warranty clerks who determine that the device should be replaced under warranty. That could explain why they don’t do non-warranty repairs.
I haven’t had anything repaired at Best Buy so no help there.
Uh, not Best Buy. Never. They don’t employ technicians. They have people that can slap cards in and out of computers. Factory service for proprietary technology is always best.
Well they used to employ technicians. I worked as a service tech at Circuit City until 1999 and I knew several BBY techs personally. We would often call each other to discuss repair issues. CC & BBY both performed repairs at component level.
For a warranty repair, the first thing a repair shop will do is calculate the cost of repair versus cost of replacement. I almost never saw anything reach my bench that cost less than $100. It was just easier/faster to replace.
Another issue with small portables is that many manufacturers don’t want them repaired for fear of shoddy repairmanship. If the tech doesn’t get it exactly right, the consumer can come away with a bad impression of the product itself and swear never to buy one again.
But in this case neither would repair under warranty. BBY will probably be willing to do it C.O.D. provided the manufacturer will furnish the needed parts. It might be worth it to plunk down $20 for an estimate. If they can’t/won’t repair, I think you’ll get your estimate fee back. At least that’s how it was 6 years ago.