I got lucky. I got a 10G in the last days of the greatest digital music device EVER. I waited for it to arrive. Patiently.

After much fretting (did I say "patiently"? Whatever), it finally arrived. But it wouldn't light up! What gives?

I installed disktest, then beta 7, and even downloaded a few songs, but still, the display was dark.

I even installed the new JEmplode (thank you, Mike!) with displayserver-like capabilities *just* so I could see and play the beloved thing. Oh well, I guess it's broke.

I called support and their pre-recorded msg says "no RMAs will be given unless you've talked to support" or something like that. Maybe I read it. Anyway, it was Friday night by the time I discovered this problem, so I emailed our good buddies in the UK.

I got a quick response from Mr. Moss verifying I probably had a broken display - send it over for repair. Only problem is it's um, in the UK! At least he offered to pay shipping.

The real woe here is that when I called support in the US to beg for a replacement, they gave me the cold shoulder. "Our systems don't allow a transfer because we're out of 10G. We could sell you a 60G, though." But they couldn't even promise me I would get it, and I would have to use... eeek... the eStore.

So, an empeg in hand is better than one in the eStore, I always say. Or at least I've taken to saying just this moment.

The moral? The folks in the UK rock, the boobs in the US do not. Sigh.

I guess I'll be back with more stupid, first time user questions when I get my Mk2a back in oh, say, TWO WEEKS! :-(

Oh, one other thing - the US guy insisted they have NEVER issued an RMA before for this product because they haven't ever been defective. I would believe it except for the eBay user comment about getting two.

I don't so much mind the problem, just the lying. H/W will always have problems, especially en masse. But honesty goes a long way.

Oh yeah. I didn't get a power supply or the promised bumper sticker either! ;-)

They haven't ever issued an RMA because the guys in the UK rock, and it is faster to send it to them for repair then to get a replacement. Or it would have been when they were still in production. Now it's infinitely faster.

Heh while we on the topic of the crappy CS of sonic blue... I called them the other day to cancel one of my orders (I had ordered 3 units.. but decided I only need 2 so I tried to cancel my order and give someone else a chance to pick up a unit) - anyways I call them and they cancel the order and then the next day I recieve an email saying my order shipped! So I call them back and this time I get Tammy and boy is she a B*TCH.. she proceded to say it was my fault for waiting so long to cancel the order and as I was arguing with her she hangs me up... I HATE SONIC BLUE CS!!!

Ahh now I feel better =)

I'm not at all familiar with the procedures in US customer service, but I'd assume that you should have been provided with RMA information so that you can return the extra player as soon as it arrives.

Although in the current climate, you'd probably be better off selling it on eBay.

Typical turnaround is usually about a week - that includes shipping time.

I made an order, and a day after I received the packages, I get an e-mail telling me they have shipped. So For a period of 1 day I was holding on to packages wondering how they could have sent them to me and not know they sent them. (order status== pending..)

Calvin

Typical turnaround is usually about a week - that includes shipping time.

Yep mine had to make the trip three times, I think it was, before I asked if I could work some deal to replace my original empeg. I dropped it and it was never right again. About a week each time. And they were very cooperative on the deal we struck to replace it, esp. considering it was entirely my fault, but an accident.

I just wish there were more companies as willing to bend over backwards as the crew in Cambridge is. They even sent Christmas cards to empeg owners in 2000. And that reminds me, no Christmas card this year? What'd I do to get on the naughty boy's list, Santa?

Ah, Mr. Moss, my hero! I must say that you are a credit to the organization. Thanks for the help. Like said elsewhere, too bad that isn't the case for the US team...

tammy should be fired.. she obviously doesn't enjoy her job..

my opinion

I worked customer support for a major computer manufacturer for three years on the overnight shift. I can sorta sympathize.

Imagine getting 3-4 calls per day, then one day getting 50+. Even if they don't all bitch at you, the few that do can easily screw up your day

Of course, that *is* her job, so she should still be decent. She was neutral when I talked to her, so she must've had a breakdown somewhere after that point :P

wfaulk: the guys in the UK rock

Yep. I don't really expect much from some of the folks at SB in the U.S. (heck, that woman may be working with a pink slip in her pocket), but I doubt I'll ever see customer service like I've seen from Cambridge (to recap briefly: My Mk2 had a bad RCA line-out. I drop it for Fedex pickup in Seattle at 14:00 Tuesday....and it returns to me Friday at 10:17). I still tell friends about this and they go "Whoa!"

Yeah, they rock. For folks who are just now experiencing the not-so-hot U.S. version of customer service, take heart. The guys who really know how to make things work are still there.

(Oooh. Life is good. Just figured out how to program the Tivo, Cleavon Little is moseying past Count Basie on his palomino pony, and Fedex tells me that my 60GB arrived in Seattle 14 minutes ago...)

Jim, looks like ours were on the same fedex truck Saw your post, checked my FedEx status and my 10 & 20 gig arrived at the fedex seattle ramp at 20:03 - WooHoo!

'Course, Fedex will probably delay it a day since its only paid for 3 day service instead of 2-day. Thats what they did with my last one.

Bumper sticker? There's a bumper sticker?

Some of the players being sent out from the US eStore are from an early batch before the Rio-branded user guides were ready - they got a Mk 2 guide plus a short addendum, mostly to cover the new remote.

The Mk 2 user guide refers to the empeg bumper stickers that we used to include in the box.