A reader sent in this funny and bizarre customer support email from Creative—it’s a weird combination of broken English, pre-written paragraphs from macros (which, oddly, still have grammatical errors), Byzantine instructions for resetting and reformatting the broken device, and then five attempts to sell other products and services at the end.

Dear Stacy,

Thank you for writing in to Creative Technical Support Services, we appreciate the opportunity to assist you.

From the description you had provided, I can see that your ZEN Player has stopped working abruptly. You mentioned on your mail that your player boot up up to Creative Logo and then it froze and it just the back lit black. You mentioned that you had tried recovery tool but it seems like your player won’t recognized by your PC. I can imagine this is a frustrating experience. I apologize that you are having issue with this product and it is causing you to not enjoy it as intended.

Initially, you were provided with some basic suggestions on how to troubleshoot the issue that you have identified. These tips have
resolved majority of the issues with your product. You may find that some of the information in this message is repetitive, but it is still helpful/beneficial in troubleshooting the issue.

To assist you further, here are some suggestions that you can try:

1. Reset the player with the little pin hole twice while connected to the computer and then 3 times while not connected to the computer.
2. After you reset it the last time, you will need to get to the recovery mode by pressing and holding the play/pause button on the player and then turning it on again without letting go of the play/pause button until you see recovery mode on the screen.
3. Then, let go of the button and perform cleanup 3 times and format twice.
4. ThenI want you to reload the firmware twice and on the second time I want you to go ahead and install the latest firmware for the player while it is connected to the computer. You can get the latest firmware for free from our web page at

http://us.creative.com/support/downloads/

– select your product MP3 Players > Zen > Zen 4GB/8GB/16GB > click NEXT
– choose a language: English > operating system: Windows XP > file type: All > click GO

Please DO NOT CHOOSE AUTO UPDATE this time.

I’m confident that the suggested resolutions will resolve your issue. However, if you’re still experiencing the complications, please don’t hesitate to reply to this thread with the history intact so that we can continue working with you.

Meanwhile, to enhance your listening experience with your Zen, you may want to consider buying our Creative Zen Aurvana. This is an
acoustically and ergonomically designed in-ear earphones that deliver superb audio quality, noise isolation, and comfort. For more details on this product, please refer to the link below:

http://us.creative.com/products/product.asp?

If you still require assistance, please reply to this email with any previous correspondence to ensure the quickest and most accurate service.

Best Regards,

Rafael
Technical Support
Creative Labs Americas

– – –

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(Thanks to Stacy!)
(Photo: Getty)

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