Summary: We ordered SL3100 wireless headphones from Creative online on January 10 2007. My husband opened the box and was stretching the headphones open WITHOUT excessive force when the plastic piece that goes behind the head cracked in two pieces. This was quite disappointing as we had not even used them yet. I called Creative the next day described exactly what happened and was told I could return them for an equivalent or same pair. 1st there were problems in receiving The e-mail info for exchange as the email address was not clearly from Creative so the RMA disappeared into junk mail. When I called to ask where the info was it was clear they had had this problem before but not clear they were making efforts to fix it.

I returned the headphones only to get a call WEEKS later telling my husband this type of damage could not be exchanged or refunded. At the time I was recovering from retinal detachment surgery and did not have the vision or energy to protest.

When I called May 10, 2007 1st I met an unwelcoming telephone answering system with no clear option to discuss customer concerns or complaints. The first customer service agent who answered said he remembered one of my initial calls but these decisions were made by managers. So I waited while he got a manager who told me another manager had examined the headphones after return and her judgment that the damage was caused by us and therefore nonrefundable was final. He said it might have been more likely refunded if there had been multiple complaints. He also said it didn’t help my chances of a decision in my favor that I waited so long to complain.

We had previously purchased 5 Creative MP3 players which had worked well for us and planned to purchase more but now we will seek out their competitors in search of more sympathetic customer service.