Tigger

I am posting this for my sister. She is going through hell right now, Zenith to be correct and is begging for help and wondering if anyone else has had the same experience. Post is as follows:

"Geoff,

I have visited your site to check out DVD bargains several times before and I think it's great! I (I also subscribe to the Cosmetic Connection, too!)

I'm wondering if you've heard of anyone else having this problem...

My brother bought me a Zenith DVD player (model 2200) last September, and gave it to me for Christmas. (He bought it from valueamerica.com, probably using a fabulous coupon from DVDtalk.com -yay!)

It took me months to get around to setting up the player (because my TV's ancient) but I got it working in February 2000. I subscribed to Netflix (great program!-I used your link,too) but started having problems with the discs. The player would freeze up, shut off or refuse to recognize the discs. I thought it was a problem with the Netflix discs.

I cancelled with Netflix, but still couldn't get my player to work-even with brand new discs. When I finally contacted Zenith they said my model DVD needed a factory upgrade.

I sent the player back and waited. They received my player, and when I called to check on it they said they were "behind about a week" in doing the upgrade. I finally got it back (in July) and the player worked for about 15 hours and then I had the same problems again. (I had signed up with Netflix again, and have suspended my account for now!) I called Zenith again and they said the factory service manager, Gene Dyess would arrange for a 'buy back' because they had no replacement to offer me.

I sent the player back again and have been fighting with Zenith ever since! They refuse to give me a check because I don't have a receipt for the purchase. (My brother doesn't have it anymore.)
They said they would check with valueamerica.com to get the purchase price but it's impossible to get someone in the factory service department to call me back.

I've tried to get around the factory service department by calling Zenith customer service, but that representative put me on hold and brought the same person I've been dealing with in factory service on the line (Rebecca), who again told me she had to check with valueamerica.com.

Yesterday, I spoke to a woman named Lynn who works with Gene Dyess and she told me:
1. that someone would call me back re: the status of my claim and 2. that they are getting 20-50 of these Zenith DVD players back each day with the same problems! She said that "they should've waited for the multi-layer disc technology, but they shipped these players anyway".

I wanted to check your site to see if anyone else has had this same problem or if you or anyone else had suggestions for me. I'm frustrated because I want a refund so I can buy a new player and I don't think it's fair that it's their defective machine, they couldn't repair or replace it, they have my player, and I have to provide a receipt!

I can see they have quite a crisis on their hands if they've got that many defective players, so I understand why they don't want to just hand out checks, but it's really unfair.

Any suggestions for me about how to get Zenith to give me a refund?

Thanks for listening!

Valerie
[email protected]"

If anyone out there can help, offer advice or suggestions, it would be wonderful.
Thanks you guys.

Gregory Krykewycz

I had the same problem with one -- i.e. they fixed it once, fixed it twice, and have it a third time. They're tough to get ahold of, but once we've reached someone, we've found them to be pretty helpful. I think we had the receipt on file -- an online receipt. Tell the purchaser to visit valueamerica.com and view their old orders. They can probably do it over the phone as well. Just print out the statement from the web site -- this is good enough. Zenith said that they're currently in the process of "buying back" the players, and they're actually giving us a refund for the full 249 dollar purchase price, even though I only paid 99 dollars because of the valuedollar thing.

Tigger

Thanks Greg that helps alot. Thing is, when I bought the player for my sister, I had 3 different VA.com accounts. I can't remember the date or user name, etc.. No number is posted on their website, so if you know the number can you please post it? It would be alot of help. Thanks

S-D-Z-C

What is the number that you call to talk to Zenith? I also have one of these players and have had problems with it.

[Hayami]

I also purchased a Zenith 2200 from ValueAmerica, but have had absolutely no problems with it. Works great.

Gregory Krykewycz

Don't know the VA number, and Zenith's infor can be found on their website. The player was having problems with several of the major releases, including Sixth Sense and Independence Day.

Tigger

Every DVD my sister has tried on this player has failed. The only one that did work was a Region 1 copy of Grave of the Fireflies (Anime). All others failed. Even first gen DVD's like Bonnie & Clyde, GoodFellas, etc.. from what my sister was told, is that Zenith is getting 20-50 calls per day about these players. I hope they listen to her since she has had it almost 2 years now.

gilbertr76

quote:<HR>Originally posted by [Hayami]:
I also purchased a Zenith 2200 from ValueAmerica, but have had absolutely no problems with it. Works great.<HR>

Ditto.

djones6746

Is Value America still operating? I thought someone had posted awhile back they were filing for bankruptcy and going out of business. I guess not.

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"You know Andy...I never thought it would come to this....Mayberry....Gateway to danger."

Barney Fife

Gregory Krykewycz

>>I hope they listen to her since she has had it almost 2 years now.

Wait, two years? That VA.com deal was from last October.

Tigger

Greg Your right... seems like forever since I had bought it for her. I bought it in like August or Sept of last year. My bad. Just seems like eternity since decent deals and coupons have been around.

vwbeetlvr

i guess im lucky. thats the dvd player i have setup in my $1500 system and it works fine EXCEPT for id4. im gonna upgrade sooner or later, conisdering that was the first piece of equipment i got for my system.

Valerie

Greg-your post intrigued me because you said that you also used a coupon, but Zenith was refunding you $249.99 instead of the $99 you paid.

I'm wondering how to approach this with them...my brother used a $100 Value America coupon on the $249.99 player, his statement shows a purchase of $149.99. How did you handle this issue?

Valerie

quote:<HR>Originally posted by Gregory Krykewycz:
I had the same problem with one -- i.e. they fixed it once, fixed it twice, and have it a third time. They're tough to get ahold of, but once we've reached someone, we've found them to be pretty helpful. I think we had the receipt on file -- an online receipt. Tell the purchaser to visit valueamerica.com and view their old orders. They can probably do it over the phone as well. Just print out the statement from the web site -- this is good enough. Zenith said that they're currently in the process of "buying back" the players, and they're actually giving us a refund for the full 249 dollar purchase price, even though I only paid 99 dollars because of the valuedollar thing.<HR>