Here is where my real beef starts.  For one, I was told that there was no way for them to send me a refurbished device before they had received mine back.  To me, this is upsetting and not in line with many other companies I deal with in terms of parts or product replacements.  Keeping in mind how long the previous replacement cycle had taken, I opted this time to print out the return label online and send it back in my own box.  I deposited my package at the UPS store that very day.

9 days later it was marked as received through Microsoft’s online support tracker.  9 days!  I have no idea how it takes UPS longer to send a package across a few states than standard first class USPS takes to cross the country, but such was the priority Microsoft had placed on appeasing their customers.  The very next day, my request was marked as completed and shipped, which gave me hope that soon I would be reunited with the tiny device that kept my car rides and gym workouts bearable.  But no – it would be another full 11 days before whatever square-wheeled UPS implement that was being used to transport my package pulled up in front of my home and dropped another Zune on my porch.  That made 20 days of total transit time, an incredibly ridiculous period to keep a customer waiting and one which could have been completely avoided by sending me a fresh Zune along with a return box.

It was with some trepidation that I opened up my previous new Zune box and hit the power switch.  Nervously, I scanned for the presence of foreign data in the form of songs, videos and pictures and….found all three.  Unbelievably, Microsoft had sent me yet another device that had not been properly cleared of the previous owner’s information.  Immediately, before even connecting to my computer I did 2 hard resets, successfully (this time) deleting the unwelcome bits and pieces of a stranger’s life that had polluted my Zune.

The real heartbreaker in this situation is the fact that I now live under the pendulum of not knowing whether I will once again, in a short period of time, begin to suffer from the same problems that my previous Zune with its similar phantom data had displayed.  Given that my warranty runs out in November, I find myself at a crossroads.  Microsoft will let me extend it for $50.00 – 25% of the purchase price – but I am uncertain as to whether I want to get back on their tech support roller coaster.

My one piece of advice to anyone buying a Zune is to purchase it at a big box retailer, like I did, but when they offer you the extended, no questions asked replacement warranty, don’t be like me and turn up your nose in refusal.  Take it – I sincerely regret not having the ability to walk into Best Buy, dump the Zune on the counter and say “you deal with it” as I walk out the door with a brand new – not refurbished – replacement Zune.

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