Is anyone else having problem getting warranty coverage?
A friend of mine purchased an Ender 3 v3 SE in January (direct from Creality).
Within 1 week the card reader stopped working.
He should be eligible for an exchange replacement since it is within 30 days of purchase but Creality has been dragging their feet about doing anything at all.
Is this normal?
Is Creality’s warranty just a useless scrap of paper?
Might be a bit slow this time of year, aren’t the Chinese New Year holidays still on? They should be back to normal soon. As for the printer has your friend tried a factory reset?
My personal experience with Creality is that they don’t get back to you in any sort of timely manner. It took them two weeks to respond to an inquiry I had. By then I just returned the printer and got a new one. Unfortunately different time zones (and even days) has great bearing on service.
FYI…He contacted Creality within a couple of days of when it stopped working and explained the problem. They replied back that they wanted a video. He was unable to send a video (video too large to email, not able to shrink it) so he sent more explanation and a photo. They still insisted on a video, so I helped him with make a video (hopefully I can post it here). It clearly showed the SD card being read in the computer, being properly extracted and transferred to the printer, the printer being started up and selected to “print”, and that the printer was unable to read the card. They are still trying to blame the card, wanted to know it if was “wiped”, etc. So far we have tried 3 different card (all the same results) and tried the original card in both his and my computers and his an my printer. Everything except his printer is able to read the card. It seems pretty obvious that his printer is faulty. Still they do nothing!
(video got distorted shrinking it so that it could be posted here.
No video showing but yes, in my contact with them they always want a video but the video has to be reduced in size by a ridiculous amount. Even with resizing I never could upload my video to them.
This is exactly why I purchased my printer through Amazon (politics aside). My very first printers bed heating was faulty so I had them (Amazon) send a new one. I got it within 3 days (returned the old one which took 2 weeks to confirm). Now that doesn’t account for being out of the return window of course but when I purchased I figured anything that would be seriously wrong would show up in the first 30 days and x amount of prints.
If I purchase another printer in the future which costs over $500 I most definitely factor in customer service into the decision but this printer was under $250 and I’m pretty tech savvy 
P.S you still have to take into account it’s a different Country/Culture and they may consider Customer Service a less urgent aspect of their business (which of course it shouldn’t be). Might be a factor might not. Benefit of the doubt.
You can always send a video with a link to it on YT.
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When I had that problem, Creality replied next day and suggested that I dip the contacts of the SD card in alcohol and then insert it into the card slot, I presume to clean the contacts in the card slot. I was skeptical but it worked perfectly.
The response was so quick and direct that I presume this is a common problem.
They also told me that the card reader was unable to read a card over 16gb and I found that they are becoming hard to find in Canada.
(Update) Creality has just admitted that the printer needs a new PC board and will be sending “something” in the near future.
We hope that will be an exchange printer, not just a PC board. He should be eligible for an exchange, the printer failed after only a few days, well within the 30 day window mentioned in the warranty.
If it is just a PC board, we do not have the skills to install it.
Also, the video we sent can be seen here: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/GQ0I9QV8qiM
Thank You.
You can most definitely replace the board yourself if they send one. Also it’s interesting that on my KE they covered the SD card slot with a sticker so I assume it’s dead. Everything is done via the Nebula pad. I wonder why they don’t send you a new pad instead? Maybe it’s not compatible with that model?
No sticker on mine but I do know that there is no socket on the board, which is a shame.
Do you think the SE can accommodate the Nebula pad. If so that would solve their problem(?)
I have mine running on a Sonic Pad, Don’t see why the Nebula wouldn’t work except the Nebula and Sonic only take a USB stick so you need a SD card USB stick.
What is a Nebula pad?
Don’t think that will work. The Ender 3 V3 SE ie SD card input only (no Lan or USB input).
It does have a type C USB port but apparently it is only useable for upgrading the software.