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Disgraceful "service" from Sony |
MikLSP
Joined: Sep 21, 2003
Posts: > 500
From: se-nse.com
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Ok, here goes a long story......
As some of you may know I have had a problem with my £1500 worth (which I had actually saved up to spend on a car but saw this instead) of Sony VAIO PCV-W1 as it had a defective DVD writer.
Now I originally told Sony about this a very long time ago and was presented with a series of things to try, none of which solved the problem.
I next talked to them (which costs a damn fortune by the way) last December and they said it would need to come in for repair. That would be no problem except I was half way through my final year at Uni and hence needed the machine for my dissertation etc so I asked if I would be loaned a machine to use in the meantime. They said no! Not only that but they also wouldn't protect the data I left on my VAIO and said I should back it up on discs......
not any easy task when the writer doesn't work!
As a result I said I couldn't afford to let the machine go until after I finished Uni and they said ok.
Finally I reach a point when I was prepared to let the VAIO go for repair so I emailed Sony who called back, after what was to become a trademark delayed response, to agree a collection date and then took it away on Tuesday the 26th of July.
I was told the repair was covered by warranty (as it was when I reported it but the machine was now outside warranty) and hence there would be no charge and I should get it back within 5-10 days!
Sadly this was not the case!!!
After two weeks I had not heard anything at all, not even confirmation that they had received it and so I emailed them to ask what was going on and received a response on Friday the 12th of August!
It would be reasonable for me expect that this response would contain an
apology and an estimated time for delivery but unbelievably it tells me that no work has even been done yet!
The email simply said "see attached document", this document being an invoice for repairs.
The DVD drive was free but they wanted me to pay £113.19 for repairs to the main hinge behind the screen (which was NOT broken when I sent it away).
Needless to say I was less than pleased with this having already waiting long enough only to find out that they had not even started repairing the thing!
My next email to Sony was less than charming and included things such as:
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I am astounded at the approach that you have taken, just when exactly was I going to be informed of this? Had I not emailed you then I suspect I would still be unaware that my VAIO is still not repaired or that Sony are trying to charge me even more money on this seemingly overpriced piece of junk! I dare not even imagine how long it would possibly have sat there if I was not able to contact you through the university computers. |
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Obviously I included the fact that I would not be paying for the repairs and I want the DVD fixed and the VAIO returned to me as soon as possible!
This email seemed to do the trick as Sony phoned me within one hour. Still I did not receive an appology but was simply told that they had previously sent me this invoice and were waiting for me to pay.
I asked how they had sent it and she said "by email"!!
Now there are two points here:
1. Can you believe they tried to contact someone who they know has no computer.......BY EMAIL!!!! and nothing else!!!!?????
2. As it happens I had been checking my mail by going into Uni and had not received it anyway.
After she had incurred my displeasure the lady on the phone told me the DVD drive would now be repaired and the VAIO returned immediately. I asked when it would be here and she said "early next week".
I gave them a fair chance and left it until Thursday the 18th of August until I emailed them again for an update on the status of the repair.....
I heard nothing back...so email them again on Monday the 22nd and with the total time now one day away from four weeks I included:
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I am beginning to think that perhaps Sony should have told me the repair would take 5-10 weeks rather than days!!! |
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Still no reply.....so I email them again on Wednesday the 24th, now an unbelievable 29 days since my VAIO was collected which of course I reminded them of:
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It has now been over four weeks since you received my VAIO and to my knowledge very little progress has been made, how difficult can it be to repair a problem which has already been identified!
Please advise me as to when (if ever) the machine will be returned. |
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Finally I receive another phone call on Friday the 26th so I finally get to find out what they are up to and when I would get it back...............................
Guess what they had achieved................
yes, that's right....
Absolutely NOTHING!!!!!!!!!!!!! As she told me she has noted my emails and will now make sure that the repair is done as soon as possible.
I was furious!!!!  Now 31 days and they haven't even started!!
The damn thing might as well have stayed here for a month, just what exactly have they been doing with it?
I asked for an exact date when it would be returned only to be infuriated further when she says she cannot get an more information now as the service centre is closed until Tuesday the 30th!! 5 weeks to the day since they took my computer.
I then asked her if I could speak to someone higher to complain about all this and she said the supervisor would ring me on Monday.
For once Sony made a deadline and he did ring me to say that there is no need for this delay and the parts are in stock and everything. He then said he would make sure this was resolved and would get the VAIO back to me this week. Thankfully he succeeded and he is by far the most helpful person I have come across so far BUT the fun doesn't end here......OH NO!
They had clearly done the repair on Tuesday and got it sent straight back to me as I received it first thing this morning (Wednesday the 31st August).
Impressive for once but this really only goes further to emphasise how rediculous the previous 5 WEEK delay but, to quote my email to Sony from this morning:
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Ordinarily I should now be pleased to have received my computer after it's lengthy absence but instead I am truely astonished!! Astonished at the pathetic standard of "work" that has been carried out!
I opened the box and removed the upper piece of foam to see that a panel on the back of the screen had fallen off.
As I picked up this panel I noticed that it had in fact be attached using nothing but sticky tape!!!!
However this soon paled into insignificance when I took the VAIO out of the box and set it on my desk.
As I had been told that the main hinge was supposedly faulty and I believed it was not I first checked that hinge. Indeed it IS now faulty as it does not move at all! Needless to say this was not the case when the machine was last in my possession.
Unfortunately though it does not end here. I next attempted to flip down the qwerty keyboard only to discover to my amazement that it will not fully open anymore! This is because the whole front half of the machine has been put back together in the wrong place and is too low therefore the flip keyboard hits the desk and is unable to fully open! |
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(See here for pictures)
Can you even imagine that!!!!
the loose panel...
the tape...
the hinge...
AND the keyboard flip...!!!
I believe I said it best:
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Words cannot describe my reaction to this. I cannot even begin to imagine the stupidity of the man who put this machine back together. Did he not think that there was perhaps something not quite right. |
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Later on the supervisor rang me again to say I should receive it back today so I said I already have it and have sent an email he may be interested in.
The man was admittedly embarassed by this unfathomable standard of work and apologised as much as possible but still my VAIO has now got to go back to Sony again and they collect it tomorrow
Where will this saga end?!
What do you lot think of this? And what should Sony do about it?.....
I have also had to pay for one months worth of broadband access which I have been unable to use, it would be nice of them to compensate me for this at least.............
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[ This Message was edited by: MikLSP on 2005-09-01 15:45 ] |
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maddav
Joined: Dec 01, 2002
Posts: 356
From: Nottingham, UK
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Keep at Sony, keep e-mailing them until they do something about this (not something like destroying the VAIO any further)
secondly, I'm sure JoolsG4 will chip in and say have you ever considered Apple? Let's wait 
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[ This Message was edited by: maddav on 2005-08-31 23:17 ] |
solidsingh
Joined: Jan 15, 2004
Posts: > 500
From: india
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you retired miklsp?
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MikLSP
Joined: Sep 21, 2003
Posts: > 500
From: se-nse.com
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only from posting in the forum
I'm still going to update the A-ZoTT and visit the market
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amnesia
Joined: Jan 15, 2004
Posts: > 500
From: Doha, London, Tokyo, Shanghai
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when I had a problem with my Toshiba Satellite Pro. You know what the mad said on the phone?
It'll take a month to repair because we need to order some peices in.
However you bought this laptop so you need to make use, and we cannot imagine how to compensate you for this lost time.
So we are offering you a new laptop. What would you like?
So I took the most best thing that they had at the time, with almost full options.
That's Toshiba for you.
Thats how they got famous by the way.
It all started with their EXCELLENT service in Japan. And they've kept it up every since.
Not only that though, the one they sent me had a problem. I was angry to say the least, they picked it up the next day, and within two days I had a brand spanking fresh one.
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scotsboyuk
Joined: Jun 02, 2003
Posts: > 500
From: UK
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I have made my views on this debacle known over at SE-NSE, which you can read here. Suffice to say I think it is completely shambolic!
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[ This Message was edited by: scotsboyuk on 2005-08-31 23:31 ] |
MikLSP
Joined: Sep 21, 2003
Posts: > 500
From: se-nse.com
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That is interesting amnesia and I could only dream that Sony had taken a similar approach.
@ scotsboy
and what a contribution it was 
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scotsboyuk
Joined: Jun 02, 2003
Posts: > 500
From: UK
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@amnesia
Now that is service! Huzzah for Toshiba! That really is a good showing.
Sony has failed spectacuarly here, they have really dented my confidence in them. What an absolute shambles! One hears of problems with various comapnies, but rarely does one encounter such unabashed incompetence and rudeness! What an attitude to adopt towards a customer who has given them £1,500! It just staggers me to think that they have allowed this farce to progress.
It isn't that bad an idea for Mik to include links to the threads he has created on this on both SE-NSE and Esato to show them what we jolly well think of them!
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"I may be drunk my dear woman, but in the morning I will be sober, and you will still be ugly." WSC
[ This Message was edited by: scotsboyuk on 2005-08-31 23:50 ] |
Sir-SonyEricsson-man
Joined: May 30, 2002
Posts: > 500
From: Norway
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i think they could upgrade you ram for free 
Sony Xperia 1 II, Xperia 5, Huawei P30 Pro |
MikLSP
Joined: Sep 21, 2003
Posts: > 500
From: se-nse.com
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I had considered that actually, The machine has 512MB of RAM but space for 1GB
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scotsboyuk
Joined: Jun 02, 2003
Posts: > 500
From: UK
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@Mik
They should jolly well give you a new computer after having failed to repair the one you have as well as mutilating it!
"I may be drunk my dear woman, but in the morning I will be sober, and you will still be ugly." WSC |
Gigs
Joined: Jan 19, 2004
Posts: > 500
From: The planet Snibertron!
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you should talk to the supervisor to see what they will do, get them to actually say what they'll offer rather than expect something.
I think if you expect something and they don't come through you'll be more dissapointed. |
MikLSP
Joined: Sep 21, 2003
Posts: > 500
From: se-nse.com
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Yes I was going to ask him what they are going to do about it. I am waiting until the whole thing is over until taking it higher, there may be more to come yet
I bloody well hope not though!
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mrao
Joined: Nov 11, 2004
Posts: > 500
From: Mumbai, India
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Quote:
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On 2005-09-01 00:28:57, amnesia wrote:
when I had a problem with my Toshiba Satellite Pro. You know what the mad said on the phone?
It'll take a month to repair because we need to order some peices in.
However you bought this laptop so you need to make use, and we cannot imagine how to compensate you for this lost time.
So we are offering you a new laptop. What would you like?
So I took the most best thing that they had at the time, with almost full options.
That's Toshiba for you.
Thats how they got famous by the way.
It all started with their EXCELLENT service in Japan. And they've kept it up every since.
Not only that though, the one they sent me had a problem. I was angry to say the least, they picked it up the next day, and within two days I had a brand spanking fresh one.
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Whoa..now thats what exceeding customer expectations is all about...I had a similar experience with my Acer Travelmate a few months ago...the RAM seemed to be playing up...it was supposed to be packed with 512 but would intermitently detect just 256...i suspected it was just a minor matter of faulty installation of the module, which i could very well sort out myself...but since the laptop was covered by a warranty, i figured..what the hell...when am i gonna use it ...so i called the dealer and explained the problem....guess what...there was a service engineer ringing my doorbell in 2 hours flat...he inspected the notebook and confirmed what i had suspected the issue to be...faulty installation of the RAM module..except that there was also some fault with some point....anyway ...this guy says..he needs to take it back and that i should have an update the next day.....i get a call the next afternoon..and the manager apologises for the issue and offers to replace the laptop with a brand new one...!!!  And mind you, i had used the original one for about 5 months....and i had not even thought of asking for a replacement.... 
Out here in India, to find good After -sales service is a pain...but this was truly exceptional..... 
@Miklsp....considering the amount they charge for Vaios...you should not let this pas so easily  |
MikLSP
Joined: Sep 21, 2003
Posts: > 500
From: se-nse.com
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Indeed. I am outraged by Sony's approach to this. It also seems like if I had paid extra for more repairs it would have gone through faster but because I wouldn't it got left on one side while machines that were being paid for get pushed through faster!
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Posted: 2005-09-01 00:11
