23 February, 2007

Meet the Vogon's - Sony Anti Customer Service

I am very, very, very, VERY unhappy with Sony Customer service right now.

My wife did a far more level headed post on it here but long story short my home laptop is barely usable and despite the fact that it is only a 6 month old Sony Viao Laptop (and we payed hundreds of dollars for the extended warranty and accidental damage) the company the extended warrenty is with refuses to fix it or even look at it.

We get 30 min bursts of work out of it at best and I can't get any of my posting done.

I plan on writing at length in the near future (on a better laptop any suggestions? perhaps a Dell?) on just how bad the Service Net customer service is and how poorly engineered the Sony products are but in the mean time I am just going to make a bleg of sorts.

Please if you read this and have a blog link to it. Include the words "Sony" "Viao" "Laptop" and "Service Net" in the post if possible.

I will absolutely link back to anyone (even if they defend Sony or Service net) that does this.

If you happen to have had some problems with Sony Laptops in the past feel free to let your angst out.

This will be updated and continued.

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Update:
Someone looking for a laptop. I'd obviously avoid the Viao.

I have been contacted by both Sony and Service Net customer service and am trying to work this out the best I can right now. The issue has not been resolved yet but at this point I have little doubt that it will. All I really want is a working laptop. I don't really care who fixes it I just want it fixed. It seems I might be moving out of the SEP field right now. At the same time I wouldn't mind helping them with their customer service. It was a uselessly unpleasant experience but it is possible that I was one of the flukes. I doubt it but it is possible. In any case I am going to drop this unless they are unable (unwilling) to help me. Blogs obviously do have some power.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi Jim Sorry to hear your purchase has caused you so much inconvienience. To be bitten by a bad product & after sales hastle is never easy to come to terms with. The product has been used as a benchmark in the past to compare other products with.

I think the present Dell HP, or even ASUS laptops have a model that would be compact but reliable alternatives. I have had similar issues with the Dell laptops of 3 to 4 years ago but the recent entries are quite ok. I have been having a good run with Compaq (now HP) laptops but the machines have gotten heavier and bigger in the model that our employer is now wanting to provide as a standard product. I was considering looking at the Sony if the new HP offered was not lightweight enough to carry. Many thanks for the heads up on your misfortune. I think I may just purchase the one I am using now as it is certainly powerful enough to do what I need to do and lightweight enough to have on your back as I "hike" around the world from time to time. The new work one will get religated to the white elephant pile that seems to be growing on my desk again lately another expensive paperweight if the tool is not fit for purpose intended. for the end user. Have a great day I would suggest that if you can let the problem become well known then the bad publicity should eventually help with persuading them to be fair and reasonable. Keep smiling.

Jim C said...

Thanks Ron

I think I am going to look at the Dell's. I have had a few and they were always reliable. Even carrying them through airports and banging them arround on planes and Hotel Lobbies doesn't seem to bother them. Better graphics at cheaper prices to.

I am also thinking of a Mac. My son has had his for school for a while and isn't haveing problems. If they can stand up to a 13 year olds backpack they can certainly handle sitting on my lap in the evenings.

Your right about turning up the heat a bit. Right now I am trying to figure out where I need to go in Sony to get their attention. What I really want is for them to fix the internal power adapter so I can plug the power supply in. It can't be that expensive it is litterally just a chunk of plastic in the casing. I even told them I would be willing to drive it into their Boston store to get it fixed. If they will honor the warranty I spent 400+ bucks for then I won't have a problem.

Anonymous said...

Jim the Mac is a good alternative OS and piece of hardware for certain. My Manager at work has one at home and loves using it. The recently superceeded Dell models seem to be very good as well. I have to lug a flight case of them around the contry occatonally and they seem to handle it ok. Shame I cannot say the same for the new G3 wireless cards. The antenne design is really poor and very flimsy. YOur heartache has definately been my saviour! Hope the snowfalls have eased up I think summer should be along soon there to thaw everything out. The high tempreatures have eased here as a sign that the season is changing. Hopefully this translates into Sony and the extended warrenty people developing some ethical behaviour towards customers. Keep smiling.

Anonymous said...

Have you thought about a Toshiba? I've been quite happy with the ones I've owned, although the built-in Intel wireless card chokes on hidden SSIDs.

Some of my co-workers have been buying them for business reasons for years without a problem. They claimed good service on the occaisions where it was necessary.

Of course, that's all anecdotal but...what else do you expect from an anonymous comment? :p

Anonymous said...

Hello ..Yes I have a VGN-T150 ...absolutely loved it... until I had to deal with Sony customer support and Servicenet the extended warranty provider...I own $10,000.00 worth of Sony products and am considering never dealing with them again. 5 days of explaining re-explaining ect just to get signed up and a copy of the contract ..which I bought 2 years ago ...read the contract ..totally different than the way it is described when they sell it to you...poor service and almost shady warranty contract...shocked ...I remember when Sony brand meant something