Advice: Exchange or Repair

Hi everyone,

looking for some advice again. I have recently purchased a Sony SZ, but unfortunately there is some light leakage at the bottom and the screen is not evenly lit (there are vertical dimmer regions in the LCD). I called customer service, and they have offered to repair it free of charge within 7-10 days. However, since I purchased it 3 days ago, I am still under the store 30 day return/exchange policy for the computer, and hence can choose to return the laptop for a new one. This will probably take the same amount of time.

What do you advise me to do? Customer service says they will for sure repair the LCD... but will it look used after this repair or will it still look new (it is brand new, haven't even used it for over 2 hours yet)? Does anyone have experience with Sony Vaio repairs? I know that when I sent my Fujitsu S6210 for repair, it came back with a new motherboard, but the casing was loose and some screw threads were striped (and hence making the laptop look as if it has gone through lots of wear). I'm assuming the technicians were not all too careful...

Thanks again.

 

i've got no experience with sony service, but i know the times i have bought things that were out of the box defective i have chosen to return them. something about after the repair it feels to me to be a "refurbished" item that should be "brand new." but this is just my own personal pickiness. no idea which one is better. always a chance the next one will have same damage--but in that case i'd return that one too and reconsider before buying another. thankfully my sz491n/x was beautiful and perfect out of the box--same as it is today!

good luck. i know it sucks having a brand new thing that's broke. :-\

 

Personally, I would just exchange it. I feel the same about doing a repair as grundler. It just no longer feels "new" and I tend to have the paranoia that it's going to become damaged like this again. Getting a new one just feels better for me.

 

Exchange exchange exchange.

 

Hi, thanks for the replies. I forgot to mention that if I do get it exchanged, there will be a 40$ shipping fee (the company I bought it from will not pay for the shipping from my appartment back to the factory). Is the exchange worth 40$ in your opinion?

The other thing that worries me is that perhaps this light leakage and uneven lighting may be common on many units. I saw another post about the sz650 that also had some light leakage. I would hate to waste 40$ to get another similar unit that I would have to send to repair anyways (not to mention the long wait time).

 

The extra $40 would definitely be worth it.

 

Has no one had any experience with the warranty repair from Sony?

 

My experience with Sony warranty dates back to the days of P2 300mhz and W98 & NT.

It was NOT good.

I was on a business trip, international when the drive died.

I'd had the thing all of a month, contacted Sony and they refused to do anything until I faxed them the hard copy of the receipt. A soft copy from CDW was avail online, but they refused.
When I got home I faxed them the doc.
A week later a 'special' box (Sony's requirement) showed up.
I sent the notebook off.
45 days later it's returned...with a drive half the size of what I paid for.
Sony support was rude and left me feeling like I should have been happy to get it back at all. Eventually they capitulated and said they'd replace it with the correct size drive. They had to send another special box (I had one sitting here, but that wouldn't work.)
A week later a new special box arrives and I sent the machine.
45 days later it's returned. Got the right size drive now, but the hinges are squeaking terribly. Called, they were rude, didn't want to fix it, but finally capitulated.
Another week (special box again, though I now have two of them sitting here) and 45 days and it's returned with more screen problems.

I called CDW, presented the case and they allowed me to return it for full credit.

I swore I'd never buy another Sony. Then the SZ650 came along, I'm getting boned by Lenovo on a T61P so I bought the SZ and had planned to buy the onsite service.


My experience with Support so far is paralleling my experience of years ago, that is Support is really unwilling or unable to assist and doesn't even want to admit that there may be hardware issues. Light leakage along top and bottom of the screen. I also have extremely long charge times (6hours), other users here are reporting 2 hours.

I'd advise you to upgrade to onsite service and let them deal with it that way or return it.

 

I purchased the Accidental Damage from Handling. But I don't know what it exactly includes. The description given at sonystyle.com has this:

Complete protection against unexpected, costly service bills
Coverage on all VAIO Notebooks
All covered parts and labor for the term of your Service Plan
ADH (Accidental Damage from Handling) protects your VAIO Notebook against damage that occurs from handling the product in normal operation conditions
24-hour-a-day, 7-day-a-week, 365-day-a-year access to service representatives via our toll-free number

If I pour my coffee over the laptop, will sony repair that??

 

I wouldn't advise you to test that

 

Just called sonystyle.com, yes, it is covered.