Any recourse? Sony service taking forever!

Just thought I'd ask if anyone had any suggestions... On September 17th I took my Z11 in to the local Sony Style store "BackStage" desk to have its damaged LCD monitor replaced. The support guy was great, got the paperwork filled out and suggested the local service center would take 5-7 business days to complete the repair.

Well, now 24 days later it still has not been returned, the current status is that the LCD part is still on backorder from Sony. I asked about an escalation and asked if the FullHD part was in stock, but its backordered too. So far other than returning the laptop to me unrepaired, they haven't offered any other options (such as replacing it).

Is there anything else I can do? It is extremely frustrating going this long without it.

 

What?!?!? They offered to return your notebook back to you without repairing anything? What are they thinking?

 

I really need to write a story on our site, front page, about Sony support.

I'm not kidding, I'm seriously considering it.

 

Very sorry to hear. How come we rarely hear about the success stories of Sony repair... is it really that rare, or is it just an internet posting bias that select for the horror stories?

 

Small claims lawsuit. You can file for the cost of the laptop, plus reasonable fees for time, all legal fees, and probably some amount of punitive damages. Check your specific state laws and seek some legal advice (county court houses can be surprisingly helpful with this kind of stuff).

 

Maybe I'm old fashioned but if the part is back ordered, the part is back ordered. If the machine is usable, just have them call you when they have the part and send it back in.

 

I agree, but the thing is, this sort of stuff apparently happens all the time with Sony support. I hate to sound negative with my recent posts, but it's honestly one of the primary concerns I have about investing so much in a notebook.

I would love it if they'd step up their service to, say, Dell's level. A little bit of a hassle, but if you know what you're doing, you get what you need (and quick) with Dell.

Please keep us posted!

 

I came looking for just such a topic. The VAIO s-series I purchased a few months ago has been riddled with a never ending stream of problems, the latest of which is a touchpad failure. I was presently surprised to be offered in-home service almost 4weeks ago, where a technician would call within a few days to schedule an appointment. I've called them once a week every with to the same response - backorder. On EVERYTHING? The op needs an LCD, I need a touchpad - did Sony completely STOP manufacturing computers?

 

Maybe they are keeping it so they can push Z13 models...

 

this is what you call a FLAW in their supply chain program.

 

Update: Still backordered, but they did call today and said they "hope" to get the part in on monday. sigh.

 

You bought it at the store or online?

 

Any update on this Miller? I dropped mine off in November at sony san diego and today still nothing!

 

Have you guess tried complaining through the BBB and/or writing a letter to the Office of the President at Sony? Everytime I've had a problem with a company, doing one or both of those generally shakes it loose in 2-3 days.

 

I haven't tried either as Sony is so big I wouldn't know where to start.
Anyhow I called them and continued to escalate it as far as I can and all I got out of it was an extended warranty for a laptop I may never receive again.

They told me to try calling again next week as they'll have an update for when the parts come in but I'm pretty sure it'll go nowhere. Complete BS Sony.

 

It's easy. Just type in Sony at the BBB and it'll start there. If you go through the BBB, you'll hear back from corp public relations. They are head and shoulders above the people you've been trying to deal with. They can make things happen. I once had a problem with Pac Bell aka AT&T. For over a year my line was so noisy that DSL would not work reliably. Countless calls to the service number led to nothing. I then wrote a BBB/letter to the president of Pac Bell letter. 2 days later, I got a call from someone at corp. She told me that she would be personally handling my case and she gave me her cell number and said to call 24/7 if I had further issues. The next day, a guy showed up to rerun the line from the house to the box on the next street over. Problem solved.

 

I dropped off my Z1290x on 12/11/2010 for loose screen hinges, machine that would not power on, and an optical drive that would not eject smoothly.

the guy was honest and said it generally takes about 3 weeks to which I was shocked.

Fastest way is to have in-home service or ask Sony to send you a box and then ship it back to one of the bigger service centers. That only atakes 5-7 days.

It's getting on my nerves that its taking this long. I think they should throw in a FREE BD-ROM drive as replacement for my suffering.

 

Crap...I made a service call for in-home service for my problematic speaker for my Z12 just over the weekend...

This stories are scaring me now..

 

The reps told me the issues with the backorders are due to a major systems upgrade somewhere in Sony's inventory that's been going on since around November to now.

I left my Vaio Z at the service center in San Diego since December 20th and the reps have been guaranteeing that it should be fixed up by the end of January so hopefully by then this agony will end.

 

Slightly off topic.

The thought of waiting scares me if this amount of time may be needed when one needs to send in his/her new VAIO SA notebook (if it comes with integrated battery) just for a simple battery replacement.

 

It seems that my bickering has yielded some good news.
I called them yesterday and they informed me that they received the LCD and are waiting for one more part coming in on the 12th. Should be ready for pickup by the thursday or friday of this week. Let's hope that pans through >_<

 

I would imagine they would just send an on site tech to do that at your house. That's what Sony has offered whenever I've been inside warranty period for something simple like a blown speaker, or lcd replacement.

 

I've been going through the exact same thing! I filed a complaint that my screen was starting to fail on December 13th, and it's now January 11th and I'm still being told that the screen is almost here.

The most frustrating thing about this isn't the lack of a screen, it's the continuous lies I've been told by the service representatives at Sony about the status of my repair. At first I thought it was just poor software (I was also fed the line about the software upgrade on their end), but now I'm wondering if the problem is more systematic (i.e. outright lies).

I'm not buying the story about parts being on backorder, because if I go try and buy a new machine with the exact same configuration miraculously the part is available.

I have spend will over 7 hours over the past month with Sony reps, and they keep referring me to some clandestine, special team that is supposed to handle my issue, but the ONE time I've gotten a call from a Sony representative she left the wrong number so I couldn't even call her back.

Judging from the number of people on this on other forums who are going through the same thing, I'm going to start looking into a class action law suit just to get some attention onto this breakdown.

I'm going to start

 

That's what they told me...a month ago.

 

Called again today for which the last part was supposed to arrive and its not there... they told me to call again tomorrow, been almost a month since i dropped it off!