Beware the Sony Customer Service

I have just spent 2 hours on the phone with your ‘customer service’ department and have never in my life received such bad customer service.

This all started on the 23rd of July when I placed an order for a laptop on SonyStyle.com. As far as I was concerned the order had processed without issue and the laptop was scheduled to ship on the 4th of August. I found out that Chase had declined the order because of it originating from an on-line purchase. But was not concerned because the order status on Sonystyle.com had not changed and still said processing. Normally if there’s an issue with a credit card payment, the vendor will send me any email. I received no such correspondence from Sony. I was the one that had to inquire about the order and only then did I find out that they had not tried to run the card again.

After I received the email response from Sony on August 4th – Sony said that they were requesting new authorization on the card --- see email below ….

So, I then believed that the order was being processed and that we would receive the laptop within the next week.

But I was a little concerned about the vagueness of the email reply so I emailed Sony again on the 7th and received basically the same message.

So at this point, I’m very concerned about receiving the laptop in time for my son (who is leaving for college on the 22nd) … so I try calling the customer service department this morning.

The first person I spoke with could not speak English. I ended up asking to speak with his manager, not because I was upset – but because I seriously could not understand anything he was saying. The Supervisor began by reading the emails that I had received back to me … which is really quite annoying, since I can read and am fairly confident in my abilities to understand the English language. When I asked him when they would be charging my credit card for the laptop he stated that he could not tell me!!! Seriously? After he continued to speak in circles about managements policies and that he had no control over when they were going to charge my card again … I gave up! I was so completely frustrated that I decided right then and there that I did not want to give Sony $948 of my hard earned cash if this was the way they treated prospective customers. I then tried calling a different customer service number – this time speaking with someone how seemed intelligent and happy to assist me … BUT unfortunately this was tech support. So I called another customer service number and was transferred to another non-english speaking person --- these people must read their responses to customer service issues from a card – because she started in on the whole ‘our policy is…’ crap and again, started reciting the emails back to me again… I asked her quite plainly when they would be charging my card for the purchase and she again told me that there was no way to tell. At that point I proceeded to cancel the order – at which point she said that she would have to check with her supervisor to see what the cancellation policy was … I nearly lost it then. I replied that I would never purchase anything from Sony ever again because of this experience.


Long story short JI ended up having to cancel my credit card so that they would not be able to charge it …

I did end up buying a sony laptop because they are nice but i bought it from best buy because that way i didn't have to deal with sony's ignorant service!

 

Should have used American Express, haha~

 

Chase does not decline authorizaton JUST because it was an online order. Obiviosuly there was some other issue that you aren't mentioning or more to this story.

Gary

 

You know, you need to call Chase, otherwise they will still deny the charge the 2nd time (or however many times) Sony tries to charge them. Sony reps are not doing a good job of explaining this simple fact to you, but at the end of the day there really is nothing they can do until you tell Chase that this purchase is legit.

Anyway, glad you still get the Sony laptop that you want and deserve. Hope you and your son enjoys it.

 

Well, if my experiences with using my Chase Sony credit card (yes, the card that is specifically designed for Sony purchases) on a SonyStyle.com purchase holds, they kind of do. Once the purchase amount is above a threshold, they put any on-line purchase in a pending status and wait for your confirmation call.

 

Still should have used American Express. . .


...


For everything else, there's MASTER CARD!

 

Actually, a platinum Master Card would give basically the same extra warranty protections that AmEx does: doubling the manufacturer's warranty up to one year and 90 days accidental damage coverage from date of purchase. And I believe I have read somewhere on this forum site of someone having the same need to confirm a purchase with an AmEx....

Moral of the story: Always speak with the players on all sides of the issue, and at an escalated level.

Good luck!

 

Sony called me to verify my identity (the same Chase Sony card) and the order was on hold. I didn't have any terrible customer service regarding that issue.