Buying a Sony in the USA for use in the UK?

Hi,

Looking to maybe purchase a new Sony laptop in the USA.

We travel regularly between the US and UK, but have not purchased a Sony over there before and have a couple of questions

1) Does the standard warranty cover us in both countries - or can it be upgraded to do so?

2) We will need to get a power cable for use in the UK - I assume these are easy to obtain?

That is about it - oh apart from the cost, which I guess is cheaper over there??

Of course this assumes we can find the laptop that we would like in stock LOL

Thanks.

 

1. im not sure but i do think it covers both countries
2. yes u can buy another power wire or so


and yes in the us its cheaper

 

Remember to add import tax... Aka 17.5%

 

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=216005

 

Not if you buy it in US and then going home throw the box. It appears your laptop.

 

Thanks - we will physicly buy it in the US, but will remember to declare it at customs.

 

You can buy VOS (Vaio Overseas Service) only if you buy your laptop in a Sony store I believe.

 

i strongly recommend against it you wont have any warranty and the US have chosen not to sell/supply overseas warranties any more so no way of getting cover. Stuck with a US keyboard and no software support and if you do have a hardware problem youll have to pay quite a bit for a repair and wait quite a while for parts to be shipped.

Better off buying a vaio in poland it should have a uk keyboard, option to choose english for the language when installing vista plus hardware and software support for majority of european countries not to mention the price difference.

 

So, I can purchase a worldwide 3 year warranty in the UK, but not in the USA?

Sounds crazy!

I am not worried about a US keyboard - after all keys tends to vary in location anyway on keyboards of laptops

 

According to my information you can buy VOS only at the offical Sony shops when you purchase a laptop.

 

Remember, your keyboard will not have Poundsterling and Euro keys.

 

This issue has been talked about in a few posts and what was concluded in them was that Sony VOS warranty cannot be bought in the US for laptops in the EU. I have even looked into this in the past and even rang up Sony US to enquire about this.

You can buy a laptop from Japan and maybe China and get one year of VOS but you won't be able to buy it from the US.

If you need a repair if you buy from Sony US you will need to normally send your computer back to the US at your expense for repairs. You say that you travel back and forward to the US so this might not be an issue for you having to send your laptop in for repair work.

With the VOS anyway you only get a year warranty and you cannot extend your warranty after the year.

The keyboard is also slightly different there is no £ sign and a couple of the other keys are different. If it bothered you that much you could think about replacing the keyboard.

Resale value is also not as great in the UK.

The power adapter is US style but you can buy a UK lead for it and just stick it into the power brick.

 

Re Power cable: if it's mentioned that it can take from 100 to 240 volts then it's universal. All you have to do buy one of those 3 pin UK adpaters from Argos or somewhere similar - shouldn't cost you more than 4 quids.

I had no idea that Sony (USA) don't have international warranty! Thanks for informing us. May be they have but it's kept low key. IMO, it should be automatic when other laptop brands are providing it (IBM, Dell, ASUS, Toshiba, etc)

 

So the only way to buy international warranty is when you are in the US, in a Sony store, buying a laptop.

 

You seem so adamant about that when so many people have been told by Sony Europe and Sony US that it cannot be done. Sony UK do not repairs for laptops in warranty bought in the US. If it could be done that would be good.
You say that your contact told you this.

I have been told that it could be done in the past but i was told wrong information as I was later told by Sony US that it could not be done.
You could try calling through to a Sony store in the US and asking yourself and double checking what you are told.


.

 

No worries man, I'm just repeating the information I got from someone who actually asked inside a Sony Store in the US. I would not be not surprised if they will tell you something else over the phone. Anyway, I'll ask my US contact again, and when he has checked this.

Have you called with a Sony store?

 

To my memory I don't think that i have ever rang a Sony US store direct (i could have done but it may have slipped my mind) but i have definetly rang Sony UK customer support and Sony US customer support warranty department.
I have also rang through to BestBuy and CompUSA to enquire about international warranties and as far i know last time i checked CompUSA were doing there own international warranty scheme but how good it is i don't know.

This is one of the threads about this-
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=130630&page=2
This is another which i know that you read as you posted in it but it is just for general reference for others-

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=168324