Honest Feedback on Sony Service

I'm in the market for a new computer. With rumors about a new Apple ultra-portable, I think I'm generally in between a Sony TZ and the Apple. An IBM X6x is not out of the question either.

One of the biggest disadvantages with Sony when compared to the other two is service. Sony has a long legacy of crummy service, which includes waits on the phone, non-value-added tech support, crummy RFA service, and long wait-times for repairs. I'd like to ask you all your opinions about Sony service and for those that have dealt with a number of companies, how it compares to others.

My last laptop was a IBM (not Lenovo) T40 that came with a faulty motherboard (would work when plugged in but not on battery). Anyhow, they sent me a box within 12 hours, and got the laptop back to me within 2 days. Truly amazing service. I'm not looking for equal service, but at least serviceable service. Please post some positive and negative feedback on Sony service.

 

Oi,

Well I've owned a V505dc1p for the last 3 and a half years. And well. I had to deal with their techs only twice. I'm a very VERY compitent computer user-well above the average and bought the system with only a 90 day warentee(referb).

Once I had to call them to replace the keyboard, being it was about a year old, I simply ordered the part. Their parts depot people I talked to were quite helpfull, although their policies are written to rip you off. (I got off without the "manditory" "part search fee"... which would have been more than the keyboard) Good polite people.

I once. And once only had to get ahold of normal tech CS. Well, the best I can say is it was better than any time Ive ever delt with dell. Not that I consider that saying much... But they atleast listened when I said "Im looking at the screen and its giving me the error..." and DIDNT ask "Is the monitor plugged in." after having taken my details on a LAPTOP. >.> Lets just say I dont have a good oppinion of dell...
They were somewhat incompitent, but after forcing them to put me to a higher level tech, I got enough out of them to fix the stupid problem I had. Turns out, all I needed to do was press a key. No, no documentation mentions this key. No, nothing pops up noting it during boot...
Ah-but anyway ^.^'

Now. Compared to dealing with IBM(And maybe lenovo...), this is hell. Though anything to do with ye old 1400s got a little complex with ibm... They treated me well waaay back then, and yah... Sonys service is horrid in compare.

Others I could comment on... I would say Toshiba has more compitent, but harder to get hold of-or did-been a LONG time since I owned my 1695CDT satalite... But the one time it had issues I ended up giving up until I got ahold of a tech on their old-but at the time still running BBS, who finaly told me I just needed to update a peice of firmware. After which everything ran fine... -.-...


I would put sony overall in the catigory of "Below-average" Paltible? Prehaps, if you dont mind a little struggle if your luck runs bad.


Totaly off topic. My v505dc1p came with AoE2 free, disk un-needed fully legal. So, cool. Especialy on a 12in laptop.


Oh, and also, if the system your going to buy has a 9.5mm tall optical drive, max the bloody warentee. Damn things are nothing but trouble, geh. (Standard ones for laptops are 12.7mm)

 

I've had no problems. When my S160p had the boot problem, i called up tech support and they shipped me a box to send my laptop back in. Got it exactly within a week. Ordering my SZ over the phone was great. I had a mouse and case coming in a separate package through Fed Ex and they incompetently gave it to someone else who didn't even sign a name closely to mine. And Sony, though is still working on it, has been very helpful, which cannot be said about the Crap service Fed Ex gave me.

Mostly positive from my experience.

 

If you get their onsite service you are golden -- these warranties are covered by 3rd parties -- you get competent techs who aren't reading scripts on the phone; and they will replace things with a turnaround of about a week if there are any issues.

they always have the promos on sony's site or in sonystyle stores where you can get the onsite warranty at no extra cost.

the 1yr warranty that is std has horrible phone support

 

Thanks for the feedback. I suppose buying a third-party warranty is an easy solution, but it does limit buying options. I already have a source to buy a TZ170 from and it comes with no onsite warranty option, so I am left with the same original question.

As for the rest, it seems promising that Sony has provided some positive experiences. Being without a laptop for a week kinda sucks, but I suppose that's part of owning this type of hardware.

Has anyone run into a repeated need for repair? specifically on the less durable models such as the TZ? Is the hardware essentially reliable?

 

You can purchase onsite warranty separately. A member on this forum is selling them for a very good price compared to what Sony would charge you.
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=195737