How strict is Sony with extended service plans with ADH accidental damage handling Z22

Hello y'all.

Purchased a VAIO Z22 in Dec of 2011 with a 2year Accidental Damage Handling Extended service plan. I'm sending in my VAIO tomorrow to Sony. I'm wondering how strict is Sony on tampering even with an ADH plan?

Bottom line is, my VAIO Z22 is beat to hell. Multiple stress fractures and cracksby the fan vent and memory card bays.

I took the Z22 apart and really ed it over. Managed to strip quite a few wires out of their sockets, the connector on the SSD is twisted loose, and the GPU chip actually came off.

I cobbled it all together, but clearly Sony is going to know that somebody was inside there. They may ask for an explanation of how things ended up the way they did in which case, I have no good alibi.

I hope Sony doesn't just altogether reject my claim. I spent close to $2600 on that laptop. If I can't get it fixed in working order, i'm SCREWED!

 

Well.... why DID you do all that damage to your laptop that cost you so much money?

 

Let's just say my judgement was severely impaired during this time and that one should never attempt computer teardown while under the influence.

 

You should have left it as is after it gets drop. It's my thought.

Sent from my LT30at using Tapatalk 2

 

From what the rep told me at the store, I could bring it back in "pieces" and sony will cut me a check/repair it. But who knows...

I still have 3 weeks left to buy warranty, I'm a poor college student..do you think it's worth it to buy accidental?

 

I would HIGHLY recommend getting ADH from Sony. VAIO notebooks are notoriously fragile, delicate and the company is known as very service unfriendly. VAIO's look pretty in the showroom, but once outside the showroom, you'll start to see minor plastic bits fall off, and then hinges loosen. Depending on the model, you may even start to see stress fractures form on the casing which will turn into cracks if untreated.

On my Z12, the hinges started coming loose. I didn't have it more than three months. Sony ended up refunding me the entire purchase price onto a Sony style gift card.

My next Sony, Z22, proved even more fragile than the first. I put this into the laptop section of my bag. Torsional rigidity sucks on this bad boy. The plastic/carbon fiber housing by the memory card bay doors formed a pronounced kink which eventually split into cracks. Very very poor design there. I've never seen another laptop do that. The vents by the VGA port started forming stress fractures which eventually turned into bonafide cracks.

The black sliding nub on the bottom of the sheet battery came loose. The sliding nub piece is held in by two plastic hooks on each side. It's alarmingly brittle and fragile for a piece that moves.

And again hinges came loose, but it wasn't too hard to tighten the screws that hold them in place. Luckily I bought the ADH extended warranty. I'm about to find out to find out the limits of what Sony finds "acciddntal"

 

Do you know that, IMO backpack is laptop killer.
Laptop compartment in backpack is usually at back which against your back when you are wearing it.
When you have a heavy backpack on your back, laptop in size is squeezed.
So sooner or later, there would be something broken.

 

I agree with you in general. This was a top of the line Tumi backpack with a built in notebook section. I was able to deal with the keys being presssed into the screen section, but the lack of torsional rigidity was really dissappointing. Sony's atrocious customer service and onerous warranty meant that they considered this a user induced fault and not a design flaw. Luckily I bought the ESP with ADH, but Sony's poor build quality and quest for lightness mean that VAIO's are always wicked fragile and not at all durable. Whereas other manufacturers would fix it under warranty as a goodwill gesture, Sony's customer service shows a clear disdain for the end user.

I'm really crossing my fingers and praying that this will be covered under ADH. A major repair from Sony costs $600. Thats alot of money for this vintage 2011 laptop. Ideally, i'd get an SVZ out of it.

 

I've learned that Sony laptops (Z in general) has always been a fragile line of computers. Factoring into my purchase decision, I realized I'll have to take extra care of it in order to maintain an issue free computer. So when I stick it in a backpack with other heavy items such as textbooks I'll use the Mach3Composites hard case. This way I don't worry about any such forces acting upon the computer with normal wear and tear. If my backpack is light (just a small folder) along with the computer, I'll use a VGP-CKZ3 leather case which conforms to the computer perfectly and protects from minor wear and tear.

Yes it sucks to make your computer bulky with a case, but I just don't see any other options with the Z in particular. Sort of just came with the territory for me.

 

I thought I had found a loophole and a huge save ala hail mary pass, but it's complicated. Discover Card offers a warranty extension of 1 year off all purchases. Outside of warranty Sony charges a flat rate for minor and major damage at $300 and $600 respectively. Upon cursory glance, that means Sony will charge me $600 to fix. So i'm hoping that Discover will reimburse that $600 as part of the warranty extension claim that i'm filing.

However, things get complicated. I purchased this notebook on 12.19.2011 with a Sony gift card with the balance put on my discover card. This gift card was issued to me on 3.22.2011 for a warranty claim on a Sony Z12 that went defective. This defective Z12 was purchased with Discover Card on 6.7.2010.

So given the chronology of events:
6.27.2010 Purchase Sony Z12 on Discover Card
3.22.2011 Sony issues me a gift card for full purchase price to settle a warranty claim.
12.19.2011 Purchase Sony Z22 with gift card with remaining balance of $300 paid on discover card.
2.14.2013 Filing Claim on Z22. Sent to Sony

I'm hoping for a huge hail mary pass here should Sony decide that the ADH service plan doesn't cover the damages. I'm crossing my fingers and praying that I don't have to pay for any out of pocket repair costs.

 

@Rev

Call Discover. You may have extra insurance as a benefit of the card. It does vary - for example on my card the entire purhcase has to be made on the card, but i get an additional year of warranty. Cant hurt to call and find out. Good luck!

 

Where did you get the CKZ3. I've missed a few ebay auctions out of UK and theres one guy from HK with 3 left but is asking $100. Since the Z is discontinued, I don't want to pay more than $40 for this case.

The CKZ3 is beautiful and exquisite. Full leather and blue suede with a contoured fit. It fits in perfectly with my Tumi bags.

 

How much is a PRZ20B Blu-ray combo multi burner Power Media Dock worth nowadays? I have a used one in gold and realized I don't really need it for what i'm doing. I hope it's worth something.

 

I got one for $300 shipped..

 

Let me just add a voice of commiserating here. I have a Z22 I purchased 9 months ago and a very minor knock against the corner of my desk caused a chip to crack off the left side of the lid, caused a tiny but noticeable crack in the corner of the bottom case where it meets the keyboard deck on left side. Finally, it also made a hairline fracture to the screen bezel on the left. The result is a completely usable computer with a 3/4' piece of tape running down the left side of the lid and a small patch on the bezel. Doesn't look too swift but 100% serviceable. No ADH wtty in effect I usually put my higher priced laptops on my homeowners insurance and they fully cover all ADH issues as well as lost or stolen (which no extd wttys cover), but I neglected to do so with this one.)

I'm considering parting it out or selling it to someone as-is, clearly having to take a nasty hit for the cosmetic damage but if, for example, the OP can get no assistance from Sony or Discover and doesn't mind a straight line of tape on the lid could be the cheapest he could get a fully functional well equipped Z22.

Otherwise, any ideas how much one could part out a Z22 for: Core i7-2640, 256GB SATA 3 SSD, 6GB RAM (but have a line on a 4GB stick from a parted out Z2 to bring it to 8GB), FHD screen, entirely undamaged from the "accident." No PMD. I would think I could get about $300 for the screen, $300 for the RAM and $400+ for the motherboard w/SB core i7, and that would total $1,000. Still, I'm wondering if my price guestimates are reasonable and if there is really a market for these parts. Any input greatly appreciated.

 

Much to my pleasant surprise and amazement, Sony is actually repairing my unit without any questions asked. Wow, i'm breathing a huge sigh of relief! I asked and Sony sent me a list of parts they're waiting for to complete the repair and it's pretty muc the ENTIRE laptop. New bottom and upper casings, MOTHERBOARD, fan assembly, and the most shocking bit...They are putting in a Samsung 512GB MLC/SATA Gen3/2con SSD. It came stock with 256GB so i'm SUPER excited!!!!!

I kinda wish they had replaced it with an SVZ, but I don't want to push my luck here! I'l probably sell my Z22 and buy an SVZ separately. Kudos to Sony!!!