My Z11 Died

After a year of continuing issues from the optical drive failure to 2 hinge failures to 2 failures of the HDMI/USB daughter card to 3 replacements of the palmrest, to a lid replacement (stripped hinge threads) to a motherboard replacement, I essentially have a completely rebuilt laptop (except for the display itself, the keyboard and the SSD).

And yet...

Yesterday while typing in a document everything on the laptop suddenly went dark. The laptop died, never to be resurrected. It wasn't hot, and I certainly wasn't taxing it in any way. With or without the battery, plugged in or not, it won't even turn on now. My guess is that now even the replacement motherboard has died...and died completely.

Fortunately, Sony had extended the manufacturer's warranty (after me repeatedly badgering them to offer me SOMEthing to compensate me for having something wrong with my laptop for 70% of it's first year), so they'll fix/replace it.

Of course, they are no longer willing to come on-site to fix it, but are shipping me a box to send it to Loredo, Texas. I'll of course take detailed pictures of it from every angle before shipping it in case they mar it in any way.

How long will I be without it? Up to 4 business weeks. 2 Days for me to get the box, 3 days for them to receive the laptop, up to 10 days for them to fix it and another 3 days for me to get it back from them...a total of 18 business days (that's actually OVER a month).

I think that maybe it's time to abandon ship and start swimming for shore. Turns out that Sony laptops don't even come with a boat or a life vest (translation: no support and no apparent QC), and I've had enough of this "drowning in the middle of the ocean" thing.

 

Cool story, bro.

Sorry, just teasing, I couldn't resist (you ask no questions in your post). Sorry you've had so many problems with your Z - if mine had been that much trouble I'd be ready to move on, too! Good luck

 

Z11 should still be covered under warranty, if they can't repair it to a good standard, you should request a like for like replacement. You may get a Z21.

You should also look at you home insurance and see if it covers you laptop. If it does you can get a like for like replacement. Since the Z11 with SSD is no longer available you could get a Z21.

 

Ditto on the sympathy/empathy. Your estimation of the number of days lost to service reminded me of something that may entitle you to some relief:

I think Sony has a "lemon" policy (as several mfrs do) that entitles you to a new machine after you've had a certain number of things break and/or a certain number of days lost to service. If you have the patience, you might want to, a) verify that you could be eligible, even by stretching some of the specific terms, and, if so, b) call until you get a sympathetic and not-lazy sounding agent and ask for them to go to bat for you and get at least a "new" refurb with your specs, better - if you want this - a Z2 with your specs.

This recent thread http://forum.notebookreview.com/sony/607777-sony-vaio-z-lemon-sony-care-extended-warrantee.html is somewhat comparable to your situation except that, a) this guy is in canada - poss. diff wtty - and, b) he literally counted the days to 30 to prove he was eligible. You might want to PM him and see if he has any pointers, as he has clearly gone through some similar experiences, but is about to receive a brand new Z21 with loaded specs to replace his Z1. EDIT: I've suggested that he PM you if he has advice for you.

[Fwiw, I have a theory about "lemons," especially with laptops: it's less likely that you got a unit that just by fluke had so many bad parts, more likely that once the techs get their hands on your machine, each "fix" planted the seed for the next problem; ie, the repair techs, who aren't very careful, can put numerous things in jeopardy of early failure Having taken a couple of Z's apart, I found that they can be quite fragile in certain places, thus easy to either break something in the process of fixing something else, or putting undue stress on many parts (hinges are a good example, so are some electrical connectors, which could even cause a Mobo to short out later) in the disassembly/assembly process. I suggest this solely as another basis for demanding a new replacement; you have good reason for not trusting techs not to cause as much damage as they repair.]

Good luck, in any case. Nobody deserves to go through that much, especially on such an expensive machine.

 

^^ that theory, is why I hate repair jobs.

I don't like brining cars into this, but..... it's like car repairmen, just without the incorrectly associated evil

 

Thanks, guys, for your sympathy. It means a lot. I have an optimistic hope that one of the reasons why they want me to ship it to them in Texas is to evaluate whether to replace it or not. Well, that, and whether or not I might be an abusive user. I'm less optimistic about my prospects of getting a Z21, though that would be pretty amazing, not to mention a radical departure from Sony's attitude so far.

Still, not sure I'd KEEP the Z21, since it sacrifices so many of the things I love about the Z11...but it would be very cool to play with one to decide...and might, just might, restore some of my lost faith in Sony.

 

I had to repair my touchpad/palmrest assembly twice and the second time Sony wanted me to ship it in, but i adamantly told them they I needed my laptop (as a student) and that being without it was unacceptable and I had a service rep tell me that they were restructuring or something... and they couldnt do it... I still had him file the case and the next day I got a call saying they could offer me on-site. You have an even bigger leverage on them, just say you need it for your job and that it's not your fault their product is fault, with a laptop of that price you deserve better treatment. See what they'll do, but it always helps to call multiple times (CSR roulette, I call it... ask AT&T, i've called 6 times in the past week just to get $5 off my bill )

 

I bought the extended warantee. 30 days in the shop and they order you a new one.
Waiting for my z21 replacement.

 

I guess I'll just keep clear documentation of when I ship it to start the 30 day clock. Too bad all the time spent waiting for on-site repair doesn't count towards the 30 days or I would have already met that requirement. There were at least 2 occasions when I waited more than 30 days for parts to be "available."

 

This too should give you some leverage. Try to get to a "right" person using "telephone roulette" and tell them your machine has been out of service for the same reasons way over the 30 day and 3 times limit. You've got the "moral" high ground, probably legal too, but I don't recommend suing Sony . But use this to your advantage, that's my advice; it's worked well for me many, many times. You have to convey a combination of sincerity and desperation - and it's a waste of time unless you have a sympathetic ear, so try to discern that early in the call and try again if you are getting resistance!

 

But I wonder if the "repair for over 30 days / 3 times" rule applies for US customers as well? Tomb used Sony Care which is a Canadian version of the warranty. I looked through my US extended warranty (provided by a 3rd party called Servicenet) and I can't seem to find those specific terms.

 

you could be right. I would just advise using every approach available. The guy deserves a replacement. Screw Sony. I'm starting to hate them as a company almost (but not really) as I do Apple, from which I will not buy even the best product for my need at half the price! Dammm arrogance is totally unacceptable, especially when they charge 2-5X what everyone else does for a laptop.

Still love my Z, but once it craps out, I'm history - maybe. I just love this computer.

 

I'm looking at the contract and under Point 13: NO LEMON GUARANTEE, it mentions something about if there are 3 service repairs, with 3 separate claim numbers, and that if it requires a fourth claim number, the product will be replaced by them.

But who knows.. maybe they'll twist it somehow...

 

Again, their job is to beat you on the exact terms of the contract. Your job ( if they have put you through hell, is to use the "spirit" of the term, "lemon," and argue that, contract language or not, you clearly have a true lemon, and deserve someone in authority to make an exception from the language and "do the right thing." You can ususally find someone who will go to bat for you but, again, you may have to go thru several people. With HP, I used to get good response from letters to the CEO's office - not read by him, but clearly he had a staff and they used that increasingly rare quality, "common sense," to push through the kind of machine-like thinking front line call center people are trained to adopt.

I can't tell you I always succeed with this approach, but I do way more than 50% of the time. Last year, HP credited me $1,500 on a $2,400 Elitebook tablet PC. Then, they replaced an Envy 14, which had a market value of $1,200 with a brand new Elitebook 8540w, configured to the "nines," with a DreamColor2 screen (because the Envy had a Radiance, which they had sold out of!), list price $3,200.

You shouldn't have to work so hard to get what you are entitled to, but many people don't realize there are options.

 

What features on the Z11 were sacrificed in the Z21?

 

Sorry to hear that.

I've had pretty much zero problems with my Z12, and I don't even use it much anymore after I got a MacBook.

 

I have to hand it to Sony. They're nothing if not consistent...consistingly lax in concern for the customer and providing real service. I have delivery confirmation that the Sony Repair Depot received the laptop this Monday (5 business days ago) at 9:30 AM, local time. Yet when I look up the repair status, Sony's less-than-helpful Repair Status still states that the last action was them sending me a box to return the laptop for service, but that it hadn't even been shipped to them yet.

With each passing day, I'm thinking that they are going to end up using the entire 30 days allowed by the extended warranty contract and will therefore be forced to replace the laptop with a comparable model (in terms of intended functionality, that is).

The irony in this whole thing is that I was planning on hanging onto the Z11 for a couple more years while I waited for a true heir to rise from its ashes.

 

I thought that I should let the "Vaio" crew the "closure" of this.

I received my repaired ( not replaced) Z11 back from Sony.

:: SIGH::

Included with the repair was all AC adapter and extended battery that I sent back with it (as they had requested) and my laptop in the same exterior condition as it was before I sent it. I tested several features and confirmed that they all work properly, including the integrated mobile broadband.

Included in the package was a black paper pocket folder with a big white "SONY" on the front of it. Inside the folder was the following:

1. A "Thank you" letter for letting them be of service to me
2. A "Vaio Care & Handling" sheet
3. A "Dear Valued Customer" Checklist with "NO" handwritten the the "Re-imaged Hard Drive" field and "Replaced Flexible and - thermal" handwritten in the "Other" field
4. The Statement of Work State the amount due (zero, since it was a warranty repair)

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Honestly, I'm pretty disappointed in their response. After all the trouble I've gone through, they still just keep taking the same "repair, rather than replace" approach to problems...completely forgetting that a customer will get frustrated enough with that approach to completely abandon the brand. (Maybe I can find someone in the family - if I even DARE to give it to family - who could use it or I could sell it to someone who's wants the old style Z.)

That's where I am now. Typing on an HP Envy 14 that plays Crysis just as well, if not a bit better, than the Z11 does. Sure it's bigger and quite a bit heavier with a vastly inferior brand. But, honestly, after my experience with the bleeding edge Sony Vaio Z11, that suits me just fine. It feel ROCK SOLID and after what I've been through, that's just about the only thing that would make me feel "safe" again.

 

Just thought that I'd let you fine folks know that I've decided to keep the HP Envy 14 and sell my Z11. There appears to be nothing wrong with it now and it works perfectly and since it was serviced at the depot this time, it probably won't have another issue but...I don't know...it just feels like I'd be kissing Sony's ___ (edited for content) after their service - not the laptop - had seemingly gone out of it's way to give me the most unpleasant experience possible.

Since I won't be frequenting these forums and I've noticed that people tend to stay within their brand's forum, I wanted to broadcast a thank you to everyone who lent me a sympathetic ear over the last year. There simply isn't a better group of people - or a better forum - than here.

 

what the are you complaining about? they repaired your laptop, nothing is wrong. stfu and enjoy life.