Overseas warranty? And changing US keyboard to Swedish?

Hey!

Im thinking about telling my brother to pick up a Vaio while he's in New York next week. Thinking about the SZ or the TZ, but thats besides the point. What I am wondering is there is a add on warranty that let's me use the warranty in Sweden (prefferaly whole Europe)? And does anyone know how much it would cost to have sony change the keyboard to a Swedish one? If it is even possible.

 

I've asked Techonweb.com if they would sell Vaio Overseas Service on the SZ. they won't (or can't).

I know CompUSA.com sells 2 year international warranty on SZ for $399. Not a bad deal I think.

You could let CompUSA send it to your brother while he is in New York. You could propably avoid paying VAT at the customs if you let it look like the laptop is not new.

 

You may be able to buy the Swedish keyboard as a "spare part", but Sony normally charge a lot for replacement parts.

If your brother is physically going to be in the country, he should be able to set up VOS himself. I don't know what procedure they use there, but, before any purchase, he could always call up Sony directly and talk to them about it.

 

Yeah, hes going to New York (just for the week-end) and since I won't be going to the US until spring I thought about letting him pick one up for me. Mind if I ask what a VOS is?

The thing compUSA has, is that a upgrade from sony or something they have themselves? I rather my brother buy the computer at a Sony Center or something like that.

 

VOS is Vaio Overseas Service. Basically, it will give you a 1-year international warranty.

The CompUSA product is not a Sony one. It is their own product.

 

Ahh, okay. Ill probobly tell my brother to go a sony center and ask them if they have any overseas stuff they can give him up front if he buys a laptop. If it possible they are bound to have that at the sony center. And I can even live with a US keyboard with the difference in the price

 

It is my understanding that VOS is not being sold in the US.

Please correct me if I am wrong because I'd like to know.

 

I got no idea, but it seems strange that it wouldn't be sold there. Because some of the VOS packages I saw bein sold here in Sweden was only for European sold models.

I really gotta know this soon! Since my brother is leavin in a week.

 

Well check the internet. VOS is being offered everywhere in europe, not in US.

It does make sense otherwise the whole world would be ordering their VAIO in the US.

Bytheway, while searching for VOS i ran into this article: http://www.complaints.com/directory/2006/march/14/1.htm

It's interesting because I read someoneelse complaining about VOS too, in a similar way.

 

I was just assuming that they would sell VOS. But, as you stated, it does not look like they do.

I just had a quick look myself, and I couldn't find any mention of it. I would still call them to confirm, though.

If you are unable to purchase it, your other option would be to import one from Japan and purchase VOS that way, Drolug.

 

Just had a e-chat with a guy at Vaio US Customer Care. According to him all Sony Centers in the US sell the upgrade to 1 year international warranty upon purchase of a Vaio laptop. According to him this can only be bought at the same time as the laptop and will work in Sweden. So it seems I can get one in the states after all, if I can live with only having a VGA port. And not DVI/HDMI.

 

That's good to hear. I thought it would be odd, if they didn't sell it.

 

Good find Drolug. Please let us know how much you pay for the interenational warranty at Sony Centre.

 

Yeah. Not sure if I will get a Vaio yet though. Right now it's looking like ima wait to see if Apple releases a new Macbook in October and buy that one.

Mainly because I need DVI/HDMI on my notebook. I hate VGA!

 

Someone said that the dockingdstation has DVI out. Don't know if it is true.

My Sz680 just arrived. The VGA output signal is very good. Very high quality.

I am a bit dissapointed by the LED screen. Maybe because I had the TZ before.

 

Yeah, no doubt it's a high quality VGA output on VAIOs, but my problem is that I want to be able to plug my laptop into LCD tv's through HDMI, and then I need a digital signal. And a docking station isn't what I want.

 

Drolug, do you have any info on new macbook models?
or was it just a guess?

 

I posted a thread on this in the past if you read that thread you will see that somebody in that thread was given misinformation about the US international warranty by a sales person. I don't believe that you can get it from going on what i have been told and read but if you can then that is great.
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=130630

 

Why wouldn't you be able? I mean you can get the European models to have overseas warranty in the states, so why not the other way around? According to the Sony support person you have to buy them at the same time as the computer in a Sony Center. Otherwise they wouldn't be valid.

Im just guessing Theres some Apple convention in Paris now in september if I remember correctly, and then the release of Leopard. I think they will release atleast a upgraded Macbook soon, they want Santa Rosa in it as soon as possible. But your guess is as good as mine.

 

Maybe if possible you could give Sony US a ring to confirm what you have been told?
It looks to me like to that they are trying to discourage some people from some countries from buying their laptops in the US.
There is no also VOS pack that you can buy in the US but in the UK and some other countries this is advertised.
You also know with other Sony products how they can make things difficult to work in some other countries.
There used to be Sony international warranty options on the Sony US website but this has been removed for some time now.

I'll be interested to see though if this does work for you.

 

Yeah, I know about the international warranty on the site. But as far as I gathered from the customer care the only way to get the international warranty is by buying the computer physically from a Sony Center, and at the same time get the warranty. You cannot get it later as you can with the other warranty options.

I do not know what difference calling them would do, I will be talking to the same persons as I have been using the e-support chat client.

 

Ok-if you do decide you want to double check what you have been told you could always call through and give one of the stores a call or get somebody to do it who lives in the USA.

http://www.sonystyle.com/webapp/wcs...ocations:ss&ref=http://www.sony.com/index.php

 

If I decide to tell my brother to buy me one I will tell him to talk to the employee's in the store and make sure that it will work And anyway, if the Sony Customer Care employee I talked to is correct they will have a overseas warranty box/paper/coupon or whatever to give my brother, and if he was wrong they will not have any at all

 

IMHO buying a laptop outside your home country is always a bad idea. Yes, you may save some money, but most vendors make it difficult for people to buy a product in the US and get it serviced overseas. Typically prices in the US are much lower than in Europe and they (Sony) want to protect that profit.

The employee at Sonystyle might be eager for the sale and will tell you whatever he thinks is correct on international warranties. In my experience, 90% of the time, they don't have much of a clue. You are likely to get a very different response when you contact Sony to get a product repaired.

A great example is Sony televisions. For a long time, Sony crippled the US models so they were NTSC only so they couldn't be used overseas. The same model Sony sold anywhere else in the world would be NTSC/PAL/SECAM compatible. The sole reason for this was protecting the profit margin of non-US Sony subsidiaries.

 

Yeah, I have emailed Sony Europe though. If they reply the same thing it's all cool. Then it's nothing to worry about.

 

Yes but there is always a tippingpoint.

For example the SZ680 costs 1250 euros in US, here in Netherlands it is not available yet and the price will be almost twice as high.

Now for 1200 Euros I will gladly take the risk

 

Yes, the 11-inch LED screens are of better quality than the 13-inch ones. That's also why they have a true 16:9 aspect ratio and not 16:10, they're a bird of a different kind.

 

True, but then my VGN-S260 went back to Sony three times for repairs, which was painful enough without any extra hassle. The level of work required by the poor guy who bought VOS and couldn't get it serviced isn't worth 1200 Euro's to me...

 

Vaio-Link Europe (The Vaio service guys) Say that the authorized Sony Service Centers no longer repairs Vaios with VOS applied to US laptops in Europe. Meaning, buying a laptop in the US will allow you to have warranty in the US. And if you buy a VOS all that will do is extend the warranty to Australia, Malaysia, Hong Kong and a few more. That's atleast what I gathered.

 

If that's true, they advertise that it covers that region when they will reject it? I assume Europe would have laws forcing them to honour the agreement.

Either way, I am in Australia, so my VOS is fine.

 

Nanaki as far as i am aware there is no VOS that can be purchased for any countries let alone in Europe in America so they don't advertise it so there will be no agreement to uphold. However VOS is advertised for example Australia and one of the countries listed that it will work in is the UK and yes they will honour that agreement.

Drolug do you know what you are going to do now are you still going to ahead with the idea?
There are other companies that offer international warranty for laptops but your heart maybe set on the Sony so you maybe not interested in looking at alternatives.

 

They do not really advertise that the VOS will work in europe with US laptops, but its still bad.

 

Im still thinking about what to do, Either ill get the TZ with only the US warranty or i'll wait for a possible Macbook upgrade. It feels kinda sketchy getting the TZ when I know i'll have to send it back there for repairs.

 

Which means you'll have to get someone in the US to handle it for you, because you can bet the US Sony Service Center has US only 1-800 phone numbers and won't send you the special shipping box if you are outside the US.

I used to be all about saving money like this before I realized that life is too short to bother messing with it.

 

Well, you must be able to send it in yourself. Might cost a bit more, but it should be possible. The problem is that the good TZ versions doesn't even exist in Sweden.

 

Why not just order one from Japan?

 

Ordering 1 will most likely be as expensive as buying 1 here when it's out, 25% tax + a few % in customs fee. Sweden sucks

 

Undervalue? Mine was shipped as an "ex-display model -- sold as is" and I did not get charged any taxes. Your only issues would be the risk if it gets broken, etc, because the insurance would only cover the declared value.

 

Hi There,

im having a few problems myself and was wondering if you could help?

iv just bought a sony TZ 90 from japan and was wondering how i would get an overseas warranty as the one iv got has a japaneese 3year warranty only not UK!

i bought the lappy from ebay and the guy that sold it to me cannot sort any VOS out?

(In a nutshell) where could i buy an overseas warranty and be covered on the laptop if anything happened in the UK?

Cheers

 

You are almost certainly out of luck. It's a common complaint with items sold on eBay - they are purchased thru 'grey channels' and you don't have access to the warranty. I'd return it if the seller claimed there was a valid warranty.

 

Cheers for the help mate