Sony Customer Service...how should I deal with this problem??

Hi,

I placed an order from sonystyle.com outlet store last Thursday. I found a refurbished model that had everything I wanted, and it had a very good deal, so I decided to buy it. The order was placed correctly and I was full of hope that it would arrive to my house sometime this week.

I came back from a weekend trip and checked the order status yesterday(Monday), but still found that the order was "In Progress." It was a little bit weird, because they said the orders usually ship within one business day. I called the customer service and was told that she would investigate on this issue and let me know within 24 hours.

I got up this morning, and checked my e-mail and found this unexpected e-mail saying my order has been cancelled. I called the customer service again and asked what happened, and requested a supervisor(apparently the highest level customers can reach) to give me a call. After an hour, the supervisor called me and said the order has been cancelled because they don't have it in stock. It was a COURTESY of them to cancel the order because they didn't want me to wait for many weeks (hah!) He suggested that the only thing he could do was to give me a free 3-day shipping when I find another deal that I want to order. I was like 'what the hell' because he said that I would not be able to get the computer I ordered and as a matter of fact free shipping was already included in the order I made. I don't think I will be able to get the same deal I had previously...

I just couldn't accept his explanation that the item was running out of stock when I placed my order, because I ordered a refurbished CTO model (I guess someone returned their CTO medel)...in this case, there should have been only 1 stock available and if my order went through, that means I should be the only one who placed the order. Unlike some other websites, I believe Sonystyle.com doesn't have delays in thier order system because I tried to order the same item (just to make sure) right after I placed my order and was denied because the item is already out-of-stock.

I feel like I've been fooled around by Sony. I've just wasted many days of searching for this new computer. What a disappointing result. I am still waiting for the supervisor to call me back after he finds exactly what had happened with my order by communicating with the wearhouse. What should I do? Would I be able to get the deal I had? Do I just have to suck it up? Sony vs. a helpless customer can't be a match. I want my computer, but it seems like I will not be able to get it...

Any suggestions on what I could do regarding this issue is very much appreciated. Thanks!!


jsp1641

 

That is unfortunate. I don't have any hands-on experience with Sony's customer service, but I can tell you just by browsing the SonyStyle site that it isn't up to par. I'm guessing they manually update the refurbished section of the website just because they come and go as they are received/refurbished.

I guess if you complained enough (and I would encourage you to do so) that you might be able to get them to honor the price, but I it's pretty unlikely.

 

It could be that they cancelled your order and didn't ship you the system because they discovered there was a problem with the refurbished system after they listed it.

Just curious, what specs were you looking at?

 

I was looking at SZ480 CTO model, Duo2 2GHz, 2GB, 160 GB.
Yes, they did remove the model from the list, but I did print out my order confirmation, original price was 2150, but the refurbished price they listed was 1293.

They cancelled the order after I called the customer service Monday 4 PM. The cancellation e-mail came around 7 PM, so I guess they investigated the delay and decided to cancel my order. I think this is very unjust. If I didn't have made the phone call yesterday, who knows how long it would have taken for me to figure out that my order is in fact unavailable, not just "In Progress"?

The website says that cancellation could occur within 24 hours, and would let me know ahead of time if that happens, but my order was cancelled after 5 days (after calling the customer service personally). I find this an unacceptable excuse for Sony.

 

Ordering something is not a contract.

If you didn't agree to this, you should have never ordered it.