Sony Customer Support - Please stay constructive!

I have decided to start this new thread because:

1) It is evident from the large number of negative experiences reported on multiple threads that Sony's customer support - particularly honoring warranty commitments - is, to put it mildly, a problem for a good many otherwise loyal customers. I can't say that I have personally had any negative experiences yet, but I've only owned my first Vaios for less than 6 months and, fortunately, haven't had any problems with the equipment. I do feel I am overpaying for extended coverage from non-Sony sources based upon the large number of truly distressing experiences reported weekly on the Sony NBR threads - so I'm paying the price without yet feeling the actual "pain."

2) Discussions of Sony customer support problems have scattered onto numerous threads, some of which were created by members seeking help over a current, pressing problem, but many which included Sony customer support only by very indirect ties - eg, http://forum.notebookreview.com/sony/608433-sony-exit-notebook-market.html . I think it would serve us all better to have a more centralized thread to report and discuss issues.

3) When I ask that this stay "constructive," I mean not only that we keep this from being a place to simply bash Sony (or to defend it, for non-specific reasons, generally relating to brand loyalty), but that we try to use it to offer solutions, contacts at Sony who have been helpful, email, chat and other contact points that have proven effective, etc.

4) Though I do not advocate this (or any) thread serve as the basis of such mass action as class action lawsuits or other hostile organization, if there are enough common experiences, all of which are in violation of warranty obligations or otherwise represent very poor experiences, this may be a way for people with similar negative experiences to at least write a group letter to Sony asking for response and action (it worked extremely well on Dell and HP forums I've been on in past years).

5) And yes, this is certainly a fine place for people to post their positive experiences, again providing contact info for Sony insiders who have helped.

Finally, just to kick it off, I found the following web site, that ranks companies for their customer service performance and, sadly, raniking Sony very low at present:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/sony/608433-sony-exit-notebook-market.html (note, though, that the majority of companies rated are below 'acceptable,' including Apple!

Feel free to suggest a better approach to this. I just know that I have been using, buying and selling mobile computing gear for over 5 years and have never sensed such broad and deep resentment over a brand which otherwise is seen as a "leader" in its field. Something's wrong with this picture.

Thanks!

 

Haven't found Sony to be any better or worse than the other major manufacturers. I have Sony, Dell and HP products. Having said this I can offer a few tips which may improve your experience.

When you call Sony in the United States during the day, you will get the San Diego center. Some have said (about the same for me) you get better service calling at night when you reach either the Philippines or Costa Rica. If you get a bad rep, for what ever reason, call at a different time or just call to get another rep. If they can't or will not help, request to escalate your problem to the second level, where you will receive a case number. These people generally have more knowledge and you will have a better chance at getting your problem solved.

Remember, these are just people who work for a living. Always be courteous while sticking to your belief that something may be, or is wrong, with your system. Be patient and let them go through with whatever they think they need to do before you tell them 'you already know' is not the issue. Be a problem solver and know as much as you can about the issue at hand- that is what NBR is for!. If they don't give you the answer you want, articulate to them, calmly, why you disagree. Again, escalate to the second level. This is where things get done. And personalize your call. Remember their name and call them by their name and talk to them so they understand you know something about what you are talking about. Just be professional but assertive in your interactions with the rep.

Finally, check yourself. Do you have unreasonable expectations? They are not going to exchange for a few dead pixels. They are going to reformat your drive to its factory setting if you send it in, period. Oh, and document all of your contacts with them. Take pictures of your unit before you send it in or have them repair.

Not to say this will make it all work out. Some F owners have a grey line at the bottom of their screen and Sony states this is just normal. Dealing with HP I had the black screen of death which was related to defective Nvidia 8 series GPU and they replaced all laptops with AMD but not Intel. I was furious, will not buy HP currently, but finally found someone who fixed it for $200 and it's still going strong- so sometimes you just have to deal with it. If you want the best service go with Apple. Sony offers returns for 30 days upon purchase and you should take advantage of this.

I hope this helps some.

 

I have to agree in most points with Fishon, in consumer laptops you get good and bad reps everywhere from all manufacturers. and all advice given was very good. Getting a good rep can some days be like hitting the lottery.

where I have had issues with Sony on their laptops is bad support from drivers and discontinuing support for parts or software IMO prematurely on some models and leaving consumers to fight for themselves in as little as 9-18 mos after a purchase.

now Fishon I have to disagree on 2 points which are slightly OT

most manufacturers have a decent return policy ( 21-45 days )
but for best service you would have to look at HP, Dell or Lenovo NBD business class warranties.

the replacements were not the choice of HP but from the Nvidia settlement and was done by AFIK all manufacturers that were affected. We had a Toshiba, a Dell and a MBP affected. the Tosh and Dell were replaced by the same AMD based unit. the MBP was repaired and is now on its fifth motherboard and is no longer eligable for anymore repairs.

 

Good advice when calling any customer servcie support line. Actually, pretty good advice for dealing with professional services of almost any variety.

 

Couldn't agree more. Also agree that, in my experience, the xenophobes have it all wrong - the offshore (off US hours) support people tend to be far more patient and helpful than most of the North American call center staff I've encountered, overall - though you need to be a bit more patient with them too - language, procedures, etc.

Having myself dealt with HP, Dell and others, and long observed the "golden rule," as mentioned above, I think what differentiates Sony is their policies as opposed to the helpfulness of their staff. EG, to my knowledge, only Sony has fine print in their warranties that once they have expended the cost of the item in warranty services, the warranty is thereby null and void and no further service will be given without charge - even if the computer is only 3 months old! Likewise if you have an ADH wtty and, when you drop your computer in the bathtub, you have had, by Sony's own internal accounting, $1,000 of warranty service (and they charge it off by the hour of phone time!), then Sony will send you a check for about $1,000 for your "totaled" Z - but not until you send it to them so they can salvage any parts for their own benefit. That's cold.

 

Perhaps Sony can revamp their 'message passing system' or whatever it is that supports their after sales/tech support system. The first time I called Sony's (because they delivered a unit with the wrong specs) after sales support, I explained as clearly as possible that they got me the wrong display (I ordered 1080p, but was given 900p instead). A lot of time was spent on them looking up my order details, clarifying certain things, etc. Then she transferred me to a technician whose native language wasn't English in order to confirm my problem. Had a lot of trouble explaining my problem to her, and finally she understood. She said she'd record the problem we discussed and transferred me back to a different after sales support person. This person, a guy, said he did not receive any information from the technician girl. It sounded as if he thought I called in from somewhere, and not transferred from somewhere. Then he wanted to repeat the whole thing again, with me explaining my problem, and then he wanting to transfer me to the tech support, at which point I almost broke down and asked not to be transferred again. In between the transfers was a lot of waiting, repeating of queries and information, aggravating me so much that I was just about to break down. They all sounded courteous and professional, and as much as I'd like to work with them to solve a simple problem (I wanted to return my unit because Sony delivered the wrong unit, simple as that, and that took one hour on the phone. It wasted both my time and their time), their following written procedure to the dot, the inability of the call handlers to pass information (requiring me to repeat), put me in this infinite loop.

I bet if I hadn't begged them to stop transferring me around, it could go on indefinitely.

 

For me Sony provides good services, and quality products.

All my Sony products work fine with no hassle, unlike Phillips or samsung.
Those products died once warranty is over. It's like they have a self-destructing mechanism built-in >_>
My Sony discman after 15 years still works

My MD / mp3 player got caught in the rain and got went. And went dead. Sony repaired the products at no charge and no fuss.

That adds points to my book. They aren't legally obliged to do that, and even the TnC states that warranty will be voided. But still...

 

Well in my case, my top of the line Z series has been in the shop for 29.8 days with no ETA for a defective display. For a company that has made it a point to make a statement with the Z, they do not stand behind it sufficiently. Very few laptops cost $3500. Very few are advertised on Youtube with the fanfare that Sony has done. It does no good to offer such a statement and then leave the customer who buys one without a solution for so long.
I am supposed to get a replacement ordered tomorrow. I have been promised that I will by 9AM. Somehow I have my doubts.

 

In my experience I've found Sony CSR to be difficult to deal with. While the CSR are very cordial and friendly and I've never had an issue with getting them to agree to fix an issue (i've had 3 sony laptops and they've fixed 4 issues at my house), it has always been a long wait for them to send out the tech with the parts (sometimes upto 3 months). Granted, they are not on par with amazon or dell CSR, but I would take this anyday to some other companies which make it a pain and flatly refuse to even accept an issue is their fault.

TL;DR: I am happy with Sony CSR. Could be better, but am satisfied.

 

I haven't had any bad service from Sony. I've had an SSD replaced on a VGN-UX390N in 2007. I had to send it to San-Fransico. Sony sent me a nice box with shipping label. I had it back the same week.

I had issues with Bluetooth on my VPC-Z1290X and they sent a tech to my house to replace parts four times. Turns out it was a software problem.

That is only two repairs out of all the VAIO computers I have owned.

I've had a bunch
An old purple-ish laptop that I can't remember the model number of
F550 or something with a Pentium M
another F something that looked like the F550 but had an nVidia chip and was better spec'd
T350P and T360P
three UX390N
UX490N
VGN-P
VPC-P
VPC-Z1

So that makes twelve VAIO laptops, only one that had a part failure, the part was a Samsung SSD (damn Samsung)

Perhaps I've been very lucky, maybe I just haven't had to deal with support enough to be part of the horror story crowd. IDK

 

I knew someone who had a Sony extended warranty with ADH and was very pleased. This was a few years ago so perhaps their policies and/or insurance vendor have changed. On the other hand, based on what loveslaptops said, it sounds like SquareTrade is the way to go.

 

Well, today is day 30 my VAIO Z is in the shop and Sony care sent me and ordered a replacement machine with the same specs. Only it's a Z2 instead of the Z11. Oh well, could be worse
They came through but I had to guide the process ahead of time. Sounds to me like they are seriously over worked and stressed.

 

I started this thread because I have read so many terribly scathing reports from people after having very bad experiences with Sony Vaio customer support. It's way too early to draw any conclusions, and there isn't nearly enough input to guide people going forward, including helping them decide if they should get together and approach Sony as a group with common complaints (or praise, if so inclined )

1) Clearly, some people have reported on various threads some very disturbing experiences dealing with Sony customer support - worse by my own experience than one hears about most other brands. Without a statistically random survey (as several publications have performed) it's impossible to say if Sony is any worse than other manufacturers. But again, it's not my sense that the number of disturbing reports, as much as the severity of more than a few, that has given me and others a queasy feeling about being dependent on their their support for costly and mission-critical equipment. And that's why I decided to start this thread.

2) Even if Sony has - perhaps of late, perhaps due to budget cutting - made their support policies "stingier," a possibly mitigating factor is that their notebook computers appear to be less trouble-prone than other brands. Thus, quite a few people report owning a number of Vaio products for several years with little or no involvement - good or bad - with Sony customer support.

3) Sony owners as a group are quite polarized - many are quick to offer bitter critiques, based on their own painful experiences, while so many are strong "partisans," and want to offset any criticisms with strong defense in citing their own excellent experiences with both the products and the support.

In any event, this thread has yet to get any real "traction," and I don't find nearly enough responses to get a better handle on the subject. So let's just keep it going and see what happens. Sound ok?