Sony Store vs. Apple Store - both in same mall

How sad it is for Sony to be at this point. I am embarrassed to be a long time repeat customer - six Vaio laptops at this point.

Does anyone know how to reach a person at Sony corporate that will actually care about this? I tried the usual customer service route, but received the most inane email replies or suggestions over the phone.

90% of the posts here relate to cleaning up the out of box experience of the Sony. Clean install. Semi-clean install. Re-install drivers. We mostly agree that the hardware side has been addressed nicely, but we have machines that barely function out of the box.

Not only do we accept their disrespect as to who owns the computer, but we go through contortions just to get it work in normal manner. I am stunned that no Sony management rep is monitoring this forum.

Yet I will still buy a new TZ-191 and sell my SZ-370; but soon i can envision a dual-bootable, lighter, 12" power macbook with flash hard drive...and saying goodbye to Sony forever.



Anyhow...back to the mall:

Every Mac had interesting and useful programs to play with, as well as full internet connection.

Every Vaio was either password-locked or straight out of box loaded with useless crap.

Every Apple employee was energetic, friendly and knowledgeable.

Every Sony employee was disinterested, lethargic and knew less about the products than i did.

Apple had huge stock for immediate gratification.

Sony could order for you through SonyStyle.com.

The AppleStore was packed.

The SonyStore had about 5 people.


HOWARD STRINGER ---somebody -- ARE YOU LISTENING???

 

I remember when we had gateway stores around here (maybe we still do) but no matter what you bought it had to be ordered... whats the point?

 

apple stores always have a lot of people in them because its little teeny bopper kids who go in to look at ipods, iphones, and other things they want their parents to buy them. and apple is the new 'trend'

that and the countless people getting their ipods/macs whatever fixed because **** always breaks

 

What is the point of this initial post?! If you prefer a machine without a delete key, go to Apple. If you prefer design and high tech, go to Sony.

 

macbook = gay

 

Hopefully Mac's resurgence will spur the PC manufacturers like Sony into actually giving a crap. It's not good for a company to have no competition.

 

Ignorance.

 

I think the point is that he as well as other people are increasingly frustrated at paying a premium for Sony to have it filled with bloatware.
Also, Sony does not provide an integrated sales and support experience, evidently preferring to shuttle customers from store to web site to tech support to parts... all different entities within Sony who may or may not be communicating. For instance, sonystyle recently had a college bundle that included a notebook with a bluetooth mouse. Problem was, the notebook didnt include bluetooth. Additionally, tech support was not aware of the situation. Additionally, sonystyle customer service was aware of it and had been dealing with it for a few days, with the only solution either a refund or charge for a bluetooth adapter. You know what? The bundle was still be advertised online, with the same model of notebook that didn't include bluetooth.
Its all about MARKETING and SELLING it and the VAIO division showing a PROFIT on paper.

 

I'm not a Apple fan, but they know how to take care of their customers. Sony does not. Sony makes some nice products, but you have to put up with a lot of crap, and sometimes it seems like it's not worth it.

From a customer service standpoint, Apple and Sony are polar opposites.

 

Apple being the new "trend" is a good thing. It means more sales. Its where every company wants to be.

The Apple Stores make an average of $4000 per square feet of retail space. That's the highest in the industry. I don't know where you're thinking its full of people getting their problems fixed (oh yeah, and that's another thing; have any problem and get it fixed in store, instead of sending it in) and not actually making sales.

 

have any problem and prepare to wait for hours and hours, come back days and days later only hoping that whatever you have will be fixed. there are always huge lines and waits for repairs at the apple store by me.

 

Most Macs are fixed overnight, sometimes even in a few hours. It beats having to send in a computer and waiting for it to fix and then waiting for it to be sent back to you.

 

haha, you wish. you'll be sitting there waiting forever just for them to look at it

 

??

So you're saying sending in a notebook, then waiting for it to be fixed, then waiting for it to be sent back is faster than bringing in your notebook to the Apple Store and having the employees diagnose the problem and fix it in the backroom?

Anyways, my main point in posting here was to correct some facts...the Apple Store being bustling is good thing and every other company would wish to have the type of traffic going through the Apple Stores. And its not just people browsing around and exiting; Apple Stores make $4000 per square feet of retail space. That's higher than Best Buy or even the jewelry stores like Tiffany's.

 

i guess you live in some sort of fantasy world where there already isnt a huge line of people waiting for their apple stuff to be fixed.

 

You do know you set a Genius Bar reservation online, right? If you seriously don't feel like waiting do that.

And I think you should agree that the fact that Apple offers yet another way for your problematic product to be fixed (send it in, or bring it to the Store) is a good thing.

 

The Apple stores are awesome because:
- Unobtrusive sales staff: They don't constantly harass you with "Can I help you? Can I help you?" crap. They just let you look at the stuff and play with it in peace.
- They let you pick up the computers (and devices) instead of having them locked down.
- They let you try the programs and use the internet, while most other stores disconnect the floor models from the internet. I think this is part of what keeps the place crowded... more people want to go there and they tend to stay longer.
- Service in the store.
- Nicely designed stores
- Some of the larger stores offer classes and stuff and make it feel like being part of a club

 

You can experience all that at the SonyStyle store near me (King of Prussia Mall). Plus, it also has an Apple Store and a Dell kiosk!

 

ill never buy anything apple. never have, never will. dont care for their products

 

So are you going to address what I said yet?

Do you agree that, even though you may dislike the service, the fact that Apple offers two ways to get your product fixed, either by sending it in or bringing it to the Store, is a good thing?

 

perhaps, perhaps not

 

At the Sony Style store near me, from memory, I didn't think you can use the internet on the computers. I'm not 100% sure though. They do let you pick up the machines though, which is a nice start.

I don't like to go near a Dell kiosk, the salespeople just bombard you with "Can I help you? Can I help you? Can I help you?" crap.

It's too bad because I'm not all that interested in the products Apple has to offer... except maybe the iPhone... oh well.

 

at the apple store by me you get bombarded by sales people asking if you need help

 

why is everyone here a sony hater? one month ago i was in a washington mall (dont remember the name, its the one closest to the pentagon) and went inside the sonystyle, not 10 seconds went by from when i entered the store and already 2 salesmen had asked me if i needed help, i also used the computers in there to check my email and browse a little bit, noone seemed upset about that. at the end i had to buy some crap i didnt need (memory stick, 3 psp games, total of 250 dollars) because of the nice people working there.

and at the end someone explained very thoroughly how the return policy works. not bad service AT ALL

 

oh and i forgot to mention.. ive been inside an apple store many times... and only like once or twice at most have i been asked if i need help.

so i dont know if youre all apple fanboys or what. but sony kicks ass. it wouldnt be the biggest (or one of the top 3 biggest at least) electronics giant in the world.

i know for a fact that nobody sells more tvs than sony. read it somewhere yesterday

 

I'm not an Apple fanboy (I love Apple but doesn't mean I don't criticize it when something's wrong)...nor am I a Sony hater. Sony's BRAVIA TVs are excellent, I have a 46-inch XBR myself.

But in terms of who does the "Store" right, I'd say Apple does a better job of making a good retail store than Sony's done with the SonyStyle stores.

 

i think in the end its all about personal opinion and experience. i personally have had better experience with sonystyle... but thats jjust me

 

its all about the employees that work at the store.

 

yeah. i havent been to many sonystyles, just a couple in texas, couple in washington, miami and vegas. all of them seem really nice

 

Putting Apple aside, the bottom line is that Sony has VERY POOR customer support. Years behind Apple's. And they don't seem to be improving either.

 

WOW.....maybe i can better explain what i mean.

As i said i am not a sony hater..in fact i probably have bought 10s of $1000 of sony electronics (and movies/music/games).

I even have a freakin Sony VISA card!

I am just expressing my frustration as to why we need to work so hard just to get what we paid for.

It is a well-acknowledged fact that all the bloatware depletes system resources; and on a TZ especially, we need all the help we can.

ROOR: are u a sony rep? that would be really good. otherwise your remarks are so baseless as to make one wonder what kind of consulatant you can be.........

 

I also went into a Washington DC area mall - Tyson's Corner expressly to find the Sonystyle store.
The employees were verbally arguing with each other. The guy who helped me seemed nice - but then was getting yelled at by the other guys - and one told me he was going to be 'outta here'.... I wasn't sure who was incompetent, nuts, just personality impaired. I just felt the whole operation unprofessional and frightening - and not sure I was getting great info.
And the tester units were not all connected to the Internet - or blocked ....

I went home bit the bullet and got in the queue for a Dell 1330....

Prior to going to the SOnystyle store, I tried calling SOnystyle with my questions - I still don't know how long one needs to wait to get a human being on the phone. If they can't sell it to me, how the heck are they going to be to deal with after purchase?????

If there's a Sony rep on board....uh....ya got problems.

 

I agree 100%. I know the whole bloatware issue has been beaten to death, but I would agree that the out of the box state of these laptops is just inexcusable. I can't imagine an ordinary person using it right out of the box and being satisfied with the performance. I realize that Sony needs subsidies, but these are $1,500-$2,000 machines!

Couple that with customer service that rivals even Dell when they were at their worst and you have a big problem.

That being said, I'm happy with my purchase, mostly because I know how to circumvent most of these problems. However, that is not an excuse for Sony.