Sony Style - Poor CS costs you a lot of money!

Hi Everybody,

Since I have nowhere else to post it, I thought I'd post my recent experience with Sony Style. If nothing else, people might find it amusing. This would be an experience of how you can lose a lot of money due to poor customer service.

Some time ago my wife decided she wanted a nice portable laptop. After a lot of looking around and thought we decided on the Sony Z. Since this would be an expensive purchase, we decided to go to a Sony Style store to purchase it so we could get the official Sony Warranty (3 year + ADC).

I also get an EPP discount on Sony products so that made the price of the Z more palatable.

We went to a Sony Style (65 miles away) store on a weekday afternoon - we were the only customers in the store.

Before we went to the store I went to the Sony site to look over the specs of the laptop, current pricing, etc. When I got to the store I noticed a discrepancy. Even though the price is the same the base model on Sony's website had a 540M processor. The laptop in the Sony Style store had a 520M. processor. When I brought this up and pointed out it didn't make much sense for me to buy the model being sold in the store at full price, the salesperson became a total jerk. He starts arguing about everything, including the discount I would get if I purchased directly through the EPP website.

Eventually I asked for the manager. The manager is not interested. He didn't come over and just kept playing with the computer behind the counter. We walked up to him and he still doesn't care. When I tell him they just lost a $2K+ sale, he didn't seem to care. He's an even bigger jerk than the salesperson.

Disgusted, we leave and decide to go to another Sony Style store a few days later. Amazingly enough, it turns out that I can't buy from the other two stores within driving distance (120 mile radius from home). One store is permanently closed and the other is closing in 3 weeks so they are not selling the laptop.

What can we do? My wife needs this laptop because she is traveling in less than a week. I called Sony Style online and ask them if we can purchase a warranty from Sony after purchasing the Z from a local store. The salesperson said yes so we went to a local store (not Sony!) and bought the Z for cheaper than even my EPP discount would have given me.

When we got home I called Sony Style. I was in the process of buying the warranty and I asked the salesperson for the warranty details (read: contract). She had NO idea where to find it. So what does she do? She fires up google and starts searching for the warranty details. She has me following along (I'm sitting at home on the Z) and she actually has me click on a the warranty product page link to the Provantage Site.

She didn't even realize what she just did. I see the Provantage price is 50% of the Sony Price. I DIDN'T EVEN KNOW OTHER VENDORS SOLD SONY WARRANTIES BEFORE THIS PHONE CALL TO SONY!

I told her that apparently I can get this official Sony warranty for 50% of what Sony is charging. She said Sony doesn't price match extended warranties so I said I'll have to think if I want to buy directly from Sony.

I then hopped onto this discussion forum and found out the provantage warranty is legit. I can purchase it and it is an official Sony product.

I then purchased the warranty from Provantage and registered it with Sony. That's it. I have the Z and an extended warranty with ADC.

Quite literally, thanks to Sony's poor and bumbling CS, Sony Style lost the sale of a laptop and warranty and even pointed me to places where I could save money.

Sony Style - Thanks for all the help with saving me a ton money. I can't imagine why 2 out of the 3 stores within driving distance have gone out of business

 

People still go to stores to buy stuff????????

 

Sorry about your bad experience. It looks like your persistence paid off in the end.

Thanks for the tip on the warranty. I will be using that one.

(Chalk up yet another lost sale for Sony as a result of your experience)

 

sorry i can't help you but: 120 mile radius is driving distance? wow you're a patient person. even the 65 miles you drove to that sonystyle is 35 miles more than i'd ever drive to buy anything.

 

A few of us are still left - no thanks to Sony

We saved quite a bit of money overall so I guess the poor CS worked out for the best. As for the Sony warranty from provantage, I was able to register is without issue with Sony. When they asked me who I got the warranty from I said Provantage and that was that. They registered the warranty without question - the rep I talked to was very nice. Took all of 10 minutes.

My wife needed a portable, working laptop quickly. Exchanging a DOA or defective item would have taken too long with a web purchase. Also, when you live in a small town any excuse to drive to a bigger city is welcome

On a different note, the Z is just incredible. The price may seem like a lot, but it's actually really well priced for the specs. Sony really got it right. It's one of those rare laptops that all laptop vendors should take note of.

 

Which Sony store is this? Do you know the employees' names?

I had good experiences with the Sony store closest to me (at Garden State Plaza in Paramus). Within a couple of minutes of browsing around I get asked several times if I needed help. And the employees, if they didn't know the answer off the top of their heads, ask the other employees. And I can always get an answer, so I go back quite often. It's a cool place with lots of interesting gadgets, I think it's cooler than the Mac stores

 

It's the store in Columbus, Ohio - now the only store in Ohio.

 

Even after the horrible customer service, you bought the laptop anyway. Sony has your money. They won.

 

You sound like a Richard (this forum doesn't like word i was trying to put in) .
You feel that all salesmen should bow down to you and that when you tell them you can get it cheaper online they should be happy and give you discounts. Sometimes their sales structure doesn't work that way and in that situation I just say thank you for your time and buy it online. Let me add that Managers will usually stick up for their staff unless that staff member is being really heinous to you, they aren't going to make them look like crap, cave, and give you discounts just because you are the greatest guy on the planet.

There is honestly no real point in this thread other to crap on a sales rep on the phone and make yourself look awesome by saving 50%. When I find deals like this I don't write on forums self aggrandizing myself.

I was a salesman for many years and was VERY successful but the way your wrote your post reminds me of how the customers would treat me like I was worthless mud under their boot. While I wasn't lazy and I never argued with the customer, it is apparant to me you hold this attitude.
As for discounts, it really sucked when I was selling a product, and I knew it was cheaper online or at a different store but I really had no way to match it or lower my price I had to tell them to walk. There is also a reason there are Brick and Mortar stores because you get 1 on 1 service and can play with the device and often bring it back to the store without a hassle (I don't know if this is the same with Sony's computers).

 

sony also looses alot of money by not EVER updating any drivers or support on their old computers.

I have the old Z and ... where are my updated graphics drivers?

like .

 

Woah!

99% of the time I'd agree with you about customers sometimes being unreasonable, but in this case the OP questioned why a crappier model was being sold at a Sonystyle store for the same price as a better specced one was being sold on Sony's website. I don't have a local Sonystyle store, but I presumed that the prices there would be the same as the online ones so if I were in the OP's situation I would have asked about this, too.

It's not like he was comparing an online price from bestbuy with the Sony store price and wanting a price match. There are super rude customers out there, but likewise, there are rude sales assistants that clearly don't really want to be in sales. I don't think it's clear who was being the jerk really.

 

No, probably what happened was it was a lesser CPU he said he wants a discount for that, then he says he can get an EPP discount online so they should match that, when they said they can't match the EPP he probably got pissed off etc etc.

I know sonystyle Brick and Mortar won't match online prices because I already tried them to honor an online coupon for an ebook reader but they are unable to do so.

The simple fact that they are willing to let a 2k+ sale go away shows that they really can't do anything about their pricing because as a salesman I would try to make it happen somehow.

The reason I am guessing he is a jerk is because the whole thread is self aggrandizing, you should re-read it.

Of course I could be totally wrong but the tone of the post is arrogant and I don't understand the point of it, other than to say GOOD FOR YOU, SONY = STUPID, YOU = SMART

 

Personally I didn't read it that way. But everyone is entitled to their opinion.

I don't think asking for discounts is being at all unreasonable, as long as consumers are polite and friendly throughout the interaction. In my experience, it was my reps and not me who got uncomfortable and defensive during discount discussions. And I'm not sure I believe it when reps say they can't offer a discount (as long as it is a big ticket item). I was assured time and again that "the system doesn't allow for a discount greater than x" and "we'd have to get a tech guy to redesign the system to allow it" etc. etc. In the end, I got a discount higher than what they said was possible. Though I am appreciative, in my opinion it was not nearly enough to assuage the headache that has since resulted from my own purchase. I plan on posting a similar thread if Sony ever ships my computer, as I think sharing horror stories with other customers is just being a good consumer.

It's the salesperson's job to make a good sale, it's the consumer's job to make a good buy. Getting mad at a customer for posting a thread like this does as much good as getting mad at Sony for lying about the discount they are able to offer. Sony is just doing their job, but sometimes a thread like this is the result. No harm no foul.

 

It's a dude venting about poor customer service. Perhaps a little strongly, but not enough to be a self-aggrandizing Richardy jerk imo. Then again, I might be reading it with my happy glasses on, since it IS 4.50 friday afternoon.

 

based on how he worded this I got the same feeling as mfpreach, i've worked in similar retail jobs and met a lot of people like that, they demand a cheaper price because it is less expensive online, then get upset when you explain that you are not in a position to lower the price. EPP is almost always online only, and online is cheaper for reasons, one of which is that you have to pay shipping. Most stores do not allow salespeople to lower prices, particularly a store like Sonystyle. The way the poster says that the salesman was a jerk for disagreeing with him makes me think of customers who have called me a jerk for informing them that i can not lower the price of an item.
People also always say things like: "you just lost a 2k sale" foolishly not realizing that $$ don't matter margins do, giving discounts on items like a vaio z is a poor idea because they are expensive to produce margins aren't high, and giving you discounts actually costs the store more than it is worth.

 

Hmm yeah, perhaps. I think it's kind of worded in a way that's open to interpretation. Fair bloody enough that you don't get an online discount in a store, if that's what the situation was.

The way I interpreted it though, there was a discrepancy between the BASE specs of the full priced models between Sony's online and actual store. When this was brought to their attention, the sales assistant became argumentative about everything, and even disputed the percentage that EPP would have given him when he mentioned it.

 

This is the case with me two. I own an early FZ, about two and half years old, and I have not had a new driver in close to two years. This is particularly frustrating with Sony's refusal to allow Nvidia to provide new graphics drivers. So they have managed to loose me as a customer.

 

I'm not going to pretend to know more than I do (since I don't know much ), but are you sure about this? If margins weren't high and Sony wasn't making a big profit on its Z models, I don't think they'd be so quick to offer 15% discounts. SonyStyle USA hands out 15% discounts to basically anyone who asks for one.

Also, you have to consider future consumer behavior in addition to making/losing money at the margin. Say Sony offers a discount to a customer for some adverse event and ends up losing money on the margin. In the long run they may not lose money if that act established customer loyalty. The customer is more likely to return to Sony for future electronic purchases and is more likely to recommend Sony to friends and relatives. Car dealerships will often do this. It's a derivative of the Disney model of offering "wow" factors to customers in order to gain their loyalty and their future purchases. Disney World basically empowers its lowest level employees to do nearly anything to keep its customers happy and "wowed," including giving things away for free.

 

My point was that people don't realize that it is easier to offer a discount online, because in store the margin is always smaller as the store ha to pay rent, pay employees, pay for electricity etc. So a 15% discount online can be easier to get than in store as the store has higher expenses.

 

Oh, I see what you're saying. Online stores probably have some overhead too though. But it's a fair point.

 

I think those who worked in Retail can understand where I'm coming from with my response to his posting. Its in between the lines, I have heard every line and been crapped on by many customers. Menelmacar18 gets it.