Sony vaio europe support problems with SZ

Hi,

I was wondering what everyone else's experience with Sony support is like. This is mine. (I am a software developer so I'm no layman when it comes to computers.)

I bought a Sony Vaio VGN-SZ55GN from Hong Kong along with its world wide warranty pack. However after 4 months 2 odd patches appeared in the middle of the screen. So I decided to use my warranty and contacted Sony support in Europe (as I live in the UK). They agreed that it was a hardware fault after seeing pictures of the screen and decided to pick it up... all was good so far.

After 5 days, my laptop arrived at home. So I plugged it in and turned it on. At first all looked OK, but then as soon as a black screen came up, there was a lot of light leaking at the bottom of the screen, and a dead pixel in the middle. This screen is a lot worse than the previous one. Then as I closed the lid of the laptop I realised that it was still on instead of going into sleep. ARGH!! not only is the screen defective, they've also broken the lid switch! So then I shut down the computer through windows and noticed something shocking. The screen has a green coating and not a purple one!! Tell me if I'm wrong but it seems that Sony europe are replacing x-black screens with (probably) cheaper compatible ones!!!!

So I contact Sony Vaio support again. They agree to look at the broken lid switch and to replace the screen again. But they refuse to put an original screen in it, and will only give me a compatible one?! surely this is isn't right. I PAID for a working x-black screen and they are giving me a compatible one?!?!

It is currently shipped back to the service centre, I will update this thread when its back...

Has anyone else had any similar experiences?

Is there anything I can do to get them to put the proper screen in the laptop instead of a 'compatible' one?

Thanks
Timothy

 

Has anyone else had any similar experiences?

YES! This summer was spent waiting for the Sony 'support' centre to call me, like I had nothing better to do. I had an almost identical fiasco with an SZ4 laptop; I had bad pixels for about six months but I was out of the country, so I arranged repair when I got back... and had to pay a ridiculous amount of money for it (800 odd euro) when I got back because it was out of warranty. When I got the laptop back, it had a different screen but still had bad pixels! - Probably 'remanufactured' or taken from the Sony rubbish skip or something. By the time I got everything sorted out, it was October and I had already bought a replacement (out of necessity). Just started using the laptop over Christmas, and now I discover that the lid switch seems to be broken (IT WAS WORKING) and no doubt Sony won't want to fix it!

Got a phone call from some Sony exec last week to offer me a miserable 100 pounds to buy something from the sony shop, as 'goodwill'. Nothing useful for sale in their webshop and no instructions on how to 'buy' with my 'goodwill' gesture. Anyway, no more Sony products again!