Sony warranty - How good is it?

Hello,

I was wondering how good the warranty from Sony on their laptops is. I've seen an F13 laptop that comes with 2 years standard warranty (Belgium) and I was wondering if it was any good.

For comparison, I've been using a Dell Inspiron for 4 years now with the Advanced Warranty from Dell (next working day technician) and I've had very good experience with it.

Is the Sony one as good?

Thanks in advance for the replies.

 

Haha... no..
If Dell is Ying, Sony is Yang
Just search the forum for complains about Sony (vaio!) service...

 

wow... that bad eh?

I guess I'll stay with Dell and pick the XPS 17 over the Sony Viao F13.

 

I wanted to purchase the extended warranty with accidental coverage. The first salesman I spoke with said it would not be a problem (I am moving to Russia in January). I later saw in the terms that service outside of the United States would not be covered (bear in mind this is for US product/warranty), so I called again and the second guy told me the first was probably just "blowing smoke."

I opted for the SquareTrade warranty instead. I have no idea why a Sony warranty would not cover a Sony product in Russia when there are Sony authorized repair centers in Moscow. Take it for what you will, but I stayed away from their warranty service.

That being said, I would buy the laptop you want, not the warranty you want. You can always buy a SquareTrade.

 

Actually depends on where u go in the world. I dont know about Europe. However in america I know from firsthand experience and from this forum that sony service is quite bad. In Japan though it is quite good with Sony being rated high in Japanese satisfaction surveys. Also in Japan sony laptops have a standard 3 year warranty compared to the 1 year in the states.

 

VAIOs sold in the Oceania region can apply for international warranty. So if your machine comes with a years worth of it, you go to a Sony site, put in your model and serial code and click submit. And you're covered internationally (there's a list of countries with the addresses of their respective authorised service centres).

You could ask the USA Sony Service phoneline if Sony America has a similar registration process (though granted, I don't have much hope considering most service centre personell are rather un-informed of their own employer, ie Sony).

@your_mother
Do you have a link to where it says Sony lappies come with 3 years worth of warranty, as standard? The last time I saw they all come with 1 year, and like the States, Japanese individuals have the option of increasing it to 3 years for an additional fee.

In New Zealand, if people buy ANY Sony product from a Sony Style store, we get an instant +1 years to that product's default warranty, for free. So 1 +1 for VAIOs (thus two years), or 5 +1 for memory sticks (thus 6 years).

 

Europeans get a standard 2 year warranty but I believe (without having any actual proof) that that's a legal requirement.

 

my s came with a 2 year at home warranty

 

Wow. Thanks for all the response.

Convinced me to stay with Dell. XPS 17 for me, along with a warranty I know I can count on.

 

Warranty's are funny things. I have never seen a warranty that does not actually do what it is supposed to. The question is how much you are willing to pursue it. Sometimes it is as simple as dropping the laptop off at the repair center and walking out with it a week later. Sometimes it comes at great personal expense and waiting months to be reimbursed.

Warranty's are important, but I do not understand why anyone would shop by warranty. Get the laptop you want. There is really a very small chance anything is going to happen, better to be happy with the laptop and frustrated at the rare chance of repair, than displeased but happy on the rare chance of repair .

 

In the UK we get a "limited" free 12 month warranty.
most of Europe gets 2 year free warranty

That being said my old Vaio had issues with the DC IN port (it snapped off)
They gracefully sent a courier to my house and put it in this really nice foam box and I got it back 3 days later all repaired and they even cleaned it all inside and out so there was water vapour on it, also threw in a free Vaio cleaning cloth and an apology letter with Japanese dialect on it.

 

Sounds like you being happy with it. And it came back with no scratches?

 

Warranty is a selling point with me. I've had dealings with several types of laptops, even if my current Inspiron 6400 is my first personal one, and a good number got plagued with problems that a good warranty would have taken care of (I remember a problem on a floppy drive of a compaq laptop that was due to the poor placement of the drive on the machine which caused the floppy disk to hit the reading head when inserting it - and that one came on three machines without fail).

So having a warranty I know I can rely on is very important for me as I then know that my machine is safe from most problems and I'll be able to keep it for a good number of years (I've had my Inspiron for 4.5 years now).

 

Yikes, all this negativity around Sony's warranty service is making me worried. I paid for the 3-year extended accidental warranty when purchasing my laptop. It seems to have paid off, as my Vaio Z slipped out of my hands this morning and crashed down onto my garage floor. The screen went black, parts of the casing are cracked/came apart, and the notebook will "power on" but nothing else happens.

I called up Sony and they said that cosmetic damage is not covered, but since my laptop does not work, the accidental warranty will cover it. They are sending me a box which they say I should receive in 24-48 hours. Once I ship it back, they said it will take about 7 days to repair. Hopefully everything will go okay and I won't have the same negative experience many people seem to have had in the past.

I realize that most of you seem to be concerned with the standard warranty service (not the accidental coverage), but maybe my experience will give you some insights into Sony's service. I will try and keep you all updated as things progress.

 

Please do keep us updated.

I almost bought accidental warranty for my new Z12 but I didn't.
I am glad I didn't as you said, "accidental damage" does not cover cosmetic damage.

I mean accidental damage should cover anything cosmetic damage to the casing...they should just rename the warranty to "liquid damage warranty" as that is pretty much only thing that is covered with "accidental" warranty.

I am sure Sony is worried about abusive use of accidental coverage for casing replacement but they can set a limit on the service to like one casing damage coverage for entire life of warranty or something.

Anyways, good luck and hope you will get your Z all fixed up and running in no time!

 

I purchased my Z12 in November and did not extend the warranty. Can I still do that through Sony or a different company, or did I need to do that when I got the laptop initially?

 

This is standard with any accidental warranty coverage. Some may not enforce it hard, because if they say its cosmetic you could step on it and now it is no longer just cosmetic, but the small print of every accidental warranty I have seen says they will not cover cosmetic issues.

 

I think with cosmetic damage they mean more damage in terms of scratches or scuffs in your laptop which actually dont have an impact on the units function at all. Say, you scratched your display lid which may annoy you but that is no reason for a 100$ (+ labor) replacement.

 

Right, but what I am saying is if you want that scratch on your cover fixed and they say no, you could step on it and make it more than cosmetic .

 

Which would officially and obviously be an abuse of the warranty resulting in a voided warranty

Anyhow, I would rather stumble down long stairs and drop it there just to make sure nothing survives and you get a full replacement

 

I never thought about severity of damage determining the quality of repairs/service I'll receive but doing further damage does seem like fraud. I do find it ironic that it may be good news my laptop suffered a pretty good fall. Here are a few photos of the damage.


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Hopefully the bent keyboard, cracked hinge, and screen will receive some form of repairs since those are related to the functioning of the laptop. It seems their warranty service will cover everything else that might be broken internally. I suppose we will just have to wait and see.

Anyhow, the box to send in my laptop should arrive tomorrow according to the 24-48 hour ETA that I received on the phone. Will continue to keep you all posted.

 

I am not actually proposing anyone do this, I am just pointing out that accidental warranties are a tricky thing. This particular example was given to me by a Best Buy sales guy, and say what you will about Best Buy, their accidental coverage came through for my family more than once. Out of all the third-party warranties I have had, it was by far the simplest.

 

Here is my Sony Warranty experience that I promised to provide you all with.

12/21/10: Called them about my dropped laptop. I was still under warranty w/ accidental damage protection and filing a claim was simple. They said l would receive a box to ship them my laptop in 2 business days. Was told repair time should be around 5-7 days.
12/24/10: Received box. There was a short form to fill out, then I packaged my AC adapter, recovery disks, and laptop and sent it in.
12/29/10: Fedex tracking number showed that my laptop was delivered.
1/3/11: Called for a status update and asked to change the address that my laptop is shipped to following repairs. They were able to change the return shipping address but did not have a status update. I was told they will have a status update "tomorrow".
1/5/11: Called for status update but was told the customer service folks were having a trouble getting hold of the company that services the computers. She tried anyhow, and came back 5-10 minutes later telling me that she could not get a hold of anyone, so she could not provide an update. Representative said she emailed them asking to update the claim which should take one day. Was told if I called "tomorrow" they will have an update.
1/7/11: Called for another update. I was told that my unit was unrepairable, so it was sent to the Sony logistics department. She said Sony will contact me within 5 business days for either replacement or reimbursement.

Up to this point I haven't ran into any major problems but have had a couple mishaps: (1)representative telling me that they would have an update when they did not (2)the entire process taking longer than expected.

Overall the service has not been as bad as some other people have said and I'm optimistic that everything will work out. Hopefully I hear from Sony's logistic department soon.

 

That took you quite a while to get a status but hey, they probably will come up with a replacement laptop for you. Crossing fingers you will get a brand new one (had that once with HP, sent my unit in because wobbly keyboard - replacement keyboard was not on stock for 2 weeks, I bothered them until I got a brand new laptop in sealed box. Funny thing was that I realized that only a keyboard fixing latch was loose, would take 2 seconds to fix that).

 

I just received my refurb Z. My RAM cover was bent in 1 mm, for about 1 inch in length. Previous user probably slammed it on something. I called warranty, and they said I would have to ship my whole laptop to them to get that replaced. I asked if they just send me the part but was told their system won't allow shipping out just that part. I'm going to return this, and just wait for a Sandy Bridge refresh.

 

Don't you have a local service partner for sony? If I had this issue, I would go to mine, let them order the part as warranty and replace it on myself.

 

Re the Sony warranty, does anyone know if you can purchase and extended warranty or the 3 year premium warranty in the uk for a vaio purchased in america?

Cheers

 

As for me I had good experience with it.
My laptop had few problem, with the screen, it was not stable and look fragile also it was working very well, and it had more than 10 dead pixels. (but on a 1920*1080 13,1" monitor they are barely visible even with a magnifier.
I asked for a repair and they have changed the whole monitor within a week.
I'm glad to have a new monitor.

 

And the new one is without dead pixels now?

 

no there are still some, but lot of less, they are all blocked on light blue or light green color. It's really hard to notice them even when looking close when displaying only black. It's almost impossible to see them in normal situations.

 

Hey guys, American here.

I am possibly going to go to college in the UK next year, if I buy a Sony Z in March, and I go to the UK, does this mean I don't have warranty coverage? How would I go about making sure that my laptop is covered?

 

Buy a third party warranty like Squaretrade, or better yet, buy your laptop in the UK.

 

Things in the UK cost a lot more though because of the import taxes.

Is there a list of credit cards that have warranties? I know they exist, just don't know what the easiest way to find out which one has the best is.

 

Its much more expensive to buy a sony in the uk, not just down to import taxes, a macbook pro inc us sales taxes works out about £200 cheaper than if you bought it in the uk but the vaio z would be about £650 cheaper in the US. I think you would get 1 year of international service on a us vaio z so if a decent 3rd party warranty would prob include accidental damage then it would be worth it.

 

Sorry havent been on this forum for a while.

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So if u can read Japanese its pretty self explanatory, if you cant it says there are two types of warranties, 3 year basic and 3 year wide. Wide covers accidents like fire etc. and thats extra but basic is standard for Sony vaios.

 

Here's the deal. Some salesmen at Sony will tell you that the warranty will cover repairs anywhere when taken to a Sony Authorized Facility. Other salesmen say the warranty is only valid in the United States, if purchased in the United States. The warranty itself clearly states that it is only valid in the United States. I decided it was not worth the risk, and bought a SquareTrade warranty. Their warranty is not as clear, but I spoke to several salesmen that told me it will work just fine, but that I will have to pay up-front and be reimbursed.

I looked into this semi-extensively because I just bought my Vaio Z and am moving over to Russia, today .

EDIT: I wanted to point out I have read numerous places that the warranty is different on machines purchased outside the United States (probably in large part due to different laws). So there is information out there that is different- but it would not apply to you if you purchase the Vaio domestically.

 

Good luck in Russia JVRR. May I ask what is making you move there?

I'll check out the Squaretrade warranty.

 

Putin called Russians home, and my grandpa is too dead to go . Actually, I am going to get a CELTA (Certificate in English Language Teaching to Adults), and hopefully I will get a job following .

 

Please let us know what was overall done. I also have a 3 year accident protection plan and would like to know what kind of replacement or amount of refurbishment they give you.

 

Similar case here. In my case they replaced my VGN-Z690 with a new Z, the VPC-Z13. My options were that they could either buy back my old machine or ship me a new model. I obviously took the free upgrade. It was pretty seamless and a really good deal.

 

Can anyone tell me this answer. On a 9 month old Laptop which may be displaying hardware failure do i go back to the shop [Argos] or do i contact Sony uk. Got receipt with purchase date on it.

 

I would first contact the store and see if they could give you a new unit, if they want to send it back to Sony, I wouldn't go that route. Instead, I would contact Sony. Here in the US, they sent a tech to replace the LCD at my house. So I had no downtime.

 

Sonus
here in the uk you wouldn't of thought you would get that service on a standard warranty mate. They would only come out to the house if an expensive warranty was bought at time off purchase. I'm going to call into shop for a chat, i thought, it best i could find out so it helps me to get it dealt with and not fobbed off..

 

Here's a US data point.

The hard drive on my 9 month old Sony Y series died. Sony Support referred me to Sony Service, who sent me a box.

While waiting for the box, I called back to see if I could just drive it to a local authorized repair center. I was told that was not allowed. When I called a local center (Portable One), they said that they are authorized for warranty repairs, but that the hard drive I needed was back ordered and that I might be better off going thru the San Diego depot.

Called Sony Service to see if they had the part in stock. Was transferred to someone at the depot who warned me that their processing backlog was 3-5 days and that they would not be able to tell me if they had the drive in stock until the technician had my laptop on the bench.

Box arrived, I sent my laptop in on 1/4, it arrived at the depot on 1/5. Was processed into the system on 1/9, and they just told me that it's being shipped back today (1/12), ETA tomorrow.

So, sounds like things are speeding up.

 

1/12/11: Have yet to hear from Sony so I called in to check my status again. The customer service rep said Sony logistics has been trying to find me a replacement and also looking into possibly reimbursing me for the laptop price.

It is frustrating that Sony has not made a single effort to contact me since I have sent in my laptop over 2 weeks ago. The only status updates I received have been from calling in. I asked if there was anything they could do to speed up the process but all he could do was assure that they are working on my claim. I hope I hear from Sony soon. He asked that I call back if I still have not heard from them by Friday morning.

 

Choc Fiend
what were your symptoms for the hard drive failure??.

 

Laptop would crash and reboot, sometimes unsuccessfully. For example, in the morning, instead of "Resuming Windows", I'd get a blue screen telling me that there had been an unexpected shutdown. Event logs were vague, I think it would say something about not being able to load something. One time I got "Operating System Not Found" on reboot, but a second reboot worked. At that point I ran all of the VAIO care hardware and drive checks, which it passed.

Since the event logs kept saying that it couldn't load one of the VAIO modules (v2CdbSvc or something like that), I chatted with Sony Support to see if my drivers were up to date. During that process, they had me reboot several times. Eventually, a reboot brought up a black screen with just "Operating System Not Found" -- would not go further. Went into BIOS and saw that the hard drive was not found. At that point, the Sony Support analyst told me to contact Sony Service for a new hard drive.

So ... if you get Operating System Not Found, take it as a strong warning sign to backup everything that you can immediately!

 

1/14/11: I called this morning, and immediately the representative sent me an email that told me they want to settle by reimbursing me $2246. My purchase price was $2349, so not sure where my other $100 went, but I don't feel the need to complain since I should be able to buy a superior system today with the agreed settlement amount.

What surprises me is that they did not offer me a replacement. All they said is that they don't make my model anymore, and repair costs were too high, so they will be paying me. However, I suppose this is not over until I receive my check in the mail (says on the letter that it can take up to 20 business days).

Overall I'd say the warranty experience was okay. It took a little longer than I would have liked, and I had to constantly call to figure out what my status was, but they have held up most promises made on their end, and I'm satisfied with the result.

Anyhow, hope this helps some people out that might be interested in Sony's warranty service.

 

Standard 1 year warranty here and a good experience as well.

When they couldn't fix my old Vaio Z (VGN-Z) they were going to reimburse me my money because they couldn't find another VGN-Z690NAX and because the my VGN-Z was higher specc'd in terms of HDD space and outright processing MHZ than the newer VPC-Zs they had available. I called and spoke to the guy that handled swamps/reimbursements, and he lamented the closest VPC-Z in stock to mine had a 256GB SSD, and a 2.53Ghz i5, both less than my 320GB HDD and 2.66Ghz Core2 Duo. I told them to forget the reimbursement, and that I'd take the "downgrade" ;-) I do wish I ended up with an i7 and 512GB SSD, but I'm happy enough considering I bought the old Z 2 summers ago.

 

I have a 1000 camcorder, was bought in 2007 which is under warranty when I called for service they said they don't service it anymore and they will buy it or something.

they said they are going to call me back in 5 days. ? I don't want them to buy my camcorder..I need it fixed. Anyone that means..they said they will pay retail value..