Sony warranty sucks. NOT international.

Well some of you know this already but for those who don't.

Sony do NOT offer an international warranty for their laptops.

So if you are thinking about spending a lot of money on one of their premium laptops you should think twice if you regularly spend any time away from your home country.

After weeks of research and humming and hawing, the only laptop meeting my specs for size, specs and weight was the Vaio SZ3. I was hesitant about spending that much on a laptop but decided that if I was going to compromise, then I would be better just to hold onto my current model.

So I decided to take the plunge... only to discover that these highly expensive machines from one of the biggest international manufacturers do NOT come with an international warranty. Whichever country you buy it in is the ONLY country where the warranty will be valid.

A little googling led me to some horror stories of people who couldn't get their warranty honoured. So I contacted notebook shops in Germany and England, both of whom confirmed that Sony only offer a local warranty and that no upgrade was available.

So if you move around a lot, or are in the process of moving, take a look at some other companies

It seems a bit bizarre that an international company offering 'cutting edge' technology to 'mobile professionals' can't sort an international warranty out. I bet James Bond would be well chuffed "I can't save the world, my laptopsh packed in Mish Moneypenny" "Too bad Bond, we bought it in Italy and you're in the UK this week"

I guess it's to protect the prices in countries where they are more expensive?

Anyway back to the drawing board for me...

Thanks for listening I feel better now

 

Try an Asus Ensemble. Maybe the W3Jp would be an appropriate substitution for the SZ.

I believe you can also upgrade HP business class machines to international coverage. I would guess it's pricey though--I'd go for the standard international warranty on the Asus Ensembles.

I believe some of the newer notebooks have a free upgrade to 2-years. And with a lot of them you can upgrade the standard 1-year international warranty.

Good luck.

 

thanks

the only machines on the market at the moment which match the specs and 14" screen size of my current laptop are more or less the same weight... and my main reason for upgrading was less weight with the same screen size.

i can get improved specs in a 12.1" screen but that's too small for my needs.

the sz had it all, low weight, perfect screen size (i prefer 13.3), high performance and good battery life.

the asus machines currently are either too 'heavy' or too small screen size to make them worthwhile over my current model.

I'm sure they'll have something out for me soon though

 

The Asus W7J is real nice.

 

ah yes I forgot about that one cos it doesn't seem to be available in the UK. That alone wouldn't stop me because it is available in Germany here:

http://www.notebook.de/index.php?section=shop&group=470

But the RAM maxes out at 1536 MB so I guess it's 1gb stick plus the rest soldered in.

Otherwise I'd be all over it, it looks just the job

 

That's right. Now I remember the FAQ. Sorry about that. It would be perfect for you wouldn't it? Maybe you could get someone to send you one or bring one to you? It does have international coverage.

 

I could order one from Germany no problem; I'm in Italy at the moment - but I want 2gb ram and as far as I can tell it won't take it...

 

i dont know about europe but here in australia you can buy 1 year of international warranty for about USD$200. i guess it doesnt make much sense for sony to provide international warranty for the SZ since each region seems to differ abit in configuration. not only that, they probably dont want people to sell notebook across regions.

also, if they dont offer international warranty you might just want to pick up an insurance policy in the country you are using it in. my own SZ38GP has a full protection policy against accidents, theft, damage, fire, etc.

but to be truthful, unless the product was faulty in the first place, you probably will not be using the warranty anyway (not in the first year anyway).

 

Very good points. Especially this one.

You can read through the warranty guide as it discusses that decision.

 

yeah fair enough not across regions but look how many countries there are here in europe and how small europe is...

my worry is if I spend nearly 2000GBP on a notebook and there is a fault (which happens) I have to send it off to another country to get it repaired... and they might not even repair it according to some reports.

it's very bad policy.

 

Whats even worse is that their warranty is really poor and takes a long time to repair. Their offices are located in belgium / france.

In Uk sony doesn't repair their own laptop, they are outsourced to another company. Which I have to say the services is really bad too even for business customers.

IBM on the other hand of excellent services and have call centre in UK.

 

you should of read about the warranties before you bought the notebook...

 

and you, sir, should have read the thread before offering your flippant advice... i didn't buy the notebook because I read about the warranties

 

Sony Japan fixes notebooks quickly. I got my SZ90 from Dynamism. They handle dealing with Sony. No issues.

 

That's is sad to hear from Sony