VPC-Z2 Sony Service Issue

My dear one month old VPC-Z2 is in service.

The issue occurred after a road trip back from US.

Upon returning I noticed that there a horizontal line across.

Well- I took it in for service anyway, hoping that all the 'Sony-service-sucks' stories are false.

Frankly, I was disappointed with Sony's service.

The customer rep at the counter examined the issue and claimed that Sony does not cover LCD under warranty- and the repair has to be done through my own pocket. In addition, she claims that there is assessment fee of $75 + Tax if I choose not to repair the damage.

At this point, I was quite confused- what's there to assess when it's clear the LCD is at fault. Well, after long argument, the rep decided to waive the $75 fee, and I left the laptop for the technicians to assess and quote me on the repair.

Moreover, rep claimed that other outstanding issue (delete key being raised up than other keys and constantly registering the key when the lid is closed) is due to physical damage when the LCD went bad. I had this issue since the beginning, but I don't think she really believed me.

Can I really fight this case? What can be done?

 

Any input????

 

I'd call their customer service and explain yourself. I find that the way to get these companies to actually provide good service is to keep going back, and if one person doesnt help, go up a tier and talk to their supervisor/manager, or just hang up a talk to someone else. It sounds like you went to a service depot, etc, in that situation, talk to the manager and tell him how you were treated poorly, by the woman in the front who wouldn't listen to you.

If not, maybe try getting the US president's e-mail... apparently it helped my parents get a correct TV (after my mother sent in a scathing e-mail )

 

^ That sounds good advice. The LCD is certainly covered by the warranty. Otherwise, Sony would not have a faulty pixels policy:
Sony : VGN-FZ31J problems ? find tips and solutions from Sony

 

The entire computer, including it's LCD screen, is covered by warranty for one year (at least here in the U.S.). You state the rep said there is a "physical issue". If this is the case, Sony does not cover damage from mishandling the computer, so the LCD would not be covered under warranty.

So I'm unclear as to how the damage happened. Are there signs of physical abuse? How did she determine "physical damage"?

 

She looked at my screen and determined that it was a physical damage indeed.
Of course there are none other than scratches.

 

Thanks for your advice. I am just waiting for Sony to complete their assessment and charge me with ridiculous repair quote. Once that is determined, perhaps I can appeal my case to superior/ manager and see what they would have to say.

After 3 days - they have conducted no work on the laptop still...I find this situation very frustrating

 

The only way to get companies to sort their act out is to not buy their products. When asked why you don't buy their products you should state unequivocally that it is due to poor customer relations post sale.

It already appears that people are voting with their wallets when it comes to Sony and are fleeing to the likes of Apple so I guess this is karma in a way.

I feel that some of these problems (i.e. my Z1's loose hinge, bruised LCD and now squeaky keys), are direct results design issues like aggressive weight saving to a point that the notebook really has no tolerance to physical shock. I used to own an F12 and whilst it is heavy at 3.2kg, the LCD backcover is paper thin and scratches with frightening ease for a computer that costs this much. It also had its share of design issues like a rubberized palm rest that comes loose and the infamous whistling fan.

I feel as if their customer service representatives are trained to reject warranty claims by default in order to limit claims that arise out of design flaws rather than user error.

 

Then it's not really her job to determine if it's under warranty or not. That's the technicians decision based on his findings. Of course, all companies charge for a repair quote these days if they determine it was owner abuse that caused the damage. But that's not known until a tech determines the part that failed and the reason for it.

Two years ago, I took my Sony TZ for repairs as the bezel broke. It was my fault as I had accidentally stepped on it as I had hidden it under my car seat and forgot about it. I had the accidental damage coverage, so I wasn't too worried. But Sony ended up repairing it under regular warranty. So I actually had a good experience with them. Maybe it was luck.

Good luck and keep us posted on the results.

 

Update: Technican deemed that the unit was physically damaged. Nothing would be covered by the warranty. As matter of fact, Sony is telling me to fix all the prior defects (before LCD cracked) out of my own pocket (specifically the keyboard). They would need to replace the palmrest ($200 + labor).

I am totally stunned. Absolutely speechless. The total repair estimate came out to be $700.

 

I'm really sorry to hear that. If they deem one problem to be due to physical damage, chances are they're not gonna cover any other issues as they can't verify if it was pre-existing.

Without detailed pictures, I can't blame you or Sony. I'm imagining there must have been some clear physical damage for Sony to refuse warranty on such a new unit. If you get a chance, we'd love to see some detailed pics.

 

Once I receive the laptop back, perhaps I'll try to take some pictures.

In the mean time, I'll may try to sell this laptop as is or for parts.

Does anyone know whether the past generation VPC-Z11,12,13 Lcd is compatible with Z2?

 

Hayte, as usual I think you have hit the nail on the head with these comments. (Pardon my abridging your post to emphasize the points that I think are increasingly felt by many.)

Ok, I know this is another one of my absurdly long posts with the risk that it is of interest to only a few. I wouldn't post them if I thought that, though it's a possibility I try to consider before doing these "novellas," lol. Seriously, please let me know if this is just not what you think belongs in a thread like this and I will cut it down to just a few summary sentences. Thanks.

I do have a lot more to say about it than just my advice to Sky which is, if your convinced the facts and the law are on your side, letting some of the really experienced people before me who have offered to review your photos, wherever you are located, first try to work within Sony to get satisfaction and then consider outside legal/consumer protection options where you live. Folks, this is really deplorable corporate behavior and, while some have had perfectly acceptable experiences with Sony customer support

Sky, I am very sympathetic and very sorry you have to go through this. If I hadn't heard this story so many, many times, just as you have stated/experienced it, and Sony behaving just as Hayte describes: "as if their customer service representatives are trained to reject warranty claims by default in order to limit claims," I might be more inclined to reserve judgment. But Sony is a "repeat offender" in this way - big time! Do a Google search on NBR (the site's search function is no good) using keywords like "Sony refuses to repair under warranty" and "Sony claims problem due to 'owner abuse'" and I would say I remember at least 5 virtually identical such threads/posts in the past 6 months or so.

While I agree with Trader Joe that it's not possible for any of us to say without seeing at least pictures of your Z and hearing a slightly more specific explanation as to just what you think has happened to cause the screen problem - ie, just opened it up upon your return from trip and the horizontal line was there? Also, when you say there is no sign of damage, "just scratches" are you just saying that the only signs of wear on the Z2 are what you would consider ordinary course of use minor scratches on the lid, keyboard deck and/or base?

It's not clear to me what country you are in, and if it's not U.S. - a bit unclear by your description of this happening upon your return from a "road trip back to the U.S." - it's all about your country's/local consumer protection laws and avenues of legal recourse. In the U.S., it varies by State laws, but most states have offices of Attorneys General consumer protection bureaus of various sorts.

In my opinion, and from experience with many electronics manufacturers in recent years, any time a company as large as Sony applies a fairly well documented policy of attempting first to deny responsibility for defects under manufacturer's warranty it's just a terrible sign of the company's business ethics and, as Hayte has opined, truly will send customers away to other brands, particularly those that are viewed as making quality products and standing behind them when owners have difficulties. I don't think this is of much interest to Sky right now, but while we're on the subject, I think it's worth noting that it's not only a reason to avoid purchasing their products in the future, but it's a pretty good tip to sell their stock short, because this is a policy that mostly only poorly run companies or companies in decline and decreasing earnings or increasing losses (all of which apply to Sony in recent years) are likely to adopt as policies.

In all, though I have not yet personally had such an experience with Sony (I have only owned my first Sony Vaios - Z1s - in the past 9 months and, so far no problems) I have had this kind of experience as a customer after paying a premium price not only for high performance but for quality and having a giant corporation clearly train all their customer-facing call center (and, it seems, service depot) staffs to attempt always to deny warranty coverage, well, it's really a very ill-conceived and financially costly policy in the end because the cost of the opposite policy - pretty much always repair the gear during the warranty period, even with some signs of customer mishandling - will create customer loyalty, repeat purchases, great viral "advertising" to others worth far, far more than the normally immaterial expense across a multi-billion dollar sales company to fix, using refurbed parts, perhaps 0.5% - 1% of the products they sell that they might otherwise be able to legally get out of paying to fix under warranty.

It's an extremely expensive "savings" policy, and as much as I love my Z's, at the first sign of trouble, I'm ready to cut my losses, sell them all and very likely never come back to Sony unless there is new executive management that, in fixing the many, many things broken at Sony (and I'm not referring to the products!) sends clear signals to the market that they are doing a turnaround in their customer service policy. It happens to be the case that both HP and Dell have made just such "conversions" in the past 2-3 years and have had their satisfaction in large surveys go from the bottom of all brands to the top 25% in many cases.

Sorry, I know I got on my soapbox here, but not without reason and, honestly, I think we should stand by our fellow members and make them feel supported and "validated" in their feelings of anger and injustice.

Sky, wherever you are I hope you won't just take this without putting up some kind of fight. At a minimum, take Achusaysblessyou's advice and keep calling and trying to escalate the issue to higher levels of management. Sometimes doing much more than this costs us too much lost work time or just gets us spending too much time in a negative mode of thinking and all too often not obtaining better results so feeling even more angry for having put so much more time into it.

END OF DIATRIBE.

 

AFAIK, physical damages are not covered with standard warranty, so you would need to buy an extended one or get some laptop insurance for this (quite normal here in Austria).

Example from TraderJoe is quite positive and good to know, at least you can try.

However, what concerns me most is this thin line definition of "physical damage". Does it only involve dropping/falling/kicking? What about some fine lines on screen/laptop body due to poor design / materials used? What about Z1 palmrest discoloration?

i don't think it's normal to have some microfiber cloth between screen and keypad in order to protect both. Yet, if you don't have one, your Z2 would collect so many fine lines in a few months, looking ugly/cheap, having quite hard times persuading people you have carbon fiber blah blah....

Would that be covered under warranty? What about those poorly designed memory card cut-outs, bending in no time? Would that be covered as well? Even if it would, what about all that time your laptop spent more with Sony repair facility than with you?


Cheers,
Miki

 

please upload picture how looks like this damage