my sony laptop box sealed?

hey guys. i just ended up buying my sony laptop. however i have yet to open the box as i am weary of it... upon bringing it home and examining i noticed that the box was taped multiple times on the outside big box and on the laptop box itself has 3 sony seals...what could this entail? any ideas? i feel as if it may be used or opened already with this many seals. unless its something else.

 

Any Vaio notebooks that i've ever gotten had one seal...white with the word SONY written multiple times in a diagonal direction. Do all the seals look the same? Which model is it? Where did you buy it?

 

i ended up picking up the TZ298N/XC from Microcenter. It came in the original sony box doesnt have refurb labeled, it looks like the TX i bought before which comes with the external dvd+rw and case. but its the sony laptop box that bugs me as it has been sealed multiple times. but the seal is the one your describing just 3 of them on top of one another. Yeah mine only had 1 seal for the previous laptops i bought.

 

It may have been returns.... I could be wrong though.

 

If each of the seals is the official Sony seal, then that would seem to indicate that official Sony tech support went over the computer each time it was returned, placing a new sticker each time. Returned item, or possibly a refurb, also gone over by Sony techs....

 

I think you should go return it and ask for a new one. Even though it's a Sony seal, having sealed multiple times sounds kind of fishy to me. Definitely go back and ask them for a new one. Just tell them you have friends that works there and suspects that this one is defected. Tell them that you will refuse to open and use this one you will refund and buy it somewhere else. I suspect that this item was an 'OPEN' box. Somebody opened it (didn't power it on) but just returned it for some reason and now they are reselling it.

 

Where did you buy it from? Sonystyle or a retail store?

 

I purchased it from a auth retailer. - microcenter. This is the first product I've bought from them that had 3 seals

 

Yeah definitely sounds dodge!

Then again, when my girlfriend bought her Vaio there wasn't even a sticker! In fact, I don't think they do stickers here in New Zealand - WHICH IS ODD

 

just to add,
when the product arrive to one country from its originality (japan) , the country that receive will inspect the item and ensure that its safe to use. if it safe, there will be extra sticker on the bottom as a proof that the item is qualify for safety and also suitable to use with the voltage that this country use.

in your case, i guess they are inspect the item , or like other said, prolly refurb/return product.
so thats it about the multiple or none seal sticker.

 

thanks for the input everyone. i am going to bring it back and exchange or get a price reduction.

 

Keep us updated on what happens and the story behind all the stickers.

 

It sure looks weird but were the seals underneath the top one damaged or intact. Or you just don't know as you did not take the top one off? If they're intact (let the store) take it off) it may just be that three seals were put on at the factory.

Perhaps it's just that the quality people are paid on productivity and it's counted as the number of seals they put on each day ;-)

 

so i went to the store today... didnt raise hell or anything. just told them my side of the story and issue i have with it. at first they didnt want to help and so i asked for the floor manager and she was pretty helpful. had her bring out a few of the units they had left. i inspected and they all had 3 seals...the explanation i received from the sales supervisor that had ordered the units, advised me that they were all original seals from sony for QA and refresh on the units to the latest operating system version.

 

Eh? What do you mean by "refresh on the units to the latest operation system version"? All Vaios are running Vista. Why would they take the notebook out to "refresh"? Doesn't make sense to be honest. I don't think Sony are installing the latest Microsoft Updates for the customer.

 

i honestly have no idea. but thats what he said..i think he was just pulling out of his to ensure that i was satisfied after opening up 4 of his units to verify that the had a single seal or not... i just opened the laptop like a medical technician examined the laptop an the box contents all of it is clean no prints or nothing... and as for the stickers under the the main seal, they were broken.

 

sounds like "refurbish product/return product from unsatisfied buyer" from sony to me.
how much you pay for the notebook? if it slightly cut from the price for its original price, then you know the reason.

like in Asia, when there a refresh update on sony, the current stock will have slash price cut , the older the batch product, the cheaper it will; up to 30% price cut usually tho..

as for your case, if you still not satisfied, refund back the item, and directly purchase from sony style at your place instead of authorized seller..

 

Didn't the TZ series have those faulty wiring that have the potential to create "dangerous" heat issues that led to Sony issuing a "recall" a few months ago to fix them? Maybe that is the reason why the box has got so many Sony sealed stickers.

Helpful link:
http://esupport.sony.com/US/perl/news-item.pl?template_id=1&news_id=272

 

Good point, that could be the reason why.

The sales staff should at least know the reason for the multiple stickers since they are selling the products.