recent sony support question

Has anyone used Sony's customer support to fix their laptop recently? (like in the past week or two.) I know they send out boxes so you can put your laptop in. Recently they told me they were shipping me 2 boxes on two seperate dates. However, I never received them. When I called, they said that they didn't receive a tracking number for the boxes, which meant that it was never shipped.

Anywho, anybody else get this problem? Curious if its just me or if Sony's box requesting system or whatever is having issues. It's pretty frustrating, seeing as how its been over a week since my original call to get a box shipped and my laptop keyboard isn't functioning correctly.

 

Well having to deal with technical support of multiple companies on a weekly basis I would tell you it is in no way surprising. With most comapny outsourcing their ti tech supp to India, but still having their shipping locations in the states. It makes for some weird situations. As a whole tech support quality is lowering each and every year I work in the IT field. For example Cisco . Five years ago you would call em ad talk to a CCIE if you passed lvl 2 support. Now you talk to various mexican and indian guys with no IT trainings....

Otto.

 

This is why you should always call tier two directly, and skip the tier 1 support. You'll just get lost in the system otherwise.

 

Sony used to (as far as I know) only have 1 main repair facility near Sacramento, CA ---- they just recently opened another facility in/near Memphis, TN. Repair orders have been getting lost/screwed up recently because of the confusion of opening another big facility.

I sent my computer in for repair last week. Box was supposed to arrive on Tuesday, didn't, I called, they said my work order number had been canceled, but then figured out a box was coming out anyway and that my computer was being shipped to the new Memphis location. The box that arrived was MUCH easier to put together, and was much more secure (packaging-wise).

Anyway, I've had good experiences with Sony repair-based shipping in the past ---- I'll wager that your recent experiences have to do with the opening of the new facility.

EDIT: I should add that I ended up shipping my box/computer out on Wednesday of last week, and received my unit back the following Tuesday. Pretty quick turnaround!

 

I really am not sure about where the Sony repair facilities are. I live near San Diego and I know that there is one in San Diego. I also know about the one in Memphis because the last time I returned my laptop on a business trip to the east coast it went to Memphis. I have to say that my return experiences have all been good. The box arrived the day after I talked to Sony on the phone. It is a collapsed flat box with two pieces of plastic that once constructed sandwich your notebook in a cushion/electrostatic/water resistent pouch. I really have no idea why I have heard complaints about this box. It seems very effective. I have always received my computer back in less time than the Sony support side advertises. Oh and recently they seem to be callin a lot more often than in the past to confirm things like changing hard drives and such. I really have no complaints with the mail your computer back service. I have seen worse (HP aghhh...they still annoy me). Oh, by the way, the box that you get your computer returned in is completely different than the build it yourself one. It has foam padding in and seemed purpose built. Just no electrostatic baggy funny enough.

 

I had been receiving the box-within-a-box packages, but received the foam-packed boxes for my last return. I agree with you on the construction of the former though --- seemed very stable and secure.