Apalling warantee service from Vaio in the UK

[JimpsEd]

A week after I got my laptop (~ 10 months ago, Sony Vaio SZ3), one of the side plastic panels was coming loose. You could apply little pressure and it would come apart slightly. It never really fell off, but could easily snap.

Sent it back, was repaired on guarantee. Returned promptly.

10 months on, exactly the same build fault is occurring, on exactly the same panel. No excessive wear and tear, no physical damage - just the same fault, likely the result of poor build quality.

Now, Vaio are claiming the fault is a physical damage and will cost £148 + VAT to repair, and it cannot be done under warranty.

I have disputed this and told them that they repaired the same thing, free of charge 10 months previous.

In reply, they said "Replacement parts only have a six month warranty, regardless of your overall warranty".

While I do not know whether or not this is true, I replied that the fault isn't with the replaced part, but how it is attached to the base unit.

They sent me a picture of the supposed damage - can you see any? I sure can't, and nor could the embarrassed representative who was talking to me on the phone:



I am waiting to hear back from them, but I am not confident - 4 phone calls and they are still saying it is the result of my physical damage.

If they do not repair it under warranty, I am going to pay them to fix it, have it returned, sell the laptop, buy a Dell and then sue them for my costs and expenses (on the basis of harming my statutory rights and not upholding the warranty).

My laptop is coming to the end of its warranty, and I usually replace around about this time (and it was going to be another £1600s worth of Vaio kit), but thank goodness I've experienced this now rather than later - they certainly won't be getting my money again.

[JimpsEd]

I called back today (I was meant to hear back from them on Friday) and spoke to someone who read through the account history.

She said there has been a 'long update' made to it this morning, she read it out to me.

It was a notice from 'head office' citing my forum post, saying that the picture that showed no damage and stated an understanding as to why I was angry at the service. It also cited a service bulletin, and it is a known fault that should be fully repaired as per it, free of charge.

I am impressed, because whoever saw the forum post took the time to find out my case (the only details I gave were that I had an SZ3, and the plastic panel was at fault).

So maybe it was just one of those things, and there is a miscreant engineer in the back-office who kept sending the support reps back to me to say it was my fault, my liability etc.

A week later, +1 here for Sony Vaio (Head Office, at least).

[mutungi]

All is well that ends well! Sony products are top quality and should not have given you that problem in the first instance! The only laptops better than Sony in build quality and durability are Apple!

[jumpsuit]

Glad its all sorted JimpsEd

[Thalamus.]

It's good to hear that your problem has been fixed JimpsEd..