Awful Sony Warranty experience, looking for ideas?

[bobtowery]

I bought an RX10 on Dec 10, to be an upgrade from my Nex-7 when traveling on trips that aren't primarily photography trips. I have been an active photog fro 14 years, including pro work and extensive travel photography. I have owned at least 15 camera bodies including Sony, Panasonic, Canon and Leica.

When the camera arrived (from Adorama) I was impressed. But one thing was kind of weird, the SD slot was kind of "sticky," The card didn't slide in and out easily like it is supposed to. Now, with 20-20 hindsight I (the bonehead!) should have sent it back as defective. But in truth, I have never bought any electronics that arrived DOA or mis-manufactured. It just never occurred to me that it was broken. I just figured I would use extra care and it would behave normally in no time.

Instead, after a few usages over 3 weeks, the card refused to go in more than half way. I never forced the card or anything like that. Peering into the slot with a light and magnifying glass, I could see there were some metal parts of the mechanism that weren't where they should be, as compared to my other cameras.

I was just over the 30 day return with Adorama. So I went on the Sony service site, did a work order, and sent the camera to the Laredo warranty facility. I explained clearly what had happened, that it came damaged from the factory, and I was not at fault.

A few days later I get an email saying that since I damaged the camera I would have to pay $250+ to have it fixed. I fired off an explanatory email. I also ask them to consider exactly how a person would break the SD slot, by inserting a card? I mean, really, how exactly could you accomplish this? (especially if you are a person that has been doing this nearly daily for 14 years?)

I get no response, so after two days I call. It takes about 20 minutes to get through to someone that can actually look at my work order and talk to me. His position is that they are "losing money on the repair." I say "well that is what a warranty is for."

Time is getting short though, and the trip that I actually purchased this camera for is now just 7 business days away. I reluctantly agree to pay $100 when he says he can have it fixed that day, and expedited shipped so I can have it for my trip to Mexico.

It never arrived. When I went to the repair site and entered in my work order the day before I left, the site says my camera is still being repaired and no further info was available.

I posted a thread on the sony cybershot forum, and that made someone contact me. Eventually they found my camera, shipped it to me, and it WAS NOT FIXED.

At this point I request that a) I be reimbursed for the camera and b) I'll send it to them so they can fix and sell as a refurb.

They refuse, consider to state it is my fault. They refuse to talk to me on the phone, or name the person in charge of the group I'm emailing with.

I have considered having Visa harass them, but Adorama has no fault here. I could go after the $100 I spent on the sony (non) repair, but here I sit with a worthless camera I paid $1,299 for.

Anyone have any ideas as to how I could get reasonable service from Sony? Anyone know someone with some influence there? I appreciate all suggestions!

[Rob C]

Is there some way of going more public than  via LuLa?

I'm no Internet whizz, so have no idea if youtube or the like can afford a broader spectator base to lend urgency to the Sony people...

I remember back in the 60s an ad agency owner I knew in Glasgow bought a new Jaguar; when they didn't fix problems he took out a huge poster site where he aired his grievance; Jag came through. Publicity works. They fear it.

Rob C

[kencameron]

Is there some way of going more public than  via LuLa?

I'm no Internet whizz, so have no idea if youtube or the like can afford a broader spectator base to lend urgency to the Sony people...

I remember back in the 60s an ad agency owner I knew in Glasgow bought a new Jaguar; when they didn't fix problems he took out a huge poster site where he aired his grievance; Jag came through. Publicity works. They fear it.

Rob C

I have had some success using a business's Facebook Page to get their attention after poor warranty service. I guess  you have already tried something similar with the Cybershot Forum. Is there any kind of consumer protection government agency to which you could complain? We have these in Australia, but maybe that would be too socialistic for the US of A.

[bobtowery]

Yes, the age of social media does give us consumers a bit of a bigger stick, doesn't it? I posted a link to the forum on Sony's f/b page. Someone posted pretty quickly that they would look into it. I also have a thread going at dpreview.com, someone posted a link to the complaint department of the better business bureau.

I don't have a vendetta against them, I was actually hopeful that someone that visits here would know or have a contact with a Sony employee that could put a stop to these shenanigans. Like if this problem was with Canon (ha ha, doubt it), I'll best someone could get me to Chuck Westfall. Maybe Michael or Kevin has a Sony contact?

[Paul2660]

Your best bet will be to have Adorama push Sony.  This is what I dealer should do.  You did not break the camera, but even worse even if you did they sent it back non-repaired.

This is how the world works now, as there is no recourse for you the end user as Sony just won't call back or take calls.  That part doesn't surprise me as I have had happen with other camera product/computer products. 

Sorry to hear about the issue, but I would call Adorama, customer service, and explain the situation and what happened up to now.  See if they can get the issue handled as their contract with Sony is a lot larger and they do have more push.

Paul C.

[Some Guy]

Might try filing a complaint online with the Sony Customer Service Complaints site.  http://www.customerservicescoreboard.com/Sony

Seems Diane Fuller (Sony Customer Service rep.) is addressing some of the issues in the comments section if you are in the USA.  Might be a stretch given that Sony's overall customer satisfaction is even lower than Nikons and they rank as "Terrible " on that site.

I fear their poor service will always keep them out of becoming a pro-level camera market no matter if they do make a good camera or not.  My experience with their large TV wasn't much better in that the local service/selling outfit refused warranty repair as "Sony didn't reimburse them enough for their time."  Had to pack it up and drive 300 miles to a metro repair center owned by Sony.

SG

[BernardLanguillier]

I do fully understand how infuriating the whole experience must have been.

Now, is the issue really impacting?

If you able to slide SD cards in and out, is there a real world impact that makes the crusade worth it?

It may be worth asking yourself the question.

Cheers,
Bernard

[ripgriffith]

I do fully understand how infuriating the whole experience must have been.

Now, is the issue really impacting?

If you able to slide SD cards in and out, is there a real world impact that makes the crusade worth it?

It may be worth asking yourself the question.

Cheers,
Bernard

If you will re-read the OP, you will see that he cannot slide the card more than half-way in, making the camera useless.  It is absolutely worth the "crusade".

[bobtowery]

Thank you Rip! Was wondering if I had a failure to communicate.

[jjj]

It's ironic that the USA which is meant to be so much better than us at customer service, yet seem to be quite bad at guarantees and the like. Here in the UK, the shop selling item is responsible for handling the warranty, not the manufacturer. Although the manufacturer/distributor may end up sorting things out, it's only the shop you should have to deal with. The guarantee is supposedly just a year, but in the EU most products should last a minimum of 2 years in fact or even longer with some products.

If you will re-read the OP, you will see that he cannot slide the card more than half-way in, making the camera useless.  It is absolutely worth the "crusade".

Sadly way too often on forums, people are too lazy to properly read a post, before rushing to give a snarky or irrelevant reply.

[allegretto]

Virtually all of us have one or more stories as this to tell. It's solo frustrating.
.
Your one-man crusade to beat on them likely will exhaust you with little in return. Sony is notorious.

Waste no more time and file a claim with your credit card company. they have a much bigger stick than you. Further, Adorama may not be as blameless as you think. This may be a "slider". A product that has been returned for some reason and slid back into the box and sold as new. Was all the packing fresh? Some items from B&H are like this, but I love their trial period and expect this. As long as it works fine and looks right I don't care really.

next time return it at once and pay for expedited shipping if a trip is coming up. But you know this now

BTW - isn't that the way? the odds of something working properly is directly proportional to the timeline you need it for.

[BernardLanguillier]

If you will re-read the OP, you will see that he cannot slide the card more than half-way in, making the camera useless.  It is absolutely worth the "crusade".

Ah indeed, I misread.

Cheers,
Bernard

[bobtowery]

I have a similar thread going on dpreview.com (many more replies). One of the good folks there gave me several emails to try, which I did. Today I got a phone call from a nice woman, responding to the email, promising to look into it, without making any promises about the resolution. Especially the one I want, buy my camera back from me and sell it as a refurb.

But I'm going to be hopeful (since I'm a positive kinda guy).

Thanks all for the thoughts.

[bobtowery]

So they just called back. They still maintain I broke my camera. All they are offering is free shipping to the repair facility, and repair it for free since the previous $100 repair was ineffective.

How screwed is that?

One of my friends just picked up a Fuji X-T1 and is dumping his A7 and RX-1. Another friend was planning on buying an A7 and she's decided against that.

What an incredibly stupid company.

[allegretto]

yep

best to vote with you wallet

[Neil Vanderwolf]

yep

best to vote with you wallet

I recently went through something similar (but at a higher cost to me) with Nikon and my D800. Absolutely the worse customer service experience I have had in my life. Fujifilm tried to mess me around two years ago but eventually came through in the end (with a LOT of 'persuasion' on my end). I sold my Fujifilm gear and will never spend on a penny on that company again. The recent Nikon experience had me wanting to sell everything and move on. Financially it just doesn't make sense right now (too much of a loss to sell everything I just bought a year ago). Nikon won't receive another penny of my money in the future (Zeiss, Sigma etc make great lenses).

Sony in the past has gone absolutely above and beyond to keep my happy but in the end the quality of their products had me taking lenses/bodies/flashes too often so I sold it and moved on.

In short, these companies just don't care, simple as that. For every customer they lose, they gain another having a bad experience with another company thinking that the 'grass is greener...'

Good luck with getting your problem resolved.

[bobtowery]

Yesterday I emailed the (US) CEO and a division head for consumer electronics. I gave them the whole story plus links to the forums on this and two other sites.  I told them this was not a matter of money to me, it was principle.

I also copied the person that had called me, but up until then refused to do anything besides ship back for free and repair at no further cost.

This morning she called and said "your case has been reviewed by senior management. We are going to refund your $100. You can return your camera to us at our expense, and we will cross ship you a brand new one. And we'd like to ask you to let your social media sites know that we resolved the situation."

This isn't the full solution I asked for but I think it is as good as it will get. When the UPS man comes today with my new Fuji X-T1, I'll hand him the Sony.

And I suppose the new RX0-10 will end up on ebay.

One shouldn't have to resort to all of this to get reasonable service. Thanks for everyone's thoughts here.

[Neil Vanderwolf]

One shouldn't have to resort to all of this to get reasonable service. Thanks for everyone's thoughts here.

You nailed it there. I was all prepared with an email prepared for the President of Nikon Canada, the Customer Service Manger of Canada etc. After a day of 'cooling down' I decided that it's just not worth my time and effort. These companies should be offering better service to begin with and not just reacting to 'threats'. I didn't care about the money so much (even though it was six times what you had paid), it's the fact that they lie, cheat and steal* that really gets me).

Glad you got it resolved. Good luck with your Fuji.

[Manoli]

Sorry to hear of these problems.

Unfortunately, it seems that (in the UK at least) very few pro or semi-pro outlets want to have anything to do with Sony for the very reasons that you've suffered. It's not just customer service that's shuttered behind closed doors but also their distribution channel. One dealer explained all the hoops he had to jump through just to return a box that had been damaged in transit - before he'd even sold it! End result : they don't stock Sony anymore, they can't offer the service without the backup of the product they're selling.

Sony make (some) good cameras. But the reality is that if you buy one, you're on your own and if something goes wrong - don't expect lightning service. The only people who may have some clout, are the large distribution channels - the box movers - and they're not the crowd to help you to a swift and speedy resolution.

Having said that, I have and do buy Sony cameras - but it's a calculated risk. Best to give any new purchase a thorough rundown during the first weeks. If you get through that, the odds are on your side that you'll be OK.

[jjj]

My girlfriend had a Sony Vaio laptop and after about 8-9 months there was a bit of a glitch with the monitor.
A quick phone call to Sony and off it went to be fixed and back again in no time. Though this is the UK.

However it took embarrassing Sandisk on social media to get them to even pay any attention when several of their cards failed on a documentary film shoot - on different cameras.
And even then they passed the buck to someone else. When approached directly, they were simply not interested and this is a company that likes to market itself providing storage for professionals. I will never buy anything by them again. Particularly frustrating was the fact that the only time just one camera was allowed and a CF disk died irretrievably. It was the key moment of the story.