Good old Sony tech support (HA!)

[KlondikeGeoff]

Being continually frustrated by the idiotic CONNECT eStore, I finally emailed them with three comments.

First, I noted the ridiculously small type that makes it impossible for me to read anything on the pages without a magnifying glass. I pointed out that every other webiste in the free world can be enlarged with Firefox very easily to any size desired.

Second, I pointed out how stupid it is to have to click on a book icon just to be able to read a blurb about it. Then, have to click on "more" to read the entire thing. I suggested their developers go to the Netflix site to see how it should be done...there you just hover the mouse cursor over any DVD and you can read a complete description of the film. If you click it, you get all sorts of additional info. Not exactly a new concept.

Thirdly, I pointed out another annoyance: if you go into a category of book, scroll down and click to read the blurb, when you go back you are right at the top of the page instead of where you just clicked, so you have to scroll way back down to where you were to continue.

I can't see any way they could make shopping for books there any more annoying and tedious.

So, I finally got an email reply. They pointed out that to make the type larger, you just hit the Size button on the Reader to get S, M & L!

I wrote back that I KNOW how to make the type larger on the Reader. I wrote about the CONNECT eStore. I asked them to try actually reading my original email, if they know how.

I just got a reply from them noting that my question was far too technical to handle by email, and I should call them.

Right up to par for Sony.

[igorsk]

You should try this URL for the web store issues... it seems it at leasts sends comments almost straight to the concerned people:
http://connect-metrics.custhelp.com/...eys/ws?_133=22

[KlondikeGeoff]

Originally Posted by igorsk

You should try this URL for the web store issues... it seems it at leasts sends comments almost straight to the concerned people:
http://connect-metrics.custhelp.com/...eys/ws?_133=22

Thanks, gorsk. I tried that once a while back and only got an acknowledgment that it was received, but no response.

[flumbo]

Unfortunately, Connect is more concerned with style than usability. All those little frames and scrollbars everywhere drive me nuts. You have to open the application window to exactly the right height in order to use it properly. Here's some feedback I sent to them a few months back (yeah, I know too long). It would be nice to know someone over there is actually listening to their customers...

Please group books together that are part of a series or at least try to upsell them to me.

When browsing the store the first few times I missed the "1 of 17 Next" area at the bottom of the results pane. If you don't have the store full-screen it is easy to miss.

This little scrollable frame is very frustrating to navigate. I can't use my mouse wheel to scroll. I can't use my arrow keys to scroll. I can't use the space bar to go down a screen. I can't use pagedown to go down a screen. The only way to look at more than the five results you show is by grabbing the scrollbar and dragging it with your mouse-- not very functional or user friendly. What's wrong with treating this as a web page we can scroll through? Seems to work great for Amazon.

For instance, look at the book "Dune House Harkonnen" by Kevin Anderson and Brian Herbert. The description of the book gives almost no information about the plot. The author information has these strange mini scrollbars you have to use to read one more line of text about each of the authors.

Couldn't you just loosen up on the page length restrictions and let the user read that additonal line of text? Clicking to "read more" gives the user more information about the author, but it doesn't have any paragraph breaks. Instead it is just a dense block of unreadable text in another tiny scrolling area of the page.

Please include some information about the book on the "browse" screen. Right now you only show the title, author, publisher and category. I already chose a category, so that isn't needed. I don't choose books by publisher.

There's no information about the actual subject of the book unless you click through to a new page. Then, once again, you have to drag the scrollbar to read the synopsis even if there is still plenty of room.

[Cthulhu]

I have never been happy with technical/customer support at SONY. Sometimes, I am actually glad that my VAIO laptop drowned, so that I did not have to deal with their support, or lack thereof.

It would be very re-assuring to learn that somehow, the comments and evaluations given by people on this forum filter to an actual living, thinking person.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by Cthulhu

I have never been happy with technical/customer support at SONY. Sometimes, I am actually glad that my VAIO laptop drowned, so that I did not have to deal with their support, or lack thereof.

The reason I'm now on my third VAIO laptop is specifically because their technical support has been so outstandingly good in my experience. I used to buy Dell, but had some extremely bad experiences with them. On the one occasion I've needed support from Sony, they came through big-time for me and went "above and beyond the call of duty" to get me back up and running. They've got me as a life-long customer for that. Perhaps it was just that one lady who helped me out who was so great, but whatever it was, she was fantastic.

[Aprilbeginnings]

Originally Posted by KlondikeGeoff

So, I finally got an email reply. They pointed out that to make the type larger, you just hit the Size button on the Reader to get S, M & L!

I wrote back that I KNOW how to make the type larger on the Reader. I wrote about the CONNECT eStore. I asked them to try actually reading my original email, if they know how.

I just got a reply from them noting that my question was far too technical to handle by email, and I should call them.

Right up to par for Sony.

All I can say is Oh BROTHER! Not very are they......

[KlondikeGeoff]

Originally Posted by Cthulhu

Sometimes, I am actually glad that my VAIO laptop drowned,

Aw, come on, Cthulhu, you're not going to let us sit here wondering how you drowned a laptop are you?

Accident, or were you so angry at it you tied a rock around it and dropeed it off a pier?

[NatCh]

That sounds like a story line for some kind of commercial, KlondikeGeoff.

[RWood]

I have heard of people using Macs for boat anchors; but never of using Sony Viao laptops as boat anchors.

[NatCh]

Have to be a pretty small boat.

[Cthulhu]

All right. The story:

I live and work on a wooden charter boat.
When it rains, the deck above my stateroom leaks. I have mostly solved this problem with increasing success over the years by adding a steel guttering system below the deck planks. Before that, I used chunks of old fire hose.

The fire hose worked well, but it was mainly a reservoir system; the rain water would accumulate in the fire hose, but at least it did not drip on my desk or my bunk. Unfortunately, there was no way to drain the "gutter" without making a mess.

So I had a fancy SONY VAIO laptop because I had destroyed the monitor on the handed-down Toshiba I had from my father. Like a fool, I leave the laptop open.

On a charter the day after a big rain storm, we were waked by another vessel. The boat I work on is about as stable as a cigar with a lighter mounted on it. When the boat rolled, all the water that had collected in my "gutters" splashed onto my desk and into my computer.

Like a scene in a movie, when I checked on my stateroom, I picked up the unit and tipper it over, and water came cascading out of it.

Of course, since this was rain water that had seeped through 30 year old wood covered in marine sealant and supported in spots by a steel frame, there were all kinds of nice salts and minerals in it.
The unit needed a new motherboard, and the place I took it to be serviced wanted more than the cost of new computer to repair it, so I held out a bit and then bought an HP pavilion at Mediocre Purchase.
I would have bought the extended warranty if they provided in writing that I was covered for water damage, but they were unwilling to take the risk.

That is how I drowned a SONY Vaio.

[RWood]

That is some story. I like it. No, not that you lost a Sony laptop, but the part about the fire hose and the rest of the drain system.

I have had several Sony laptops over the years and have never had a problem with any of them. I have used customer service for only an LCD monitor that went bad and they were more responsive than the majority of other vendors' customer service departments that I have called over the years.

Sorry it happened and it is a great story.

[yvanleterrible]

Originally Posted by Cthulhu

All right. The story:

I live and work on a wooden charter boat.
When it rains, the deck above my stateroom leaks. I have mostly solved this problem with increasing success over the years by adding a steel guttering system below the deck planks. Before that, I used chunks of old fire hose.

The fire hose worked well, but it was mainly a reservoir system; the rain water would accumulate in the fire hose, but at least it did not drip on my desk or my bunk. Unfortunately, there was no way to drain the "gutter" without making a mess.

So I had a fancy SONY VAIO laptop because I had destroyed the monitor on the handed-down Toshiba I had from my father. Like a fool, I leave the laptop open.

On a charter the day after a big rain storm, we were waked by another vessel. The boat I work on is about as stable as a cigar with a lighter mounted on it. When the boat rolled, all the water that had collected in my "gutters" splashed onto my desk and into my computer.

Like a scene in a movie, when I checked on my stateroom, I picked up the unit and tipper it over, and water came cascading out of it.

Of course, since this was rain water that had seeped through 30 year old wood covered in marine sealant and supported in spots by a steel frame, there were all kinds of nice salts and minerals in it.
The unit needed a new motherboard, and the place I took it to be serviced wanted more than the cost of new computer to repair it, so I held out a bit and then bought an HP pavilion at Mediocre Purchase.
I would have bought the extended warranty if they provided in writing that I was covered for water damage, but they were unwilling to take the risk.

That is how I drowned a SONY Vaio.

Nice story! The Vaio can still be usefull though. Take out the hinge pin between the screen and the rest of the computer and replace it with a 10foot pole, you'll have the most expensive weather vane around.
Next time you want a computer on board, paint the whole boat with silicone. Sikaflex is even better.

[memobug]

Originally Posted by HarryT

The reason I'm now on my third VAIO laptop is specifically because their technical support has been so outstandingly good in my experience. I used to buy Dell, but had some extremely bad experiences with them. On the one occasion I've needed support from Sony, they came through big-time for me and went "above and beyond the call of duty" to get me back up and running. They've got me as a life-long customer for that. Perhaps it was just that one lady who helped me out who was so great, but whatever it was, she was fantastic.

I had two Sony computers, a desktop and a portable. I found that the support was really miserable. Since you are mentioning laptops, I should point out that Sony Support explained to me that my Picturebook PCG C1VN was "not intended for laptop use," which was their excuse for manufacturing a portable computing device that ran so hot it presented a risk of scalding future generations of Sony customers.

Regards,

Matt