Sony refused to fix my broken reader

[martye8]

I have had my Sony Reader for 10 months, having purchased it at inception. Recently, I turned it on, only to find half the screen unreadable. I sent it in for warranty service, only to have it returned by warranty service, who claimed that there was physical damage to the LCD. There was NO damage to the LCD, no sign of damage to the screen or abuse of the unit. (I babied it, so that was no surprise). However, warranty service claimed that a failure of the screen in my case, WITHOUT ANY INDICATION OF ACTUAL DAMAGE OR ABUSE, was not covered by manufacturer's warranty. They were quick to ask if I had any extended warranty but lost interest when I told them I did not. BTW, Sony did not offer such when I bought the unit directly from them last year.

Can anyone suggest how I might get this repaired under warranty?

Thanks!

[TadW]

Hmm I was among the first who bought the Reader, and at the time I bought it, there was already an extended warrenty available.

Hm... I would probably try to give it to their warrenty service again and point out (in a letter perhaps) that whatever caused the defect, it wasn't physical damage.

[JSWolf]

I would call and get them to acknowledge the warranty and then send it in. And if need be, speak to a manager instead of the person you initially get on the phone.

[cftall]

Read your post with much interest.I was also one of the first to purchase the new reader, up to and including the two day shipping (100.00 ). Like you I had the same problem, my screen went bad. I was also told I damaged my screen.Needless to say I was outraged. Being a disabled vet. (reading is my life) I am on a fixed income and make no mistake Im not crying (my life is good). But I feel treatment I recieved at the hand of Sony was outragous.My reader now is attached to my wall as a monument to corp.insensativity at the very least and my incredible stupidity in believing one person matters.
Sorry I didnt mean for this to be a rant ,I guess Im still angry.Anyway Im savin my scrach for the Baen reader. Some how my glass always ends up half full. So where ever you are Jim, THANKS " Crackers ".

[kkapkin]

I bought my unit from Borders in California and no one at the Borders bookstore offered me any extended warranty!! Just to let you know.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by cftall

Read your post with much interest.I was also one of the first to purchase the new reader, up to and including the two day shipping (100.00 ). Like you I had the same problem, my screen went bad. I was also told I damaged my screen.Needless to say I was outraged. Being a disabled vet. (reading is my life) I am on a fixed income and make no mistake Im not crying (my life is good). But I feel treatment I recieved at the hand of Sony was outragous.My reader now is attached to my wall as a monument to corp.insensativity at the very least and my incredible stupidity in believing one person matters.
Sorry I didnt mean for this to be a rant ,I guess Im still angry.Anyway Im savin my scrach for the Baen reader. Some how my glass always ends up half full. So where ever you are Jim, THANKS " Crackers ".

Did you call Sony and ask to speak to a manager to try to get the issue sorted?

[cftall]

I did call the people at sony. They told me that the damage was my fault and a new screen was $250.00. I asked to speak to a mngr. He said there was nothing he could do.I treat my readers with incredable care. No way I damaged my reader!
C.F.Tall

[Azayzel]

I was reading up on some of the terms in the CC's that I have, one of them has a benefit that it automatically extends the warranty for an item purchased for up to a year; i.e., if the company won't fix it, they will replace it. Another term was somewhat like a lemon-clause; in other words, if the item breaks within the first three months, accidental, stolen, vandalized, they would replace this as well. Of course each CC is different and there was a clause stating that the entire purchase price for the item must be made using the card.

So, what am I getting at? If you paid for your Reader with a CC you might want to do a little research and see if the card you used has this same type of protection. It would only take a few minutes to research, but might save you some money in the long-run. Good luck and sorry to hear about your predicament!

[Giovanni2010]

i have the same problem in germany. Sorry i don´t speak english. No more sony for me.

[alfredopp]

Just let me ask you something. Did you call the Laredo, Texas repair center? Or did you call technical support? I know for a fact the LCD damage does not void your warranty but you have to call tech support

I agree with JSWolf and others. Sony's tech support is lackluster and they no doubt have quotas to meet. So they probably automatically reject certain types of repairs in hopes that the customer will let them get away with it and just buy a new model. Whenever you have problems at any tech support or repair center immediately bump it up to the next level and request a manager. If they see you are willing to spend the time to ride their case until you get satisfaction, they might agree to do the repair. If not, you gave it your best try.

BTW, which Sony reader do you own?

[Worldwalker]

In any organization, there is a person who can say yes. Generally that person is not the first one you will talk to; often not even the second. The key to successful customer service requests is finding the person who can say yes.

The people on front-line customer service are there to say no. Except in very, very limited circumstances defined in their scripts, they're not allowed to say yes. Their job is not, in fact, to solve your problems. Their job is to get you off the phone. They are evaluated, and often paid, by metrics that focus heavily on the number of calls they handle per hour. This is true of 99% of all companies.

So if you have a problem that isn't one of the limited number of cases in which the person at the call center is allowed to say yes -- even if it's just a slight variant on one of those cases -- they cannot help you. They will be fired if they help you. You need to find the person who can say yes. It might be a supervisor; it might be second-level support; it might be the person who reads snail mail; who it is differs a lot, depending on the company. The one thing you can nearly guarantee, though, is that it isn't that person who says "Thank you for calling BigTechCo." They just want to get rid of you. They're paid to get rid of you. They're the people who can only say no.

[slippy]

Regarding the screen breakage with no sign of damage, I put my PRS300 in my jacket chest pocket, jumped in the car (wife driving), and fastened the seatbelt. We got to our destination, and my screen was broken, typical substrate issue. The reader had not been subject to any hard knocks or drops, but it was still broken. It was 3 weeks old.

Waterstones UK wouldn't help other than to send the machine for repair to Sony. Unfortunately, it was the wife who took the machine back, as I was at work, and she let Waterstones fob her off with a repair. Luckily, Sony repaired the unit FoC.

Although the machine had not had any direct knocks, I believe that the chassis may have twisted whilst it was in my pocket (possibly due to the seatbelt tension?) putting stress onto the screen, and fracturing the substrate. Due to the readers being thin, they are easy to flex slightly out of true. These devices, although portable, are not really rugged enough just yet - a thicker, heavier device would likely be more robust (but less desireable).

[DoctorOhh]

To the new original poster, Why re-activate a 2 and a half year old post. This is nuts, please start a new thread next time.

Originally Posted by slippy

Luckily, Sony repaired the unit FoC.

Although the machine had not had any direct knocks, I believe that the chassis may have twisted whilst it was in my pocket (possibly due to the seatbelt tension?) putting stress onto the screen, and fracturing the substrate.

You were very lucky that Sony repaired the unit free of charge after you broke it in the manner described above. It was indeed abused, subjected to predictable stresses that will break most any reader often enough.

The same thing happens when folks put readers in their cargo pants and sit down. the tension of the fabric stretched around the thigh is often enough to crack a screen.

I'm glad Sony stepped up big for you.

[slippy]

Originally Posted by dwanthny

You were very lucky that Sony repaired the unit free of charge after you broke it in the manner described above. It was indeed abused, subjected to predictable stresses that will break most any reader often enough.

I only surmise the screen was broken in that manner. It had not been abused, the jacket was not tight fitting (it wasnt zipped up), nor was the seatbelt tight. There was no incident in the short drive (where I was aware) that the seatbelt got tighter - although the reader was in my chest pocket, it was not covered by the belt. Experience tells me that this was a possible cause of the substrate fracture, not the definite cause.

I am an electronics engineer, and had already guessed that putting the reader into a trouser pocket was probably not a good idea, for the reasons you mentioned. I have repaired enough stupid faults to ensure I try and look after my own electronics in a careful manner.

Since the incident though, I have bought 2 cases. The Sony one I use for general day use around the house, but as soon as the reader goes outside now, it goes into a Book-Armor case for protection.