Sony Service - A mild Rant

[boca]

So here is a lesson for all.
I have been enjoying my 505 since Oct, no problems at all with the system...until last night.

I bought a couple of books from the Sony Connect service and noticed that when I connected the reader to my machine that neither of them synchronized across.

So I tried again...no dice.

I then switched off the auto sync and tried to manually move them. Again no good.

So I took the dramtic step of formatting the reader through the Reader's own menu option (under Advanced options).
This cleared the memeory, and when I tried to re-synch, only 5 out of the 100 books actually came over.
"Very Strange" I thought to get some but not all.

So I phoned up the Sony Tech Service group who then advised me to perform a hard reset.
On switching on the machine after this, I get the message "Invalid Format!"

And the machine freezes out. Nothing shifts this, so the Techy person says I have to send it to Texas for mending.
She makes me dig around to find the receipt I got from Sony Style...because of course she cannot look it up herself, and she informs me that the system is out of its 90 day warranty and I have to pay $95 + postage there to get it mended!

So the way I look at it, they break it, and I pay 30% of the cost of a new machine for the same people to mend it again.

So ...Do NOT format the memory using the Sony Reader menu items, do NOT perform a hard reset, and ALWAYS make sure you have valium close by you when you phone Sony Tech Support team.

Consider yourselves warned!

[kati42]

Originally Posted by boca

So the way I look at it, they break it, and I pay 30% of the cost of a new machine for the same people to mend it again.

So ...Do NOT format the memory using the Sony Reader menu items, do NOT perform a hard reset, and ALWAYS make sure you have valium close by you when you phone Sony Tech Support team.

Consider yourselves warned!

I would ask to speak to a supervisor and explain to them what you told us here. It may take a couple of tries to get one - I have noticed that when I try to speak to a supervisor for any company's customer service, about half the time I am "accidentally" hung up on, transferred back to the main phone pool, or transferred to the wrong department. But usually once I get a supervisor, they are more willing to help me out.

Edit - I don't know if this will work with Sony in particular--I have not dealt with their customer service in a very long time. But it has worked for other companies

[freefall25]

My reader developed a while "line" down the middle of the screen. It is like a line of stuck pixels. I called sony and they said I had to mail it in for service. I sent it in. I was told it would be back in two weeks. It has now been three weeks and every time I call I am told they are waiting for a part. I have tried to find out how long it will take for the part to come in but no one will answer. By the time I get it back my 90 warranty will be gone. So, if I have any more troubles I will have to pay for the service myself.

[PHugger]

I had a problem with Sony Service recently. You can read the sad story HERE and about the happy ending HERE. If you PM me, I just might be able to come up with an email address for you...... (c8




PCH

[boca]

I found a sticky in the forums that told me how to get out of this "Invalid Format!" issue... (Press the center button in the four way controller).

However machine still does not sync properly. Very strange as maybe 5 books come across, but none of the others, and no logic as to why those books succeed over the others).

I was going to delete them all from my hard drive, de-authorize my computer, and rthen edownload them, but it appears the Sony Connect Server is down! Happy...Happy...Joy...Joy Sony!

Hopefully I can sort this out so I do not have to send the machine off to Texas.

I am well pissed though. I hate it when tech fails for no apparent reason.

[boca]

Now that Sony Connect has come back to life...

Hard reset my reader.
(pressed the center button to get rid of that "Invalid Format" massage.
Deauthorized my computer.
Uninstalled the software.
Reinstalled the software.
Re-authorized my computer.
Downloaded my books again (painfully tedious process)
Copied the books across and...

Now I am reading Deja Dead again.
WOOOHOOO!!!!

Now why is it that I had to rely on comments from users in this forum to get this sorted, instead of getting support from Sony?

Thank God for groups like this. I think Sony would do best by getting their tech reps to read the forums BEFORE they are allowed to talk to consumers.

[PHugger]

Customer service is the bane of most companies. The agents are often the lowest paid next to the janitors. MobileRead on the other hand is full of some very smart people who have a collective experience far greater than the aforementioned service reps. In your case, no one has recorded the problem you had nor the solution. Until the response scripts are updated, they'll never have a clue. A lot of companies are going the self-service route. They invest money in forums, FAQs and knowledge bases. Many times I find that I can fix things or find the answers much more quickly on my own.


PCH

[astra]

Originally Posted by PHugger

Customer service is the bane of most companies. The agents are often the lowest paid next to the janitors.

I agree.
I recall, I applied for a job a few years ago and they were ready to employ me despite the fact that I have never heard about a system I was supposed to support over the phone...they said, whenever you have a problem, just enter the question into our "knowledge database". The payment was well above minimum, what can be said about places where the payment is minimum?

[pwalker8]

I'm glad that it all got straightened out. I've got both a 500 and a 505 just so I will have a backup in case something goes bad.

One of the things that I've found on most products is when a product gets into a bad state and it's not hardware related. Typically you can clear it up by uninstalling and reinstalling. With the Sony, you do have to make sure you deauthorize before you do so.

Also, I think that you will find that your books are stored on your pc, so rather than downloading your books again (yes, I agree it's a painful process), you can copy them to a new directory before uninstalling, then import them once you have reinstalled the software and reauthorized the software and you will be good to go. I keep backup copies of my purchased books in several different locations just in case.

[boca]

Reimporting the backup files from the hard drive was my first idea, however I found Sony format books in three different folders, and all had strange filenames so I had no idea what files were what. It was just easier to start again. Now all the files are in one place and a backup has been made!

By the way Sony sent me an email this morning asking me to comment on my experience with the Tech Support group... I will be kind!

[freefall25]

I wanted to update my situation. I sent my reader to the San Diego repair facility. For several weeks the repair was listed as "waiting for back ordered part."
I have since learned a few new things:
All readers are now being repaired in Texas. If you reader was sent to a different repair facility it has to be forwarded to Texas.
If your repair is taking longer that "a reasonable time period" you may request a new one instead. One repair tech told me the "reasonable time period" is usually 15 days.
Since they have had my reader for more than 3 weeks I asked for a new one rather than having to wait for the back ordered part. Today I was told that had been ok'd and a new reader was being sent out.
If the help line is answered by an out of the country tech support person you can ask to be transfered to the repair facility. They will put you in touch with the people who are doing the actual repair and can answer your questions.
Unfortunately it seems you have to keep calling and bugging the repair people to get anything done. But, if you do keep on them, after a while they will bump you claim up the chain and get an ok to replace it.

[boca]

That is very good to hear. Well done for pushing them.

[Cthulhu]

@ Boca: Glad to hear that your issue was resolved.
Good to know that SONY is *trying* to turn over a new leaf regarding customer Service. Transparency, and shining Fora like this seem to have a positive impact on companies.
I have a possibly related question:

Does anyone else get "invalid format !" in otherwise readable files?

I have a Jasper Fforde book (Fourth Bear) that gave me that notice in the first ten pages every other page. A number of formatting hiccups are evident, like dialogue starting a new paragraph rather than continuing on the same line.

Any ideas? Sorry to hijack the thread, but thought it might be relevant.

[DrMoze]

Originally Posted by boca

Now that Sony Connect has come back to life...

Hard reset my reader.
(pressed the center button to get rid of that "Invalid Format" massage.
Deauthorized my computer.
Uninstalled the software.
Reinstalled the software.
Re-authorized my computer.
Downloaded my books again (painfully tedious process)
Copied the books across and...

Now I am reading Deja Dead again.
WOOOHOOO!!!!

Now why is it that I had to rely on comments from users in this forum to get this sorted, instead of getting support from Sony?

Thank God for groups like this. I think Sony would do best by getting their tech reps to read the forums BEFORE they are allowed to talk to consumers.

I believe you now owe us $95. (We'll waive the postage!)