Reader overly delicate?

[HarryT]

If I recall correctly, yours suddenly started showing strange lines on it, didn't it? That sounds like an electronic failure of the screen controller, rather than a physical fracturing of the screen.

I'm certain that Sony would not contest that a screen controller failure would be something covered under warranty. Is it reasonable, however, to expect them to replace a physically fractured screen? If I drop my Reader and the screen breaks, that is not Sony's fault.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by HarryT

If I recall correctly, yours suddenly started showing strange lines on it, didn't it? That sounds like an electronic failure of the screen controller, rather than a physical fracturing of the screen.

I'm certain that Sony would not contest that a screen controller failure would be something covered under warranty. Is it reasonable, however, to expect them to replace a physically fractured screen? If I drop my Reader and the screen breaks, that is not Sony's fault.

But what about the readers that have been sent back in for warranty repair only to be denied when there was no sign of physical damage on the outside of the screen?

[HarryT]

I'm sure that Sony's technicians are the ones best qualified to determine if the damage has been caused by an external trauma, or a spontaneous failure of some internal component. They are certainly far better qualified to judge the situation than we are, don't you think?

[JSWolf]

But do they know the circumstances surrounding the damage? If my Reader's screen broke and I know I did not treat it rough or drop it, I would be looking to get it fixed by Sony under warranty. But if Sony then says it's my fault, I'd be rather pissed. The screen is a physical thing that can break just like anything else without it being the user's faul all the time.

[HarryT]

Certainly, I take your point. Perhaps, though, some peoples' idea of "normal" treatment is a little rougher than others? I don't know. I agree, though, I would find it irksome if the screen were to break when I genuinely had treated my Reader with all due care.

Don't you think, though, that some people must inevitably "try it on" and claim that they've done nothing to cause the failure when in reality they've trodden on their Reader, or sat on it, or something like that? As I say, I think that Sony's technicians are the best judge of these matters, although, as human beings, they are inevitably sometimes going to be wrong.

[JSWolf]

You would think though that if you say sat on it or stepped on it, that there would be a sign of physical damage.

[MikeF74]

Originally Posted by HarryT

I'm sure that Sony's technicians are the ones best qualified to determine if the damage has been caused by an external trauma, or a spontaneous failure of some internal component. They are certainly far better qualified to judge the situation than we are, don't you think?

But lets not take Sony's self-interest out of the equation. Any warranty repair service will usually try to blame the user rather than the parent company. I think this inevitably leads to a condition where only the most obvious flaws are admitted to and fixed. Anything that has even so much as a 10% change of being caused by misuse, will probably always be categorized as misuse. They are not an impartial 3rd party. The deck is stacked in their favor, and I think most large companies take full advantage of their position. And they have few qualms about it since profit is king for publicly traded companies.

[HarryT]

It's worth bearing in mind, however, that many peoples' house contents insurance will cover accidental damage to devices like the Reader. Mine does.

[MikeF74]

I don't know if this is the case in the UK, but here in the US you are severely penalized for using your homeowners insurance. File one, or maybe even two minor claims and you will find your policy being dropped and your name put on an industry blacklist which makes it very hard to find insurance. Also, the deductible which is typically at least $500 is more than the cost of the Reader itself.

[HarryT]

Heavens no - that's certainly not the case here! I think my excess for something like this would be £50 ($100) so it would be well worth my making a claim. My policy also covers me for damage or loss to items away from the home, so I'd still be covered if I took my Reader out with me and dropped it, or something like that.

[MikeF74]

Technically we're covered as well. All of the advertisements make it sound like a glorious thing. But if you actually file claims, they drop you really quickly and share your name with their buddies. Not sure if the $500ish deductibles are for minor claims as well.

[JSWolf]

if you have a $500 deductible, then claiming for the Sony Reader is useless as the replacement cost is less so you'll get nothing from your insurance company. The claim has to be for something costing over $500.

Anyway, it is possible for the screen to break without the user doing it. Sony's answer to "the screen is broken so it must always be a user error" is just wrong. Have they ever given proof that it is user error?

Look at Derek's Cybook Gen3, it now has a line of dead pixels. All that has happened is it got dropped a little once. But we don't know if that caused it or not. It didn't happen right away. It should be able to stand up to a little drop like that and still function.

[delphidb96]

Exactly. And *MY* Sony has hit the floor from about four feet while up and running. Of course, it was in its softcover case, but it still slammed the linoleum quite hard. And it hasn't had a glitch since that happened about three weeks ago. (Strange to think I've owned my Sony for almost two months.)

Derek

Originally Posted by JSWolf

if you have a $500 deductible, then claiming for the Sony Reader is useless as the replacement cost is less so you'll get nothing from your insurance company. The claim has to be for something costing over $500.

Anyway, it is possible for the screen to break without the user doing it. Sony's answer to "the screen is broken so it must always be a user error" is just wrong. Have they ever given proof that it is user error?

Look at Derek's Cybook Gen3, it now has a line of dead pixels. All that has happened is it got dropped a little once. But we don't know if that caused it or not. It didn't happen right away. It should be able to stand up to a little drop like that and still function.

[Adam]

These readers are hand held devices. People are going to be taking them everywhere. They need to be designed to take some punishment. A common test is a 100g shock test or 5 feet drop onto concrete on the flat of the device. Just taking the device to another room is not punishment to the device even if they bumped a wall along the way. Unless there was some evidence that a sharp object or crack that shows way too much torque is would have to be a manufacture defect. Even if the warranty does not cover it, you should look at the consumer protection laws. Hope you took some pictures or video of the reader before sending it to the show cause sony sure isn't going to help you find proof of your innocence. There "WELL" qualified technitions will be looking for any excuse to not accept responsibility and not pay for the repair.

[macastronomer]

I appreciate your comments (everybody).

I received this through Sony Rewards and they are going to send me a new one as soon as they get some in (with of course an RMA of this one). I'm glad I'm not out in the cold here, which is where Sony would otherwise leave me. The trick to this fix, however, is the fact that I had only had it for a few days.

Does anybody here remember people who had Palm III Palm pilots? If you caused any exertion on those at all, the screen would break and Palm did NOT cover them. I know of 4 individuals who had those and all of them ended up with internal screen breakage. I never had one of those, I had a Palm V at the time and it was extremely rugged. I've had many more palms and now have a Palm TX. Never had a problem. There was definitely a problem with the Palm IIIs and was never legitimately acknowledged by Palm. This almost seems the case with the Sony Reader. What I find astonishing is the number of people here who have put their Reader through the hoops and it has survived.

As a note to some of the posts above...

As per a friend of mine, you need to contact your insurance agent and get the details regarding home insurance because they will up your insurance and they won't necessarily tell you that unless you ask specifically. That IS ridiculous, because you'd think, "What have I been paying for all this time?!"

As per Sony knowing whether or not it was mistreated... they don't care. Itr is a "Limited Waranty" (which in some states is not legal and they need to cover it anyway. I don't know which states those are). Their policy says, "if the screen is damaged, we don't cover it". Keep in mind, there is no outside damage to my Reader. It is out of the box new on all surfaces. As I look at the defect, the screen is internally cracked (I didn't recognize that initially) on the top left corner only. It affects the screen all the way down vertically, but the crack is small, thin and only crosses the corner.

Seeing that it is a hairline crack (let me reiterate—internally only), the internal glass looks extremely thin. If that glass has any stress what-so-ever, it will break very easily. I would be very careful with your Readers. I still don't think it should break if it is in there properly without exerting some sort of G-force to it. A twisted unit might break the glass but that would seem to crack the middle of the screen all the way across or diagonally (not a tiny corner).

The outside seems very strong (glass, plastic, metal and all). It flabbergasts me that it could break, inside, on such a small scale, and without an incredible force unless it was either assembled incorrectly (causing undue stress on the glass) or if the glass is extremely fragile (seems unlikely due to the other messages posted here).

Sorry to go on, but I only want to fill in some details and stress my sincerity about this issue.

MA