Horrifying experience dealing with Sony Service Centre

[doreenjoy]

Hey, have you been calling the service center or the customer service number? I think they are different places. I've had good luck calling customer service in the US.

My fingers are crossed for you to have a good result.

[nookreadersoon]

Sounds like your luck has been better than mine. I sent my PRS-505 in on October 8th and am still waiting. Like you, all of the service center folks in Laredo have given me the run around every time I call. They eventually said they were having a tough time getting replacement parts and asked if I would accept a re-conditioned unit (that was on December 2nd). I said yes but am still waiting. When I called today they said the replacement unit had to come from another center and they did not have a tracking order yet, but should have some time this week. (Sound familiar?). I hope to see a box from them some day, but I am not really counting on it any more.

[Pinecone]

When my 600 was about 1 month old, it got flakey.

I called customer service and was told they would cross ship, overnight with Saturday delivery. I was leaving Sunday night for an international trip.

No reader showed up. Called and got a run around from FedEx, and from customer service. Finally figured out they took too long to ship on Thursday, so it wouldn't make Friday deliver and no Sat delivery.

Went round and round. FINALLY got someone high up with Sony USA, and found out I had been lied to. They NEVER ship Sat delivery, even if the customer will pay.

It seems that the customer service people will say ANYTHING to make you happy, even if it WRONG. I had a nice chat with the Sony USA product manager and told her that doing that would hurt more than it would help.

Sounds like they have not fixed it.

[mutabor]

Originally Posted by Pinecone

It seems that the customer service people will say ANYTHING to make you happy, even if it WRONG. I had a nice chat with the Sony USA product manager and told her that doing that would hurt more than it would help.

It seems this way. Actually, my story is not over yet. After another phone call to Sony I was told that they would honor their promise and will ship a new 650.

On Dec'18th they confirmed that the reader has been shipped. I waited for a week and deiced to have another chat with them. This time I was told that it hasn't been shipped yet due to a problem with UPS or DHL and it should ship the first week of January'11.

I may be sound too harsh but it seems those folks at the online support are there to bullshit customers and keep them happy with false answers.

[vxf]

Wow, I am really sorry to hear. If you notice, I recently posted a story about bad customer service with SONY, but I ended up receiving an extra reader from them by mistake - and they are not willing to take it back, accusing me of lying to them (why would I lie when I want to give them back an extra unit they sent me by mistake is something only their CS can explain...).

But, truly, my experience with SONY CS has been overall great - aside the recent story. I had a problem with the screen on a PRS900 (fading in the sun) which I did not spot until late and they replaced the unit well after warranty expiration, quickly and expeditiously.

I had some formatting problems with some ebook (the margins were not lined up properly on some pages) I bought on the SONY store (not even their fault... the publisher was at fault... ) and they refunded me, let me keep the book and even sent me a $20 gift certificate for their store to apologize for the inconvenience.

Then one day I called them because my WSJ was delivered in the afternoon instead of morning and they extended my subscription by a month...

Every time I called service was quick, polite and the outcome better than I had hoped... well, until this last episode.

The lesson I am drawing - there are bad apples on each CS team. If you get one of those, hang up, call again, hopefully you will get someone better.

Or maybe I am wrong and SONY CS has deteriorated recently... after all my recent experience was terrible as well.

[Pinecone]

If I hadn't left on Sunday night, I would have been VERY happy with Sony CS. Even though the replacement unit did not show up until Monday, that was still good.

But since I left, I did not have the reader. And they were promising to ship one to me in Uruguay. Which didn't happen, with excuses like no one will ship to there (this just after I drive past FedEx, UPS and DHL offices). And such.

When I finally got the product manager, she explained that if they shipped one to me there, it would have to have duty paid on it, and it would probably take 4+ weeks to clear customs.

They did offer that if I could find one locally, to buy it, send them the bill and they would reimbursement the entire cost I paid.

It is just that their 1st and 2nd teir will say ANYTHING, even when it is WRONG.

So if things go well, they are great. If they don't, then you get stories like these.

[clerky96]

Wow, this sounds exactly like what is happening to me. I sent mine in & they received it Nov 8th. Couldn't repair but promised a replacement. Still no replacement. I call every week & keep getting no real answers. Getting frustrated. The reader was a gift from my sister & she didn't want to mess with getting it repaired yet again so she passed this nightmare on to me. Believe it or not she actually bought another Sony. Think I would have been hesitant to do that.

[clerky96]

I just got off of the phone with Sony (again) and this time I was told that the replacement reader is scheduled to leave their Texas facility tomorrow and I should have it by Monday or Tuesday. We'll see. At least someone told me something other than "I need to connect you to a different department", or "The service center is closed this week. Try back next week", or "I will find out what is going on and send you an email later today" or "I've turned your acct over to X at the service center and she will personally give you a call back today or tomorrow". I think I heard every excuse there was. I have my fingers crossed, but am not banking on receiving it next week. I expect I will have to call many more times before this is all settled.

[stormcloude]

I had a similar problem getting my 505 fixed. It was having power-on and off problems. I sent it in to the Laredo service dept. After getting the runaround for two months they finally admitted they couldn't fix it and they'd be sending me a replacement-- I even asked (twice, on two different calls) if they'd be sending the same model and they assured me that they would-- a blue 505. What arrived was a black 600. I was pretty much in tears at that point. I didn't give up though. I called and complained and asked for my 505 back. Said I'd rather have my defective 505 than a refurbished 600. Of course they couldn't provide that. As a compromise I asked if they had any other 505s and I finally ended up with a refurbished silver one.

To say it was my worst customer service experience ever is an understatement. I had actually thought about posting about it here, but I felt a little like a whiner, since I did finally get a 505 that works.


Oh, also never once in that entire two months did I ever get a single email from Sony. I even had to pay to send the defective ereader to them myself.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by stormcloude

Oh, also never once in that entire two months did I ever get a single email from Sony. I even had to pay to send the defective ereader to them myself.

That's the way it works with most companies. You pay to send it to them; they pay to send it back to you.

[stormcloude]

Originally Posted by HarryT

That's the way it works with most companies. You pay to send it to them; they pay to send it back to you.

They told me on four different occasions that they'd be sending me a shipping label through Fedex. I never received any of them. They even said they'd reimburse me for my out-of-pocket shipping, which they never did.

It doesn't really matter what other companies do. It matter what Sony says they'll do, but don't.

[SolRaven]

My interactions w/ Sony and replacing my 600 went smoothly, however, I got the impression that they were working w/ a skeleton crew down in Laredo.

[kennyc]

Originally Posted by SneakySnake

That is pretty bad service. I would be well pissed off.
But, horrifying really? Was it even a little bit like watching your grandmother carted off and shot in the street?

I've said it eleventy gazillion times "we should not exaggerate"

My reaction as well. I've had some pretty bad experiences with various customer service people in a variety of circumstances ... including the USPS which lost a Sony 900 I shipped, but I don't think I'd describe any of them as "horrifying."