BEWARE OF SONY CANADA!

[blazingcannon 0]

I can't believe I'm having to write this about Sony of all companies, but they screwed me over good.

I bought a PC-101 in June last year, and 3 months later the flip out screen started becoming unreliable (I guess there was a bad connection to the camera somewhere).

I hadn't jumped it all that much and I have never heard of people having problems with Sony products like this.

I sent it in to get fixed, they sent it back not fixed.
I sent it in to get fixed again, they sent it back not fixed.

I sent it in a third time, but this time I expected a replacement and I complained about the customer service.

They ignored my calls and the dealer's calls to them, they insinuated it was my fault and wasted hours of my time on the phone trying to find my information in their computers.

If not a new camera, then the least I would have expected was a new 1 yr warranty to make up for their shoddy repairs and bad customer service.

Nope. They would only replace the warranty for the 3 months they had spent NOT repairing my camera. Pretty much the bare minimum of trying to make the customer happy.

I had spent 40 bucks in courier charges to get someone to take notice of me, and when I finally got a call back from Sony, they said reimbursing me for this would be no problem.

I called them a week later to ask about getting the money back and they said they had no record of telling me they'd replace courier charges.

So, as far as I'm concerned, they lied to me, cheated me and were very unprofessional.

You'd think after spending 2 grand, you'd get a bitta somthin back from a company. Not a chance.

How's that for being swallowed whole by a big fish company.

Anyway, feel free to buy Sony, as long as you understand they'll fuck you hard when the stuff breaks down, even when it's still under warranty.

SONY SUCKS!!!

"Spread your legs and fly"

[Craig 0]

When going through all of this did you ever ask to speak with their "superior"? I have found that more often than not the customer service reps. have no idea of policies or anything for that matter. Try to fight it at a higher level... I am not talking about Sony here cause luckily I have never had to get a repair done, but just in general. Oh, make sure you get names and ext. numbers as well. Be persistant. It is screwed up all the money these big corperations make off us and after the sale your on your own.

[Fuzzy 0]

Hey Glenn

Your not alone in your woes, there are a number of horror stories floating around, including my own, but there are also some "feel good stories".

Manufactures can be like this on warranty issues (Sony, Cannon, Panosonic, JVC....). I asked the distributor who was best with warranty issues, and was told they are pretty much all the same. Why? because they can.

Complaining to Cust Svc Mgr's etc may make you feel better after venting, but it will seldom produce the results desired. That said, it's still important to let them know - Do it in writing.

Going through the distributor, may get better results vs direct to Sony, especially if you have spent a bunch of dollars and plan to spend more, but even they may just wish you luck.

Also it should be noted that when you do send something in, mfg's can apparantly test to see if the problem was caused by "misuse" ie. sudden impacts, jarring, improper storage etc. This will usually nulify most warranties regardless.

As a side note
I'm on camera #5, all but one from the same store (they look after me).
Have never bought extended warranty (because of just this situation).
Most important, the words skydiving have never entered the conversation when purchasing or getting service, it can tend to scare them.

Lastly, "everything" gets followed up in writing now, incl names & dates. Verbal conversations will get you nowhere, it's a pain, but pays in the long run.

Sorry about your problems.

Fuzzy
Ambition / Ability: Know the difference.

[r2hubert 0]

Quote

I bought a PC-101 in June last year, and 3 months later the flip out screen started becoming unreliable (I guess there was a bad connection to the camera somewhere).

I have exactly the same problem on mine, sometimes the screen comes off so I close and open it again to turn it on again. But it's really unstable
I'm not going to send it back because I need my camera every WE. But I will have to do that if it totally break later

--
Renaud SMA #9
"Mind is like parachute. It only functions when it's open."

[AndyMan 7]

This is one reason I recomend buying Extended Waranty's sold by manufacturers. Waranty work under these plans is usually done by third parties, not the manufacturer, and not the retailer.

These third parties will usually do you right, simply because they know if you conplain to the retailer, the retailer can change waranty providers.

Skydiving gear is the one area I will buy extended warantys, just because the likelyhood of me neeing is so much greater.

_Am

__

You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

[freeflyanvil 0]

Put your camera up on ebay and make a nice add saying how shit it is. Also mention that you have remaining warranty and that it's the shitiest warranty and service that you've ever had.

Next, email the link to some sony customer reps. and sales people saying that you thought they might be interested in buying their piece of shit camera back.

I have seen people do this with certain products and have them replaced REAL fast when they didnt get any cooperation before the ad/auction.

Vid
"stons fal, evrysing fals, but doesnt on purpos change its flite pas an positioning..."

[blazingcannon 0]

Yup, I started doing things in writing, but still to no avail.
It took a letter in writing for them to take notice of me after they'd completed shoddy repairs twice.

You're right - complaining to the customer service manager did no good- but it didn't feel good venting because she wouldn't budge.

Everything I asked for that would make me feel better was pretty much shot down.

And, speaking of writing everything down (times, dates, names, what was said) with Sony, it doesn't matter if you make notes, because if they don't write it down, it didn't exist.

The Customer service manager told me in a conversation that she'd reimburse me for the courier charges I spent getting them to stop ignoring me.
I wrote that down, and the time and the date.

A week later I called her on it and she magically had no record or recollection, and besides, "they would never consider that".

SHE LIED TO ME!! There's no excuse for customer service that treats you like that.

I even sent an email to the Toronto Star explaining my plight, and CC'd the customer service manager and the President of Sony canada, but magically the email demons at Sony decided not to forward them on. So, it doesn't really matter what you do as a customer. you can yell as loud as you want and they won't listen.

And the dealer - you were saying they might do something? Their hands were tied as well. Sony was ignoring them too! All the dealer could do (after much of my fussing with them) was send me a couple mini DV tapes (which is at least more than Sony could offer!)

And yes, you're right, they tried to say that my camera had been jostled around and was in poor condition, not to say that it shouldn't work perfectly... which contradicts itself.

Oh, and of course, I never once mentioned skydiving...it's obvious that would freak them out.

The only thing I would do different next time with verbal conversations is record them on tape and preface the call with " this call will be recorded for quality control!!"

Cheers,

"Spread your legs and fly"

[riggerrob 558]

Funny, Smiley has the same problem with the flip-out screen on his Sony PC 101, but he was waiting until the end of the skydiving season before he sent it in for repairs. Fortunately the British Columbia Sony repair center is at the base of the Port Mann Bridge, so he can hand deliver it.

[blazingcannon 0]

The lady at Sony was telling me that probably the reason why my screen became faulty was because I mostly watched videos on the screen. She said it's not really intended to be used much like that.

I then asked her where in the manual it tells me to not use the screen too much for fear of it breaking.

I also explained to her that the controls for the camera are on the screen, so if the screen goes off, you can't really use the camera: so it's obvious that the screen is intended to be used.

She had no answer to that and told me again that I had to operate it carefully.

DUH!

Cheers mate,

"Spread your legs and fly"

[nicknitro71 0]

Glen,

With a last name like yours you should have bought a Canon!

Sorry for all the trouble.

I like Canon products the best and overall have better quality/price ratio than Sony.

Memento Audere Semper

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