Sony Repair Centre

alixandgordon

I purchased a Sony Vaio in January, the laptop was very well looked after & was in immaculate condition.
Last month it developed a screen fault, and was returned to Sony for repair.
When I received the laptop back again, it was absolutely covered in scratches - it actually looked as though they must have replaced the lid with an old one. I contacted Sony several times, sent photos of the damage & had to wait over a week for some of the replies - "it has been escalated to the concerned team" etc.
Today, I received an email stating -
We would like to inform you that we asked the repair centre to provide us with the reception report to show the condition of the VAIO when received at the repair centre. Please find the report attached to the email.

Also, please review the reply that we received from the repair centre:

‘Please find the pre-alert attached. As it can be seen, there are plenty of scratches on the unit. Therefore, the repair centre cannot be held liable for the damage.’

Included in the email was a line drawing image of a laptop with many scratches marked on it.

I am absolutely disgusted with this - my husband could have repaired the original fault, without causing any of the damage, but I thought since it was under warranty it would be best done by Sony.
Does anyone know what my rights are?

NiftyDigits

Not that it helps with your situation, but the last time that I sent a laptop in for service, I took pictures of the thing and also got the courier to initial that it was in immaculate condition before I sealed the package.
So when it came back with scratches, I was completely covered. Received a new laptop in the end.

If you have any recent time stamped pictures, it might help.

alixandgordon

I really wish I had taken photos, It never occured to me that a company such as Sony would be so careless.

NiftyDigits

Perhaps you should keep pressing them. Maybe with persistence they will realise that you are serious.

macman

What date is on the 'pre-alert attachment'?

alixandgordon

there doesn't appear to be any date on the pre-alert attachment, if I right click to see properties it just gives the present date and time.

chickendipperbabe

Its very annoying when this happens.

Had a similar issue with a Nokia Phone sent to T-Mobile's repair centre a few years ago, having been used in a expensive leather case it was immaculate - returned to me like someone had a go at it with sand paper, was also very dirty & un-repaired.

It took about a month to sort out, repair center (SBE) were having none of it but unlucky for them I took detailed photos of the phone before it was sent showing the serial number with phone sitting on top of the special envelope they provide. I went straight to T-Mobile with a letter and attached photographs and they eventually bought me out of the reminder of my contract so I could upgrade early.

They couldn't be more apologetic and said the repair centre use used parts, they're supposed to transfer the insides of a donor phone into the case of the phone being repaired and that didn't happen in my case.

alixandgordon

I received this from them this morning -

Please accept our apologies for any disappointment or inconvenience that this issue has caused.
We would like to inform you that since the pre-alert shows that the VAIO was received with such scratches, neither Sony nor the repair centre will be held liable for the scratches. In addition, please provide us if possible with some photos for the VAIO before sending the VAIO in for repair so that we can investigate the case again.

If such photos are not available, we will not be able to be held responsible for these scratches.

RumRat

Seems you are in a position where neither of you have photographs as evidence.
Perhaps some legal action in the small claims court? They cannot really prove anything either. A line drawing, that could have been produced at any time, is not really proof of existing scratches.
You could always reset your camera date and find another example of the laptop and take photos of it......;)

alixandgordon

The pre-alert had no date, no corresponding serial numbers - nothing to prove it was anything to do with my Viao.
It also shows 7 scratches on the base but there are no scratches on the base of mine. None of the scratches marked on it correspond to the damage on the lid, so it's clearly not a pre-alert from my Vaio.

alixandgordon

I am so disappointed about this - I wish instead of buying a brand new lovely white Vaio, I had just bought an old beat up one because that's what I've ended up with - Thanks Sony!