What are my options ?

ford_fairlane

hi all


bit of a of a long story here so please bear with me.

bought a ps4 wireless headset December 2015 and by April one of the hinges had broken.
this was not due to misuse or dropping but more likely down to plastic coverings for the hinge.
Anyway the shop I had purchased it from had stopped trading and with that I knew my contract was no more and my consumer rights went when shop closed.
But on the off chance I contacted Sony as they offer a year warranty, now this is where it gets confusing for me.

I sent Sony customer service a email describing the problem, I then got confirmation email saying someone would be in touch.
but no one got in touch and by my own admission I drop the ball and forgot to chase it up as I hadn't gotten back to them after not receiving a reply from them.
The headphones were still under year warranty by a week or so.
I contacted them a few months later having remembered that I hadn't received a reply.
they replied saying to me that they had replied to me in April and I never replied to them. I then sent email back saying I didn't receive any email. They kept on with this lie for a fair few responses.
they asked for photographs of damage to headphones and proof of purchase.
I got a call from customer service saying that they again sent an email in April but they would put the case to next level to decide what would be done, guy on phone said there was a chance would be repaired as they had looked at photos and could see that it wasn't broken due to misuse or being thrown about and such.
So few days later received a reply from Sony.
They then said that they wouldn't do a repair as it was out of warranty and I didn't reply back in April, which again I explained to them I didn't receive any email.
this went on for couple of emails and they said Sony will not change their decision and the headset will never be repaired eventually I said look your not telling the truth I want to speak to a supervisor.

supervisor contacted me and said they had looked over my contact with them and said that they in fact never sent me a email in April regarding headphones.
But they deem it to be physical damage and still won't repair it.

guy on phone said if I want to take it further I should send a letter to Sony legal team.

now during this time I have checked online and it appears that this is a manufacturing/design problem as there seems to be lots of headsets with exactly the same break. some people seem to manage to get it repaired under warranty some get told same as me and its physical damage.

if you read to the end thank you


just peoples opinions advice on if is should continue with this and what other options should I explore or should I just call it quits.

agrinnall

How did you pay for the headphones in the first place? If you paid by credit card then the card issuer is equally responsible with the retailer, and you could make a claim from them. However, given that Sony have deemed is physical damage they may well reject a claim, so you may need to get an independent report showing that it's an inherent fault to stand any chance of winning.

ford_fairlane

thanks for the reply

I paid cash for them sadly.
instead of independent report at this stage would it be an option to forward a dozen or so different headset pictures of the exact same damage from different people.
and links to the Sony website and places such as amazon all echoing the fault.

agrinnall

Probably not, because they have already rejected your claim and photos of other headsets won't change their mind. You could try the independent report route with Sony, but in my experience they are intractable and you might be throwing good money after bad. If you decide not to proceed my suggestion would be never to pay for any Sony product again.

ford_fairlane

thanks very much for advice.