Sony Service in Canada - customers beware!

The full history is quite long...but here it is nonetheless...this
should give an idea of how Sony of Canada has treated one of its
customers (whether this treatment is extended to others or not - I
cannot say)

Bought KDP65XBR2 in January 2002 - flicker first appeared in August
2002 - called Sony Canada who referred me to a Sony Authorized
Technician (Videophase's TK Wong) - he only replaced the green CRT in
November 2002 despite the fact that I gave him a copy of the service
bulletin issued by Sony which clearly stated - replace resistors and
then replace all 3 CRTs...

In December 2002 the flicker returned - by this time I started
noticing how the geometry was also off in the corners - bowing edges,
compressed image at the left side...in January 2003, the technician
comes back again and replaces the blue and red CRTs - does not replace
the resistors (or adjust the values) - he does not (rather could not)
fix the geometry issue...

I call Sony Canada about the geometry issue - I'm told by the CSR that
I have a brand new set now and that my expectations are too high...he
was not willing to give this resolution in writing...

I find the name of an individual in Sony Engineering (Mr. Glasgow) who
apparently had helped someone else...so I complain to him...he gets
the tech to come out again to take measurements - the bowing is 3mm
only according to the tech...all in all I was told that the TV is
performing within specs and that the compressed sides are also normal
- something to do with the electron scan mechanism (this is not
visible on other TVs so I call this a BS answer)...

July 2003 I get a letter from SVP of Sony Engineering (Mr. Tariq
Shameem) about the flickering and that the problem has been resolved
and to reward my loyalty my warranty on the set is extended another
year to January 2004...

August 2003 the flicker returns...just like before after about 8
months of use...this time I decide I'll write back to the same SVP who
extended the warranty hoping that he will be able to help...mailed the
letter on September 8, 2003, got a call from Sony Canada Consumer
Relations Manager on September 9, 2003 - was advised that the SVP
wants updates on how my case is being handled and that I will hear
back from them soon...didn't hear a thing for a month - so I wrote to
the SVP again on October 10, 2003

I got a call from Carolyn Hayes, Manager Consumer Relations soon after
and she presented me with the following options:

Replace the CRTs again - this is because the replacement CRTs were
also defective. So in effect Sony admitted that the orginal CRTs were
faulty and had been discontinued, the replacement CRTs had also been
discontinued - so basically Sony produced a faulty set, replaced them
with another faulty set and are now planning on repairing again...

Extend my warranty (in effect reset it)

Offer me a Sony store gift certificate valid for 2 years for an amount
that Sony and I will agree on (they never asked what I would think is
fair - they simply decided on an amount)

The CRTs were to be replaced by a Sony factory technician who will
come in and look at the set first to assess it since I did not want
the Videophase technician to try yet again.

I told her to forget all that and here's what I have to propose -
given that Sony is going to expend effort on replacing the CRTs and
give me some amount of gift certificates, how about upgrading the set
for a fair price? She said that the outcome might not be what I expect
in that the current set's price would be depreciated - I told her that
I understand how depreciation works and any adjustment to the price of
the current should take into account that the main component (CRTs)
are less than one year old (outcome of replacement). She then stated
that since the TV is still under the orginal manufacturers warranty
there would be no depreciation applied. She then asked for what model
I would be interested in - I told her the KDF-70XBR950. She indicated
that this was not a direct replacement but an upgrade to which I said
I understand and am willing to pay a fair price for the upgrade...

After about a week, I got a call from Sony of Canada - they offered to
replace the set (KDP65XBR2 for KDF70XBR950) for a price tag of $CDN
5000! Although the set is under warranty and has not depreciated they
were not going to give me full credit for what I paid and will also
charge me full price for the KDF70XBR950. Overall, I was quite unhappy
about this - instead of treating my case as one of a customer who is
upset and has been unsatisfied, they are treating this as simply an
exchange offer under "goodwill".

The manager started on the repair issue again and said that that is
all they are obligated to do and that this time we (Sony) know what to
do to and the set will be fixed to which I said that I had heard that
two times in the past as well and am still suffering from a flickering
set...

I told them that their offer is unacceptable and is insulting given
that I have spent so much money and have received very little value
out of it (working only for 15 out of 23 months)...I also asked what
would have been the offer in terms of gift certificates and the reply
was $100 (this was changed later to $150 - however, without
discussion)!

They sent me the offer in writing - the repair + plus warranty + $150
gift certificates or exchange for $5000 to which I had to respond
within 30 days!.

I then enlisted the help of Paul Carleton (founder of the
HomeTheaterSpot)

Paul was able to get me in contact with someone at Sony of Canada (Mr.
John Challinor, General Manager, PR and Corporate Communications) - I
called him and he agreed with everything I said. He was quite
sympathetic and offered me the following: improve the price for the
upgrade set. I told him the original offer price and he agreed it was
unfair. The second option is that if the price is not to my
satisfaction then I will get a full refund.

He told me to contact a Mike Oujer in the Customer Service area,
however, he did not give me a direct number. Regardless I called
Sony's service number and got a CSR who refused to give me his
voicemail - so I told the CSR to ask Mr. Oujer to call me...he
didn't...a couple of days later, I left him a message on his voicemail
(this time I was able to get through to him direct), still no
response. I left a message again (3rd time) to which he did respond -
basically he said that since my case was being handled by someone
else, he couldn't intervene. So I left a message with Mr. Challinor -
nothing happened. I left a message with Mr. Challinor again after
about 7 days from my initial discussion asking him what should I do
now...he didn't return my call...

Instead, I got a call from a Mr. Buchannan who stated that the
original offer will stand - no refund, no amendment will be made to
the price for the offer to replace/upgrade the TV based on the
conversation with Mr. Challinor - he said that the management team
reviewed my case with Mr. Challinor and that he said that the offer as
it was originally (repair the set or upgrade the set for $5000) is
fine as it is since it is according to Sony's policies and
procedures...

I've had the set repaired twice already for the same problem and this
would be the third time...not only that but Sony of Canada has
admitted that the repair done in Nov 2002 and Jan 2003 was done with
CRTs from a faulty/old batch...given their inability to repair the set
and to set it up properly, it is difficult to even think of letting
someone from Sony to repair the set

Their second option is not feasible either - while Sony claims that
their policy is to discount the current product if the customer is
looking for an upgrade...whether I want product B or product C as a
replacement/upgrade for product A is irrelevant and shouldn't
matter...in both cases product A is still product A.

Interestingly they are not willing to give me this decision in
writing...their reason? Because the discussion I had with Mr.
Challinor was by phone...even though their decision is based on Sony
policies and procedures, they can't/won't give it in writing...

I then asked Mr. Buchannan what would happen if I don't want to pursue
any of their options - he said I would have to get the set repaired at
my own cost! Even though he was handling my case in the absence of Ms.
Hayes, he did not know the age of my set, nor the fact that I still
have original warranty and an additional 2 years of extended warranty
through SonyCare. In addition, he should have known that the warranty
for the flicker problem has been extended indefinitely. I told him
this and he didn't have any answer...

The set is still flickering every now and then...I will not let Sony
repair the set when they have shown they are incapable of doing
so...in fact at this point I won't opt for another Sony either judging
by posts in the AVS Forum it seems Sony doesn't know what quality
control means - a simple refund will be sufficient and will allow me
to purchase another brand TV...

(Haroon) wrote in message . com...
The full history is quite long...but here it is nonetheless...this
should give an idea of how Sony of Canada has treated one of its
customers (whether this treatment is extended to others or not - I
cannot say)

It's sad when organizations 'tie' the hands of their management based
on the legal advice of
their inhouse counsel.

Depending on the province you are in, you have specific legal
remedies. You will need to hire a QC attorney experienced in business
tort cases (not a general mom/pop office). It's easier if you hire
these in the home city of the head office of Sony. The legal
activities are easier to reference from the local courthouse when Sony
has been before.
Contact your local office for the Legal Aid Society, or the government
consumer services dept.

Written documentation (without the emotional expletives) must be
presented as cases in evidence.
I would suggest that based on how this played out your legal course is
based on failure of Sony to provide the 1 year of Warranty for
Customer Satisfaction. The small print of the Warranty Card that came
with your original unit is what you need to start with.

sony is garbage that is why tivo directv only has a 90 day warrenty on the
labor they suck!
End higher ticket prices! Go to local college games!

"Dan the fan" wrote in message
...
sony is garbage that is why tivo directv only has a 90 day warrenty on the
labor they suck!
End higher ticket prices! Go to local college games!

Sony is typically among the best of manufacturers. They build some crap
like everyone does, but they have one of the best support systems around and
the products are much better than most in terms of service and performance
in most cases.

Things break. Corporations are in business to make money. Consumer
products are nearly always pushing the limits design to reduce costs, even
in the higher end equipment. Get used to it and be prepared to deal with it
when you have a problem.

I can't say much about Sony Canada, but in the US I have found that if you
work with a good dealer/servicer and work with Sony customer support
solutions have tended to be reasonable in all of the cases that I have dealt
with.

Leonard Caillouet