how a Sony Warranty is handled

*UPDATED
*UPDATED 11/1/05
*UPDATED 11/2/05

I've been a loyal SONY customer for as long as I can remember. I had one of the original Sony Walkman Portable Cassette players, and currently, most of my electronic equipment is made by Sony. Earlier this year, I upgraded my digital camera from a 2.1 megapixel Canon Digital Elph to a 5.1 megapixel Sony T-33 Cybershot. I have nothing but good things to say about it. If you're a blogger, it's ideal. It shoots really great stills, excellent close-ups and even MPEG video (Vlogs!).

Unfortunately, the LCD screen on the camera cracked (thus the crappy phonecam pix here lately). I'm not sure how or why it happened, but since I purchased the camera less than six months ago, I felt confident that it would be covered by Sony's Warranty. I've registered every Sony product I've ever owned and until now, I've never needed the warranty. It's one of the reasons I keep buying their products.

I got online and made a claim. They gave me a shipping address in Laredo, TX to return the camera for prompt repair. I breathed a huge sigh of relief to know that my camera was still covered under warranty. I brought it to the local UPS Store and shipped it out.

About a week later, I got a message from a representative at the Repair Center. He informed me that "Physical Damage" is not covered under Sony's warranty.

"If a product is defective, won't that cause "physical damage?" I asked him.

"Sir, it's not covered," he told me.

"I need the camera fixed, "I told him, frustrated.

"We have an estimate prepared," he replied.

"How much?" I asked.

"$171."

"Are you kidding me?" I asked him, stunned.

"No sir. The total will be 171 dollars," he repeated, unmoved by my shock.

"That's 1/3 of what the camera cost new," I told him.

"Yes sir," he said emotionlessly.

I pleaded my case unsuccessfully for a minute or two and finally gave in.

"So no one there can approve this repair under warranty?"

"No sir. It's company policy. Physical Damage is not covered," he read to me off of some script on how to deal with idiots that don't seem to get it.

"Fine," I told him, "I'll take it up with Customer Support."

I gave him my credit card number and authorized a charge of $171 dollars to repair my defective camera.

And so, I e-mailed customer support:

Original Message Follows:
------------------------
Email Address: myemail@yahoo.com
Future Mail : Yes
Name : Nickerson, Shane
Address : XXXXXXXX
:
: Manhattan Beach, CA 90266
Phone : 310-XXX-XXXX
Product Type : Video
Prod Category: Camera: Cybershot
Subject : Other Not Listed
O/S : Not Applicable
Model/SN : t-33 dsc /
Type : Support

Message : Hi-

I recently sent my Sony Cybershot T-33 to Texas for repairs that I assumed to be covered under Sony's warranty. The LCD viewscreen cracked in the top left hand corner, and I needed it replaced.

To my surprise, I recently got a call from the repair center telling me that "physical damage" is not covered under Sony's warranty. I've been a loyal Sony customer for YEARS. I love your products and really appreciate the quality that I've come to expect. I have a Sony TV, VCR, DVD Player, Receiver, and portable CD player, just to name a few. I bought these with confidence, because I trust the Sony brand. Additionally, it's nice to know that a company will be there for you when a product does not live up to normal expectations.

I've been billed 171 dollars for repair on a camera that cost me 550 dollars, new. In my opinion, the viewscreen is defective. To say I am dissatisfied is an understatement.

I'm planning to publicly detail the outcome of the way that Sony handles this on my website:

http://www.nickerblog.com

I've got a loyal readership of around 1000 people per day that check in, and I'm quite sure they'd be interested to hear the way a Sony warranty claim gets treated. Know that any correspondence (or lack thereof), will be part of my detailed account of this issue.

Thank you, in advance, for your prompt attention to this matter. I urge you to contact me if you have further questions.

Shane Nickerson

Why not test the power of a public weblog?

Within minutes, I received an automated reply. I'll spare you the entire thing, but here's the gist:

Shane Nickerson,

Thank you for contacting Sony Online Support.

To assist you as quickly as possible we are providing you with the following information. These topics resolve the majority of the Cybershot inquiries sent to our email department. However, if after reviewing the information, your request has not been resolved, simply reply to this letter and your specific request will be answered in the order it was received.

I. Missing, Lost or Damaged Software CD.
II. Cybershot Device Drivers (Windows & Macintosh).
III. Memory Stick Readers/Adapters Device Drivers.
IV. Service/Repair Information.
V. How to obtain Missing or Replacement Parts or Accessories
VI. Where to find online manuals

It goes on to answer all of the things covered in the above listed chapters, none of which apply to my complaint.

I e-mailed back:

My specific request is not covered by the contents of this automated reply.

SN

And now, I await a response from the Customer Service team at Sony...

Check back for updates.

UPDATE #1: I got another e-mail from Sony. I noticed a legal warning at the bottom of the e-mail, declaring that the correspondence is privileged information and that dissemination is discouraged. For that reason, I will not post the exact contents of the e-mail. Anyway, according to the e-mail, Sony believes that customer service is best handled via one-on-one, live communication. One of the options they suggested was to communicate via live chat with a customer service rep. This is how the conversation went:

Not much help. My next step is to call the customer service people. I'll keep you posted.

UPDATE #2: I'm on hold with Customer Support after navigating my way through an automated menu voice named "Max." Max gathered my information in a very pleasant, almost human voice and then transferred me to a live associate named Diane. I explained my issue to Diane. She explained to me everything I already know. "Physical Damage is not covered, etc."

I told Diane, "If you are not authorized to refund the 171 dollars I've spent repairing a defective unit, please give me an address or phone number of the next person on the list that might be able to help me."

Dinae told me that she is not authorized to give me that address. What she could do, she told me, was transfer me to "Second Level Support."

Cool. Moving up. "Sounds great," I told her.

"Sandra" was the next person I spoke to. Before we began, I told her that I was publicly publishing a documentation of my experience with the Sony Customer Service team on my website. She barely cared. She politely explained to me that the repair center in Laredo decided that my camera suffered physical damage and that their decison stands. However, she went on to say, my complaint has been "logged." I'm not sure what that means, but I know for sure that it doesn't include a check for 171 dollars.

As frustrating as it was to hear the same thing again, I maintained my composure. "I hope you understand that this is nothing personal," I told her, "but I disagree with Sony's decision to not honor the warranty, and I feel like I must go through every possible channel to rectify this situation." Sandra told me she understood. She was very polite, but explained that she was simply unable to help me any further.

And that's where we are.

I'm beginning to feel that hopelessness that comes from dealing with a giant corporation. What happened to 100% satisfaction guaranteed? I'll tell you one thing, if Sony had a guarantee like L.L. Bean's, there would have been no questions asked on the warranty repair. If only Bean's made electronics. :-)

In any case, I have an address in Ft. Meyers to send my third complaint to. So far, I've hit a bunch of walls. According to Pauly D., it's going to take a letter to the CEO to get things done. We'll see if that works.

I'll keep you posted.

UPDATE #3: After a bit of googling, I landed at the SONY Press Room Contact Page. Now, according to the page:

Journalists are invited to contact the Sony Electronics public relations contacts for more information about Sony products, technologies and services.

I certainly don't pretend to be a professional journalist, but I do maintain a public website with a loyal readership. Close enough for these purposes? In spite of the warning on the contact form...

Please specify your question or request by filling in the email form below. You should have a reply within one day provided I am in the office. Only members of the press should fill out this form. If you are not a member of the media, do not use this form. Please Click here for customer support contact information.

...I decided to risk it and send an e-mail.

I sent my inquiry to Yolanda Hunt-Boes, who is, according to her title on the site:

Senior Public Relations Strategist Digital cameras, Camcorders and Photo Printers

Perfect!

This is what I wrote to her:

I wanted to alert you to a piece I've publlished on my website in regards to my onging experience with Sony Customer Service:

http://hollywoodlog.typepad.com/nickerblog/2005/10/how_a_sony_warr.html

I'm at an impasse. Perhaps you can direct me to the next person in your chain of people that can't seem to help me resolve this?

I await a response. I have faith in Sony. I'm confident that this is all a misunderstanding. Until every door is closed, I will persist in my efforts to get back my 171 dollars.

*UPDATE #4: Well, as of yet, I have not heard from Yolanda Hunt-Boes. As the Senior Public Relations Strategist for Digital Cameras, Camcorders and Photo Printers, I thought for sure she'd at least send a form e-mail.

Nothing.

The good news is, even if Sony refuses to address my concern and leaves me with a $171 bill for this camera, this entry is now showing up at around number 12 if you do a Google Search for "Sony Warranty."

Comments

[MCM]

I, too, was a loyal Sony customer for years. But recently, Sony's quality control has been slipping, and their warranty practices are flailing in the face of sub-standard products. So I've switched to LG products instead. They actually make really great stuff (I was uncertain at first). On the other hand, I've yet to find a digital camera manufacturer that doesn't try and screw you over with repairs. Canon, Nikon, Sony so far. Each time I went out and bought a whole new camera, because I wasn't willing to pay 150% for a camera to make it last longer than a year.

[eyduck]

Sony? Watch yur back. Those mo'fos are going DOWN!

[John Doom]

Shane, I really hope for you it's better then my Best Buy story with my DSC-T1. (Which happened to be the last non-gaming SONY product I'll ever purchase.)

[Dan]

I love the idea of wielding your blog as a weapon against consumer injustices. All it takes is a few people second-guessing their Sony purchase next time because they read how bad customer service handled your claim. Cheers to that.

[Merujo]

Good for you, Shane. I have been periodically documenting my problems with Gateway Computers. I found that my last post on them, decrying their horrible customer service, was picked up by some data harvesting program for media clippings and was posted to their company intranet for perusal by staff. I now get a handful of hits from Gateway servers every day. Doesn't mean they've done anything to assist me, but at least they have a pretty honest perspective on how wretchedly they deal with their clients.

I've had great faith in Sony up until now - this is very disappointing. I look forward to hearing what they have to say next...

[Will Campbell]

Very interesting tipping your hand and showing your blog to be your ace in the hole. I've dealt wth customer service departments with a number of companies (to varying degrees of success) and never thought to mention going public with the exchange and outcome (to my, cough, 30 readers per day), even though I do.

Stating that you're doing so is very savvy. First it may hasten them to take action to your benefit, and second, the implication has been established that they understand the correspondence is on the record. Genius!

[Pauly D]

I've dealt with Consumer Response Centers ad nauseum, Shane - and I can tell you that the only way you're going to get your $171 back (and you will) is if you type a REAL LETTER and send it to the CEO's office of Sony Electronics.

In that letter, outline your blog, your readers, etcetera -- and you will at least get half if not all of that money back.

I guarantee it.

[AJ]

Pauly is right, and he would know. I heard he got the CEO of Pepsi to personally hand-deliver a case of Tab to his house.

[Lorianne]

Interesting. My digicam's a several-years-old CyberShot which I'll need to replace at some point. The LCD screen on it is so small, I've never worried about it breaking...but it's definitely a concern with the newer models.

In any case, customer service & warranty coverage will be deciding factors when I end up replacing my CyberShot...and you can tell the folks at Sony that when you talk to them! ;-)

[Neil]

I think it's great that individuals may be now able to get a little more attention from a company by mentioning that they have a blog or know a blogger. Why should companies only pay attention to the well-connected or when "60 Minutes" comes a-calling?

I don't even think the blogger necessarily has to be a popular one. No company want bad publicity online. As long as people don't abuse this idea, blogging can help level the playing field in making companies more responsive to the consumer.

But now that I said this, let's see Sony's response -- if any. This is more exciting than the poker games you wrote about.

[claire]

Oh man, I really despise that type of automated reply. I'd actually rather it didn't adress me by name, because then it wouldn't feel like someone had gotten my message, but then completely ignored it's content. It's very irritating: I'm writing because the answer is not in the FAQ.

Ggggrrrr and Good luck!

[BBOCK]

It might help if you were in Star Trek. Wil Wheaton had big problems with an iBook that Apple ended up resolving with a new PowerBook. Wil claimed it had nothing to do with his celebrity but with Apple's excellent service. Bullshit. I bought an iBook in September. It crapped out within a week and had to be shipped back. It came back with screen defects (stuck pixels), scratches all over it's white case, tool marks, and a poorly fitted case. I complained but they said that those were cosmetic issues and were not covered. Maybe you can have Wil put your Sony story on his site and you'll get a Sony HD camcorder.

[Colleen]

Hmmm...maybe you'd like to handle an issue I have with a little company called amazon.com...

[Jim Brodhead]

Sent a link to this posting to my friend Alain at MarketingBytesMan.com. Marketing and customer service is his thing. He has linked back to this post in his posting for today.

[Joe_13]

You handled it much better than I would have.
I would've been reduced to pounding the desk with my fist and worthless cursing of the customer support operator a long time ago.

[Magazine Man]

A few years ago I had a recurring problem with a Sony camcorder covered under warranty and I too was transferred to the mysterious "Second Level Support." I wasn't as nice as you, but at least I wrote down everyone's names.

I didn't send a letter to the CEO (who was in Japan) but to the vice president of North American consumer electronics, or whatever his title was, in New Jersey, if memory serves. Actually, I FEDEXed the letter to him and sent copies to everyone I spoke with. I also, after my signature, put

cc:
Electronics Editor, Wired
Section Editor, Circuits, The New York Times

and about three other editors, by name, at big media outlets.

Someone from the guy's office called me back the next afternoon and they covered my repair.

Don't kid yourself that they don't care about bad publicity. Get to the right person, and threaten them with the right kind of bad publicity and they will fold like a deck chair.

Alternatively, have you checked with your credit card company to see if they'll cover the repair (assuming you purchased it with a card)? I know, I know, it's the principle of the thing. Sony should goddam pay for it. But still...

Might also be worth googling around to see if anyone else on the Web has reported a cracked screen. That would be proof of a product defect, and they'd have to cover it.

Are you sick of me telling you things you already know? Okay, shutting up.

Your brother in righteous customer bitching,
MM

[Todd]

A grassroot effort against the Corporate Man sometimes seems daunting at best. It is forums such as this that Sony needs to pay attention to and heed. They need to learn, as American auto manufacturers learned in the 80's that once quality dwindles, customers go away and never come back. Sony, read this blog and be warned that one voice, when it comes to quality and customer service, often speaks for many. Without quality and service, Sony is just an overpriced gadget.

[Mark MacLeod]

I've had poor service with Sony before which is why I buy an alternative brand whenever possible.

I don't think the threat of wielding my readership of twelve would do me any good, though. Best of luck.

[Q]

Just tell them that your friend JSto will go all ninja on them. Your problems will disappear quickly.

[sandra]

I'm seconding MM's advice here. Last year, I went through nearly all of Dante's Hell circles in an effort to avoid being screwed (but in a bad way) by my cell phone company. I spent about two weeks on the phone with various people, expressing my displeasure in varying tones...until one day, when I decided to email every media contact on the website and explain my situation and how I planned to deal with it. Not 20 minutes later, someone called me and told me that there had been a mistake and everything was sorted out.

Go f-ing figure.

[Mal]

Man, you should listen to Nichols & May's comedy bit "Telephone." After all this crap, I think you would find it hilarious. You can find it on iTunes, probably some other places too. It's frickin funny, man.

[JM]

Having a website helped out when I went up against Frankie B: http://www.jessicastover.com/entry.php?id=228

I hate Sony. I hate every company but Apple, I think.

I mean, this phone story sounds worse than that time I tried to join up with the Red Cross.

[Corey]

Wow. And I was shopping for a Sony LCD TV. It's weird how taking $171 from you, just cost them a few thousand from me.

[MJ in Michigan]

I'm willing to hold off on my purchase of a Sony Camcorder until I find out how this all works out.

Go Shane!!

[amy]

Good for you! I hope it all works out. One thing my husband and I found was that our credit card offers an extended warrenty (1 year) on all products we purchase with it. If it doesn't work out with Sony, maybe you could check with your cc company.

Good luck!