That’s it! I am Boycotting SONY…
Right, I am going to have an unmerciful rant now…
My head is bursting, my veins are pulsating and my brain is pounding away like a caged bull inside my skull.
I don’t care if nobody reads this but I am going to put it out there anyway for the following reasons:
1. It will make me feel good to bitch about SONY.
2. I hope people will read this and think twice about buying SONY laptops, especially the following models: VGN-AR1xx, VGN-AR2xx, VGN-AR3xx, VGN-FZ1xx, VGN-FZ2xx, VGN-FZ3xx, VGN-FZ4xx, VGC-LT1xx, VGC-LT2xx because they have been manufactured with faulty NVIDIA Graphics chips!!!
In December 2007 I purchased a Sony Vaio laptop from Micro Anvika. I spent £1300 on the floggin’ thing. It was my pride and joy and I used to skip home every night to use it.
13 months later the graphics went bananas and it never worked again…
Click here for blog on symptoms…
That’s £1300 for a laptop that only worked for 13 months.
I rang Micro Anvika (the shop where I purchased this piece of Junk) and was told that because it was out with my 1 year store warranty, they couldn’t do anything for me; “I’m very sorry” – eh, no you’re not, you don’t give a damn so shut up.
I did a little bit of research online (with my new cheap laptop that I had to buy) and found that a lot of people were complaining about the same problem, so much so, that Sony themselves were forced to release a statement about it on 08/03/09.
The Statement can be read here:
http://esupport.sony.com/US/perl/news-item.pl?mdl=VGNFZ190N&news_id=349
In a nutshell, they were acknowledging the fault with the NVIDIA Graphics card and were offering to repair faulty laptops.
Meanwhile back at the ranch, I decided to contact Consumer Direct and ask them what rights I have as a consumer in this situation.
http://www.consumerdirect.gov.uk/
They told me that I should write a letter to Micro Anvika and quote The Sale of Goods Act 1979 as amended.
According to this Act, it states that goods should be of satisfactory quality and free from minor defects, have good appearance and finish and are durable, safe and fit for all the purposes for which such goods are commonly supplied.
My laptop had a fault and was definitely not durable.
I came off the phone feeling like I would like to take this further.
I sent the letter to them by registered delivery. That cost me £5, they should receive it today.
This morning I decided to phone Sony to see where I stand with them.
I called 0905 031 0006 which cost 35p a minute. I got talking to a nice chap. I explained the situation and without delay he assigned a case number to me and told me that DHL will pick up my laptop tomorrow for repair.
It all felt too good to be true.
It was.
An hour later, I had a phone call from someone who was very, very difficult to understand . I had to embarrass myself and her by constantly having to ask her to repeat herself and on some occasions to spell words so I could get the information I needed. It was near impossible to decipher what she was saying. It was almost comedy, if I felt like laughing, but I was so far from laughing about this. I was frothing at the mouth with bubbling anger…she proceeded to tell me she was from SONY and would like to ‘discuss fees with me’.
This pushed me to the edge of the cliff that overlooks raving madness…
Just an hour earlier the other fella acknowledged the fault and told me it was a problem with the NVIDIA chip and knew all about it. Now this girl was saying that I had to pay.
I went into rant mode with her and relayed the conversation I had earlier with the fella. She said “Ooh I don’t know why he would say those things”… She said she would check with the technician to see if there is a known fault of this nature. She said she would call me back but “couldn’t guarantee it would be today”. She said that line so many times I thought I was going to have a breakdown.
In hindsight, I should have asked to talk to her supervisor although I imagine he would probably be programmed to speak complete gibberish…
Moments later, I got a blank email from Sony quoting a different case number to the one that the original guy gave me; so are they going to pick up my laptop tomorrow or not!?!? I don’t know as they don’t have the courtesy to call me back today.
I have two case numbers now; one says I have to pay, the other says I don’t. One says I am having my laptop picked up tomorrow, the other says I am not.
This is it.
Me against SONY.
I suppose this is why we as dissatisfied consumers don’t like to go down this road. It’s a pain in the brain and their ’system’ is designed to make you go baloobas so you’ll give up trying.
You phone one number and talk to a moron, they give you another number, which costs 35p/min and after a half an hour wait, you get talking to someone you can’t understand…. You call the shop, they blame the Manufacturer, you call the Manufacturer, they blame the shop… round and round you go until you give up in the end and then they win. They take your thousand pounds with their greedy mits and laugh all the way to the bank.
Dirty animals.
Thieves and robbers and bullies.
It’s disgusting… I hate the way our world is going.
Evil… pure evil.
Just to be a d-bag, I’ll post this:
http://www.apple.com/uk/mac/
Tops in customer satisfaction, so they say.
Good luck with your laptop.
Yeah, I was thinking of getting a mac next time… very expensive though…
Ah, where would capitalism be without built-in obsolescence? Your experience sounds intensely frustrating though.
Well you can add Sony vivio model number vgn-nr260e to your list.
Not the same problem, even better!
I have upgraded to Windows 7. I was a party host and received a free copy of Windows 7 ultimate to install on the machine of my choice. I could have put in on my son’s desk top or on an older laptop, but I choose my current vivio model, (the one above). As I got to install the new o/s a few weeks before the launch of windows 7, i went to sony’s website to see if I needed any updated drivers. There was a message that drivers would not be released till after the launch of Windows 7 on Oct. 19th. So I have waited for the drivers, all the time running on Windows 7. Granted there are a few issues with windows 7 that have cropped up in the meantime. Not real nasty issues, just some issues. Tonight I thought, (well it’s been a couple of months lets double check to see if the new drivers have been issued. No there were downloads for Vista and for xp, none for windows 7. So I go on line to have a chat with a tech. Pretty much what he told me was, My model was not going to have a windows 7 upgrade. NOT today, not Tomorow, not ever. But if I wanted to install a retail version of windows 7 I could but, they could not say I would have issues. (No s#$t,) I could not get him to understand it was on my laptop (a retail version, granted it was signed by the CEO of microsoft), but none the less a retail version. I was given the number to call customer service and vent my frustrations out on them….but it was a little late in the evening (they were closed tor the night.) I can not wait to call and be insulted by someone I prob. will not be able to understand. OH! but, I plan on calling. I did ask the tech how much pressure it would take to throw this laptop against the wall to bust it into a thousand bits…. as I have well over that much invested in this laptop. To be brushed aside as some, well used whore, after 1 year of danceing with my lover Sony…. is not going down to well. I pitty the person I get on the phone. I don’t get angry often, but piss me off and then watch out.. Just because they are to lazy or greedy to write new drivers for a laptop that is even not paid off yet, is not kosher. Would any one want to join me in a class action suite?
I hate my Sony Laptop!!! It cost over $1,000.00 Mine is not built in-obsolescence. From day one it was a lemon. The curser does not work and cannot be controlled. The curser flies all over the place. Have to enter a password a dozen times before it takes because there is no way of knowing what the curser is doing while typing a password because I cannot see the letters. It is useless. I HATE SONY!!!!
Try and type a document. Pretty impossble unless you have the patience of a saint and don’t mind going over your document at least a dozen times, that is if you didn’t lose it. I HATE SONY. I cannot afford to replace it. It is GARBAGE! I know people who paid a fraction of what I paid and have perfectly working laptops. I thought I was getting the best by buying a Sony.
NEVER AGAIN.
Just to be a d-bag, I’ll post this:
http://www.apple.com/uk/mac/
Tops in customer satisfaction, so they say.
Good luck with your laptop.