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Fun with Sony Tech Support

The incompetence of Sony’s tech support continues to defy logic. How can a large tech company afford to hire so many dumb people?

A couple of months ago, after trying to upgrade from Vista to Windows 7, my VAIO laptop stopped responding and I took it to the SonyStyle store where I bought it. The technician there couldn’t fix it on site and had to send it down to California. Turns out the hard drive was bust and had to be replaced.

After a couple of weeks it came back and I haven’t had any hard drive problems since then. But the technicians in California didn’t reassemble the computer correctly and the hand rest is loose. I took it back to the Sony store and was told that a technician would come out and fix it.

A few days went by with no call from any technician. I called Sony (always a nightmare) and they had no record of an “event” being created. I called the Sony store again and it turned out the event didn’t register… Finally, they got it right and said that now I really should expect a call.

Sure enough, the outsourced service technician called a few days later to set up a repair appointment.

He comes by and is ready to begin his repair, then opens the package with the replacement part, only to find a bezel for the lid. Nice… Not his fault, though. He doesn’t work for Sony and isn’t responsible for their messing up the order. He was visibly upset and irritated with Sony and called in the correct replacement part (I overheard his conversation with Sony).

A few weeks go by with no news. I finally received a call this week from another outsourced technician and he stopped by a couple of days ago. When he showed me the touch pad he came to replace I started laughing. I told him my touch pad works just fine and explained that this was the second time Sony has messed up the replacement part order. This guy made the same call the other guy did and apologized profusely. Again, not his fault; it’s all Sony.

Yesterday: A phone call from Sony tech support. Would I mind sending my computer back to their repair center? It will be a quicker fix because the part is on backorder… I’m not sure why it would be quicker to send it down to California, unless they have the spare part there. But if that’s the case, why can’t they send that to the technician here in Oregon?

I can’t part with my work computer for two weeks and respectfully declined this offer. The laptop works, but I want it fixed before it breaks apart completely or starts absorbing dust on the inside.

I’m usually don’t go into rants but this pathetic performance by a major company deserves at least a small amount of publicity. As a consumer, you’re basically powerless when dealing with arrogant players like Sony. Hopefully, someone from Sony will see this and realize that potential future customers might read this post when they research Sony products. My last post about the graphics card received hits from around the world, so obviously there are people who are interested in this topic.

If you are thinking about buying a Sory (pun intended) laptop, my advise to you (based on my experience) is to stay as far away as you can. Stick with another PC maker.