Sony VAIO sucks – Part two
After all the 'positive' feedback here, I decided to post some additional notes on the VAIO VGN-TX770P. After using the laptop for about 6 months the following issues came up:
1) The left side of the VAIO keyboard started to get stuck (near the left CTRL & SHIFT buttons). No drinks were spilled on it & no accidental drops.
2) I started seeing the image of the keyboard on the LCD (mirror). This one particularly because of the bad design of the laptop - the soft pads on the sides are not thick enough to prevent the keyboard from touching the screen. I did not clean the monitor so that Sony could actually see the keyboard buttons on the LCD.
I called Sony and tech support asked me to send the laptop to Sony. Since the laptop was purchased less than 6 months ago I didn't have a problem showing proof of purchase to Sony. They told me that I would receive a shipping box in a couple of days. I waited for a week and didn't receive anything. I got mad and called Sony back and guess what - the last support technician forgot to get the model number from me, which is why the box was never shipped! I ended up yelling at the guy and he promised me that I would get the box next day. I did get the box next day with instructions on how to package the laptop... I put the laptop into the box and sent it back to Sony repair. After waiting for about a week I called Sony to find out what's going on with the laptop (I didn't expect any kind of follow up, of course, duh!). The guy on the line tells me that the keyboard and the LCD need to be replaced for $699. Check out the emails below:
One of our first emails:
From: XXX XXX
Sent: Thursday, February 08, 2007 3:25 PM
To: 'xxx.xxx@am.sony.com'
Subject: Regarding Sony Work Order #W5232Z59Hello,
I am writing in regards to the conversation we had earlier today about the Work Order #W5232259. It’s about a laptop that was “cosmetically damaged” due to poor manufacturing and/or design.
We are asked to pay $699 to fix the LCD screen that broke through normal use and by no fault of ours, in my opinion it should be fixed by Sony at no charge.
You mentioned that you will talk to your manager today and will let me know what decision you came to. I need this issue resolved today, since we need this laptop back ASAP.
Thank you,
XXX XXX
Their response:
From: XXX, XXX [mailto:xxx.xxx@am.sony.com]
Sent: Thursday, February 08, 2007 5:28 PM
To: XXX XXX
Subject: RE: Regarding Sony Work Order #W5232Z59I had to go to another of my bosses because my Manager was unreachable at the time the only thing we could do is accommodate the price of the repair by 100 dollars according to my supervisor these are phys damages done to the unit and not a manufacturer defect. I would recommend that if you do repair this unit you should buy ADH or accidental warranty a company called Service Net Solutions can provide you with this there number if you need it is 866.374.0134
Sorry I couldn’t be of any more help
Our second email:
From: XXX XXX
Sent: Thursday, February 08, 2007 6:11 PM
To: 'XXX, XXX'
Subject: RE: Regarding Sony Work Order #W5232Z59Dear Sir,
Thank you for your effort, although I’m afraid that $100 discount from $699 to $599 is nonetheless not acceptable. The laptop was NOT misused or mistreated. It was never dropped, closed with excessive force, or abused in any other way. I understand that you may not be able to help me further in this, although I do want to escalate the case and get a written explanation from Sony legal department explaining why Sony does not cover it’s own faults. You are saying that the warranty does not cover external damage, or the peripherals of the laptop, although this damage was not done by the user, it was done by Sony itself.
I greatly appreciate all of your help.
Sincerely,
XXX XXX
Our third email after no follow up:
From: XXX XXX
Sent: Friday, February 09, 2007 2:07 PM
To: XXX, XXX
Subject: FW: Regarding Sony Work Order #W5232Z59Hello,
Could you please tell me the status of this?
Thank you.
XXX XXX
Their response:
From: XXX, XXX [mailto:xxx.xxx@am.sony.com]
Sent: Friday, February 09, 2007 3:10 PM
To: XXX XXX
Subject: RE: Regarding Sony Work Order #W5232Z59Actually according to the W/O the unit has been shipped back since a decision was not reached.
Our reaction:
From: XXX XXX
Sent: Friday, February 09, 2007 2:35 PM
To: XXX, XXX
Subject: RE: Regarding Sony Work Order #W5232Z59Dear Sir,
I would like to talk to the person that authorized shipping the unit back without fixing it. Were they aware that the decision is in progress?
Thank you.
XXX XXX
And the last email by Sony's support:
From: XXX, XXX [mailto:xxx.xxx@am.sony.com]
Sent: Friday, February 09, 2007 3:49 PM
To: XXX XXX
Subject: RE: Regarding Sony Work Order #W5232Z59Our policy is that we can only hold a unit for 9 days if a decision is not made within that time we have to ship the unit unrepaired.
OMG! Somebody shoot me! Is this what we call quality support? WTF is this?
Related posts:
03/15/2007 - 17:50
Time to shift to MAC? I have made my choice :)
03/27/2007 - 19:59
Buy a Thinkpad!
04/09/2007 - 12:48
Mac rules, I won’t be able to own a PC after using a Mac
05/17/2007 - 08:11
We had two Vaio’s with similar problems with keyboards – without any misuse whatsoever, the keyboard started to “sink” down, and disabling the DVD-Drive. I called the Sony tech service, one time they came out and switched the keyboard. After a few months the keyboard started sinking again. I called Sony again, this time they instructed me to send it in. They did fix it, and so far it’s okay. Then my other vaio (bought in Japan) had the same problem…
I think the keyboard panel, made of light material, is probably weak. I do not misuse the keyboard, or spill anything or put it in hot places. We will never get Vaios ever again.
07/25/2007 - 11:39
Regarding macs – I got fed up with windows and have been using mac laptops for a while now. OSX is fantastic, but the hardware is horrible. Apple is consistently about 4 years behind the development, which in my case translates to unusable performance and screen quality. I stuck with it as long as I only needed it for web/word processing, but now I have a dslr camera and there is no product Apple offers that can be used for viewing let a lone editing the photos. This goes for intel macs aswell, too slow, bad screens and they also come with a ridiculous heating problem. Think hard before switching, if you have any demanding applications whatsoever, find a pc that works. I personally need the processing power and the screen of a good pc. If you have any suggestions let me know, I’m currently looking at Vaios and Toshibas around 1300 EUR.
01/20/2008 - 02:07
I am using SONY VAIO laptop for over two years already. I haven’t had any keyboard problems so far. Good luck solving the problem!
05/12/2008 - 07:24
i buyed the one Sony vaio last week. Model no:VGN-FZ31M from Turkey. Here the price About 1900 USD. i don’t know how much is it on the another countriest? who know more cheap price for the model? Anyway i am glad the than PC. it is very fast and very bright screen.
06/10/2008 - 06:34
I bought a vaio VGN FE15GP 2 years ago – and at about the 18month mark – the built in camera no longer worked, the memory was shot and ended up not able to have two aplications opened at once – just froze – so have to reboot each time. plus takes about 10-15min to turn on.
Next time = Mac
09/15/2008 - 10:10
I bought a sony viao about a month ago, I am hoping not to have the problems you guys have had, but I must say I am totally happy with my purchase. I would recommend to anyone wanting sleek, classy, awesome performance.
01/22/2009 - 13:00
i bought sony vaio VGN-NS140E buti can’t install windows xp… please help me in this stuation … thank for everyone
03/18/2009 - 22:10
I AGREE WITH YOUUU ! VAIO SUCKS MAN I RECENTLY BOUGHT ONE AND I REGRET IT !! CAN YOU BELIEVE THAT IN THE 2ND DAY IT BROKE ? LOL IT DIDNT WANT TO TURN ON. ALL I DID WAS LISTENING MUSIC TO THE MAX VOLUME AT WINDOWS MEDIA PLAYER AND THE MUSIC CONSTANTLY PAUSE AND EVERYTHING I WAS DOING DO THE SAME ! IT FREEZE FOR A MOMENT, EVERYTHING WAS SLOW SO AFTER IT DIDNT WANT TO TURN ON I SEND IT TO THE SONY TO FIX IT AND THEY SAID THE HARD DISK STOPPED WORKING AND THEY HAD TO CHANGE IT, TOOK 1 WEEK TILL I CAN HAVE THE VAIO BACK AND……… MAN IT HAVENT CHANGE AT ALL ! IT DO THE SAME FREEZING THING -_-
03/26/2009 - 23:22
I dont know it all depends i guess, i have had problems with macs, lenovos, sonys and acer it just depends how you use it and what you do with it. All computers in the end are kinda trashy cause of the fact that technology keeps upgrading every 3 months, operating system companies like Micorosft don’t allow compatability with software companies that don’t pay for their electronic signatures, etc. etc. In the end my advice is learn how to use a computer and all software so that you don’t have to ever contact tech support in India or wherevere they have it, learn that the internet and tech blogs message boards are your best friends and thank god for google and as far as the keyboard thing goes i can see that hapening with sonys sleeker models like the SZ or the TZ but that’s evident if your carrying those things around like a mac cause the lcds are super thin. Dude your gettin a Dell, no dont ever get those…..
03/30/2009 - 18:48
My $1600 VAIO lasted 7 weeks past the one year warranty and the video section of the motherboard went wacko. Sony wants $699.00 to fix it. All correspondence with Sony was fruitless. I didn’t purchase the service contract because I too believed Sony made a quality product. HAHAHAHA. My new laptop is an HP with a 3 year service contract. Yes, Sony sucks!
06/30/2009 - 11:07
So far the Sony Vaio TX770p has been pretty good to me. I bought it used though. The screen brightness does not work (function + f5 and 6) maybe because I have windows 7 loaded on here and all the drivers for windows 7 are not ready to be released. So far, I love the weight, and attention I get when I do my homework at Coffee houses. Considering me, attention whore who craves it all the time…really bad adhd randomness disorder here. Anyways, any big cocks in the house, send me a photo pls.
07/18/2009 - 16:24
article very good
09/17/2009 - 03:43
I understand your pain. I bought a Sony Vaio several years ago and am still using it due to low funds. I have had so many issues with this thing. The DVD drive itself is not compatible with vista SP 1 or higher and there are NO updates to fix the issue. I wanted to switch back to XP but Sony does not provide drivers for it. I want to take this thing and bash it until it dies!!! I am thinking of actually doing that when I can afford another laptop……. seriously!
11/30/2009 - 10:42
Hey I bought a sony vaio Z-series laptop in Aug in Singapore. Since then, I had sent in 3 times for service. They all blame it on microsoft/windows on 1st time on corrupted file. The last time they said I had a virus in my vaio, quite weridly my two acer laptops had no problems despite the same usage. One of my acer was like 4 year old, and more was a display set that I bought. It was totally ok. Sony sucks. Their battery which was claimed to last 6 hours was only true when all requirements are running on minimal, like super dark screen. Otherwise , is 2 hours. This is my first and last time buying their product.
01/15/2010 - 18:17
We mistakenly bought 3 Vaios for our ‘big wigs’ in the company because they wanted light weight travel laptops. Biggest fucking mistake ever. I am about ready to take a hammer to one of them – move the screen and it shuts down, hook up an external monitor to it and touch the cord – shuts down.
It has been back 3 times for a total of 3 month for ‘repairs’ and it is worse than when we first bought it. The support sucks, the staff at the sony stores are dick heads. I will never buy a sony product again. NEVER.
02/14/2010 - 13:56
Bad luck…..
I’ve got two Sony Vaio FS740/w’s – a primary that travels with me consulting, and a back up mirror in my home office. I bought them both in December 2005 and never had any problems with either; they’re still in daily use today.