DON'T BUY SONY AND EXPECT CUSTOMER SERVICE!?

[DenWHO]

My wife and I are landscape pro's and, after testing A7R2's, decided to invest in the Sony line-up. We bought two bodies and a bunch of lenses in late October. The bodies came with the "offer" of a free 1 year extended warranty which was activated by going to the SONY website and inputting a code provided on a scratch card with the cameras.

 

PROBLEM 1: The website didn't show the A7R2 in the appropriate page therefore nowhere to insert the scratch card number.

 

The SONY agent wasn't interested and suggested I rang SONY Customer Support on 30th October!

 

PROBLEM 2: Wait approximately 10 minutes for someone to pick up! Is this a function of the number of problems they are dealing with and/or the lack of investment in people?

 

I was asked to provide the serial numbers of the cameras and, via a follow-up email, a copy of the invoice and the warranty cards. Once received SONY would activate the extended warranty and confirm via email. I responded immediately, confirming  the serial numbers and providing the copy invoice; unfortunately, the warranty card had already gone into the bin with all the other bumph.

 

PROBLEM 3: No response from SONY! Sent subsequent email without effect.

 

16th November, I rang SONY Customer Service to establish what was happening.

 

PROBLEM 4: They now want me to input the number on the scratch card which was supplied with the cameras.....they went into the bin after the conversation on the 30th where SONY agreed to sort the registration.

 

Asked to speak to a manager to try and resolve.

 

PROBLEM 5: Manager may get back to me in two days! I'm not holding my breath.

 

God knows what will happen to try and get the gear serviced if/when there is a problem. Has anyone else suffered the same problems?

 

 

 

 

 

[seb]

Don't write threads in caps and expect answers!

 

I don't had any problems. But my local retailer do anything for me. They gave me 4 years and I can got to them and they will do anything for me. I even have an annual free sensor cleaning.

[Guest all8]

Problems like this, I don't care too much about .... next time keep all the cards that came in the box in the box, at least its useful if you decide to sell the camera at some point.

[DenWHO]

 

The items were registered with Sony on purchase. The warranty card has little or no value in terms of future proofing your rights. If I kept all the crap that is provided with the kit that goes through my hands I would have the equivalent of a forest in my garden.

 

I compare the Sony service with Phase One, Nikon and Canon; Sony haven't got past first base eg floating sales offers without the systems to back them up is misrepresentation, failing to feedback/communicate/respond when commitments are made to do so is unprofessional etc etc.

 

They develop a good product and have not invested in the infrastructure to support it....at least here in the UK

[Golem]

You discarded documentation.

Bad.

 

You refer to yourself as a "Landscape Pro".

Silly.

 

[Do you plant shrubs for pay ? I doubt it.]  

  

You say you "invested" in what are essentially

computer peripherals. You cannot consider any

such items as investment .... real "Pro".  

  

You rant and use ALL CAPS in your thread title.

Go plant some shrubs. Or go anywhere .... else.

And do .... whatever. 

  

` 

[JonathanStewart]

Just wait until your camera breaks.  Then the real fun starts. 

[tinplater]

You discarded documentation.

Bad.

 

You refer to yourself as a "Landscape Pro".

Silly.

 

[Do you plant shrubs for pay ? I doubt it.]  

  

You say you "invested" in what are essentially

computer peripherals. You cannot consider any

such items as investment .... real "Pro".  

  

You rant and use ALL CAPS in your thread title.

Go plant some shrubs. Or go anywhere .... else.

And do .... whatever. 

  

` 

Wow, a chip on your shoulder or what?  So what if he used caps for the title?  So what if he considers himself a landscape professional...probably is.  Why not address the theme of his complaint, poor customer service from Sony?  I am very sympathetic to that.  Canon has been great by comparison.

[shane]

My wife and I are landscape pro's and, after testing A7R2's, decided to invest in the Sony line-up. We bought two bodies and a bunch of lenses in late October. The bodies came with the "offer" of a free 1 year extended warranty which was activated by going to the SONY website and inputting a code provided on a scratch card with the cameras.

 

PROBLEM 1: The website didn't show the A7R2 in the appropriate page therefore nowhere to insert the scratch card number.

 

The SONY agent wasn't interested and suggested I rang SONY Customer Support on 30th October!

 

PROBLEM 2: Wait approximately 10 minutes for someone to pick up! Is this a function of the number of problems they are dealing with and/or the lack of investment in people?

 

I was asked to provide the serial numbers of the cameras and, via a follow-up email, a copy of the invoice and the warranty cards. Once received SONY would activate the extended warranty and confirm via email. I responded immediately, confirming  the serial numbers and providing the copy invoice; unfortunately, the warranty card had already gone into the bin with all the other bumph.

 

PROBLEM 3: No response from SONY! Sent subsequent email without effect.

 

16th November, I rang SONY Customer Service to establish what was happening.

 

PROBLEM 4: They now want me to input the number on the scratch card which was supplied with the cameras.....they went into the bin after the conversation on the 30th where SONY agreed to sort the registration.

 

Asked to speak to a manager to try and resolve.

 

PROBLEM 5: Manager may get back to me in two days! I'm not holding my breath.

 

God knows what will happen to try and get the gear serviced if/when there is a problem. Has anyone else suffered the same problems?

 

I agree.  I've found it frustrating to deal with Sony support on a number of levels.   Thanks for your post.  Perhaps some Sony exec will read this.

[Guest Peter Kelly]

The original complaint is a real dichotomy. On the one hand I have real sympathy as Sony customer service (and most other companies come to that) is dismal. On the other, though, I am bewildered at the lack of patience and DenWHO conributing to the issue!

 

First, if there are clear instructions provided which are impossible to follow there is no excuse. Just how hard is it before a marketing exercise is launched to check such details? Not at all, so you wonder why these things happens at all, unless people are incompetent or bone idle!

 

That said, if you do have an issue, the initial 10 minutes to reach an advisor is far from unusual (and I don't see the significance of October 30). I can accept from a business point of view that it is difficult to set levels of manning in customer service as it could be a huge cost. Do we want more expensive cameras?

Having got through, there follows the all too typical repeat of the initial difficulty: you are given instructions without a system behind them. Why didn't they respond as promised?

 

Of course, this then goes back to the OP's behaviour, if the warranty, in any shape or form, is really important why would anyone throw away relevant documentation?

I certainly don't hang on to paperwork that has little or no purpose, but if I need to resolve an issue I keep every scrap until I'm confident it is fully dealt with.

 

Ultimately, though, this goes to the heart of what we expect against what is provided and how difficulties are resolved. In the first case the OP expected to be able to follow the instructions provided.

When that wasn't possible it should be relatively straightforward to remedy and I never understand why a customer should need to take more than one step.

Having reached Sony on the telephone, all that should have happened would have been to take the OP's details and then the rest should have been completed by Sony without any further reference to him.

These days, unfortunately, we have to jump through hoops and often the same hoops, over and over.

 

The OP was a little impatient to begin and didn't help his cause, but when are companies going to figure out that their customer service people need to do some proper work, rather than just answer phones and hope the complaint will go away?