Hi,
Since the Sony UK support feedback form seem to be as broken as their TVs, I find my self urged to post it here instead hoping that someone at Sony will still care about customer satisfaction. Although I live in Sweden, I believe these experiences could be relevant to anyone considering buying a Sony.
Original email below:
Hi Sony,
Not long ago I used to be a loyal Sony customer endorsing your products whenever I had a chance. That was before I made the misstake of buying a TV from you a year ago, which has been nothing short of a horror story. First customer service in Sweden failed, then I was contacted by someone from Sony Nordic that was supposed to help me out, only the be completely ignored for 2 months once I had provided him with a detailed description. You can read all about it below. I have so far been unable to find an email address to your Global HQ or European HQ, so I email you as I believe the Sony Europe HQ are located in the UK.
Please read my horror story below and if you have any intent of me ever buying a Sony product again, and stop advising others not to, at least do me the honor of not ignoring me once again. If you are not the suitable recipient of this, please forward my inquiry to them and have then contact me
Regards,
Patrik Johansson
Hi,
I didn’t think it would be possible but after having spent quite some time to write all the details of my Sony fiasco below, only to be completely ignored, I am now even more unhappy with Sony than I was before. And to be honest, I actually feel a bit stupid too as I really thought perhaps finally someone at Sony really did care about the customers and felt the need to try to make something right after all failures so far. But after 2 months with zero feedback from you, I have now almost lost all hope regarding Sony. Needless to say, I won’t hesitate to share my experiences with anyone thinking of making a Sony purchase.
I will make one final attempt to contact Sony HQ in Japan as I still want to believe that there still is someone at Sony still care about customers, but can’t really say I have any high hopes. Really really sad as I once used to be a loyal Sony customer ?
/Patrik Johansson
From: Patrik Johansson
Sent: den 3 juli 2013 11:13
To: per.andersen.cro@eu.sony.com
Subject: Re: Sony Support E-mail | BRÅDSKANDE: Information angående er inlämnade service, ref.nr: 72533143 [case:8343093] [email:284513050]
Hi again Per,
Just wanted to check that you received my email bellow?
Regards,
Patrik Johansson
Sent from my iPad
On 25 jun 2013, at 21:33, "Patrik Johansson" wrote:
Hi Per,
English is fine, I’m usually able to understand Danish in writing but no point in taking any chances ?
I ordered the first 65HX923 from retailer Elgiganten in august last year. Right upon delivery it was obvious that it had dead pixels, and the retailer replaced it straight away. Unfortunately, the second set had very obvious problem with Vertical Banding (a well known problem with these TV:s I know, even though I am not sure that Sony have confirmed it). The retailer again replaced it right off and…the third set also had dead pixels .By then the retailer had grown tired of this (mostly with Sony) and said that they wouldn’t replace it, but gave me the option to either get a full refund, or get a compensation for all the time and effort and then take the matter with Sony (since you have a zero faulty pixel policy). After some consideration, I decided to go with the compensation and to take the matter directly with Sony support.
Well, first contact with Sony support wasn’t too bad and the forwarded the case to Assist workshop, who came to pick up the TV right on time, and acted professional all the way. There was a delay of a few week before they could get a new panel for the TV, but that I consider to be Sonys fault, not theirs. They then returned the TV to me. Unfortunately, after a while, it became obvious that this TV also had problems, which are hard to explain in writing but it was kind of like someone had smudged the screen with oil or something and after some going back and forth, it was decided that the TV should one again go on service. At the same time, I became ill so it took perhaps 2 months before they could pick it up from me, but when they did, they (Assist) immediately confirmed that they could also see the problems on the TV, and right off said that it would probably be hard to fix. This was confirmed a few days later on the phone, that TV would be either replaced or refunded. And then nothing happened for over a month, except that Assist contacted us saying that they had completed the investigation and it was now up to Sony to make the final decision. And we waited. And waited. And then we decided to contact Sony Support, were promised an answer within a few days, didn’t happen, contacted Sony again, same promise, didn’t happen this time either.
Now we had been without TV entirely for 2 months, and we were growing more and more frustrated by this. Finally, we contacted both Sony and the retailer and informed them that we would consider legal actions if nothing happened. We also demanded several times to come into contact with “someone in charge”, but that never happened either. We then also contacted Assist again, asking if they perhaps could do something to speed up the matter. They said that they should to some of the contacts they had within Sony, and only one day later, things suddenly started to happen and we were contacted by the retailer who said we would get our money back (which we now have).
So all in all, counting all replacement TVs as well as repairs, we had F I V E different HX923s delivered to us, and none of them worked (as confirmed by Assist, the retailer and people who saw the TV in our home). The amount of time and effort we as a customer had to spend on this is nothing short of a disgrace, especially considering that we bought the most expensive TV on the market (at least here in Sweden). The fact that a big global company like Sony, who we once considered an innovative company who really cared or it’s customers, could allow this many faulty TVs to pass through QC is and then put us as a customer through all this is…I don’t want to put those words in writing.
Regarding both the retailer ElGiganten we have no complaints. They offered excellent service all the way, and I fully understand that they can’t be blaimed for the fact that Sony kept delivering fault sets to them, and that they after 2 replacements didn’t want to do a third (but offered us a full refund if we had choose that). Same goes for the service parther Assist Workshop, they always kept their promised, showed up on time, were nice to deal with and always professional. And I fully believe that they were the ones who actually managed to make this disaster come to an end. So you should really thank them for their efforts in this, as they have both stepped up when Sony haven’t.
We blame Sony entirely for this, everything from delivering bad products to the fact that we had to go through all this. Unfortunately, I must say that this has damaged the Sony brand severely, not based on our own opinion, but because we as active community members of several “home cinema forums” have posted updated information about all the troubles we have had along the way. I know for a fact that several people have decided to go with other brands after having read about what we had gone through (and we only delivered the facts). This is very sad as I still believe that Sony makes some of the best TV:s on the market, as long as they actually work and you manage to do something about your support and service when they don’t.
If I had been working with Sony myself with some kind of responsibility regarding marketing, customer relationship or similar this would have me quite worried. As you say yourself, “The time-frame you and your case has been subject to, are in noway a reflection of the standard that Sony wants to project onto customers, and a compensation naturally will come into considoration.” and as someone who has worked a bit with those kind of matters, I couldn’t agree more with you.
It probably goes without saying that we would hesitate both once and twice to buy another product from Sony, and that it is hard for us to recommend anyone else to do it based on our experiences. I can however promise you that if you do really feel that you want to offer us some kind of “serious goodwill compensation” for all frustration you have had to go through with this, we would make sure to spread the word about that in the same way we have done with the negative experiences. We don’t see any reason to bad mouth Sony just for the sake of it, especially since we have been loyal Sony customers for probably at least 20 years, but this time, I have to be honest and say that your handling of this from day one really has been nothing short of a disaster.
No matter what, I hope that you will use this quite lengthy email to at least make improvements so that other/future customers would not have to go through the same things as we have had to. I want Sony (and other Japanese brands) to continue exist in the future as well, and still have found memories of all the great products you have produced in the last 30 years in both the television sector as well as others.
Regards,
Patrik Johansson
From: per.andersen.cro@eu.sony.com [mailto:per.andersen.cro@eu.sony.com]
Sent: den 25 juni 2013 17:55
To: Patrik Johansson
Subject: Sony Support E-mail | BRÅDSKANDE: Information angående er inlämnade service, ref.nr: 72533143 [case:8343093] [email:284513050]
Hi Patrik,
I have been asked to take a look at your case, regarding the repair-service you have just had with Assist Workshop.
I hope it is OK for you that I write in english, this is foremost to avoid confusion by adding danish into the mix, and thereby an extra-language barrier.
If possible I would like to have a brief summary, in your own words, regarding your experience with both the support, the workshop and of course also the retailer.
In the other end, I will gather as much information from each of those sides aswell. This way I can try to paint a complete picture during my investigation.
I can at these early stages already state, that the time-frame you and your case has been subject to, are in noway a reflection of the standard that Sony wants to project onto customers, and a compensation naturally will come into considoration.
It is vital that the summary from your side is as detailed as possible, which will make any decision I can make easier, and please do not hesitate to write back to me in Swedish, thus I through my work has quite a good understanding for Swedish.
Please feel free to contact me directly on this email-adress if you should encounter any questions you do not feel has been answered to your satisfaction.
Med venlig hilsen,
Per Andersen
SONY Nordic Liaison Officer
SUPPORT: http://www.sony.dk/support/da
Sony Nordic (Denmark), filial af Sony Europe Limited
Industiparken 29 - 2750 Ballerup - Denmark
