Richer Sounds Sony TV Repair Aerial Socket - Warranty Issues

Morphiar

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Hi all,

I wanted to share my experience of trying to get my TV repaired.

For a bit of background, it's within warranty (just under 3 years old), and I've kept it in mint condition. Never had a problem with it (or any TV previously for that matter). I wanted to dust behind my TV unit, so I did my usual process of disconnect the cables from the TV. When I disconnected the aerial/coaxial lead, the aerial socket came out with it (the tiny metal part that is soldered or glued to the board?). I believe it's probably an easy fix for someone with the skills and a soldering iron, but I wouldn't want to try myself incase I broke it further. The signal still works if you hold the lead in place with the connection on the TV, but of course you can't do that the whole time you're watching it! So I believe the board is fine... and it just needs soldering back in place? For that though the TV needs opening up.

I hope that explains my problem with the TV, and that's why it needs repairing.

Now, I originally called the store I bought it from, who told me to contact customer service and gave me their number. The automated system put me through to Sony who advised me to contact Richer Sounds. I called customer service again and spoke to someone who was quite helpful. They called Sony for me and put me through to someone directly - they took my details and I explained what was wrong with the TV. They told me this would not be covered under warranty and that it was physical damage. I said how is that fair, I did not forcefully yank the cable out or cause any damage. It's a clean break on the tiny metal part, and just needs soldering back together. They insisted it was physical damage and said they won't cover it, and I'd have to pay for a repair myself.

They gave me the number for the 'nearest' Sony repair company. I called them up and they said they don't cover my address! Said to ring someone nearer and gave me another company name. I called this company, they said Sony have not requested a repair and they have no details. I explained what happened again, and they said it's likely Sony won't honour that under a warranty and that I'd be looking at £100-200 for a repair directly if it's just a soldering job and nothing more.

Now, I've rang Richer Sounds again to advise that Sony said it's not covered under warranty and what should I do now? I strongly believe it's not physical damage... it genuinely came out with the aerial lead when I disconnected it. Perhaps a poor soldering job or it's just disintegrated over time. I really don't know.

I am now awaiting a call back from Richer Sounds who will hopefully advise me further.

In the mean time, I have no TV signal during the crucial parts of Euro 2020! Gutted.

Hoping to get this resolved soon, and will update this thread further whenever I hear anything. Hopefully this may help anyone out in the future who may have a similar problem.
 
Update: I have ordered the antenna part for less than £10.

Managed to eventually get the back of the TV off (what a pain that was), and I am hoping that I can just swap them out like for like. I've taken the old damaged part off. Should be here tomorrow - fingers crossed I can have a working TV again.

Decided to do this as I've not heard anything back from Richer Sounds yet, and since Sony (and the repairs company they directed me to) were adamant I wasn't covered with the warranty, I figured I'd have no choice but to pay them £100-200 for a what I believe to be a simple repair. Granted, I know most of that payment is for the labour and for a much more skilled person than I am (and collection/delivery).

Slightly baffled that they deem this fault to be physical damage caused by me still but if I can get my TV working again then that's all that matters. For future purchases I may avoid Sony - think I've been too loyal to them over the years (have to have everything matching!)... the first time something goes wrong and they were far from helpful on the phone. Richer Sounds customer service people were much better and far more friendly, but did seem to just pass the buck to Sony. I was hoping they would deal with Sony for me and organise the repair.

I will update again tomorrow if I manage to get things working again.
 
Update 2:

RS called back - willing to pay half of the cost of getting it fixed. Very nice gesture of them to be honest, as they didn't have to do anything with Sony being certain the fault is down to 'physical damage'. Could tell that RS believed Sony were wrong about it, so glad they agreed with me, but difficult to argue such things. Yes I could have pleaded with them to cover the entire repair as the fault was definitely not caused by the TV being mishandled... certainly not 'physical damage'. But, I just want a working TV and didn't want to be speaking with Sony again, waiting even longer to get it resolved.

I'm hoping a friend/local repairman will be able to install the part I've ordered and fix my problem tomorrow. This will hopefully be cheaper than the company Sony directed me to, plus I won't have to send my TV off! Then I hope the payment RS have offered will cover most of the bill, but I will add to it if needed.

Very happy with the customer service at RS and would shop there again. This is the first issue I've ever had and they dealt with it pretty quickly - customer service reps over the phone were great. As for Sony customer service... not so great.

Will update tomorrow with hopefully my final update if the TV works! =)
 
ive had a couple of faulty products at richer sounds, and they have always been good at sorting them out.

Most recent was an AV Receiver - it was an Onkyo and HDMI Board failed. I took it into store, and they sent it off- lending me a receiver to tie me over (was an older one, but still a great gesture) it was longer than they said it would be, so they said we'll refund you now and then you can buy a new one - so they refunded me the full cost of the device, and I purchased a new device (Denon this time) and then my warranty reset so I had a full warranty again.
 
Sounds like you've had a great experience with Richer Sounds then. Great result with the receiver!

My spare part for the TV arrived yesterday and sadly did not work. Seller of the part assured me it would, but I think because the model number is different, my TV did not want to recognise it. Either that, or the part was faulty... I did go through the service menu to change the tuner settings but this didn't help.

Fortunately I ordered a second part on the same day just incase, which arrived today. This one is identical to the original.

After many hours of work, I managed to get my TV working again. Was a pain getting the back of the TV back on, but all sorted now thankfully. I'm glad I was able to get it working again, since Sony wouldn't cover it under their 5-year warranty, nor would Richer Sounds cover it fully.
 
Sounds like you've had a great experience with Richer Sounds then. Great result with the receiver!

My spare part for the TV arrived yesterday and sadly did not work. Seller of the part assured me it would, but I think because the model number is different, my TV did not want to recognise it. Either that, or the part was faulty... I did go through the service menu to change the tuner settings but this didn't help.

Fortunately I ordered a second part on the same day just incase, which arrived today. This one is identical to the original.

After many hours of work, I managed to get my TV working again. Was a pain getting the back of the TV back on, but all sorted now thankfully. I'm glad I was able to get it working again, since Sony wouldn't cover it under their 5-year warranty, nor would Richer Sounds cover it fully.
great news you managed to get your problem resolved, and frustrating that Sony wouldn't honour it.

So you ordered 2 different parts from 2 diff people then? Or just one of the 2 same parts faulty?
 
great news you managed to get your problem resolved, and frustrating that Sony wouldn't honour it.

So you ordered 2 different parts from 2 diff people then? Or just one of the 2 same parts faulty?
2 different tuner parts from 2 different sellers. I ordered them both on the same day as after purchasing the first one, I was a bit dubious as to whether it would work.

First one was the same shape and size but was either faulty or for an older Sony TV model (it had a different model code on the board, but seller assumed it would work).

The second tuner was identical to the one that broke on my TV, so I had more hope that it would work this time round, and thankfully it did!

Hopefully won't have any other issues with the TV as I wouldn't want to be ringing Sony again. Would like it to last me another 2-3 years before I think about upgrading it.
 
Interested to see exactly what part broke and it's replacement…can you upload a picture?
Usually the complete aerial socket is part of the Tuner and the tuner is soldered to a pcb.
Or was it just the centre pin of the socket that detached?
 
12345.jpeg


This is the broken one. As you see the metal connector where my aerial lead goes in completely snapped off clean. Came off with the aerial lead when I disconnected it. I didn't forcefully yank it out either... Sony considered this physical damage and didn't cover it under warranty.

I replaced the entire thing and it just slots back into the board easily and connects via 2 screws. The worst part was putting the back of the TV back on!
 
The complete tuner board assembly.
I wrongly assumed you had got a replacement socket and had soldered it to the original tuner.
 
Oh no, fortunately not. I don't own a soldering iron otherwise that could have been an option since the tuner does still work.

I did consider buying a cheap one from Screwfix, but the whole tuner assembly is actually fairly cheap - only about £8 per unit roughly. And, probably better than me attempting to solder my broken one back together and messing it all up somehow.
 

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