Sony and Warranty - Beware!

Hi there,

I have a Sony CX1, which I have had from new for about 9 months. I noticed whilst watching "ICE AGE" that there were two or possibly three amber [very feignt] circles in the background of the display. I checked with another DVD and again they were there.

Nothing seem to make them disappear. I have never seen them before.

I decided to ring Sony, first and foremost to query what might be causing it and what I could do. They suggested a local company could take a look at it. [in the absence of a local Sony Service Centre] They descibed them as "very competitive". I queried this statement???? "I'm covered by my warranty"......"err I doubt it , we're on the CX5 now!

".....but I bought it new only 9 months ago"

".....not material - the warranty starts when we sell it...we sold that projector [by serial number] over 15 months ago.[to PC World, where I purchased it from]..so no warranty"

I was then advised to take issue with PC World, who have basically said "take it up with Sony! - we would only send it to them anyway!"

This is not the end of the matter as you might gather - personally I think the stance of both companies is incorrect. Views on my next step anyone or alternatively tell me how to get rid of the circles

thx

 

Firstly, PC World have the duty to solve your problem as they are the supplying retailer.
Admittedly, PC World will send your PJ to Sony for repair, but that is their problem, at their cost.
Most " local dealers " will only be interested in offering service to customer's who they have supplied, reason being Sony in-warranty dealer rates are insignificantly tiny. Sony dealers in particular have mostly signed new contracts which specifically exclude this obligation.
Sony Centres also are independent franchise operations with same business ethos as " local dealers ".
It's often mentioned about Euro legislation regarding warranty issues, all very well but it does not mean any local Sony dealer has to help.
So, tackle PC world...

 

Tell PC World they are breaking the law. You purchased the projector from THEM, not Sony. Tell them if they do not deal with the problem, you will be contacting your bank or credit card company asking them to begin the process of getting your money back. If you bought it using a credit card, all the better - there ain't NO company out there that wants the credit card people on their backs.

Oh and by the way, don't worry about PC World trying to screw you out of the warranty. The warranty commences when you hand your money over, NOT when PC World buy the projectors from Sony.

 

Hi Ani - I believe the other members are 100% accurate. Here in Denmark we have a 24 month warrenty as a standard - if the item I have purchased dosen't work and the defect is covered by your warreny, it's the dealer you bought it from who's responsible for reparing the item - end of story! Whether or not it's the dealer or the manufacturer who will be charged in the end, that's not your problem.

Ofcourse, bear in mind that I'm assuming that consumers in the UK are protected by "consumer-legislation"(don't know the correct word for it.. ) just like we are in Denmark...

Go and show them who's in charge....!

- Thomas

 

I think you need to look up the 'The Sale of Goods Act 1979 (as amended)'. Have a look at the bbc site http://www.bbc.co.uk/watchdog/guides_to/consumerlaw/index2.shtml for a quick summary.

Remember that warranties don't affect your statutary rights and that is something to remember when your warranty runs out.

To be of merchandisable quality a product must last without defect what is considered a reasonable amount of time. One year is relatively short time for such an expensive item which I assume you are buying to last for many years, so even if it happens outside the warranty period you are still protected by the law.

You are not entitled to a repair or replacement - just your money back or compensation.

Cheers,
Calscot.

 

This is very interesting.

I bought a VPL-CS2 from PC World just over a year ago.
It was pixel perfect new, but sadly went on to develop four dead green pixels in the first 50 hours of use. Two are just defective and display luminance slightly incorrectly, but the two others are vertically adjacent and fixed at 100% luminance. Fortunately, these two lie outwith the 16:9 frame, so are only troublesome when watching anything 4:3.

Still, thought it was worth kicking up a fuss. Took it back to PC World, and they happily received it (it was 50 weeks since my original purchase date!) and sent it off to some 3rd party company for an inspection. Got it back 8 weeks later.

The result? A very detailed report of how they took the projector to bits & cleaned everything. But no mention of pixels. How convenient!
This was despite my detailed written instructions saying that I believed the green LCD panel must be defective, and could I please have it replaced.

Was considering purchasing an HS-10 for next upgrade, but I think I'll leave it for just now, as I have been permanently put off Sony due to this quality control issue. 90 hours use in a year, four dead pixels? Sod that.
I'm just glad I didn't blow £4k on a 10HT like I planned to originally.
Off to demo a TW100 / MT5 / AE200 etc. over the next few months!!

My 2p's worth!!!