Sony Rant
Don’t get me wrong, I like Sony. Before this incident, I’d never even had to contact Sony customer support for any Sony product I’d ever owned, and as far as I was concerned, they were one of the best consumer electronics companies in the world. But all that changed, and how. It all started innocently enough: a computer, a movie, and a change of address…
Dinner and a Movie
My wife and I had only recently returned from Ireland, and so we were still staying in a hotel while we looked for an apartment and I looked for a job. After a full 
day of interviews, I was in the mood for a movie, and so we decided to watch a DVD on my wife’s laptop computer; unfortunately, the computer wouldn’t recognize the DVD, due to the country region encoding on the DVD. During our stay in Ireland, I had changed the DVD drive’s region code using WinDVD, as the Sony provided DVD software wasn’t capable of changing the DVD’s RPC-2 drive country region; however, I hadn’t yet changed it back, and I didn’t have a copy of WinDVD. No problem, I thought, I’ll just see if Sony provides a utility for changing the country code. RPC-2 DVD drives store the country code in a piece of flash memory, and allow you change the country code a limited number of times (usually 5 times); after this, the drive’s country code is locked, and can’t be changed anymore.
Not only did Sony’s VAIO support site not provide a tool to change the country code, it didn’t really provided much of anything else; after searching for our model, we were presented with only two possible downloads: updates from the video driver, and the sound card. After having owned a Dell, and being able to download everything for my old laptop, this was a disappointment. This pissed me off; why would region encoding be enforced on a laptop in the first place? And if they had to enable it, why hadn’t they provided DVD software capable of changing it, like just about every other piece of DVD software I’d ever seen? Finally, why didn’t they have a tool to correct this deficiency online?
I decided to write an email to customer service at Sony, requesting a tool; at the same time I registered my disapproval of the CCA (Copyright Control Authority) and the region encoding system they had implemented on DVDs. The reply from customer service provided only an explanation of the DVD system of region encoding, something I was already well aware of, as should have been obvious from my email. In my reply to Sony, I criticized them for not providing a tool to swap the regions, citing the obvious need for a laptop to be useful in several regions; their reply thanked me for my “invaluable” input.
The problem was finally solved when I found a utility from the DVD drive manufacturer specifically designed for changing the region of the drive; when I notified Sony of this tool, again making sure they knew I was dismayed at their sorry excuse for customer support, I was informed that changing the region of the drive was not “a function that is supported”, and would “void any remaining warranty on the drive”. But this would not be the last time Sony would display a complete inability to support its products. The adventure would continue with The Narcoleptic Computer.
The Narcoleptic Computer
Shortly after the incident with the laptop’s DVD player, yet another problem with the VAIO appeared; every so often the laptop would spontaneously fall into “sleep” mode, and had to be rebooted. It finally got so bad that the computer would only complete the boot sequence before falling to “sleep” again. After a re-install of the operating system and an attempt to solve the problem by disabling the hibernation functionality in BIOS, it became apparent that the VAIO had a hardware problem. We called Sony, and received instructions to send the laptop to a service center.
A few days later, the service center contacted me at work to provide an estimate of the repair cost; I was informed that the “main board” had to be replaced at a cost of $2800 for a new board, or $900 for a refurbished board. I was informed that the computer was “pretty old”, which supposedly explained the price; when I asked why the specific faulty part couldn’t be replaced, I was told that the service center wasn’t authorized to perform those repairs.
I was tired of Sony, but decided I might as well get the refurbished board installed so that I could sell the laptop and recoup some of the original cost. Days later, the Sony service center called to inform me the refurbished board was no longer available.
At this point I was pretty mad at Sony, but it was about to get much worse. I asked for a Sony contact number in order to resolve this issue; as this was the third machine from Sony I had seen die just after its warranty expired, I suspected I would be able to get Sony to replace the board for free. I called Sony Canada, only to be informed that I would have to deal with Sony US, as that’s where the computer was purchased; the Sony US phone maze finally ended in a recorded message informing me that my computer was no longer under warranty, and I would have to pay $19.95 per incident for technical support. I didn’t want technical support; I wanted customer support.
I called Sony Canada and demanded a resolution; they informed me they would send a “critical note” to Sony US to get the issue resolved. When I hadn’t heard anything after a few days, I called again and they gave me a snailmail address for the Office of the President of Sony US. I wrote a letter, but have yet to hear any response from Sony US.
Conclusion
After all I’ve been through, one thing is certain: I will never buy another Sony product ever again. Their customer support is horrible, and their only purpose seems to be to misdirect you until you give up. My wife’s VAIO now sits in my cubicle as a paperweight; I refuse to pay the cost of repair. My advice to anyone looking to buy a laptop: buy a Dell.
Hi
A long time later, but I am running into similar things with Sony Support, a laptop bought in japan, and me wanting to change the OS. In my case I can see what they are trying to do – limit people buying cheap sony products in japan and taking them out of the ocuntry as exports…. but anyway read my blog i just set up to episode this saga..
http://www.ianwarner.com
Hi
I could not agree with you more. I like you have been an avid Sony fan for many years, that is until I bought a Sony Vaio Laptop.
Man, what a piece of shit. No support from Sony whatsoever. System keeps crashing, fan is noisy, battery is loose at the back, system is slow, function keys have stopped working and I can’t find any instructions on fixing this…funny, I had a number of Dell Laptops in the past and none of them ever gave me as many problems as this damn Sony and they don’t cost a premium to own either. At least they have a decent website with proper instructions on software / driver downloads and installations.
Ever try to reinstall Vaio applications without having to reformat the drive? Since 2005 Sony doesn’t ship recovery cd’s with laptops either, so recovery becomes a nightmare.
Man, I’ll never buy another Sony product as long as I live..thats for damn sure.
I went through a similar nightmare with my Vaio laptop — a PCG -GRX520. First there was a problem with the video card. The service center charged me $300 dollars to replace it with a refurbished one. Soon after that, the laptop just started crashing again and again. If I pushed the start button it would only reboot occassionally. Argh!
I HATED this machine. Unfortunately, I really, really liked the keyboard. In fact, it’s the best laptop keyboard I’ve ever seen.
Oh well. I’ve since switched to a Fujitsu. All Japanese parts and totally reliable.
lads all machines give trouble. as regards hibernation its probally just a little board connected to the laptop screen. when u close the screen the laptop hibernates. the system thinks the screen is closed due to a fualty switch or something that is physically connected to the laptop screen. get your screw driver and investigate. the switch is closed and it thinks the screen is closed down hince going into standby and hibernation.in the older and cheaper models there was a simple mechanical switch and when you closed the screen down it pressed this little connector down therefore tell the machine to go into hibernation. sometimes it was just stuck down and prodding it with a needle relased it while other times you had to replace this switch which came on a tiny little board. it was a matter of taking out the little board and replacing it. some machines would come in which would power up with a black screen. simply replacing this switch would turn them on.
hey maybe im wrong but investigate.
SHUT THE FUK UP ALL OF YOU WHINGING FAGGOTS, YOU ALL EXPECT THE ENDS OF THE EARTH FOR YOUR PRODUCTS, A COMPANY HAS POLICIES AND PROCEDURES IN PLACE, IF YOU DO NOT LIKE THEM THEN FUK OFF, DO A LITTLE RESEARCH NEXT TIME BEFORE YOU BUY A PRODUCT. BRENDON YOU AND YOUR REGION CHANGING. NOT ALL COMPANIES HAVE OR WILL SUPPORT MULTI-REGION PLAYERS, IF THATS THE APPROACH THE COMPANY WISHS TO TAKE THEN TOUGH LUCK, NO WERE DOES IT SAY BUY THIS SONY VAIO TO GO OVERSEAS AND WATCH DVDS FROM ALL OVER THE WORLD YOU COMPLETE MORON. HAVE A FUKN CRY ALL YOU IDIOTS WHO HAVE NOTHING BETTER TO DO THAN RING SONY AT 8AM CAUSE YOU HAVE NO LIVES AND COMPLAIN LIKE LITTLE BITCHES AND MAKE FUKING STUPID BLOGS ONLINE.
GET A LIFE!!!
Sooks!
You’re all sooks!
S*cked in! No one cares about your problems!
Go have a cry!
Do you think they care that you won’t ever buy another Sony product? They have billions of customers. Why would they care about a cry baby?
Check and MATE!
I debated with myself whether or not to approve the previous two comments, but I decided there’s no point in censoring the submitter. Instead I’ll respond calmly and thoughtfully and let you the reader decide which viewpoint to support.
First, I agree that customers should always research their purchases. However, the majority of users are completely unaware of the DVD regions and the potential impact they might have on their ability to play DVDs. RC2 DVD players enforce the region setting in hardware, unlike RC1 players (which used software-based region encoding and were susceptible to circumvention). RC2 drives typically allow the user to change regions some number of times before they are “locked” to a region; a user may be able to contact the manufacturer to reset the region count.
My problem with Sony here is that not only is there no warning to this effect on the packaging, but that they don’t actually provide software that is capable of changing the region. The provided software is horrible, and I ended up using WinDVD to change the region. It seems a bit tacky when the manufacturer doesn’t even provide tools to control the very hardware that the consumer spent their money on. This is the very kind of control that Cory Doctorow and others warn against on the topic of DRM – consumers held hostage by their own technology. I don’t think it’s unreasonable to expect Sony to provide the right software to change regions, especially given that the machine in question is a laptop – i.e. a machine designed to travel.
Second, the “narcoleptic” shutdown problem with the Sony laptop was a design flaw known to Sony. The only reason Sony resisted addressing this problem was that it was their fault that the problem existed, and it was widespread, and they just wanted it to go away. I hardly think that fighting to get both my machine and those of several other people fixed for free, as well as providing a source of information to hold Sony to account qualifies me as a “sook” (a soft, timid or cowardly person). It took a lot of work and time to make this happen, work that most people would not undertake because they don’t believe they can change the system. Giving up in the face of adversity is the true definition of cowardice.
The point is not that we believe that Sony will suffer irreparable direct harm due to a couple dozen people raising hell over a flawed laptop design. The point is to inform others of how Sony conducts its business, to inform their choices when purchasing a laptop. While this individual action may not have a large influence on Sony, it will be amplified over time by those with a similar experience until the sum total of people’s opinions have enough of an effect on Sony’s sales to prompt action.
I don’t expect to change the world, I just expect to get a decent product at a decent price, and for companies to stand behind their products. I don’t believe that’s unreasonable.
I have PCG-F360 after 13 months came and the warrantee died then my labtop started to auto shut down, I had called Sony and they said it would cost 1600.00 to 1800.00 to fix the problem after telling them I spend close to 2300.00 and 2 months out of warrantee you want me to send you more money I think not.
I had wrote to the CEO and never got a response. Then I went on E-Bay and found several people had ways to fix the know problem and was informed that Sony was aware but didn’t want to spend for the recall.
If you’re looking for a good laptop buy a Dell when there’s a problem they jump to it to have it fix screw Sony.