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  • Report:  #517

Complaint Review: Sony Electronics Corporation - Nationwide

Reported By:
-
Submitted:
Updated:

Sony Electronics Corporation
All Over Nationwide, U.S.A.
Phone:
1-888-476-6972
Web:
N/A
Tell us has your experience with this business or person been good? What's this?
I've always believed in SONY products. I bought their first

Walkman, their first BetaVTR, their first DAT machine, their first

Trinitron TV, even their first portable DAT machine, their first

PCV150 computer.....I WAS a big believer in SONY.

The message said something about an errror due to a corrupted file

called .\iosubsys. I had never seen or heard of that file before.

I rebooted several times, even getting to the safe mode in Windows

and I tried to go onto the Internet to the SONY site thinking I

could find the problem there. Since I was in safe mode, the

computer would not allow me to log on to the net.

All of that changed last Friday, March 26, 1999.

I was in the process of filling out a very important form when my

SONY PCV 150 froze up. I rebooted as usual. All of a sudden an

error message jumped up that I had never seen before. In fact, I

had never had any problem with my SONY computer.

I called the SONY numbers at 1-888-476-6972 and 1-800-222-7669 only

to find the longest. most useless voice mail system I had ever

encountered. After several minutes of pushing numbers and hearing

more instructions, I finally got through to a SONY tele-tech named

Anthony (C06Q). He gave me an "Event" #: E04535221.

He immediately verified that I was a registered SONY user and asked

me what the problem was. I read him the error message right off the

screen. He then informed me that he could fix the problem but it

would cost me $19.95. I told him that I had never called SONY tech

support before and he asked for a credit card number.

I informed him that I do not use credit cards for I do not believe

in paying high interest for already high priced items. It's

senseless. I told him I would be glad to send a check or money

order. He asked me to get a credit card from my wife and give him

the number. I declined for I do not mix my business with my wife's

credit cards. They are for emergencies only. It's just that simple.

I informed him I had an ATM card and asked it that would work.

I told him how important it was that I get the forms filled in for

they pertained to a very important personal health problem

concerning my daughter. The SONY tech punched my ATM number and

name into their system and informed me that it worked. I wonder why

the tech was so uninformed that he did not know that their system

takes ATM numbers. I wondered why he hassled me about a credit card

number when he didn't even need one.

He then had me reboot my computer and told me to go to a c prompt

and type in ren smartdrv.exe smartdrv.old. That was the fix for the

corrupted SONY file.

The whole process took less than 5 seconds to tell me the line.

Now, I'm not a computer novice by any means. All the man had to do

is tell me just rename your smartdrv.exe to .old. It would have

taken him 5 seconds and saved a lot of time and phone costs to SONY.

Instead he fleeced me for $20.

I don't use SONY products anymore. I don't like getting ripped off.

I sold the Walkman and my SONY DATS the day after the ripoff. My

SONY PCV 150 is for sale now to the highest bidder and I may give

it away for I don't ever want another SONY product in my home or

business and I won't do business with anyone who uses SONY.

And the worst part, for SONY, their little $20 ripoff cost them

about $5,000 for I was planning on purchasing a brand new SONY

computer with ALL the trimmings including the digital cameras, all

that jazz.

I cancelled the order last Friday afternoon.

So, you sorry bastards at SONY, always remember one thing: your

greed to rip me off for $20 cost you $5,000 and you will never hear

the end of it as long as I live on this earth.


2 Updates & Rebuttals

Allen

Jackson Heights,
New York,
U.S.A.
It was the policy at the time

#2UPDATE EX-employee responds

Thu, April 07, 2005

I know who this person is. I worked with him before. He was merely enforcing the company policy. He is a top tech and often handles only out of warranty lines, he is known for his knowledge and low talk times (that's how outsourcers get paid by quantity) and if his talk times get really high, he will be monitored by a supervisor. Any one handling the out of warranty lines always deal with the same situations, people who refuse to pay but want to ask a quick question. Most agents on this line will not even attempt to answer a troubleshooting question, they will refer to the company policy. But I believe all this is pointless since this policy is no longer enforced. I am uncertain of the reason for this but I suspect the numerous complaints by customers or possible legal actions by several state attorney generals led to this unofficial policy change.


Anon

Ft. Myers,
Florida,
U.S.A.
Out of Warranty Charges

#3UPDATE Employee

Thu, September 11, 2003

NUMBER 1 - EVERY computer manufacturer has a warranty period in which you receive FREE tech support. This particular computer hit the market in July, 1997 and was discontinued in January, 1998. This means that as of June, 1999, his computer was OUT OF WARRANTY. Sony, just like every other computer manufacturer charges for tech support for out of warranty technical assistance. The $19.95 charge applies whether you speak to them for five seconds, five minutes or five hours. If this person had taken their computer to a store for repair, their minimum charge would have been much more than $20. It sounds to me like this person's pride was hurt because they couldn't figure out something that turned out to be a simple to fix (once they knew the answer). NUMBER 2 - I find it hard to believe that someone who was such a "LOYAL" customer would stop being loyal after only ONE less-than-satisfactory experience. I'd hate to be this persons' mate or significant other. There would be no pleasing them.

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