Experience contacting Sony support
Good day, habrazhiteli!
I want to tell you one entertaining story from the life of "glands". I hope at least someone it will be useful.
On the evening of December 3rd, 2010, when I turned on my Sony VAIO VGN-AR21MR laptop, instead of the usual starting logo shown on the left, I saw a frightening picture shown on the right. My heart sank: my plans did not include the purchase of a new laptop for the New Year.
')
The first thought was: “I covered the video card. Ales! The trouble is that I bought my Sony VAIO VGN-AR21MR in the summer of 2006 and, accordingly, the warranty for it ended a long time ago. Considering what the repair can do for me (the video is integrated into the motherboard, so if anyone takes the chip, the price tag will not be small), I began to look for information about authorized service centers. The option with the repair of the "special" left as the last hope. The search began with Sony's offsite - www.sony.ru.
Here I would like to make a “lyrical digression”. On this site I harbored a grudge even after the purchase. Then I registered the purchase on their website to get access to the forum (I wanted to have an existing TV tuner for Linux, by the way, nothing came of it) well, and be able to contact support, if that. So, to register, I registered, but could not enter. Attempts to contact support via the Feedback form were not successful. Nobody answered my letters. The situation is stalemate. Since then, I no longer went to the Sony site in the firm belief that this is a useless exercise, because Unih site only for the purpose of advertising products, and not to communicate with consumers.
During my absence, the site has changed markedly. For the better. Menus have become logical, navigation is convenient. Following on the main page “Support> Repair and Problem Solving” I came to support.sony-europe.com, the support site in Europe. Everything was in Russian (again, changes), right there in the section “Authorized Sony Service Centers” I clicked on “VAIO Computers” and ... I did not find any list of authorized SOs. But the following information came to light: “Free support can be obtained from the VAIO-Link Center toll-free at 8-800-700-0939.”
Well, since they don’t take money for the demand, I decided to call and ask about where in my city you can repair a laptop. I phoned from the first time, I did not have to wait long for an answer. The girl answered. I called my name, the city, and said that my laptop had broken, but the guarantee for it was long over and I need the address of an authorized SC for repair. The girl said she would connect me with a specialist and asked me to wait.
After a couple of minutes of waiting on the line, I heard the voice of a young man who asked what my problem was. I described the problem in detail and expressed my assumptions about its cause, after which I was asked to name the serial number of my laptop. Wondering why this is necessary, I dictated the serial to my interlocutor. So what is next…
Honestly, I did not expect such a move in the further development of events. The specialist I spoke with told me that the problem was most likely caused by a defective NVIDIA chip and that, if confirmed, my laptop would be repaired free of charge via an affiliate program. My application was registered and I was informed of its number for further contact with support. In order to verify the cause of the breakdown, I was asked to take a few screen shots of the laptop with an open BIOS setup and send them, with the application number, to e-mail customersupport.ru@vaio-link.com. Ghostly hope dawned on the horizon. I took a few photos:
And sent them to the specified e-mail. I made the first call to the support on Thursday, December 9th, and sent a letter with pictures on Friday, the 10th. Due to the fact that the site indicated that the support works from Monday to Friday, I did not expect an answer until Monday, and on Monday I called back to support. Waiting for an answer, I called the application number, after which I was informed that the malfunction is really due to the failure of the video chip and that my laptop will be repaired for free. Then the operator asked me for the address, contact details, availability of packaging from a laptop. It is clear that I threw out the box a long time ago, so I was promised to solve this issue with a transport company, the courier of which will leave for me with a laptop. For repair it was necessary to provide only the laptop itself, without a battery. At the same time I asked - can I remove the hard drive? The operator answered this affirmatively and promised that they would contact me from the transport company in the near future in order to deliver the laptop to the service center.
About a week passed in anticipation, after which they called me and after 15 minutes the courier with a box for packing arrived at my place of work (it was pointless to indicate my home address because we all work). Filled out the documents, packed the laptop and the courier went to the destination. A week later, I called back to Sony support and clarified the status of my application. I was informed that the repair required replacement of the motherboard (who would doubt!) And its delivery, taking into account the approaching New Year holidays, can take up to 4 weeks. Well, in spite of the fact that the time is running out is not enough, I still got the opportunity to repair my “old” laptop for free!
A couple of times I called the support to see how things were going. And on January 19th I received my laptop back. Words can not convey how it is nice - to meet with the "old faithful friend." But all of this could not have happened if I had not contacted the support service of the manufacturer, having decided that a non-warranty laptop would be easier to repair at one of the local services.
Moral: if you have problems with electronic devices, even if they have long lost their warranty, do not hesitate to contact the manufacturer for support. Sometimes it brings a completely unexpected profit! eight)
I want to tell you one entertaining story from the life of "glands". I hope at least someone it will be useful.
On the evening of December 3rd, 2010, when I turned on my Sony VAIO VGN-AR21MR laptop, instead of the usual starting logo shown on the left, I saw a frightening picture shown on the right. My heart sank: my plans did not include the purchase of a new laptop for the New Year.
')
The first thought was: “I covered the video card. Ales! The trouble is that I bought my Sony VAIO VGN-AR21MR in the summer of 2006 and, accordingly, the warranty for it ended a long time ago. Considering what the repair can do for me (the video is integrated into the motherboard, so if anyone takes the chip, the price tag will not be small), I began to look for information about authorized service centers. The option with the repair of the "special" left as the last hope. The search began with Sony's offsite - www.sony.ru.
Here I would like to make a “lyrical digression”. On this site I harbored a grudge even after the purchase. Then I registered the purchase on their website to get access to the forum (I wanted to have an existing TV tuner for Linux, by the way, nothing came of it) well, and be able to contact support, if that. So, to register, I registered, but could not enter. Attempts to contact support via the Feedback form were not successful. Nobody answered my letters. The situation is stalemate. Since then, I no longer went to the Sony site in the firm belief that this is a useless exercise, because Unih site only for the purpose of advertising products, and not to communicate with consumers.
During my absence, the site has changed markedly. For the better. Menus have become logical, navigation is convenient. Following on the main page “Support> Repair and Problem Solving” I came to support.sony-europe.com, the support site in Europe. Everything was in Russian (again, changes), right there in the section “Authorized Sony Service Centers” I clicked on “VAIO Computers” and ... I did not find any list of authorized SOs. But the following information came to light: “Free support can be obtained from the VAIO-Link Center toll-free at 8-800-700-0939.”
Well, since they don’t take money for the demand, I decided to call and ask about where in my city you can repair a laptop. I phoned from the first time, I did not have to wait long for an answer. The girl answered. I called my name, the city, and said that my laptop had broken, but the guarantee for it was long over and I need the address of an authorized SC for repair. The girl said she would connect me with a specialist and asked me to wait.
After a couple of minutes of waiting on the line, I heard the voice of a young man who asked what my problem was. I described the problem in detail and expressed my assumptions about its cause, after which I was asked to name the serial number of my laptop. Wondering why this is necessary, I dictated the serial to my interlocutor. So what is next…
Honestly, I did not expect such a move in the further development of events. The specialist I spoke with told me that the problem was most likely caused by a defective NVIDIA chip and that, if confirmed, my laptop would be repaired free of charge via an affiliate program. My application was registered and I was informed of its number for further contact with support. In order to verify the cause of the breakdown, I was asked to take a few screen shots of the laptop with an open BIOS setup and send them, with the application number, to e-mail customersupport.ru@vaio-link.com. Ghostly hope dawned on the horizon. I took a few photos:
And sent them to the specified e-mail. I made the first call to the support on Thursday, December 9th, and sent a letter with pictures on Friday, the 10th. Due to the fact that the site indicated that the support works from Monday to Friday, I did not expect an answer until Monday, and on Monday I called back to support. Waiting for an answer, I called the application number, after which I was informed that the malfunction is really due to the failure of the video chip and that my laptop will be repaired for free. Then the operator asked me for the address, contact details, availability of packaging from a laptop. It is clear that I threw out the box a long time ago, so I was promised to solve this issue with a transport company, the courier of which will leave for me with a laptop. For repair it was necessary to provide only the laptop itself, without a battery. At the same time I asked - can I remove the hard drive? The operator answered this affirmatively and promised that they would contact me from the transport company in the near future in order to deliver the laptop to the service center.
About a week passed in anticipation, after which they called me and after 15 minutes the courier with a box for packing arrived at my place of work (it was pointless to indicate my home address because we all work). Filled out the documents, packed the laptop and the courier went to the destination. A week later, I called back to Sony support and clarified the status of my application. I was informed that the repair required replacement of the motherboard (who would doubt!) And its delivery, taking into account the approaching New Year holidays, can take up to 4 weeks. Well, in spite of the fact that the time is running out is not enough, I still got the opportunity to repair my “old” laptop for free!
A couple of times I called the support to see how things were going. And on January 19th I received my laptop back. Words can not convey how it is nice - to meet with the "old faithful friend." But all of this could not have happened if I had not contacted the support service of the manufacturer, having decided that a non-warranty laptop would be easier to repair at one of the local services.
Moral: if you have problems with electronic devices, even if they have long lost their warranty, do not hesitate to contact the manufacturer for support. Sometimes it brings a completely unexpected profit! eight)
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/115726/
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