Enda

Exactly my point. I dont know where this bullshit of testing the product in front of you (and several other people in the store looking over your shoulder) has come from. It's obviously designed to make the customer feel uncomfortable and labelling you a liar in a round-a-bout way. I even said that to the clerk I was dealing with. Why would I lug the MP3 into work with me, and sacrafice the best part of my lunch hour to bring it back? for kicks and giggles? I don't think so. These "Sony Centres" are independent from Sony themselves I think. Sony just sell on the franchise in a McDonald's type scenario. It'll be interesting to see tomorrow now anyway when I inform them of the type of characters they have employed to sell their products.

Found a number for Sony's head office. Was on the way home from work there this evening and my blood was just boiling over the whole thing. Sony Ireland can expect a call from me first thing tomorrow. It's just crazy for a company who has received so much of my custom in recent years to leave me feeling like a liar when I was showed the MP3 working on the VAIO desktop in store. Then made feel almost like a criminal for taking the refund (which I was entitled to under consumer law).

Well, I popped into the Sony dealer where I bought the MP3 on my lunch hour today. I'm afraid to say I got absolutly no satisfaction and was quite shocked at how I was treated. Firstly, the guy in the shop hooked up my MP3 to one of the Sony in-store desktops and it ran fine. I explained to him that SonicStage ran very choppy on my PC and failed to pick up the device, despite trying several USB ports. He then told me I was the first person he had seen back in the store with a problem. He also said that he himself had the player at home and it worked perfectly. I told him perhaps SonicStage was a bit buggy in Vista, which he point blank denied. He told me he had never heard of ANY bugs with the latest versions of SS and told me it was considered among the top appilcations for MP3 players. I disagreed and he just laughed and in a round about way told me I knew nothing about the subject. Then the fiasco continued when he told me to call back to the shop in an hour (leaving my purchase there) and the "I.T. experts" would have a look at it. I told him this was impossible as I was due back in work in 30 mins. Finally he said "ok then fine, do you just a refund". I said ok to that. Then the guy picked up the box and pointed to it. He said "Just to be clear before I refund you, there is NOTHING wrong with this". I said what happened to the customer is always right and he just smirked, then refunded the money while muttering to his pal behind the counter. I was absolutly furious with the manner in which the whole thing was dealt with. I guess the days where you bring something back, explain the problem then you get offered a refund are long long gone. Was contemplating ringing up Sony's head office to complain but thought it would be a waste of time. That's it anyway, Sony have lost themselves a customer here. At least that particular store is. I wouldn't mind but in the past 6 months or so, I have purchased 2 Digi Cameras, a 40" Sony BRAVIA, a clock radio and a DVD Recorder spending at least a few thousand. They obviosuly don't value their consumers much as when you try to bring something back they don't want to know.

quick update: I've been fiddling around with this SonicStage software for the last few hours and thought I was getting somewhere. After a system restore, then re-install of SS, I no longer got an error messege. Nope, now the SS program recognises my MP3 player alright. It gives me a list of what albums are on the player, then a few seconds pass..application is laggy as hell, and then a messege comes up "Connect Device/Media". I dont know, looks like I've tried everything at this stage. Guess all I can do is see what the guys at Sony have to say. I'll post back tomorrow.

I tried that but still no success unfortunatly. I rang up my local Sony shop where the MP3 player was purchased. They agreed that the software was supplied was "pretty poor" and told me to drop in tomorrow after work, so we can "sort something out". Very very dissapointing I must say. Porbably the first time in my life a Sony product has let me down (among the many TV's, Hi-Fi's, Radio's etc. that I've purchased)

Purchased a Sony NW-A806 earlier today. Went to load some tracks onto it and got hit with an error messege as shown in this screenshot: http://img177.imageshack.us/img177/3927/untitledfp5.jpg It's basically telling me that the connection between the MP3 and the PC is unstable. Few quick points: -I'm running Windows Vista -On my old PC (Windows XP) SonicStage worked fine -I am not connecting the device via a hub, it's direct to the PC -Have tried every possible USB connector on the PC Can anyone help me or have I no choice but to return the MP3 to the store and get my money back. IT would be a big shame as the player itself is 10/10 from my point of view. The software has just been a big letdown