Sony Central Service a Total Joke

[f1rick]

This all starts a couple of months ago when one of my NWHD5H's stops working, just spinning circles almost certainly indicating a failed hard drive. I returned this to Sony Central Service in the UK after a couple of weeks I receive it back. Turn it on and it works, look at the repair note and they have replaced the hard drive. I plug it in to copy my music back over and notice it is now only 20GB!!!!

How incompetent can you get, not only my letter but the copy of the receipt and also the part number on the hard drive should indicate this is a 30GB special edition model. Even the black/silver style should indicate this. But okay, human error happens. I doubt they get many 30gb to repair being a special edition so I gave them the benefit of doubt and returned it again for repair to have the hard drive changed back to 30gb. Several weeks later I get back my 30gb Walkman, all fine this time.

Now my 2nd HD5H suffers the same failure, so again I post it back. This time I make sure it's not going to be wrongly fitted with a 20GB hard drive. I stick a label on the screen saying 30GB HD5H. I write 30GB HD5H in the letter at twice the size of everything else in bold. I write a paragraph to explain just this very point. After they received the unit and I got the receipt through the post, I phone Sony service to make sure it was booked in as a 30GB HD5H. Only to find out it was NOT!!!!! So they update their computer and tell me they will inform their engineers.

The weeks pass....

In the post I receive back a 20GB HD5H!!! HOW INCOMPETENT CAN YOU GET!!!!! THIS IS JUST RIDICULOUS!!!!

Now I'm off to post it back to be ??upgraded?? back to a 30GB Walkman. Has anyone with a special edition have the same situation happen? I still cannot believe this.

f1rick

[mgillespie]

Sony UK Service and Support is a total shambles.

I always used to believe that paying for a Sony product gave you a better product, and better support. In the UK I no longer believe this to be true :-(

It's a shame, as there are very few premium brands left, they have all been culled by CEO's cost cutting measures.

[bogon07]

f1rick, how long did your NWHD5H's last before their hard drives started failing ?

[Guest Stuge]

I know their service is very poor ..but this much .this is terrible ..I don`t have more words to say ..

[f1rick]

Both have lasted about 8-10 months before failure.

[bogon07]

Both have lasted about 8-10 months before failure.

thanks......gads that is alarming news. Good for you that it was inside warranty but a poor life expectancy nevertheless.

Is this typical of other HDD players ?

Now I'm wondering about my A1000 and that bit at the back of the manual about disposing of the player correctly!!!!

[f1rick]

I don't think that's typical , hard drive failure doesn't seem a very common reported issue on these forums at least. I'm hoping Sony just had a bad batch of 30GB hard drives.

[Guest Stuge]

I don't think that's typical , hard drive failure doesn't seem a very common reported issue on these forums at least. I'm hoping Sony just had a bad batch of 30GB hard drives.

Yeah ,Hard Drive failure is not common (only if you don`t drop the player like i did from only 10 Cm)

[Tiesto]

Reading at this thread makes me realized the advantage to have a minidisc player as main portable unit.

[Guest Stuge]

Reading at this thread makes me realized the advantage to have a minidisc player as main portable unit.

Tiesto ,It a rare case .This does not happen with everyone If you drop any electronic device it is bound to die sometime ..& Since MD players uses lens ,which is a big problem if you live in place where it is very dusty. So in that case Hdd player or Flash based players are better IMO .

[bogon07]

Tiesto ,It a rare case .This does not happen with everyone If you drop any electronic device it is bound to die sometime ..& Since MD players uses lens ,which is a big problem if you live in place where it is very dusty. So in that case Hdd player or Flash based players are better IMO .

I'm probably wrong but I think Tiesto is talking more in terms of media storage failure. eg if your Harddisk fails you've lost your whole portable music collection and it has to be serviced or replaced but if your minidisc fails you've only lost one disk's worth not everything and you can just pop in another minidisc.

Stuge you may want to consider investing in a minidisc lens cleaner disc for your new DH10P.

[Tiesto]

bogon07 is right, I was talking about the media. In the case of HDD the media and player are one themself, if it gets broken there's no more player neither media. Of course any electronic device gets broken if they are mishandled, they are exposed to an extreme conditions or by natural deterioration, add to those that the hard drives still are a delicate components. I've heard stories from MDCF members where MD players have been dropped from desks and waist heights on hard floors and their player are alive and kicking. Im not starting a debate Im just saying that a MD player is more suitable for the tough work

[Guest Stuge]

Im just saying that a MD player is more suitable for the tough work

Wait ..Flash based players are more suitable for Tough work ...

Stuge you may want to consider investing in a minidisc lens cleaner disc for your new DH10P.

Might buy one later but everyone says that they do more harm then cleaning & they should only be used as last resort.

[f1rick]

I CANNOT believe this!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I got through the post an invoice from Sony charging me for £17.63.

"Our engineers have been unable to detect a fault with your product. All functions have been checked and tested and are working to specification"

No it's not, they fitted a 20GB hard drive. That's NOT specification.

[Guest Stuge]

I CANNOT believe this!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I got through the post an invoice from Sony charging me for £17.63.

"Our engineers have been unable to detect a fault with your product. All functions have been checked and tested and are working to specification"

No it's not, they fitted a 20GB hard drive. That's NOT specification.

Now that `s ridiculous

[Zizone_]

funny... you never get this sort of problem in Japan... even my shipping cost was covered by Sony.

[f1rick]

Finally this has come to an end, but do I have a fixed HD5H. Absolutely not!

A couple of weeks ago after chasing up the support supervisor I was given an extension to the warranty while they had my walkman fixed with the 30GB hard drive. After not hearing anything for two weeks, I gave them a call this afternoon. The person I spoke to could not be more helpful and apologised for all the trouble. But it seems no matter how hard they try, they cannot get the place that they send the walkmans to, to fix it with a 30GB drive!! She said it had been sent back and forth several times and each time had not been repaired. So I've been given a refund on the unit and been told the issue is being investigated.

So if your HD5H is in need of a hard drive repair in the UK, be afraid, very afraid!! .

[Guest Stuge]

Finally this has come to an end, but do I have a fixed HD5H. Absolutely not!

A couple of weeks ago after chasing up the support supervisor I was given an extension to the warranty while they had my walkman fixed with the 30GB hard drive. After not hearing anything for two weeks, I gave them a call this afternoon. The person I spoke to could not be more helpful and apologised for all the trouble. But it seems no matter how hard they try, they cannot get the place that they send the walkmans to, to fix it with a 30GB drive!! She said it had been sent back and forth several times and each time had not been repaired. So I've been given a refund on the unit and been told the issue is being investigated.

So if your HD5H is in need of a hard drive repair in the UK, be afraid, very afraid!! .

Yeah it`sad but atleast you got your money back then it`s alright .