Another tale of bad customer service, this time from supposedly the best and most expensive brand in the consumer durables market. But Sony India just lost all the respect i had for them.
Hopefully someone can forward this to a Sony India personnel. Thanks, i as a consumer am appealing to your guys reading this.
So it all started when i purchased a Digital Camera (Cybershot) from an authorised Sony dealer alongwith a Memory Stick. The dealer told me that the memory stick has a 5 year warranty , i asked him to mention this on the bill so that they don’t refuse. A warranty card was inside the Digital Camera package but there was none in/with the memory stick.
Anyway the memory stick turned out to be junk, losing files like crazy. I goto Sony service center in New Delhi and the guys there tell me that i need a warranty card, i tell them the dealer didnt give me a warranty card. So they give me Sony India’s corporate office (Mathura Road) number which i call and ask to speak to customer care , i am redirected to their call center (i think) , i tell the lady my ordeal and she says that there should be no problem and transfers me to a senior at their Mathura Road office. She talks to service center guys who say they need a warranty card, hands the phone to me. Now i am talking to Ms. ________ (name hidden for privacy) , she is the rudest person that can talk to a customer. Literally shouts at me that warranty card is not a paper sticking to the memory stick (WTH !) , i tell her to mind her tone, she replies : my tone is not complicated and then says “now that you say it , your stick will not be serviced without a warranty card” , anyway my blood is boiling at this point of time so i say ok and slam my flip phone.
Anyway 2-3 things, my only fault was trusting the dealer and Sony as a company, please look into the following points:
1. Why is your staff at office not trained to talk politely to customers ?
2. How is it a customer’s fault that the dealer didn’t hand the warranty card ? Its for precisely this reason i asked him to mention the warranty in the bill, i am a genuine customer, with a genuine bill bought a genuine product from your authorized dealer.
3. I have a proof of purchase, i have the product but still Sony India refused to solve my problem.
Update:
I received a reply from their Northern Region customer care head, i have sent my invoice to them, i will keep everyone updated, hopefully Sony India will live up to its great name.
Earlier occasions where bad service was highlighted and was successful in company’s response:
July 19th, 2008 at 5:00 pm
Another company exposed !
You are doing a great job telling experience with various companies, i as a consumer will obviously not deal with companies that harrass techies, if you can harrass techies, then the company probably harrasses almost all of its customers.
July 19th, 2008 at 6:16 pm
Yeah, but they did contact to try and sort the matter, lets see their response after ‘validating’ my receipt. Ofcourse if they do good work, they will get a good post also.
The thing about techies is true as they are usually in touch with technology and laws, they are well informed and usually know what they are talking about.
July 19th, 2008 at 7:37 pm
Wow, never expected this from Sony, you should probably write a strong physical letter to their head office, i will now think twice or even thrice before buying a Sony product. The 1st principle of business is talking to your customers nicely and taking care of their problems. Someone go and tech Sony.
July 20th, 2008 at 12:14 pm
I really hope Sony India comes through, i mean isnt Sony known for quality and commitment ? I am pretty sure that now that you have been contacted their seniors will sort the matter. But the rude employee thing is shocking.
July 23rd, 2008 at 12:09 pm
3 days since i sent the invoice, no reply guys
July 24th, 2008 at 3:45 pm
Really blows , I expected better from Sony, they just lost one more customer and i will help spread word of this attitude among all my friends.
July 24th, 2008 at 9:28 pm
Wow, thats the way Sony treats its Indian customers ? If it did this in USA i would have complained to the Better Business Bureau and made sure that they lost a HUGE number of customers.
July 25th, 2008 at 11:21 am
I myself had a very bad experience with them, i went to Lajpat Nagar service centre of Sony India and the customer service staff there was very rude and arrogant. They think that if they work in Sony they are great people, i wonder if Sony tells them to treat customers like this.
Seeing the pathetic state of customer care at Sony India, i have vowed never to purchase their product again.
July 28th, 2008 at 1:26 pm
Hey update,
got a call from Sony India, they have agreed to replace my memory stick, woohooooo !
August 24th, 2008 at 12:39 pm
Hi,
I have the same experience with my vaio. It needs a motherboard replacement. they took 12k from me and committed a 2 week period. Now it has been over a month and no response. I tried calling sony chennai office and they are just trying to push my complaint around and the service center is not willing to give my money back. they are just telling that the spares are not available. But they have no answer about why they committed two weeks in the beginning. How can i contact sonly south region head. No information anywhere.
August 30th, 2008 at 4:20 pm
Hi, can any of one of you, who was lucky enough to find out how to make Sony Customer Service personnel do what they are supposed to do anyway, advise how to make their authorized service center fall in line, who are churning out excuses galore since a week after having picked up advance payment for spares required to repair my Sony CRT TV. While they promised to come back within 2 days, a personal visit to their premises is only as affective an “innoucous” sounding front desk executive who says that she does not know where her colleagues are. It is exasperating to see a company like Sony entrusting their brand equity in the hands of those who have a devil-may-care attitude towards their customer. Wake up Sony before your dissatisfied customers join the Korean brands to show you the door!!
August 30th, 2008 at 8:06 pm
Try emailing Sony using the link on their website, write a firm but polite letter to their office.
September 28th, 2008 at 12:24 pm
[...] few months ago i had posted about how Sony India was refusing to honour its warranty clause on a memory stick and how one of their employees Ms. __ (the company officials know her name as i [...]
November 20th, 2008 at 12:29 pm
I hope someone really looks into these feedback in case you are serious about keeping the repute of SONY high in the market. The level of service rendered is unacceptable from a company like SONY. The replacement of the lamp of a LCD projector of a Major Corporate client takes more than a month subject to condition that work shall proceed only on advance payment. Even after the payment it takes weeks to learn that the part is unavailable. Should always stick to the commitment or should not commit at all. Ridiculous dealing.
November 20th, 2008 at 5:33 pm
I have purchased an camera on 27th January 2007. Om March 2007 i gone to service center at pondicherry to give the following complaint:
1. By pressing power button Camera opens and after three minutes closes automatically.
2. Camera showing file error while reading photos,
Then the customer servicing person told me this is due to battery problem only so change the batteries. I also changed the batteries.
But on may month of the same year the above sid problem exists, and also with flash not working in some times i.e., it works automatically and not working automatically.
Again the customer service person told me this is due to battery problem only.
For the same problem i went to meet them again on decemberm but the result is the same.
All the three times of my approach are in warranty time.
But now, for the same problem i meet the same center again on 27 septerber 2008, they taken for service, and after one month i called them what happen, they told its now clear come and take.
On the same day evening when i receive the camera form them the same problem again starts, I went to meet them again and hand over to them for repair.
Now what they are telling is, The transformer inside the camera demaged, for replacing that one you need to pay Rs. 6000.
Please look into their servicing quality.