Extremely bad Sony "premium" warranty

[Denis-79]

Hi,

I'm _extremely_ disappointed by Sony service & warranty. One moth ago, on November 11 2016 I've bought my new camera in Athens (Greece) with 3 years premium warranty included. 2 weeks ago (December 3) I had sad accident - I felt in the sea from the yacht & my camera stopped working after this. After 2 days it got dry and when I switched it on it did several pictures then reported an error. When I came to the Sony authorized service center (http://cometron.gr/) on Monday they told me they can do nothing about it but send it for 75 EUR to Poland for repair. It took them 2 days to clarify that insurance I've got doesn't cover my expenses & they informed me that I have to pay 75 EUR for shipment (in the meantime the salt from the sea water was damaging my camera). I've paid & after a week they told me that repair is not possible at all.

I felt in the sea with my camera from Sony & iPhone. Apple simply replaced my iPhone 6 _in 2 days_ for 355 EUR which was _out of warranty_.

1) Sony charged me 75 EUR & did nothing to repair the product which is covered by premium warranty for next 3 years.

2) When I asked to show me where it's mentioned that my warranty does not include accidental damage they didn't reply.

3) When I've asked if it is possible to check at least lenses (so I could buy new body only) nobody replied.

4) Apple - 2 days, problem solved. Sony - 2 weeks, nothing is solved.

Can send service costs, invoice, warranty & emailing with the service center in case if it's necessary.

Shame on you Sony!

[Denis-79]

Let me publish the reply from Sony here so everybody can understand what is the concern:
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Dear Mr. Gurov

This mail is with regards to your post on the Sony Community Forum, and I am replying on behalf of Sony Management.

I can understand your frustration with the response you received from the Service Centre, so that I can attempt to provide further clarification. We will log your feedback and I will communicate this matter internally for future improvement:   

I believe that when they use the term 'risky' here, it refers to the potential of the fix not being able to resolve the issue. It is therefore risky for the customer to pay for a repair which has a slim chance of success.   

When they refer to it being too expensive, I believe this indicates that a repair would exceed the original retail price of the unit, therefore making it more advisable to purchase a new unit.   

Best regards,

Stefan
___
 
I think that the person who replies doesn't even understand that I'm asking for his support & not his guessworks. Still no indication on what is covered/not covered by this insurance. Why this "premium" doesn't work & why they are so unhelpful in checking lenses. I've meneged to check them in simple shop rather in cetfified service center.

[iancandler]

If you read the terms & conditions of the extended warranty/original warranty you can see that neither cover accidental damage, falling into the sea would mean any damage to your camera was caused by you falling into the sea and as such NOT covered by the warranty.
As such its not an issue for sony to resolve and there is no cause for complaint with sony as when you buy any warranty its up to you to read the terms and conditions to make sure it offers the warranty cover you want,before you buy it.
If you want accidental damage cover then you could purchase that from your home insurance provider or a specialist camera insurance company, but please note these would only cover your camera equipment for accidental damage, and would not cover them if they just stopped working or had a fault that was not caused by accidentally damaging it.

[IamNic]

Hi @Denis-79,

there is a reason water-damage is not covered.

It is the same reason "lava-damage" is not covered.

If you take a fragile piece of technical equipment somewhere it could get damaged, it is actually your fault if it breaks.

Every other manufacturer has similar terms of agreement.

- Nic

P.S.: If you ever drop a technical device into sea- (salt-)water, make sure you completly soak it in fresh water.

It might sound like a bad joke, yet it actually isn't.

Salt-water does not only corrode electronics a magnitute faster than fresh water with a small amount of minerals inside, upon drying up, it also forms salt-crystals, which can expand to a point, where they apply enough pressure to components of the device to remove them from the e.g. mainboard of the device.