Vaio FW- Series Hinge Problem

[JackEManchester]

I have seen a lot of people are having problems with their Vaio FW hinges. This is all over various internet forums. This is an issue where the power port or power button port come loose and eventually expose wires.

As an ex Trading Standards Officer I would like to hear from anyone that has or had a power port/hinge issue with their Vaio FW series laptop. I propose to take a collective action through Sony's Home Authority in the UK. Anyone who has had to pay for a repair also get in touch as we will get your costs back.

I am surprised to see that Sony claim that this defect it not covered under warranty. In the UK any product sold is covered by the Sales of goods Act 1979 and I'm sorry Sony, hinges are an integral part of the product. Making a statement to a consumer that suggests that they have less rights that they do is illegal under the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Act 2008.

I started having the problem on the left side of my Vaio FW-11 laptop where the power port is about 3 months ago. I thought perhaps I pulled the power cable to make the port come loose. However now the power button side is also loose and I know I have not knocked that.

I see that Sony have taken the search facility off this forum. Perhaps Sony have real quality control issues at the moment. I have the orginal Walkman which is what put Sony on the map and that is still going strong after 25 years!


My email is jack_evison@hotmail.com Please do not come to me with any other problems!

Send me a .jpg of your problem, the date you bought your laptop and also details of any conversations or correspondence you have had with Sony

Thanks

[smilo996]

I have a very high end FW series 18 inch screen etc. I think it cost about 1500 or 1600GBP. About 3 months in the dc input became lose. So because I needed the laptop and could not do without it.

Spoke to the retailer who said 4-5 weeks turnaround for fixing laptops.

(Sony have been trying to tell me it is 4-5 days if sent direct)

So I used to use a piece of card to prop up the lead so that it would recharge. It quickly became worse because the dc connector pins became lose and then the whole hinge barrel became lose. It finally stopped working after about a month.

I sent it to Sony and they responded that is was acciendtal damage and therefore I would have to pay £230 for the pleasure of having it fixed. Additionally the power supply also failed.

I wrote to them about and added some of the many links about this dc input / hinge problem. That some people had theirs fixed under warranty and others not.

Additionally that all the hinges on all new Vaio ranges were now modified.

I received a link to their customer service to fill out a form about my case.

To their credit a very nice person called Menna from Egypt called and basically stonewalled me for an hour on the phone.

If I had damaged it myself I would be happy to pay but it is clearly a less than effective piece of design and manufacturing that is a well know and well documented error.

Additionally they could not tell me how the technician had come to that conclusion. Simply that it was accidental damage.

However they were completely unhelpful, would not even pay for half the repair.

So I am not going to purchase my new flat screen TV from them and will not be using the Vaio anymore, what a shame.

Even with all the links and the ones from their own website they kept banging on about it not being a common issue, that it is the users fault for not treating the laptop correctly!!!! and that they had a policy to be followed.

Really annoyed about this completely rubbish service for one if not the most expensive laptop of its kind on the market. Trully amazing.