Sony WF-1000XM4 battery issue

[cos123]

Hello,

Not sure if someone here can help me. I've just got off the phone with Sony for the 4th time. My headphones have developed the dreaded battery damage issue from the firmware update, one side drains to 0% within an hour from 100%. I've spoken to support and escalated to a manager both of which have told me that it's essentially my problem and that they will not/fix replace for free despite being cause by their own update (headphones worked well prior to this). They want me to send in for repair at my own cost with know idea of how much this will be. I've escalated this to a complaint and just got off the phone with the person handling my complaint who it turns out is the same person I made the complaint about. Is anyone able to help me to resolve the issue with the faulty product or at the very least help me to escalate my complaint to someone else who can handle it objectively.

Thanks

[PeteyH]

Have had exactly the same issues for the last few months - phones just out of warranty….

Have undertaken all the Sony suggested fixes/workarounds, but no real difference. 

Have also now just had the other known issue where the  charge box and earbuds overheat to dangerous levels on charge - so now the box has failed and does not charge at all and does not register on the control app. 
This also means the buds will only charge to c.50% and I am lucky to get one hours use out of them.

Hundreds of complaints over many forums about these known issues and lack of support and admittance of the fault by Sony.

Unfortunately I think this is one of those ‘life’s too short’ situations, so am just moving on to another manufacturer and won’t be buying any Sony products again.

[cos123]

I'm shocked by how poorly they've handled this considering it's such a widespread issue. They probably spoke to their legal team and realised it's cheaper to ignore customers than to do right by them. Spent hours on the phone to 'support' (if you can call them that) and countless emails back and forth, eventually I had someone higher up reach out and offer to provide a discount to the cost of repair if they find the issue is of their doing. No promise of refund/free repair. To be honest i'm done with them at this point. I ended up buying some batteries on ebay and doing the repair myself, cost £15 and they're like new. There's some good videos on youtube for battery replacement and I saw some videos for the charging case too so might be worth checking that out. The battery replacement wasn't too difficult, how they can be charging people upwards of £100 is beyond me. Must be very profitable, break your customers product and then charge them for the repair haha! Long and short of it is I won't ever buy anything 'Sony' again after this experience.

[PeteyH]

As the phones are pretty much useless now I am going to attempt the repair too.
Have you managed to replace the batteries in the box or the earbuds (or both)?

[cos123]

Replaced the batteries in the earbuds only, case seems to be functioning ok so far. If you search Sony WF-1000XM4 battery replacement on youtube there's a few different videos, I used the one from Central Sound. Didn't have a heat gun or clamp so used a hairdryer and a pair of pliers with the ends wrapped in gaffer tape as a substitute. You'll need ZeniPower Z55H 3.85V for Sony WF1000XM4 Batteries and some B-7000 glue. 

[PeteyH]

Many thanks!

[cos123]

No worries, good luck!

[slappyboyblue]

I had a similar issue in the Spring when my earbuds were out of the one year warranty.  

The left hand ear bud went from 100% to 0% in about 40 minutes after previously working fine with several hours of charge.  
Similar to you, I had a long call with support to reset the earbuds and the charger.

Sent them off to the Sony repair centre in Wales.
They checked them over for damage, replaced the earbuds and cleaned up the case, and sent them back for free.  
Assuming I lose them at some point, next time I'll get them from John Lewis as I think they do a two year warranty.