WF-1000XM4 Sudden Battery Drain Issue | 2 days after warranty period ends!

[_MarkM_]

I bought a set of WF-1000XM4s last year (literally a few days over 1 year ago) and have loved them ... sound quality is outstanding!

I had noticed slight battery performance reduction in recent weeks however a few days ago the buds powered down due to low battery after just 40 mins or so (from full charge).

I have tried the reset and initialisation processes since and run some tests. Consistently, the buds are now losing ~25% charge per 10 minutes! 

I initiated a support chat yesterday with Sony who suggested sending them for inspection & repair but to note the terms of the warranty.

I asked if this would end up being a paid 'inspection & repair' and if so, they were going in the bin and I'd refrain from buying Sony products in the future.

I was told this would be investigated and I'd get a reply 'within 1 working day' ... I won't hold my breath!

Meantime, anyone else seen this issue and anything I can try?

I use them with LDAC on, DSEE off and flip between NC off & ambient mode depending on where I am.

Sony support site suggests I should get circa 4.5 hours and I probably originally got that ... now its 30 to 40 mins so not even one album!

[HannahEd01]

Hey _MarkM_, you should know that if you're just out of the warranty they can extend it, the grace period is about one month. Since you've already contacted Sony and they're investigating it, that should be the outcome. Let us know what happens next, please. 

[_MarkM_ · Accepted solution]

Sony agreed to take the buds in for investigation to confirm no mis-use etc and consider potential goodwill action based on this.

Brand new set of buds arrived in the post this morning!

Nice one Sony, my faith in customer service restored! 

Haven't tested the new ones mind you, still charging 😉

[lankygemini]

I am having the exact same issue. I bought my WF1000 headphones on the 18th March 2022 and this has been happening for around a week- so incidentally like a week after the warranty expiration.

How do I go about contacting Sony about this? I have raised a support call but I am not sure this is the right channel. If I may ask, how did you go about this please?

Thanks in advance.

[_MarkM_]

I initiated a 'chat' on the Sony support site if I remember correctly, after I had raised a support ticket.

This meant I got someones attention and could point them to the support ticket ... they responded pretty well to be fair.

I even got a phone call a few weeks after the replacement buds arrived to ensure I had received them OK and all was well. 

Very impressive customer service in the end, I won't forget it. 

[Piscie]

Hello @lankygemini, so how does the battery last of your headphones? Here are Sony's contact details: https://services.sony.co.uk/supportMVC/en/Contact

[mikej1962]

Although my headphones are now one year out of warranty, I have exactly the same problem. Very disappointing considering the price I paid.......

[_MarkM_]

The replacements they sent me died pretty much a year after I received them ... I'm done with Sony for a bit I think!

[pirwin2]

You are the lucky one - I've recently faced this issue with the right earbud rapidly discharging, and there's plenty more people having the same problem who have posted to other forums and made youtube videos about this. The fingers point to the 1.4.2 firmware update and how it handled charging. The suggestion is that Sony used a slightly lower l-ion battery voltage in some batches of the WF-1000XM4 and the firmware caused overheating of these when charging, and the damage is permanent regardless of later firmware corrections. Sadly my earbuds are 4 weeks out of warranty now and Sony customer support are not admitting the problem is caused by their firmware, so they ask that I pay them to repair it. It will be cheaper to buy a heat gun and replace the batteries myself. We should be getting at least several years of good usage from these expensive earbuds when handled correctly, I just hoped they would be sympathetic and offer me a similar extended warranty seeing how the root cause was caused by them in the 1st place.