XPERIA Z -What kind of service/SUPPORT standards do you have? Is there any at all?

[tosonyengineers]

Hi guys. Hello sony mobile people. My name is Isaiah and I'm from Manila, Philippines. I am a solid sony fan boy for morethan 10 years now (mobile phones). Or maybe was a solid sony fan boy. Not until yesterday happened. 12/17/2013. 

I heavily supported sony mobile products back when it was still sony ericsson. From the K-models, to vivaz, and up until to the xperia. I even strongly recommend it to my friends and family and keep persuading them to switch to a sony mobile device because of its outstanding design, features, and solid build quality. And I'm always excited when there is a new model or flagship mobile device to be released by sony. Correct me if I'm wrong but the engineers I guess were hurrying up to put out this new waterproof mobile devices out there without carefully checking, testing, and making sure that your phones are absolutely what they say they are. 

I'm a chef. I work in the kitchen. Some Eight years ago I was working in the kitchen with my newly acquired sony phone, the k700i to be exact. I was very proud of it for it was my very first coloured phone with camera. I kept it inside the chest pocket of my Chef's jacket when suddenly I reached out on an Ice Chest full of cold water, and as i leaned to reach out for a bucket of ice, my unconcious mind forgot about the law of gravity. So the phone eventually and immediately slipped outside my pocket and went directly inside of the ice chest and fully submerged in very cold water. It was turned on and on standby mode. No matter how fast I reacted to retrieve it from the ice cold water it was already too late. By the moment I had it the screen was fully black. No power button could even wake it up. Long story short, the phone died right then and there. It wasnt waterproof and it was totally my fault. I took some time for me to move on for that was a very expensive device back then. It was such a loss. 

After that incident I kept on wishing that one day sony would make a device which is waterproof or something that would be able to withstand the heat, the chaos, the wet, the dirty, and the sticky environment of the kitchen. Years have passed and now I have my own restaurant. Cooking even more, staying even more longer inside the kitchen. One of my very favorites was the Xperia Arc S. I bought two, one white and one black. My friends thought it was weird and stupid of me to get two units of the same brand and model. I say it was the obsession to have nice things that lead me to have both, it made me happy.  And finally Sony releases the Xperia Z. 

It was the ultimate dream come true.

I bought two units in an instant. One for me and one for my fiancee who also works in the kitchen. 

We loved it. And everything about it. It suited our lifestyle perfectly. Great photos, internet connectivity, water proof, great size, and extremely good looking. 

Not until her phone started to charge in a funny manner. The phone just wont charge 100% it would stop at around 54% and never reach anything beyond it. We didnt mind for as long as we had hopes it would go back to normal. 

Then after a week. It wouldnt charge anymore until the battery went 0%. It died. 

Then charging it was useless. It wont charge at all. We left it on the charger for 30 minutes. An hour. Three hours. Still nothing. We tried all trouble shooting provided by the sony website. Still nothing. 

I checked for the pink and red discoloration indicators on all ports. The one on top with the earphone jack was pink. And we never even went to a pool or submerged it under water. The last time it got wet was due to wiping it clean using a wetwipes. 

and all ports were always closed properly. The only time we open it is when we charge it. So it is a total mystery to us how the water got in. Could it be the defect came from the plug of the port itself?  Probably. Or our unit was poorly made. 

I went to the sony mobile center here in our country to have them fix it and check it. It seems like the problem of my phone was hardware according to them. And they suggest that I just purchase a new unit because there is no way to fix our unit anymore. 

Oh my god. This phone aint even half a year old and they want me to buy a new one just because fixing it would amount to the price of a new one. As if its that easy to buy a new one. I feel like I have been scammed big time. The phone doesnt even have bumps or scrathces at all because of protective casings and it just died like that. Like it had a heart attack and can no longer be revived. 

The customer support really surprised me. It was as if they were very used to answering it that way because maybe I wasn't the first one to have that kind of problem. And by the way I bought my fiancee a Xperia Z Ultra the day the xperia z died. Im planning to surprise her with it for christmas. But I just got depressed with this incident. I mean I am making Sony Mobile rich because I keep buying your products and in return when I, the customer, needs help or reasoning, repair, or any positive promises from you this is what I get. You tell me to just buy another one. Because youre too proud to tell in my face that your product is not defective at all and the fault is mine. And you wouldn't do anything about it. 

You see, the trust that I had with your company for a very long time took years to build. My loyalty to the brand is just so solid. 

And it took just one defective model to ruin it. One reasonless suggestion of go ahead and just buy another one as if it costs less than a dollar. Warranty? What for? You wont even listen to your cutomers around the world. More like buy at your own risk, or buy our products because you are filthy rich and when a defective one catches you just buy another one coz money dont cost a thing.  So to the engineers. Don't say that it is waterproof if it really aint. have you really even tried testing it on all different scenarios? Really? I just hope the Z ultra I purchased wont die as well. If it does. I'll start telling and suggesting everyone in my community to beware of your products. You can't even fix your own ceations properly and in a humanely manner. It is not as if my phone blew up.

You know what is more annoying is the fact that important information, pictures, files, videos, and numbers can never be retrieved on that xperia z. And that is the priceless part. And i am surprised that you guys can't really do anything about it. Xperia is experience right? I guess its true what they say. Experience Zzzzz.... it will now be sleeping forever.

Word of advice. Please. Learn how to take care of your customers. Especially the loyal ones. They are one of the major reasons why other people are switching to your brand. When left unsatisfied, they can also do otherwise. Thank you for wasting my money. make believe. sure

[eshl · Accepted solution]

I am one of the victim as well and having a bad experience with it. Sony is selling defective product to the consumer and they will tell you I will repair for you no matter how many days you owned it even a day is consider repair although it is a defect. So, I am taking legal action against them, freely publicity for Consumer Awareness campaign for Sony on selling defective product. They are public listed company and brand name, with massive legal actions, massive publicity especially when they do not learn about what is social network, it will eventualy reach to their CEO to explain why Sony customer is walking away from them. I am very sure business analyst from Bloomberg are interested to know beside fact and figure and response from consumer on projection on their revenue growth, if this keep happening, eventually investor will withdraw from Sony and share will plunged, Sony CEO may need to explain every quarter what the is going on with Sony Corporation. He might lose his job and not just that , a bad remark will haunted him forever as Sony is not a small company. 

[tosonyengineers]

Yes. Legal actions must take place. They can't just get away with defective products. We purchase their gadgets with hopes that it would make our lives better and make us happy. Instead they just shoo us away blaming us consumers for doing the damage. There should be a movement against sony mobile's injustices towards their customers. One post on social media would difinitely affect their products name, brand, quality, and image. I guess they are not putting that to account or even bothering to be worried by it. In end of the day, Justice shall prevail. Its like we are buying diamonds from them and in a couple of days the diamond turns out to be made from sand. And when we return it to them they will just tell you to buy another one. The truth will come outand they will suffer the consequence. They never can be so sure with the security that they think they have with their customers. 

We have the power to purchase to make them rich, but we also have the power to not buy their products and tell future buyers as well to not buy their products due to poor customer care, therefore we also have the power to make them poor. They are underestimating the power of media today. They will be sorry.

[SXZ1]

A global manufacturer of tech products. Each manufacturer has some portion of its market, which is ridden with such problems, after all it is technology, and produced on a large scale, some level of error/lack of efficiency will always be present, until things get really better, maybe in the future. 

What can be done is ensuring service, that too in all regions across the world. This is a tough challenge, I am guessing some regions are more prone to such service quality levels, I am from India, had horrible service experience with Samsung, that's the reason I switched allegiance. And no, I wasn't expecting much from Sony, at least in the service front, as I think, no a single manufacturer has taken that part seriously. 

Based on my few visits to the Samsung Service Center, and reports from other users regarding other manufacturers such as HTC et al, the service centers here employ such individuals whose knowledge is sub-par and even at times less than the end users/customers. So it is next to impossible for them to comprehend what the user is saying and what the issue is, which costs the customer several visits and hours of waiting time, with hardly any progress regarding the same. Such issues should addressed. For now we can only hope to to get a decent functioning device out of the box, so that the hectic service center visits and discourses are avoided. And to further avoid the inefficient service confrontation, you can sell the device and keep hopping from one flagship from the next, after all that's what they only care about, selling new devices, rather then making existing processes more robust. 

All said and done, I feel that this "xperia care" forum is quite a huge step at, at least, trying to improve and be more cooperative. Maybe, Sony, is the one that will lead the good and honest customer service revolution. 

[eshl]

Try Apple, I have been using Apple for more than 4 years, and I do not has any bad experience with my ipad2,ipad mini, iphone 3gs, iphone 4 until I make a move to android. When there is any problem with the apple product, it took them 3 days to deliver a "new" replacement unit back to me even I have used it for half a year and late to discover the defect. The new unit replacement is fine until today with no problem at all.  

[tosonyengineers]

Yes I cannot deny the fact that errors and flaws are always present in such mobile devices due to extremely large or volume productions. But then again. We are paying customers who expect nothing but seamless service and performance that is why we pay premium for something premium. From what I see this warranties are not guarantees at all. We pay a lot so we expect a lot. We deserve respect. The company could at least hire a real mobile technician, as if they can't afford to hire one. 

We can consider but only to a certain point. But matters like this wherein priceless information is lost, unretrievable, and more important information stored on the phone memory they could at least be more dependable in giving back to you. 

From what I have read form other complains regarding this similar topic, Xperia Care is not doing anything at all, instead they answer like robots with the same messages and solutions that don't even work at all. And they said they have admins here who monitors everything all the time. To answer our queries. But I guess my plead is a good example of the kind of actions they are trying to do, they are doing nothing at all. They should name this place Xperia Don't Care or maybe they just forgot to place the Don't part. 

This is hard earned money that I used to buy their products, blood, sweat, and sleepless working nights just to buy their products. By the looks of it they are treating their products as a disposable one. Something that would not last for half or one fourth of a lifetime. This kind of dissapointment that I have will keep on growing and other customers dissapointment will grow stroger as well. In due time it will lead to the failure of the whole brand of the mobile giant. This company does not understand that it will only take a spark to set the whole angry and unsatisfied customers on fire towards the brand name.  

They keep claiming stuff, it feels like they are just scamming the customers of their hard earned money to buy something defective and disposable. Let us see on how they could cope up with social media, exposing how damaging their products are and how they treat their customers when a defective item comes up. 

[gerald1]

Hi! almost the same scenario about my xperia z, i bought it April 25, 2013 to be exact... after 6 months (october 25, 2013) the power button is not functioning, i went to Sony Xperia service center in Mall of Asia to have it check, they advised me that it will be pulled-out and subject for repair in their main branch... i always follow-up about it through their contact numbers given to me, but no clear answer were given to me, that's why i decided to went to their main service center in kapitolyo,Ortigas... I went home with nothing, just a new contact numbers to be called... but still hoping my phone will be fix... after few days i called the numbers, one of it is finally answered my queries, but not a good news for me... They advise me to purchased a new one instead of having it for a repair, because they told me that there is a corrosion inside my phone, ( VOID WARRANTY DUE TO WATER) my phone is damaged due to water leakage, (water resistant phone is being damaged by a liquid!) I don't think that any user will allow their phone submerge in water while the ports are open... As of today my phone is not fixed, but SONY is not liable for anything? How come they void the warranty? I know im not the only person having this kind of problem, if you know how to fix this or you can help me in any way you can contact me as you want... thanks in advance!

[tosonyengineers]

My fiancee uses an Ipad2 or 3 i think. I have no complains about it, even if it crashes I find it normal. But it never stops working which is a good thing. It quickly recovers. It has a solid build that I believe can last up to years. Service is good at apple for they have replaced their defective items with new units. But then again I am the type who goes for the unusual, I find apple to be too mainstream. The only apple i have ever purchased is the 5th gen ipod which i only use for musc purposes due to how they are able to make music organized in a better manner. And their phones. I am just not into their design, and their price is something that I am not a fan of. Sony here just makes better looking phones in my opinion, well design taste is relative, you might like other brands design but to my taste it might not be the same case. I prefer the design that sony has. And I got sold the moment I found out that it is waterproof. Apple cant make their products waterproof so I really dont much reason to switch brands. HTC almost got me for a second, but then again its not waterproof. I need my phone to be waterproof due to the nature of my work which is in the kitchen. My hands are always wet and dirty. So cleaning phones can be a hassle.

Samsung I am never a fan, maybe their laptops and television I can consider. But their phones, I am not happy with how it looks like, it feels very pedestrian. I am a consumer who is very critical and annoyingly hard to please. And now I am having a hard time my self on how and what brand to switch to because this sony features is not easy to find elsewhere. Ill try to find a brand wherein customer is King. 

[tosonyengineers]

Unfortuantely I think that  our unit has this kind of expiration period. Secondly, I also think that our service centers here in the phil are incapable in fixing this kind of problem. Either they are not trained, they dont have the tools, the manuals, basically no knowledge at all on how this advanced and new product works. They are like monkeys on a lab with lab uniforms. 

They gave me numbers to contact as well, also giving me the address of the main branch. The moment they told me that the repair cost would cost the same with a new unit I immediately didnt even bothered pushing my self to their main branch. They make us feel stupid, as if we wet our phones with the plugs unsecured. They are programmed to tell us that it is our fault that's why our phones aint working anymore. 

They shouldnt have placed such warranties if they cant deliver. As of now, I am moving on and considering this as one of my greatest moments in wasting money. And its a bad thing. Becuase we are victims who are swindled to the thought of we have a really great product. And so I can only conclude that the lifespan of our quadcore phone Xpera line, is less than a Year. It is therefore disposable, we can't even change the battery and no way of retrieving valuable, priceless information on our lifeless phone. Such a great dissapointment knowing that they were just probably in a hurry in selling a product that failed to pass proper standards of a normal phone. They forgot to run a dry run of the product simply because, we the consumers are the real ones experiencing the dry run of this product. And it has failed, misserably. 

I just plan on having mine checked in GH by some technicians there. Im not even sure if they can fix it, but I am willing to gamble, but I am pretty sure it would not cost the same as a new unit. 

If they can't fix it. let us just try to donate or sell it to sony itself as an example or display on how defective their products can be. 

[eshl]

@tosonyengineers - there is one guy you might want to alert. 

https://twitter.com/KazHiraiCEO