I bought a Sony Vaio laptop and it gave up the ghost after the guarantee period of 2 years. I contacted the local servicing outlet in chennai and they told me to contact their office in Greams road chennai, but to my dismay they said it was not possible to get my laptop fixed as it was purchased outside india. I said the guarantee card stated that it can be repaired any where inthe world, if it has a fault. They still insisted that they couldn’t accept it [even if I would pay for the repairs since it is after the guarantee period.]
I contacted their head office in Delhi and explained the problem. They asked for the serial number , model number etc and said they will comeback to me. Later I was contacted by their GM and told that it was not possible to accept it for repair as it was purchased outside india and I have to send it to the place where it was bought from. I was amazed that the GM of Sony head office in india will repeat the same silly and lame excuse that was given to me by their local office in Chennai several days earlier. I told him that I am not asking for free service but only that it be done by genuine Sony service centre so that it will not fail again. He told me to contact Sony USA from where it was bought!........no matter that I was now settled in Chennai and no matter if it will be so much hazzle to send it through all customs formalities and without any guarantee whether it will reach in (good!?) shape for fixing the problem.
I tried another route and got itchecked at one of the ’exclusive’ laptop service centres in Chennai , but alas - they said it required some encapsulated tranformer module inthe power supply card of the input device which is built in to the laptop. And it was not available as Sony wouldn’t sell it to other service centres but only to Sony Authorised Centres.....(a catch22 situation!). Similar parts from other makes won’t fit and so I have to junk it!.... just for a part worth about 30USdollars.....
After paying 2000dollars for the VAIO - promoted as the ’’ultimate in laptops’’ with guarantee and service facilities all over the world - I am now the proud owner of a Sony ultimate junk which I can not throw as yet, since I still carry a faint hope that some day some junk dealer may offer some remedy just out of pity for my ignorance in trusting Sony name.
If any Mouthshut community members in chennai can suggest some alternative therapy I would be most thankful. In the mean while - don’t buy Sony whether Vaio or Aiiio , unless you want to go through the same adventure [or misadventure! ]
Keep in shape and keep laughing
Aroma
19.11.06