Friday, September 16, 2011

The Sony Repair Experience

Pine Cones -- Panny G1 & Kern-Paillar Switar 75mm f1.9. Click for larger. 

Two weeks and and a day ago, I dropped off my Sony NEX-5 at the Sony repair center and I was quoted that the camera should be fixed between 1 and 10 business days.  That's pretty good in my opinion, because my experiences with Canon didn't fair very well, in terms of length of time and quality of service.

Let me get the negative aspects of this Sony repair experience first.  My major complain is that their repair status on their web site does not work.  I always receive errors.  Contrast to this, Canon is very good in this regard. I just think that a company this large, can not have a simple function that many people actually use, working.  I can't imagine what consequences for me is, if I were responsible for this function, at my job.  I don't think my manager will be too happy about this, but it doesn't seem to bother Sony.

So, I called three times over the length of the repair, to inquire on the status of the repair.  On my second call this Wednesday, I was told that the camera was fixed, and they asked if I wanted to have it shipped to me, or I would like pick it up.  They told me I could receive the camera on Friday (today) if I had it shipped.  I agreed to having it shipped and was expecting to receive it today.  But, I didn't.

Called again today the customer service rep told me the camera wasn't shipped.  I was pretty unhappy that they gave me conflicting information, but I told them I would pick it up on tomorrow (Saturday).  I am hoping there will be no issues getting the camera tomorrow.

Now the positive.  From the dropping off to the telephone calls, every one was courteous and friendly.  The facility was very good.  They didn't give me a hard time about replacing the screen, since, technically, the screen was not broken, just the coating came off.  They did fix the camera within ten business days as quoted.

Over all, I would rate this as a positive experience.  Hopefully, I won't have to use it again.

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