Has anyone else experienced dreadful after-sales service with their Bravia?

[thekent]

I purchased two Sony Bravia's from my local Curry's store, earlier this year. OneTV was the  37"W8510 and the other a 19" KDL19L400.

After experiencing problems with the 19" Bravia I learnt that it was not possible to go back to my local Curry's store or Sony Centre but had to go threw the Sony Authorised Repairer (which wasn't in my home town).  After weeks of being messed around by them and trying to resolve the issue with Sony I have come to the conclusion that brand loyalty does not pay:smileysad::smileyangry:.

The repairers have had the faulty television since 8th Oct 2010 but they claim to be unable to find a fault. The guys that came to collect the television on the 2nd occassion saw the fault for themselves and took it away with them :smileyconfused:.
I am told that the TV was not faulty and they may return it by the end of the week.

As this was a Sony TV I learnt that Currys could not get involved or exchange the product.  Had I have purchased another brand it would have been a different story :smileyangry:. Lesson learnt on my part.

Its very unnerving that you invest so heavily in a brand that you perceive to be excellent to learn that in fact their aftersales is disgraceful:smileyshocked:.

I have everything crossed that my Sony Vaio, 2 Sony Digital Cameras and 37" Bravia do not have any problems.

Has anyone else had any similar problems?

[StartTheCar]

Hi Raggyman

As with the other cases on this thread, such issues can usually be resolved by either our technical team in the Customer Information Centre or (and more likely in this case) via a member of our authorised repair agent.

I certainly wouldn’t recommend attempting the repair yourself, even if you were able to source the required part.

Even then, I believe we are getting a little head of ourselves, not least because as far as I can tell we are not 100% sure of the nature of the fault.

Not sure which repair agent you consulted, but an inspection fee/estimate is not usually that high, at least not with some sort of transportation costs included.  That being said, the cost of the estimate (not transportation) is often taken off the final repair cost; should you wish to proceed.

With all of this in mind, I would strongly recommend seeking a diagnoses/estimate from an authorised repair agent which will provide all the facts you will need to make any decision on repair or otherwise.

I understand your concerns and frustrations and I am happy to help where I can. 

Regards

Lee

[Raggyman]

I am experienced enough to replace parts if I was able to get them, however I am unable to source these parts myself, having first getting the run around from Customer Service saying that I would be able to purchase this part from allsonyparts.co.uk 

A loud buzzing from the rear of the set, which is the nature of the fault, and what my investigations have established is that it is a faulty back light inverter board, which you cannot apparently purchase separately, and even then I would expect a Sony product to not have this problem in the first place, and certainly not only after 3 years. 

I was given the "Sony" authorised agent, and the fee to inspect is £80.  No matter what the fault, the minimum amount of money I am going to spend is £80, for what I would believe to be a common fault.  So, as it stands I have spent a over the odds on a Sony product expecting it to be reliable and instead having to fork out more money.  This "Sony" authorised agent is about a 20 minute drive from where I live, so no shipping costs.

What I guess my arguments are, is that this does seem to be a common fault and problem with this particular model.  Perhaps there was a dodgy batch, and they don't meet the high quality standards that I would expect from a Sony product.

I am having the set looked at over the weekend by Curry's who offer a £99 deal which include parts up to £149.00.  This will determine what my next steps will be.  If I have to purchase a new TV set, I can assure you it will NOT be a Sony product.  Again, not happy that I am having to fork out this much money, on a relatively young TV set.

[keithjmason139]

Hi,

This explains my pain and frustration with information/help I have been getting from Sony.

I recently purchased a Sony KDL37EX503U

It was hard to tell how good it was in the shop as there is very bright lighting, and the video source looked like it came off youtube.

Anyway, it looked good.. The sales man in a Sony centre told me that the 37inch panel was identical to the 40inch panel.. its actually the 40inch just cut down to size. I found this hard to believe, as how could the pixel count be the same.. anyway, he was the expert, so i didn't want to argue. The specs for this TV also looked good. The 178 degrees viewing angle was good to see there, as the layout of my lounge means people are sat at obscure angles.

Anyway, I got it home, and had the following observations:

1. The viewing angle is terrible!  awful.. unless you are head on.  178 degrees viewing angle is closer to 20 degrees in the TV i bought home. This is nothing like 178! - how can they measure this at 178.  I've seen other TV's that claim the same and they a far superior.

2. The picture is very dim.  very very dim..  I run it with Eco turned off. Ambient sensor turned off, and backlight on full.. so much for having an 'eco' setting.

3. Staying with the picture.. this TV does not understand shadow detail..  anything fairly dark is just BLACK.. Yes, the TV has great blacks (if you sit head on of course) but so much is black, black, black.. its just a dull picture.. very dark.

Yes, i've spent a few weeks playing with pictures settings.

4. There is a buzzing noise coming from the back that you can hear when the volume is low.  This has been explained to me as a design feature, and I should expect it to buzz like this.  nice.

5. The sound is not very good.. it sounds 'compressed' like a low quality Mp3.  I did expect a little more, but I understand 2 small speakers may not be able to create a good sound.

So, finally, after upgrading my 10 year old Sony 4:3 CRT, to this KDL37EX503U I am so disappointed that Sony could have a TV like this on the market.  Maybe a lot has changed since I bought my last Sony TV.

I contacted Sony to complain about this.. The people I spoke to kept telling me there is nothing wrong with my TV,and that the 37 panel is identical to the 40 inch.

I have since compared the 2 side to side in a shop, and they are not the same.

I opened up a complaint with Sony.. I got an automated reply, and they closed that case as complete!

I raised a question again to Sony, and the person replied, and actually sounded like he knew what he was talking about.  he said:

"Sony UK does not disclose this particular information. What I can say, however is that this panel is an AUO. The 40 inch and 37 inch models are not the same and are made completely differently.

I can only apologise for the information that you have been provided as it was not correct."

Well at least i know now.  Yes, the 37inch is an inferior panel, mainly in the viewing angle which is really terrible, and misrepresented by Sony in my opinion.

Anyway, just wanted to share my experience of this TV.

Sony sell this for £799 - I think the quality of this TV is not good.  It will be a long time before I can upgrade this TV.

I feel let down by Sony's brand that I have always trusted.

Regards,

Keith.

[fishypro0664]

Hi thekent !

read my post (Why is a Bravia tv so expensive when it is common knowledge that it will be broken within 2-3 years?) further up the posts.

It is crazy that Sony don't seem to care !!!!!

Why do they have a customer care section ??

fishypro0664

[jochamp53]

Glad i am not the only one having these problems. Bought the EX503 for my 80 year old mother after seeing it displayed in my local Sony Centre in Portsmouth. When it was delivered i set it up with factory default settings, yes you are right the 178 degree angle is rubbish, more like 40. There is a buzzing noise from the right hand side, back of the screen. After 1 day i had to swap my Sony W5500 with my mother as it was giving her headaches.  I telephoned the Sony shop and was politely told that all their TV's have a 178 degree viewing angle and the buzzing noise was normal as all TV's buzz. Funny my W5500 is absolutely silent and the viewing angle is fine where ever you sit.  My TV,dvd player & Blu-ray are all connected in to a Sony 2.1 sound cabinet, so they are all Bravia linked. If it wasn't for this i would change to Panasonic or Samsung. But at least my mother is happy.

[Fantomet]

Yes.

From day one, my 40"w4500 have had a terrible buzzing noice, coming and going. Noice is subjective, but this is at times so loud we have to turn off the TV. Have sent it to Sony authorizsed repairer twice, and contacted Sony support, but I'm just met with a cold shoulder. They say they can't hear anything not normal. I guess they have been (un)lucky and had a silent TV for some seconds. So, I guess they don't (want to) trust me.

I argued strongly for more than a year, but have now given up, and are planning to buy a new TV (not Sony of course).

Martin from Norway