My xperience with sonymobile local support

[Phreaksly]

I currently own a xperia z3 that has malfunctioned(the speaker has stopped working with no sign of liquid intrusion). Before I called support I saved My files and did a factory reset to the phone. I have spent most of the last week in contact with sonymobile support in the USA and Hong Kong(the apparent source of My international phones warranty) only to find out that "Due to Amazon is not on our authorized retailer list, your phone was not Hong Kong official goods." - Jenny Fan. So the largest retailer in the world(amazon.com) has sold Me what Sony considers a "grey-market/out-of-warranty phone" and is not an authorized retailer of Sony products although they appear to be so for millions of Sony products on their website(isn't that interesting?) My experience with Sony support has been futile and appears to have ended with a form-letter that begins "Hello!, Thank you for contacting Sony Xperia. We hope your inquiry resolved best to your satisfaction." whereas, nothing has been resolved, in fact, I have just gotten the run-around for five days. Sonys 'superb' support included "We are so sorry to inform you that we cannot comprehend your problem due to the limited information via the email. If you still want to solve this problem, please send an email in English to us again..." - Jenny Fan, in response to an email with a reference number in the subject line. The aforementioned form-letter included a link for more support that led Me back to square one, i.e., sonymobile.com/contact-us; so, I decided to check out the forums(hadn't been there, yet!) and after a cursory search of "amazon warranty" I find postings going back at least three years of people with the same/similar issues. I bought a Sony because I believed I was getting top-quality goods and services from a top-quality, world-wide manufacturer, I bought from Amazon because of a perception of the largest retailer in the world being a reputable one; I made this purchase only to end up with a broken "grey-market/out-of-warranty phone"(something I would never knowingly purchase) that gets Me the run-around when I attempt to get it serviced.

[Uliwooly]

@Phreaksly

I understand your frustration but this is on Amazon, not Sony, if you buy a Sony product here in the US and you want Sony's warranty, you have to buy it through them and/or an official retailer, such as Bestbuy to give you an idea, it seems that you were perhaps mislead by Amazon that there was no manufacturing warranty on your phone.

[exsanguinator]

Amazon has their own returns policy,
there should be no need to be in touch with Sony.
The catch is that you have to send it back to them at your cost.
as buying it online and getting it sent overseas, constitutes a grey import in a lot of countries.
Those countries have no obligation to give service to you.
Some manufacturers do so as a common courtesy like high end professional products etc.
When buying high ticket items, sometimes its best to do some due diligence and weigh the pros and cons.
How does that help you?
Not much in afraid.

[Phreaksly]

Thank you kindly for your responses, Amazon has a 90-day return policy not a 1-year manufacturer warranty, My phone broke at eleven months after purchase. It is My understanding that a manufacturer warranty is covered by the manufacturer not the retailer. If Amazon is selling Sony products as though they are an authorized retailer that sounds like Sonys problem not Mine. During My contact with Sony local support "in" the USA they made it very clear that My phone was under warranty it just happened to be in Hong Kong(and according to the website: Warranty to: 22/05/2016) and that I could contact the seller on Amazon(which I did to no avail) to obtain service upon My phone in Hong Kong because their service company in the USA just stopped accepting international phones for service. I have now contacted Amazon and am awaiting a response.

[exsanguinator]

I'm not sure 100% what the consumer laws are in USA,but I'm sure 100% worldwide, that once you purchase any product,the contract is done between you and the seller/retailer /e-retailer etc.
The only reason people deal directly with the manufacturer is for convenience or any other reason not to deal with the retailer.
Most countries have a 6mths minimum warranty in place gazzetted by their consumer law.
The manufacturer can match it or better it.
Thst is why its normally 12mths on most merchandise. Internationally,by that I dont mean that its an international warranty either,
Just that most products are manufactured in a different country and they print the instructions/manuals there as well, so 12 mths is a level that covers 99% of countries exported to.
I'm really not sure what Amazons warranty terms are,but shouldnt contravene that countries consumer law,
The main problem always arises when you are in a different country as it's a very inconvenient option to return the product back to the USA,when there is a manufacturer in your own country, but the contractv was done between you and Amazon unfortunately.

[exsanguinator]

A perfect example is that if I lived 1000 miles from civilization, and I had only one tiny shop 10 miles from my house, why why I go through the hassle of dealing with the manufacturer? Postage?phone calls?
I'd take it back to the shop,and say sort it out...it may take thrice as long,but its my choice which inconvenient path I prefer to take.
Online shopping just complicates it even more

[Uliwooly]

@Phreaksly

Keep us updated

@exsanguinator 

I agree with you. 

[Phreaksly]

Having resided in the USA My entire life, I have always understood a 'contract' with a retailer to last as long as Their return policy(typically 30-90 days) however, a manufacturer MUST provide a minimum of one year free from defects(which puts it on Sony for the remaining one-year post Amazons 90-day return policy.) Having signed up on these forums, I have decided to search them for "speaker" and I get 2000 results of people with problems similar/same as Mine(I suspect that's the max results returned and there's a LOT more posts on this issue.) I have also found from reading some of these posts that this is an issue with the speakers being poorly soldered. Sounds to Me as though this is an issue with quality control on the manufacturing line and that this IS on Sony and not Amazon. It appears to Me that Amazon has been selling Sony products in Sonys name for years with Sony looking the other way, still sounds like Sonys issue and not Mine. Regardless of all that, Amazon has decided to refund Me and give me the xperience I was expecting from Sony and Sony has given Me the support experience I would expect from a "gray-market" retailer. So, sorry Sony, the Kudos go to Amazon.

[Uliwooly]

@Phreaksly

I'll escalate this, but if Amazon is selling gray market products then it's not an official retailer, which seems odd.

[exsanguinator]

Great to hear,Amazon are pretty good with returns,what phone are you going to get next then?