Xperia Z2 warranty

[Jin_Z2]

Hi I am new to the forum and I am residing in Dubai. Have had my Xperia Z2 for less than a year but the unit is now "dead" after testing it under water. Can someone please kindly help me on how to resolve the problem as the phone is still under warranty?  Thank you in advance!

[dandy63]

Hi, you will have to contact your local Xperia Care Centre & inform them, if they do ask you to send it in for repair then please insist on a Vacuum Test before any work is carried out.....hope this helps :smileysmileythumbsup:

http://www.sonymobile.com/global-en/support/contact-us/

[Jin_Z2]

Hi Dandy,

Many thanks for your response. I had taken the unit back to the store 'Carrefour' where I bought it and Carrefour had sent it to their service centre 'Technocare'. This was over two weeks ago and the service report from Technocare engineer had remarked that "Device fully liquid damage, water inserted inside of the device while side doors were open, it will not cover under warranty". 

I am absolutely certain that all the flaps and doors were completely shut as no way I would put the unit (costing nearly GBP500) in the water if the flaps were opened. The person at Technocare said to escalate my claim to Sony Centre myself which I did immediately. However the woman at Sony Centre had refused at point blank (with no reports with her which she admitted she doesn't need to) and she simply said if the service report from Technocare stated water damage and so it will not be covered by the warranty, she will not do anything nor change anything. She has not only refused to listen to me but kept repeating the warranty terms and conditions.  She even said because I had to charge the battery so the flaps had become loose and so this is wear and tear.....

I am not a technical person and I wouldn't know to ask for a vaccum test but to rely on the experts at Technocare.  I have collected the unit from Carrefour yesterday and I showed the unit to the sales person at the Sony counter at Carrefour.  He examined the flaps and he stated that the service report from Technocare is wrong and that he said if the flap was opened, the red dot by the left side of the flap would have changed colour. Not sure if he is correct on this point? 

I have been a great loyal fan with Sony products owning many generations of Sony TVs, Sony laptops, Sony Notebooks, Sony cameras, Sony Camcoders, .... Unfortunately this has left me with a very bad experience!  The woman at the Sony Centre was very obnoxious and plain rude to the extent that I was extremely shocked at the lack of customer service that Sony provides!

The Xperia Z2 is supposed to be waterproof, which I had thought it was but it is not.  It is now completely drown!  At Carrefour, I was told there are numerous complaints with this particular Sony Xperia Z2 and with exactly the same issues I had.

Could you please kindly advise how do I proceed from here? 

Thank you so much for your time.

With kind regards,

Sally

[Bearings]

Jin_Z2, sorry to hear what happened to your phone. Just curious when you bought your phone? 

[Jin_Z2]

Hi Bearings,

I bought the Xperia Z2 on 28 June 2014 and it has been an absolute treasure as I love the unit, and especially the camera.  I use the phone for calls and messaging only.  All my high school friends on the whatsapp group that I set up and managed were so impressed with the photos that I took with my Sony smartphone.  That was then and I am not sure nor confident enough to recommend Sony products in the future.

Its worst for me where I am as I have been told that the service in UAE is simply non in existence! The Xperia Z2 is now just a dead paperweight on my desk.

Many thanks for your valuable time.

With my kind regards,

Sally

[dandy63]

Hi @Jin_Z2 the chances are that Technocare did not do a vacuum test simply just looked it over but i could be wrong, did they offer any report in writing of what they did to your phone? If they opened up your phone to see what damage has been done then a vacuum test carried out by anyone else is of no use now, just to explain....the vacuum test determines if your phone is waterproof with all the flaps closed, if it fails the test then water can get in from a different point on the phone.....i would contact Technocare & ask them. With regards to the 'help' from the woman at Sony.....the flaps do not under normal circumstances 'wear out' quickly, they are designed to be opened & closed frequently for charging.....also if you place your phone facedown and open the Sim card cover then look at the open slot from above you will see the SIM card and to the right of that the red reset button, underneath the SIM and the reset button is the water indicator, it should be white.

If i was you i would take it back to Carrefour & explain everything to a manager.....but also ask Technocare what exactly they did to examine your phone, if they did not do the vacuum test nor dismantle your phone then you can insist on the test.

I hope this helps a bit, dont give up just yet & keep us informed 

[Jin_Z2]

Hi Dandy,

Many thanks for your quick response.

When I was contacted by Technocare by telephone, the guy named Chris did not mentioned any vacuum test but he said that because it was water damaged, the repair is not covered by Sony warranty. He quoted me the cost of repair (at GBP320) if I wanted to have the unit repaired. He said at Technocare, they are just an appointed authorised repair centre for Sony and they can't do anything for me. He referred me to their Technocare website for the image of water damage in my phone.

I said it is crazy as their report never mentioned anything else except for and these are the exact words of Technocare Engineer's Remarks on the report :

"DEVICE FULLY LIQUID DAMAGE, WATER INSERTED INSIDE OF THE DEVICE WHILE SIDE DOORS WERE OPEN. IT WILL NOT COVER UNDER WARRANTY"

How could one be so stupid to put a new GBP500 smartphone under water if knowingly one of the flaps is left opened? The guy said the report was wrong but he has to go by what the Engineer has stated, and that's when he asked me to escalate my complaint to Sony Centre.

As I have mentioned earlier, the woman at the Sony Centre just brushed me off purely based on the fact that I was asked by Technocare to call her centre, why? She asked me and she said simply because Technocare has refused to repair the phone as it was water damage so it is not covered by the warranty! So by that she will not change anything no matter what I have to say or explained. These are her words and she even said she doesn't need to see any reports. She never wanted to listen and said I am just wasting my time and she even claimed that it was due to wear and tear! Doesn't anyone step out of the box and think, this Xperia Z2 is supposed to be a waterproof phone.

Going back to Technocare, they had indeed opened the unit as they had asked me to look at the image of my unit on their website, and the cost estimation for repair. So it is too late to ask Technocare to perform a vacuum test, but why this test had not been carried out in the first place by Technocare?

I am really disappointed with the level of customer service over here. It is so frustrating and I need a replacement phone asap. How could Sony claims that the Xperia Z2 is waterproof? This is just simply not true!

Thank you again for your valuable time.

With kindest regards,
S

[dandy63]

Hi, i'm sorry to hear all this.......my advice would be to persist with contacting Technocare & complaining that they should have been aware that the first thing that should have been done is the Vacuum Test, if they come back & say that they do not have the equipment to do this test then that is not your problem but theirs & at that point they should have passed on the case back to your initial place of purchase or direct to a more qualified Xperia Service Centre. Mention that due to them just stripping the phone down to basically state the obvious water damage that they have destroyed any hope of proving that the flaps were tightly closed & the waterproof capability was initiallly at fault.

 I know & realise that this is all upsetting & will probably be a constant hassle but dont give up, keep speaking to them......good luck.

[hedrox87]

That's why We should always use sonysupport.com for sending devices to services, not 3-rd party services but sony services. Authorization is bad nowdays. When our device is broken, first thing to do is open flaps and photo-document the state of water sensitive stripes, then contact sonysupport and attach the photo with date beeing taken. There is a hole article how to preserve water damage and what to do when we think water damage wasn't our fault.
Xperias shouldn't be helped by anything when drying (specially hairdryers that damage silicon seal), you should always wash your xperia after bath in salt and chlored pool water with normal soft water, the device should be drying at least 3 hours in only vibration mode and so on...
I was there and will never trust my shop service ever again... waited 14 days for service decision and another 14 days for device replacement, in fact it wasn't water damage, but a faulty motherboard (constant resets, overheating, battery for only 8 hours with no apps in background etc.). Last time i tried sonysupport.com to directly speak to xperia care, and replaceing my device after lollipop fail took only 4 days (sent monday, received new one friday morning).
Last chance is to speak with xperia care, or send a private message to users with blue xperia logo next to nickname and tell them everything step by step. I'm sure there is a solution for You. It's a water resistant phone for sake!

[Jin_Z2]

Thank you Dandy63 for your advice, I have called the service centre yesterday but was asked to email them, and I am still awaiting the Engineer's response.  I am not sure why the invidual could not speak to me nor give me the answer there and then.  I shall update you as soon as I hear. 

Kindest regards,

S