BEYOND ECONOMIC REPAIR - Unbelievable and poor customer service in UK

[macka_moose]

I have a Xperia Z3 compact. 1 year old and the back is cracked - my fault, I dropped it, otherwise it works perfectly.

Becauser it's waterproof I thought that I'd return it to Sony for repair - I expected a bigger estimate than a non Sony repair  but it was only cosmetic after all so the bill wouldn't be that big would it?

I was shocked to get an email saying it was 'beyond economic repair' and that Sony would supply a replacement for £280... I then had to pay £20:54 to get my phone back and get it repaired locally (for £20), its sometimes called sharp practice. and its just as well that Sony dont repair cars isn't it.

Sony Ts and Cs state that a charge is payable if I decline the repair quote

I wrote to Sony and asked for a refund of my £20:54 as I had not declined the repair, they had refused to repair it.

Sony have so far refused to make a refund - Ive spoken to Citizens Advice and they advice me to go to the small claims court - but £20 ? Is it worth the effort? I've offered to abide by any decision made by a independent arbitrator - I've had no answer.

SO - Obviously I wont be using their service ever again but why have I posted this on here ?

Well I think that other potential users of the Sony repair service should be aware and pre warned!

If Sony write my phone off for £20 cosmetic damage - then presumably there are not many faults that they would fix, any phone that is out of warranty is potentially scrap, and it'll cost you over £20 to find out. 

[uterlydissapion]

I share your grief and dissapiontment my z3 compact screen cracked so I sent it in for repair £131.00 later and a month of waiting to get my phone back and it still hasn't been fixed . After my repair was sent to the esculataltion team which didn't eaven bother to get back to me on the statuss of the repair . I now have to wait another 2 weeks to get my phone back . I could not be more dissapionted or angry with sony if I tried . my advise to anyone with a sony phone is to sell it and get any other phone you can as the customer service is pathetic to say the least .

[macka_moose]

And now they write to ask if I'm happy with the answer!
I think Sony have started a great money generating scheme, if only I'd thought of it I could be rich as well.
I'll offer to repair your stuff (phones, laptops, anything really) and when you send it to me I'll tell you its not worth fixing then I'll keep it unless you send me £20. Im sure I could make £10 out of each punter - and do absolutely nothing except put it in the post.
In a similar situatuon its called blackmail.

[Christofer]

Hi @WEH,

I'm sorry to hear about your experience. Though I can't say for sure in your case, in general when a device is judged to be beyond economical repair it is because there is more then just the cosmetic damage. I would suggest that you contact your Local support team for more information about why this decision was taken for your device.

Please let me know if you have any more questions.

[macka_moose]

Thanks for the reply Xperia support, however your answer is not true in this case.
The phone is now repaired locally in Southampton using genuine parts for £20. It works just fine.
Sony support wont enter into any discussion on the mstter, someone just acted as judge and jury and wont listen to the argument.
1) it was MY phone so it my decision on whether the repair was cost effective or not. Sony should have quoted for the work as requested NOT tried to sell me another one.
2) I agreed to pay the cost if i refused to have the phone repaired - i never refused, Sony refused to quote.
3) Ive offered to to to arbitration on this as advised by Citizens Advice Bureau, to date NO REPLY from Sony.
This is shoddy practice in anyones books, Im really tempted to go to small claims court as a matter of principle, but have better things to do in my life. And so I just end my relationship with Sony and go back tp Samsung. That'll show you Sony!!

[Uliwooly]

I'm sorry to hear about your problem but you shouldn't generalize that the same experience will be the same to everyone, stay in contact with your Local support

[exsanguinator]

Yes,it's totally unethical of Sony.
They should've quoted you £600 to get it repaired, and then you could've made a decision if you wanted to go ahead and repair it.

[BigChak]

dude, just one advice, it is NOT waterproof!

[Uliwooly]

The phone it is waterproof, as long as there's no physical damage. 

[Lord_viridis]

Had it had any kind of repair done on the device before, by anyone.?
If any evidence of 3rd party repair work was found, they will reject the repair as BER due to the unguaranteeable condition of the device.
I also would just point out, your £20 repair using "genuine parts" should not be treated as the same repair quality and you should forget the ip rating.
The parts required to repair properly cost a lot more than a single back panel at £20