I had a problem with the my Sony Elm j102i fastport connector wherein on connecting the adapter it showed charging but sometime would charge and other times would not. Since I purchased my phone on the 7th of Jul 2011 and it will still under warranty, I went to the authorized Sony service center "SAP Mobile Service Centre" at Chandan Mansion, Dadar W to get the issue sorted and the fastport replaced.
After checking the phone, the technician at the center said that there was liquid damage to the phone. Beside the fact that the phone never got wet, he did not even show me any change in the liquid damage indicator and just said that only the top part of the phone where the fast port connector is presen is liquid damaged but everyhere else the phone is fine. On asking him how he could conclude that, he said there were tiny white dots on the PCB which indicates liquid damage (they may have been microscopic as I could not see anything!) Nevertheless, he said that it would not be covered under warranty and so would cost Rs 750 to repair. I refused this and asked him to assemble the phone and return it to me. This is when the major issue began, besides saying its water damaged which I think could be an excuse they use to not repair phones in warranty - a cousin had an issue with the camera button on his k810i being loose a couple of years back and that time he had taken it to a service center somewhere in Grant road where
they also said it was water damaged!
Anyway, after assembling the phone and switching it on, half the screen was dull white and looked as if it was wet from the inside - there was no issue with the phone at all when I gave it to them besides the fastport being loose. On showing this to them, they said there was a fitting problem and redid it. This time, there was light leakage from around the lcd display on the sides. On pointing this out to them, they said that again the fitting was not done properly. The third time, the light leak on the side was much lesser however the left softkey was very stiff and the "up" on the D Pad as well. While giving it to me, he just said the fitting was done ok but still not properly.
On showing them this, the manager just rudely said that its fine, press it hard and it will work! On explaining to him that thats not the way its supposed to work, he just said sorry take it that way else keep it here for checking and come and collect it in a day or two. I told him that its a fitting problem and that this issue was not there when I got it and so what checking needs to be done and he went on to say that your phone has many problems, leave it to be checked, we cannot help you now etc etc. This entire ordeal took 2.5 hrs and instead of just the phone not charging properly (which would work on fidgeting a bit with the wire), the left softkey and "up" button too is not working properly. To top it up the rude and arrogant behavior by the manager Mr Sandesh Patange.
I eventually just walked out with the phone as it is lest they spoil it further. Its unfortunate that Sony not able to keep service quality levels respectably high and customers have to suffer such situations unnecessarily. Considering they spend so much on marketing, I think they should make a conscious effort to improve their after sales service well. Have written to Sony India too about this. Lets see what they come back saying but do not have any expectations from them.
And to top things off the manager was cheesy enough to tell the technician to update the IMEI on the system and mention that the phone is liquid damaged so that even if I go to another service center, they will not repair it for me! Just goes to show the dismal state of after sales service in India!
After checking the phone, the technician at the center said that there was liquid damage to the phone. Beside the fact that the phone never got wet, he did not even show me any change in the liquid damage indicator and just said that only the top part of the phone where the fast port connector is presen is liquid damaged but everyhere else the phone is fine. On asking him how he could conclude that, he said there were tiny white dots on the PCB which indicates liquid damage (they may have been microscopic as I could not see anything!) Nevertheless, he said that it would not be covered under warranty and so would cost Rs 750 to repair. I refused this and asked him to assemble the phone and return it to me. This is when the major issue began, besides saying its water damaged which I think could be an excuse they use to not repair phones in warranty - a cousin had an issue with the camera button on his k810i being loose a couple of years back and that time he had taken it to a service center somewhere in Grant road where
they also said it was water damaged!
Anyway, after assembling the phone and switching it on, half the screen was dull white and looked as if it was wet from the inside - there was no issue with the phone at all when I gave it to them besides the fastport being loose. On showing this to them, they said there was a fitting problem and redid it. This time, there was light leakage from around the lcd display on the sides. On pointing this out to them, they said that again the fitting was not done properly. The third time, the light leak on the side was much lesser however the left softkey was very stiff and the "up" on the D Pad as well. While giving it to me, he just said the fitting was done ok but still not properly.
On showing them this, the manager just rudely said that its fine, press it hard and it will work! On explaining to him that thats not the way its supposed to work, he just said sorry take it that way else keep it here for checking and come and collect it in a day or two. I told him that its a fitting problem and that this issue was not there when I got it and so what checking needs to be done and he went on to say that your phone has many problems, leave it to be checked, we cannot help you now etc etc. This entire ordeal took 2.5 hrs and instead of just the phone not charging properly (which would work on fidgeting a bit with the wire), the left softkey and "up" button too is not working properly. To top it up the rude and arrogant behavior by the manager Mr Sandesh Patange.
I eventually just walked out with the phone as it is lest they spoil it further. Its unfortunate that Sony not able to keep service quality levels respectably high and customers have to suffer such situations unnecessarily. Considering they spend so much on marketing, I think they should make a conscious effort to improve their after sales service well. Have written to Sony India too about this. Lets see what they come back saying but do not have any expectations from them.
And to top things off the manager was cheesy enough to tell the technician to update the IMEI on the system and mention that the phone is liquid damaged so that even if I go to another service center, they will not repair it for me! Just goes to show the dismal state of after sales service in India!
but recently a Sony X7 or X9 mobile owner from Nashik approached CNBC Awaz channel with a complaint that in a year his cell phone had to be repaired 4times and each time it took more than a month to return. He asked for a full refund or and upgrade to another Sony Ericsson model by paying the diff. Earlier Sony plainly refused to refund and only agreed to increase the warranty by an extra year. After this episode was aired Sony did a damage control and refunded the entire amount.
