Sony Computer Warning!

[inspiration100]

We have 3 sony computers here, loved em, great computers. But our fourth (laptop) has given us headaches! We've called sony 3 different times and they've sent someone out to fix it all 3 times. But now the hard drive has failed. We simply want to exchange this computer and pay the difference for a better one. Sony wants to put up a bunch of crap about how we hafta turn it in to headquarters and they'll look it over and see if its badly damaged enough. What kind of crap is this? Hello, we're under a warrenty. Doesn't 3 times having a support person come over tell you enough?
So...
Anyone found a company that has good support. How is HP's computer support?
Much appric!
-Joseph

 

[brewmonkey]

HP Support is FANTASTIC! I bought my HP in October 2004 and have loved it every single day. When my power cord frayed at the end right before the connection I called them, and got an English speaking associate in the US!, explained the problem and the next day I had a brand new power adapter with a call tag to send in the old one. Cost to me? $0!

A few months later I was having some issues with the battery not charging properly. Turns out where the male power prong on the mother board was bad, again I called them, got an English speaking associate and explained what was going on. They sent me a call tag to have my laptop go back to their plant in CA (I had to supply a box though) and then they called UPS to let them know it was ready for pickup. I sent it on a Monday and thought it might be 2 weeks before I saw it again. They called me the next day to tell me they received it and that the issue was non-warranty work and I would need to buy a new motherboard. I talked to a few folks there and explained to them that it could not possibly be a non-warranty issue as I take VERY good care of this laptop and the only way what they are saying could happen is if someone yanked the cord out very hard. They re-inspected the piece, called me back and agreed that I was right. Turns out a bad solder job was to blame, they had it fixed that day and I had my laptop back by Thursday including a very nice cleaning job of the keypad and screen.

I have had very good success with HP's customer service dept as well as their ordering dept when I have bought new pieces for the laptop. I know some folks dog them for their ties to Compaq but I cannot complain.

 

[inspiration100]

Wow, glad to hear. That's good that they have an english speaking associate. Well it looks like I might be getting an hp laptop pretty soon :P.

 

[Kenny]

Sony Computers do rock, but thier support is the worst.
Poor support of new products and no support of legacy systems.
They will just say buy a new system... like they cant afford the B/W to keep user manuals more than 3 years. If you buy a used system and need specs... you have to find them from other sources.

Before I started building my own systems I was a Dell man all the way.
To this day when repairing other systems built by Dell, no matter if they are P2's or before, Dell fully supports them as long as you are registered and have the computers ID. Even without the ID you can get the the model specs as shipped new. Dells only real drawback... limited upgrade ability.

HP/Compaq used to bite, but they have improved leaps and bounds in the last 3 or 4 years.

Did you know Dell bought out Alienware? :hehe:

Peace,
Cyberian

 

[broke-r]

Did you know Dell bought out Alienware? :hehe:

 

[newton]

I have had about 3 or 4 laptops from Sony and they have all given up the ghost and died in one shape or form, whether the hd or a problem turning off / on, particularly right in the middle of working. Laptops have been back and forth to them as though they were on a bungee cord, back and forth, back and forth and the laptop will work for a while then "bang" its gone again. Its due to the fact that they use shitty heatsinks that cause the computer to go into cascade mode .. the hotter the thing becomes the more the fan works (and they have shitty fans) and the more it tries to cool it down which in turn makes the cpu run faster and hotter. The laptops have to be returned to Sony in order to be 'fixed' every 6-8 months after the warranty has expired typically. I still like them but so glad I found this place which fixes them http://www.vaioshutdown.com/ and http://www.physik.uni-freiburg.de/~zwerger/cip/Vaio/indexeng.htm

 

[adam_uk]

HP Support is FANTASTIC! I bought my HP in October 2004 and have loved it every single day. When my power cord frayed at the end right before the connection I called them, and got an English speaking associate in the US!, explained the problem and the next day I had a brand new power adapter with a call tag to send in the old one. Cost to me? $0!

A few months later I was having some issues with the battery not charging properly. Turns out where the male power prong on the mother board was bad, again I called them, got an English speaking associate and explained what was going on. They sent me a call tag to have my laptop go back to their plant in CA (I had to supply a box though) and then they called UPS to let them know it was ready for pickup. I sent it on a Monday and thought it might be 2 weeks before I saw it again. They called me the next day to tell me they received it and that the issue was non-warranty work and I would need to buy a new motherboard. I talked to a few folks there and explained to them that it could not possibly be a non-warranty issue as I take VERY good care of this laptop and the only way what they are saying could happen is if someone yanked the cord out very hard. They re-inspected the piece, called me back and agreed that I was right. Turns out a bad solder job was to blame, they had it fixed that day and I had my laptop back by Thursday including a very nice cleaning job of the keypad and screen.

I have had very good success with HP's customer service dept as well as their ordering dept when I have bought new pieces for the laptop. I know some folks dog them for their ties to Compaq but I cannot complain.

I agree here, HP's support is good

but also sony are good, i think you just have had got a dogey unit, a freind of mine managed to get warranty repairs done outside of warranty. they where pretty good and his vaio is amazing.

 

[inspiration100]

but also sony are good, i think you just have had got a dogey unit, a freind of mine managed to get warranty repairs done outside of warranty. they where pretty good and his vaio is amazing.

Has he ever used phone support? Craaapy. They won't let you exchange pcs after 3 problems and 3 house visits! Besides that, they won't let you even upgrade pcs. Insane.... Glad HP's is better, will be swiching on next laptop.

 

[CyXic]

My vaio has worked fine for 3 years and I'm still using it. btw sony doesn't make hds.

 

[inspiration100]

No but they purchase them (mines a toshiba hard drive). I'm not complaining that a hard drive fails, i've had almost every type of computer fail with some problem, i'm complaining about SUPPORT.