I purchased a top-of-the-range Sony SZ5 laptop PC on 29 August 2007, and have since been through purgatory, ending up in what I now recognise as Sony Vaio Hell.
I feel compelled to tell the world about my experience, over the past nine months, for four main reasons:
- So others can avoid the misery, frustration and expense that I’ve suffered at Sony’s hands;
- So senior executives at Sony get the message that it ought to be unacceptable to lie, mislead or ignore customers in the way that Sony have treated me;
- So senior executives at Sony will think twice, in future, before launching products with inadequate software development and testing beforehand; and
- To provide a mechanism for others who have suffered at the hands of Sony Vaio to voice to their frustrations, with a view to encouraging Sony sit-up and take notice.
I have not had the benefit of even a single day of productive use of this Sony Vaio PC since I first pressed its power button on 31 August last year.
This PC has been back to Sony twice for inspection and repair, unsuccessfully in both cases. Indeed, I even had to threaten to report its loss to Lincolnshire Police in order to get Sony to return it to me again, so I can show the world what a supposedly “perfect” Sony Vaio PC looks like in reality.
Unfortunately, now I’m getting ahead of myself, and letting my sundry frustrations with Sony show, instead of telling you my story calmly, objectively and step-by-step.
First let me tell you a little bit about myelf, so you can see that I’m not some kind of nutter with a grudge against Sony.
As it happens, I’m an experienced management consultant with special expertise in helping organisations improve their customer experience. So I recognise both good and bad customer experience when I see it.
I have to say that dealing with Sony Vaio has been the very worst customer experience I have ever come across, either personally or professionally.
My intent, in creating this blog, is to provide a vehicle for people who have experienced appalling service from Sony Vaio, either in terms of products or services, to share their experience with the wider world, with a view to urging Sony to take product development and customer service more seriously.
My next posting will explain how the problems with my Sony SZ5 started.
Alan