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By Zhang Bin (People's Daily Online)
15:46, March 07, 2012
Edited and translated by People's Daily Online
Two Chinese consumers recently complained on People's Daily Online about Sony's defective products and poor after-sales services.
They said that they bought Sony's T300 digital camera and VPCEG16 I3E laptop because they trusted big brands. However, when they sent the malfunctioned products back for repair, they did not receive convenient and reliable services as Sony previously promised.
A consumer surnamed Zhang said that he bought a Sony T300 camera at a home appliances supermarket in Beijing in 2008. Less than half a year later, the camera began shaking when he was taking pictures, and led to photo blurs, so he sent it to Sony's customer service center for free repair. However, camera shake still occurred frequently in the first year afterward.
He surfed online and found that many T300 buyers met similar problems due to design defects. Zhang took the camera to Sony's customer service center for another repair, where a customer service representative said that he should pay 300 yuan for the repair. Although he argued that many T300 cameras had similar design-related problems, the representative maintained that only T20 and T70 would be repaired for such problems free of charge according to the company's policy.
Zhang said disappointedly, "Originally, I bought a product of the Sony brand because I believed that Sony was a time-honored brand and its products were reliable. I did not know that the company offers only one-time free repair service for such a design defect and the customer has to pay for other repair services. It is unreasonable."
Mr. Hu living in Shenzhen also lodged a complaint that he bought a Sony VPCEG16 I3E laptop in November of 2011, but found it system halted within a week. Then, he took the laptop to a service center, and the center said the hard disc had broken down, and replaced the disc with a new one free of charge. However, the same problem of system halt reoccurred within ten days after the repair.
Until now, the problem has remained unsolved yet. Mr. Hu said that he is very disappointed.
Regarding this issue, the reporter dialed the service hotline of the Sony Corporation. A worker picked up the phone, made notes about the details and said that a technician would contact with the reporter soon. But by the time when the article was published, the reporter still had not got any feedback from the Sony Corporation.
In as early as 2005, a "confrontation" once occurred between the Zhejiang Consumers' Association and the Sony Corporation. As a result, Sony Corporation suspended selling six types of cameras, but did not recall these defective cameras.
The reporter learned through the Internet that Sony's products which have been most complained about include camera parts, digital camera, television, laptop, mobile phone and even PS video game machine that the Sony Company is very proud of.
The reporter observed that the quality incidents may have affected Sony's business
Sony's defective products and poor services also affect its market achievements. According to the financial report of the third-quarter of 2011 released by Sony, the corporation's sales revenue dropped by 17.4 percent to about 1.8 trillion Japanese yen, losing 91.7 billion Japanese yen (117.6 million U.S. dollars) in the quarter.
Sony also estimated that its net loss of the year 2011 would reach 220 billion Japanese yen (about2.9 billion U.S. dollars, 18.2 billion yuan).
It is reported that Sony's business went from bad to worse in 2011. Since Howard Stringer took the helm of Sony, the TV revenue and the sales in videos, mobile phones, and PS games declined in 2011.
According to the financial reports, Sony attributed its losses to economic downturn, floods and reduction of benefits from associated companies. But an industry analyst believes that Sony's comprehensive losses have direct link with the decline of its brand reputation, product quality and after-sales service quality. He also points out that repeated complaints, buck-passing and rude to customers' complaints have become the weaknesses to Sony's product quality and services, which greatly tarnishes Sony's image.
As for large-scale industrial products, it is acceptable that products have defects occasionally. And the consumers may feel sincerity if the company is willing to listen to customers' complaints, takes respectful attitude in the after-sales services, and then find out a solution. Sony's blindly evasion and buck-passing make consumers bitterly disappointed. As a result, a customer may cast his distrust aroused by the defects of one product to Sony's other products, according to an industry insider.
Sony criticized for defective products, poor services - People's Daily Online
15:46, March 07, 2012
Edited and translated by People's Daily Online
Two Chinese consumers recently complained on People's Daily Online about Sony's defective products and poor after-sales services.
They said that they bought Sony's T300 digital camera and VPCEG16 I3E laptop because they trusted big brands. However, when they sent the malfunctioned products back for repair, they did not receive convenient and reliable services as Sony previously promised.
A consumer surnamed Zhang said that he bought a Sony T300 camera at a home appliances supermarket in Beijing in 2008. Less than half a year later, the camera began shaking when he was taking pictures, and led to photo blurs, so he sent it to Sony's customer service center for free repair. However, camera shake still occurred frequently in the first year afterward.
He surfed online and found that many T300 buyers met similar problems due to design defects. Zhang took the camera to Sony's customer service center for another repair, where a customer service representative said that he should pay 300 yuan for the repair. Although he argued that many T300 cameras had similar design-related problems, the representative maintained that only T20 and T70 would be repaired for such problems free of charge according to the company's policy.
Zhang said disappointedly, "Originally, I bought a product of the Sony brand because I believed that Sony was a time-honored brand and its products were reliable. I did not know that the company offers only one-time free repair service for such a design defect and the customer has to pay for other repair services. It is unreasonable."
Mr. Hu living in Shenzhen also lodged a complaint that he bought a Sony VPCEG16 I3E laptop in November of 2011, but found it system halted within a week. Then, he took the laptop to a service center, and the center said the hard disc had broken down, and replaced the disc with a new one free of charge. However, the same problem of system halt reoccurred within ten days after the repair.
Until now, the problem has remained unsolved yet. Mr. Hu said that he is very disappointed.
Regarding this issue, the reporter dialed the service hotline of the Sony Corporation. A worker picked up the phone, made notes about the details and said that a technician would contact with the reporter soon. But by the time when the article was published, the reporter still had not got any feedback from the Sony Corporation.
In as early as 2005, a "confrontation" once occurred between the Zhejiang Consumers' Association and the Sony Corporation. As a result, Sony Corporation suspended selling six types of cameras, but did not recall these defective cameras.
The reporter learned through the Internet that Sony's products which have been most complained about include camera parts, digital camera, television, laptop, mobile phone and even PS video game machine that the Sony Company is very proud of.
The reporter observed that the quality incidents may have affected Sony's business
Sony's defective products and poor services also affect its market achievements. According to the financial report of the third-quarter of 2011 released by Sony, the corporation's sales revenue dropped by 17.4 percent to about 1.8 trillion Japanese yen, losing 91.7 billion Japanese yen (117.6 million U.S. dollars) in the quarter.
Sony also estimated that its net loss of the year 2011 would reach 220 billion Japanese yen (about2.9 billion U.S. dollars, 18.2 billion yuan).
It is reported that Sony's business went from bad to worse in 2011. Since Howard Stringer took the helm of Sony, the TV revenue and the sales in videos, mobile phones, and PS games declined in 2011.
According to the financial reports, Sony attributed its losses to economic downturn, floods and reduction of benefits from associated companies. But an industry analyst believes that Sony's comprehensive losses have direct link with the decline of its brand reputation, product quality and after-sales service quality. He also points out that repeated complaints, buck-passing and rude to customers' complaints have become the weaknesses to Sony's product quality and services, which greatly tarnishes Sony's image.
As for large-scale industrial products, it is acceptable that products have defects occasionally. And the consumers may feel sincerity if the company is willing to listen to customers' complaints, takes respectful attitude in the after-sales services, and then find out a solution. Sony's blindly evasion and buck-passing make consumers bitterly disappointed. As a result, a customer may cast his distrust aroused by the defects of one product to Sony's other products, according to an industry insider.
Sony criticized for defective products, poor services - People's Daily Online
