Contacting VAIO when laptop not picked up

[bioboybill]

I am feeling very frustrated with Sony Vaio just now. My son's Sony Vaio FW41ZJ/H laptop was purchased in October 2009, but after just 4 months the hard drive failed and was replaced (in Feb 2010).

At the weekend it failed again and i tried to use the recovery center and recovery disks (which Sony charged me £40-odd for in February), but the machine kept spitting disks out and said they were probably corrupt, which is surprising when you've paid £40+ for them and they've never been opened before.

Being in the UK we only get 1 year guarantee when spending £1240 whereas the rest of the world get 2 years. This means we have to ring a premium rate number at 35p/minute to arrange repair and pay £57 for DPD couriers to pick up.

I arranged pick-up for this morning, but DPD did not show. I contacted vaio livechat and was told they were for technical issues only but they would arrange a call-back as I can't access the premium rate number at work or via my mobile. They haven't called back and they will most likely be closed by the time i get home tonight.

I have e-mailed ukflextronics asking them about this, but who knows when they will get back to me. Is there any way I can speak to them on a non-premium number i can access from work or my mobile so I can try to get this sorted out?

As it is they quote a three week turnaround whereas the initial e-mail and conversation I had said it was 5 days. To be honest I am thinking that I'd be better off getting my £57 back off Vaio and taking to a shop, but I can't even contact them to cancel!

Message was edited by: bioboybill

[Thalamus.]

Hi bioboybill,

welcome to Questioons & Answers..:smileyhappy:

Can you clarify if you have arranged for a collection via Vaio-link or one of the authorised local Sony service partners.?

If it was Vaio-link do you have a job number.?

[bioboybill]

I did it through Sony Vaio-Link. I do have a job number, 5204084. I did finally manage to contact them via e-mail, to ukflextronics.com, but wasn't impressed. They just sent a curt reply to say the courier had a backlog and would deliver tomorrow. No apology whatsoever.

I replied to say that they should have had the courtesy to ring me on the mobile number I gave them to inform me of this. If I hadn't contacted them I would have no idea what was going on. I told them that if they didn't turn up tomorrow I would cancel and expect a full refund. I have had no reply to that.

To be honest I am beginning to think that I have made a mistake getting them to repair the laptop again since their last repair only lasted 10 months. Two dead hard drives in 14 months is hardly impressive when you've paid over £1200. We have other laptops and PCs that cost £3-400 and they are going strong after several years. I am also annoyed that the disks they charged me £40 for are corrupt and yet they don't offer to reimburse me for those.

I dread to think what they will charge to replace a hard drive when they charge £57 just to pick up and return!

[bioboybill]

Well the courier hasn't turned up yet and no courtesy call to let me know when they intend to collect. I am only at work until 4pm today. I have asked them to cancel and return my £57 if they don't show by 4pm.

No reply to my e-mail yesterday asking about cancelling. What happened to customer service in this country?