I have owned a Sony laptop model GRX570 since purchasing it new back in 2001. Apart from the fact that it is now very slow, I have never had any problems with it.

I have always been a Sony fan, I own a Sony camcorder, two Sony digital cameras and a Sony set top box.

On making the decision to take early retirement and to move onto my narrow boat, I decided to buy a new laptop for use on my travels. I wanted something very reliable because it is difficult to arrange for collection and delivery of items when living on a boat and not having a collection and delivery address.

In January of 2007 I purchased what was then the top of the range Sony laptop - model AR21s. I paid in the region of £1800 for it which is not an insignificant amount of money.

Problem 1: Not long after receiving the new laptop, it started to play up. It started to report disk drive problems in the form of RAID error warning messages. I contacted Sony and they arranged to have it collected for repair. I was still living in my house at the time so arranging to be around to enable DHL to collect and return the laptop was not too much of a problem. The laptop was returned with a note advising me that both hard disk drives had been replaced. The software had not been configured correctly as the disk drives were set up in standard mode instead of RAID as they should have been but I decided to just live with it.

Problem 2: A month or so after being returned from being repaired the first time, the laptop started reporting disk drive errors again. It was also running extremely slowly with the disk access LED on almost continuously. Again, I contacted Sony and they arranged to have it collected for repair. I was still living in my house so being around for DHL was not too much of a problem again. The laptop was returned with a note advising that the motherboard had been replaced. At least this time they had configured the software correctly and the drives were set up as a RAID array.

Problem 3: The left mouse button became faulty. It still worked but no longer had any feel to it or clicked when pressed. This was just a minor inconvenience and not worth reporting to Sony for a repair. I could live with it.

Problem 4: One of the USB ports became damaged – my fault, a USB cable that was plugged into it got pulled and broke off the little plastic tab that helps hold the plug in the port. Again, this was only a minor problem. The USB port worked fine, it was just that any cable plugged into it would be loose. There are two other USB connectors on the laptop and I tend to only use one USB port that I connect to a USB hub. I had no intention of reporting it to Sony for a repair as it was not a big problem to me and it was my fault that the little plastic tab got broken in the first place. See photo below – you will see the little white plastic tab is missing from the USB port on the right.

Problem 5: Sony case number: 2720811.

The laptop started intermittently reporting disk drive errors again. It would report that a RAID drive was failing. Sometimes the laptop would not boot up and it would report that it could not find an operating system. I found that by tapping the base of the laptop I could make the problem appear to go away for a while. This carried on for a short while before the laptop finally died on me and would not power up at all. I contacted Sony for the third time on 30th October. The guy I spoke to agreed with me that I was right to be very disappointed with my laptop but that there was nothing he could do apart from have it collected to be repaired for the third time. He informed me that it could not be exchanged for a new laptop as I had owned it for quite a while now. He told me that once repaired, they would give the laptop an extensive soak test to make sure it was 100% OK. Luckily, a friend was visiting me on the boat and agreed to take the laptop back home with them so that DHL could collect it from their house. Getting anything collected from the boat is not easy. The laptop was collected from my friend’s house and returned to Sony. Almost a week later I received a phone call from the Sony repair centre, they informed me that I would have to pay over £500 to have the USB port repaired. You can guess my reaction; I was furious and told them so. I told them to repair the rest of the laptop but not to bother with the USB port as I could easily live without it as I had been doing so for some time. The laptop was returned to my friend’s house but it was a further week before I was able to get a train down to collect it. On getting the laptop back to the boat, you can guess how disappointed/disgusted I was to find that it did not work and had not been repaired. The advice note said that the faulty mouse button had been replaced – which it had. It also stated that a new motherboard was required to repair the damage USB connector and that the motherboard had not been changed as the customer would not pay for it. Once again, I was furious and phoned Sony. The guy I spoke to at Sony (John) spoke with his supervisor and told me that they would collect it again and this time there was a chance that they would swap the laptop for a brand new one and compensate me for all of the trouble I have had – but no promises.

You have to ask the question – what sort of a company can return a laptop to a customer knowing that they have not repaired it – especially after all of the problems I have had with it so far.

I have now arranged to have the laptop collected from me on Monday, this will be the fourth time it has been back to Sony!!. I am trying to arrange to meet DHL somewhere so that they can pick it up. Watch this space for the next update !!! Hopefully, Sony will do right by me and supply me with a brand new replacement laptop. Even if they repair the current one, I will be afraid to use it as I have no confidence in its reliability. I have been doing almost daily backups on it as I was afraid of loosing data - just as well I was as it did indeed finally die on me .

In the mean time, I have had to go out and buy a PC as I need something to enable me to be able to continue to update my web site and a few other web sites that I maintain for friends. I have been using my old Sony for this but it is so frustratingly slow that I couldn't live with it for long. This time I just went down the road to Currys and bought a Compaq desktop for £599 – something I would not have done had it not been for all of the problems with the Sony.

UPDATE 27-11-07

We have spent a lot of time on the phone to DHL trying to sort out the collection of the dead laptop – all very frustrating. On Friday, I arranged with Sony to have DHL pick up the laptop outside Tesco in Rugby on Monday as we were moored close by and I had the post code. Yesterday morning at 08:00 we phoned DHL to try and change the pickup address to that of a company that is very close to where we are currently moored. I looked the company’s post code up on the web so that I could give it to DHL. The lady at DHL deleted the original job details then found she was unable to enter the new details. I had to get back on to Sony and get them to change the pick up address. I called into the company who’s address I am using and explained to the receptionist what I had arranged with DHL – basically that all I wanted to do was meet DHL outside the front of their building, I gave the girl me phone number just in case she needed to contact me for anything. First thing this morning I phoned DHL to check that all was OK and that they had my phone number so that they could phone me when they arrived outside the company’s premises. To cut a very long story short, after 35 minutes on the phone, they finally told me that they would call me between 13:00 and 14:00 to give me an idea as to what time they would arrive. On the belief that DHL would not be arriving until the afternoon, we walked the three mile round trip to Tesco – a pleasant walk along the tow path. Just as we were leaving Tesco at around 11:00, I received a phone call from a girl who works at the company who’s post code I was using. She was calling to tell me that a guy from DHL had arrived and was looking for me. I asked her if I could speak to the DHL guy so she passed me over to him. When I explained to him that his office in Coventry had told me that it would be the afternoon before he would be delivering, he told me that he knew nothing about it but he agreed to call back between 15:00 and 16:00 this afternoon. On the way back to the boat from Tesco, I called into the company and thanked the girl for taking the time to phone me. They very kindly offered to take the laptop from me and hold it until DHL picked it up – see, there are still some very nice and helpful people still around. I went back to the boat and picked up the laptop and a box of chocolates. The girls in the office now have the laptop and some chocolates to eat with their afternoon coffee.

The next challenge will be to get the repaired (hopefully brand new replacement)  laptop back from Sony!!!!

Wednesday 28th November

I just phoned the Sony repair centre to get an update on the laptop. The girl I spoke to indicated that it is unlikely that I will receive a new replacement and that the engineer is currently working on my machine. The girl also told me that it may take a week or two for them to come to any decision about replacing the laptop. Not very satisfactory at all.

I dread to think how much this laptop has cost me in terms of telephone calls to Sony and DHL. As my only phone access is my mobile, I pay a premium every time I have to call them.

I do know one thing for sure though, I will never purchase another product from Sony!!!

Wednesday 5th December

A week gone by now, still no word back from Sony !!!

Friday 7th December
I received a call from the Sony repair centre (Claire) informing me that the laptop has now been repaired and that they will test it over the weekend then phone me on Monday or Tuesday to arrange delivery.
This time they have replaced the hard disks and the motherboard (they have both been replace before).
I asked about a new replacement laptop and was advised that as they have managed to get it working, no replacement will be offered.

I have tried to explain to Sony that I don't want the laptop back as I no longer have any confidence in it and don't trust it but they just don't seem to care.

I have now been without a working laptop since it died on 30th October!!

After the stress and frustration I have had to endure over the last year, I would have thought that Sony should offer me my money back or at least replace the laptop with a new one and offer me some form of compensation for all of the trouble I have had.

All in all, I am quite disgusted about the way Sony has treated me over the past year.

Wednesday 12th December
It is now just over six weeks since the laptop died!!
Sony was supposed to phone me on Monday or yesterday – still no call….
One thing that I have never mentioned – Sony do not actually have a repair centre, they outsource all repair work to Telplan. As far as I am aware, all the contacts that I have been having so far have been with Teleplan employees, not Sony. Last Friday, during the conversation with Claire, I asked to speak to a Sony employee/representative – perhaps this is the reason why they are taking so long to phone me back, they can’t find anyone within Sony that I can talk to ??

Friday 14th December

A week now since Claire told me that she would get someone from Sony to phone me to explain to my why I don't deserve a replacement laptop - no phone call as yet!!

Also, not noted above, I have emailed Sony twice at 'support@vaio-link.com'. Once on 28th of November and again on 12th of December. They have not even bothered to acknowledge receipt of my emails.

Friday 14th December - 18:00

I received a phone call around 14:30 from a girl at the factory in Rugby that kindly helped me return the laptop to Sony via DHL. She was phoning to let me know that DHL had just delivered my laptop to her!! This came as quite a surprise as 1) Sony had not contacted me to let me know that it was on its way and 2) when I returned the laptop, I enclosed a letter detailing the history of the problems and asking them to contact me before shipping anything back to me because I live on a boat and am generally permanently on the move. Consequently the return address is likely to be different to the pick up address. They obviously didn’t bother to read my letter…

I happily donated another box of chocs to the girls in the Rugby office - thanks once again for your kind help.

Another reason why I was surprised is that I have been expecting a call from a real Sony employee (not Teleplan) to explain to me why I don’t deserve a new replacement laptop and some form of compensation for all of the trouble I have had over the last year. Due to the lack of laptop while it has been away, I have had to go out and buy a new PC (as mentioned above) to keep me going while the laptop problem was being sorted out. It would have been nice if Sony had offered some compensation for this additional expense that I have had to incur due to their unreliable product.

Well, I guess that this ends the saga as far as Teleplan/Sony is concerned. What a shame, they have lost a long term customer as I will never touch another Sony product again.

And finally.....27-12-07

Sony customer relations phoned me on Thursday 20th to offer me a 6 months extended warrantee as compensation for all of the trouble that I have had. I told them that in my opinion a 6 month warrantee extension after all of the trouble that I have had was nothing more than an insult. I also told them that the laptop was up for sale on ebay and that I wanted nothing further to do with Sony and that I would never touch another Sony product again. The guy that phoned me really did not seem to care which didn’t surprise me as that is the attitude I have found with Sony and Teleplan all through my dealings with them.

Anyway --- the laptop sold on ebay and the guy who bought it picked it up from the boat today. I have no qualms in selling the laptop on as Sony replaced the two drives, the motherboard and the interconnecting harness. As there is nothing else to replace, they must have cured the problem once and for all. My hunch is that the true root cause of all of the problems was the interconnecting cable being intermittent.

Thank you Sony for a years worth of hassle and frustration, please be assured, I won’t be giving you the opportunity to cause me such grief again in the future!!!

The only thing wrong with the broken USB port is the little white plastic tag broke off (port on the right)

Material Copyright © 2007 Ernie Williams
This page last modified on: 27 December, 2007 3:53 PM

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