Let me start off by saying, I am a looooong looooong time Sony fanboy. I have the following mobiles -
X10, S, Z, ZR, L, Z1, Z2, Z1c, Z3, Z3c, Z1tab, Z2tab, Z5, XZ, along with Smartbands SWR10 and SWR12, Smartwatch 2 and 3.
Out of these more than half, I got from Sony Mobile, Sweden, as I have been an active contributor to Sony Open Source (github.com/sonyxperiadev) and worked on CyanogenMod for Xperias.
On 30th April 2017, I bought a Mineral Black Xperia XZ from Amazon India.
On 6th June 2017 (just a month from purchase). The device goes dead. Just plain dead. Put it on charge overnight, nothing worked. It just won't turn on.
So on 7th June 2017, I take to a Sony Authorised Service centre. In India, F1 Info Systems is a Sony Service partner, and I take the phone there, they do some preliminary investigation, and report to me that since the unit is dead, they need to send it to Sony India, Okhla office for repairs.
I get a service id and a work order - W117060700429.
I am told it can take up to 10-to-15 working days for this to get resolved.
Fine. I wait.
I wait till 20th June 2017. And then try to call the service centre. The service centre neither picks up the call nor do they answer emails. I check the status on http://servicetrack.rms.sony.co.in/ and it says the device 'is under repairs' . I give call on Sony's toll free customer service number, the representative tells me it'll take 2-3 more days, and he cannot tell me anything more.
I wait again.
2-3 days later, I write a mail to questions.in@support.sonymobile.com, and the reply next days is the same - "it is under repairs, please wait".
I wait again, and after some more days on 28th June, I again call, and mail. Same response. They have no clue except 'it is under repairs'. I send a harsher email, saying this is hardly the kind of response I was awaiting, and I need more information than barely 'it is under repair'.
I get another email back in response, which promises that someone will call me to share further info and escalate the matter within 48 hours. I wait 72 hours. No calls received.
I call again, and once again the person on the other end has NO INFORMATION WHATSOEVER other than 'it is under repairs'.
So here it is, now, 10th of July, more than 30 days since the device was submitted for repairs, and I am left on the lurch, without any information and having been treated the worst possible way a customer can be treated.
Until this day, I had been an ardent follower, supporter and fan of Sony products. All my headphones, fitness trackers, music players, gaming console - have come from Sony. Everyone in my extended family buys Sony, because I don't let them buy anything else. But I guess people learn from their experiences. I always wondered why Sony is unable to sell phones well, and the answer is pretty clear to me now.
I will wait for 45 days since the deposit date (7th Jue 2017), before I proceed with legal proceedings against Sony Mobile at the Consumer Redressal Forum of India, and I hope I'll get some positive response from there. Because I spend Rs. 37000 on a premium flagship device, which went dead 1 month from purchase, and now has been at the service centre for more number of days than it has been with me.
For anyone reading this post. Take it from a person who has used only Sony Xperia mobiles in the past 5 years - stay away from Sony. The company has no future.
(I will edit this post if there is a positive resolution to the problem)
