SONY KDL 40EX503 FAULT - UPDATE

[dave63]

Further to my earlier posts on this subject last week my local Sony authorised repairer collected my TV on Weds and has today confirmed that an 'inverter' has failed and that the only way to fix it is to replace the entire screen assembly. That this failure could have occurred in the first place is unbelievable enough, but they then told me that Sony are 'out of stock' of the required item. I rang Sony customer service who said they have a problem with spare parts supply which is currently unresolved. I will therefore be contacting the store I bought it from tomorrow seeking a replacement, the tv only just being 8 months old. They cannot expect a customer to go weeks without a working tv while Sony resolve their spares supply issues and I would have thought that when you take labour charges into account the cost of repair in this case would be close to the replacement cost of the TV.

It beggars belief that Sony are not only selling substandard faulty goods but also then not providing sufficient spares support to promptly rectify the resultant faults. This has totally destroyed any faith I may have had in the Sony brand and it is clear that their products should be avoided.

Has anyone else had a similar experience?

 

[Oldboy]

dave63,

I sympathise entirely! After i had 5 faulty 40ex503 tv's in a row i will never again buy or even think about buying another Sony tv. It would be unfair to say all Sony products across the Sony range should be avoided as their blu-ray players are ace and i've never had an issue with mine but when it comes to tv's you would have to pay ME to take one away in anticipation of all the issues to come.

It's very poor customer service from Sony though in your case dave63 and surely if the spares are such an issue then Sony should have provided you with a completely new replacement tv instead but then i guess that is down to your retailer to authorise? I doubt you will have any problems getting it replaced when you have already tried to get it repaired through the official channels but i can't help thinking that Sony should have offered you a much better resolution to the issue other than just wait (for god knows how long) for the spares issue to be resolved and of course to be without a tv for the duration. I can't blame you for losing faith in the Sony brand but all i can say is that you most definately are not alone in thinking that way.

Hope your retailer replaces the tv asap and that you have no further issues (fingers crossed).

 

[dave63]

Thank you Oldboy for your post. I spoke to the manager of the store this morning (Hi Spek St Albans - their Brentwood store where I actually bought the TV has since closed). He asked for the repair agent's contact details and their job number for this repair and said their customer service people would speak to the repair agent and Sony to verify the spares position and get back to me on Monday. I would have thought under the sale of goods act there should be a limit to how long a customer should reasonably be expected to be left without their goods in an instance like this before expecting a replacement. Some sort of compensation for loss of use/inconvenience would also seem reasonable. The guy reckoned 2-3 week thrunarounds for repairs were the norm - that sounds unacceptable to me, particularly for a tv which is only 8 months old and needs such a major repair- once you take the screen assembly out of one of these tv's you can't be left with much other than the outer casing and a few circuit boards.

What do the Sony Centre posters on here have to say about the clear unreliability of the products they sell and seemingly inability of Sony to offer proper spares support or adequate custmer service?

 

[michael hoy]

I would agree it is a long time to wait, I returned my KDL 40NX713 after 2 weeks with severe backlight problems but every time you speak to someone in a shop that works for Sony they have never seen it or heard of anyone having such a problem.

I still have a KDL 40W2000 which is now 3 1/2 years old and going strong.

 

[Oldboy]

dave63,

I can tell you from bitter experience that the repair times are a very big grey area. My 1st Panasonic 42g20 developed a fault after 4 months where i had extreme image retention which then caused screen burn and my tv was taken away for repair and came back 5 weeks later despite me getting on the back of the repair agent after 3 weeks with no movement, in the end i had to get Panasonic to chase up the repair agent as i was getting no where with them.

I got consumer direct involved and was told that from a legal point of view the law states that the repair should be carried out within "a reasonable ammount of time" and as you can imagine that is open to interpretation as just how long a reasonable ammount of time is i just don't know but they were of the opinion that 4 weeks was excessive. So in your case i would say that 2-3 weeks is quite good in comparison to what i suffered but you can persue a compensation claim i was told by consumer direct if the repair starts to drag it's heels but that's after 3-4 week mark.

I too would be very interested to hear an opinion or 2 from a few Sony centre posters just to hear what they have or haven't been told with regard to the spares situation! I truly hope that monday brings good news for you and that a replacement tv is with you very soon but no matter what happens i would appreciate you keeping me updated as things happen.

All the best dave and fingers crossed for monday

 

[Anonymous]

Nothing mechanical that has moving parts and hundreds of pieces of hardware should ever break down. It's ridiculous...

Personally I think that 2-3 weeks is a reasonable amount of time considering the seriousness of the fault. Regarding spares every company will have a similar issue, its quite hard keeping all spares for every TV in stock constantly, so its inevitable at some point you will have to wait..

"and it is clear that their products should be avoided." this made me chuckle.

 

[dave63]

Latest on this is that last Tues Hi Spek called to say Sony had authorised a replacement set, though I won't get it till next week which is annoying since they could have done this last week when they first told the repair agent spares were unavailable. Question is, how can I have any faith in the replacement unit working for any length of time after this experience.

 

[cliffster]

Dave.

Clearly you can't trust Sony, or indeed any of their products, as their reputation as one of the worlds leading electronics manufacturers is obviously a complete fabrication!

If I were you I would insist on a refund and buy a TV from another company, as it is a well known fact that no other manufacturers sets ever suffer from any faults , ever.

Also, if they did,( which they don't), a magic wand would be waved and the broken set, (which wouldn't actually be broken), would be restored instantaneously !

Strewth

.

P.s. You don't work for Panasonic by any chance do you ?

Cliff.

 

[Oldboy]

cliffster:
Dave.

Clearly you can't trust Sony, or indeed any of their products, as their reputation as one of the worlds leading electronics manufacturers is obviously a complete fabrication!

If I were you I would insist on a refund and buy a TV from another company, as it is a well known fact that no other manufacturers sets ever suffer from any faults , ever.

Also, if they did,( which they don't), a magic wand would be waved and the broken set, (which wouldn't actually be broken), would be restored instantaneously !

Strewth

.

P.s. You don't work for Panasonic by any chance do you ?

Cliff.

Really helpful that Cliff i'm sure the op is delighted you made a contribution.....strewth!!

 

[Oldboy]

Dave,

My advice is to just wait and see what the replacement tv is like when it arrives. You never know you may receive a tv free from any faults that serves you well for years to come but if you are unlucky enough to receive another faulty tv then it would be time to persue a refund from the retailer and look at buying something else but at least give the replacement a chance eh! Your retailer and Sony have done the right thing and will supply a replacement for you and i can see nothing else either of them could have done for you to make the situation any better except deliver the replacement sooner.