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Laptop broken after 4 days of use

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    #152
    daenerysstormborn3
    Closed Accounts Posts: 7,213 ✭✭✭daenerysstormborn3


    robbie7730 wrote: »
    How often did it show a problem at home, 25 minutes after first on, then how long, and was it regular, and how many times in total.

    The first time I powered it up (Christmas day) it flickered and went off after 25 mins, then over the following days before we could bring it to the shop it flickered and turned off anytime I had it on after between 10-25 minutes. I used it everyday between Christmas day and the day we brought it to the shop (the 30th) and at different times during the days each time hoping that the problem had disappeared. It wasn't my wish to be left without a brand new laptop so soon after buying it so I was hoping the fault would just disappear (obviously i really knew this wouldn't happen). The laptop was bought for a very specific purpose (my nearly 6 hour a day commute) and that is a huge part of the reason why am I so annoyed at being without it.

    We brought it to the shop on the 30th, the guy kept it over night doing a system restore after being talked through same by the sony guy on the phone, we collected it the next day just before 12pm, got home, powered it on and within 15 minutes the screen flickered, came back on and screen was all jumbled up and then powered off. We were on our way back into the sony centre at 1.24, that was the time on my phone when we left the house.

    The guy in the shop didn't seem at all bothered by the fact that we were back again and just went through the motions with the laptop again, he seemed to believe that we would just take the laptop back again at this point and I actually had to insist on it being sent to sony. It was only then that he said it could be sent to sony for stress testing.

    All in all the guy in the shop appeared to do very little to the laptop apart from running the same programmes as I had run on it to see if the fault occurred. Maybe if he knew more about laptops he would've been able to do more in the shop to test the laptop and possibly show up the fault.


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    #153
    BostonB
    Closed Accounts Posts: 18,056 ✭✭✭✭BostonB


    Something that happens except when theres IT person looking at it is as old as the hills tbh. I don't find that unusual at all. I get that all the time. the clever part is working out what the user was doing that you don't.


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    #154
    Happyman42
    Closed Accounts Posts: 18,066 ✭✭✭✭Happyman42


    The OP doesn't know enough about computers to read an event or system log. We only have their word that the shop didn't look at an event log. If the OP can't analyse an event log then I would assert they or anybody else can't rule out an outside influence. Until somebody competent looks at this 'fault' then there can be no fair resolution. Retailers have rights too.


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    #155
    Bruthal
    Closed Accounts Posts: 13,422 ✭✭✭✭Bruthal


    Yes could be something you were running at home, or using broadband etc. Had a friends notebook a few months ago crashing because of skype, everything fine till that was run. Re install and it was fine. Maybe its something like this, some programme or hardware you used at home but not in the shop. But pc`s are unpredictable at times.

    I on more than one occasion opened up my desktop pc which was freezing up now and again, and plugged out everything from the motherboard and plugged back in and then it worked fine.

    I seen someone said the problems are always logical. Well they might be after they have been found. But when trying to find the problem nothing can seem logical. I thought anyone regularly using pc`s would find they can be very unpredictable in their workings at times.

    Overall i have found them very reliable when bought new, but they can drive ye mad with frustration at times with their freezing and crashing. And while some posters will give us the retailer`s view because they have retail connections, buyers are looking from a buyers view because they are buyers.


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    #156
    daenerysstormborn3
    Closed Accounts Posts: 7,213 ✭✭✭daenerysstormborn3


    Happyman42 wrote: »
    The OP doesn't know enough about computers to read an event or system log. We only have their word that the shop didn't look at an event log. If the OP can't analyse an event log then I would assert they or anybody else can't rule out an outside influence. Until somebody competent looks at this 'fault' then there can be no fair resolution. Retailers have rights too.

    Have you even read the thread? When the fault presented itself I was under no impression that it would be this long drawn out saga, I simply assumed that there was a fault with the computer and returned it to the shop with a minimum amount of fiddling done expecting the problem to be dealt with immediately, I did not think at this point understandably enough that the fault would not present itself in the shop - is that really so hard to understand?

    The reason why we did a minimum amount of fiddling was so as not to be told that we had somehow caused a problem with our own investigations - I see nothing wrong with this considering neither myself or my boyfriend, while we know a fair bit about computers, are not technicians.

    Again, implying that I am lying. I did not say that the shop definitely did not look at the event log, I said that they did not appear to look at the event log nor was it mentioned. This would be the first thing a competent technician would check in my opinion.


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    #157
    Happyman42
    Closed Accounts Posts: 18,066 ✭✭✭✭Happyman42


    robbie7730 wrote: »

    And while some posters will give us the retailer`s view because they have retail connections,

    I was just giving a 'reasonable' point of view. OP needs to have patience and some trust in procedures..and a bit of understanding too. Sony aren't exactly a fly by night operation. I too, find it absurd that a retailer would call somebody a 'liar' at such an early stage. Unless the situation got fractious that is and the gloves came off. I can see how that might have happened. I have no retail connection btw.


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    #158
    daenerysstormborn3
    Closed Accounts Posts: 7,213 ✭✭✭daenerysstormborn3


    robbie7730 wrote: »
    Yes could be something you were running at home, or using broadband etc. Had a friends notebook a few months ago crashing because of skype, everything fine till that was run. Re install and it was fine. Maybe its something like this, some programme or hardware you used at home but not in the shop. But pc`s are unpredictable at times.

    I on more than one occasion opened up my desktop pc which was freezing up now and again, and plugged out everything from the motherboard and plugged back in and then it worked fine.

    I seen someone said the problems are always logical. Well they might be after they have been found. But when trying to find the problem nothing can seem logical. I thought anyone regularly using pc`s would find they can be very unpredictable in their workings at times.

    Overall i have found them very reliable when bought new, but they can drive ye mad with frustration at times with their freezing and crashing. And while some posters will give us the retailer`s view because they have retail connections, buyers are looking from a buyers view because they are buyers.

    When we were in the shop I made sure that the guy in there ran the exact same programmes I had open and he ran other ones at different times to check them out too.

    As I said we were reluctant to do much messing around with the laptop ourselves to avoid being told that we had somehow caused any problems.


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    #159
    Bruthal
    Closed Accounts Posts: 13,422 ✭✭✭✭Bruthal


    Happyman42 wrote: »
    I was just giving a 'reasonable' point of view. OP needs to have patience and some trust in procedures..and a bit of understanding too. Sony aren't exactly a fly by night operation. I too, find it absurd that a retailer would call somebody a 'liar' at such an early stage. Unless the situation got fractious that is and the gloves came off. I can see how that might have happened. I have no retail connection btw.

    Well i was not actually mentioning anyone in particular, just in general. At the end of the day who knows what the problem is. We are all sitting typing.


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    #160
    daenerysstormborn3
    Closed Accounts Posts: 7,213 ✭✭✭daenerysstormborn3


    Happyman42 wrote: »
    I was just giving a 'reasonable' point of view. OP needs to have patience and some trust in procedures..and a bit of understanding too. Sony aren't exactly a fly by night operation. I too, find it absurd that a retailer would call somebody a 'liar' at such an early stage. Unless the situation got fractious that is and the gloves came off. I can see how that might have happened. I have no retail connection btw.

    I am not going to go into what the guy in the shop said or what we said. Yes, I know I said they called us liars and told us we were contradicting ourselves but that is really irrelevant to the fault in the laptop and I could care less about what anyone in the shop calls me as long as I have my working laptop that was paid for.

    Also, I believe I showed understanding and faith in Sony's procedures when the laptop was brought home after being left in the shop overnight by accepting it back and accepting that they had done their side of things (a system restore) and done what they could to fix the laptop. The guy, Paddy, promised my boyfriend that if the fault reappeared that they would have no problem replacing the product, this was without any other staff present (there was an older guy present the second day we spent in the shop and I assume he is either the manager or owner) and yes, I know i didn't mention this before but it's not really relevant anyway considering the laptop is now being sent off.


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    #161
    Bruthal
    Closed Accounts Posts: 13,422 ✭✭✭✭Bruthal


    axer wrote: »
    double-facepalm.jpg
    That one is quite funny actually:D


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    #162
    BostonB
    Closed Accounts Posts: 18,056 ✭✭✭✭BostonB


    Sales people in shops, even computer shops, in general, know very little about computers.


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    #163
    BostonB
    Closed Accounts Posts: 18,056 ✭✭✭✭BostonB


    Heres another...

    2i6gtxh.jpg


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    #164
    Happyman42
    Closed Accounts Posts: 18,066 ✭✭✭✭Happyman42


    pixiebean22 wrote: »
    I am not going to go into what the guy in the shop said or what we said. Yes, I know I said they called us liars and told us we were contradicting ourselves but that is really irrelevant to the fault in the laptop and I could care less about what anyone in the shop calls me as long as I have my working laptop that was paid for.

    And what you need to understand is that in order for us all to have stable retail outlets (that give good service) they need to make a profit. Simply accepting your word that this laptop has a fault would be crazy business because they would have to give you a brand new laptop(free) and then only (as honest retailers) be able to recoup s/h value for your laptop. Can you understand that?


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    #165
    Bruthal
    Closed Accounts Posts: 13,422 ✭✭✭✭Bruthal


    BostonB wrote: »
    Sales people in shops, even computer shops, in general, know very little about computers.

    For certain.


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    #166
    daenerysstormborn3
    Closed Accounts Posts: 7,213 ✭✭✭daenerysstormborn3


    BostonB wrote: »
    Sales people in shops, even computer shops, in general, know very little about computers.

    The guy in the shop shouldn't have taken the laptop and proceeded to "work" on it then. I would've have no problem if he had said from the outset, "we don't have a technician in the shop so the only thing we can do is send it back to Sony", no problem with that whatsoever, instead of sitting down at a desk and powering up the laptop and pretending he knew what he was doing and leaving us standing around giving us no idea of what he was doing, aside from when we returned to the shop and he told us he had run various programmes and the fault hadn't reoccurred.


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    #167
    daenerysstormborn3
    Closed Accounts Posts: 7,213 ✭✭✭daenerysstormborn3


    Happyman42 wrote: »
    And what you need to understand is that in order for us all to have stable retail outlets (that give good service) they need to make a profit. Simply accepting your word that this laptop has a fault would be crazy business because they would have to give you a brand new laptop(free) and then only (as honest retailers) be able to recoup s/h value for your laptop. Can you understand that?

    I'm not looking for a brand new laptop free I'm looking for the brand new working laptop that was paid for.


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    #168
    Happyman42
    Closed Accounts Posts: 18,066 ✭✭✭✭Happyman42


    pixiebean22 wrote: »
    I'm not looking for a brand new laptop free I'm looking for the brand new working laptop that was paid for.

    Yes, but if they did what you unreasonably ask, then that's what they would be giving you....a free laptop. Patience used to be a virtue for a reason.


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    #169
    dudara
    Registered Users Posts: 33,518 ✭✭✭✭dudara


    Right, I'm temporarily locking this thread as it is going around in circles and not getting anywhere.

    pixiebean22 - once you have further news from Sony, you can PM me and I will reopen the thread, if you like.

    dudara


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    #170
    dudara
    Registered Users Posts: 33,518 ✭✭✭✭dudara


    Reopened following a request from the OP, who has an update.

    Any signs of this thread descending into the previous insanity, and I will close it again.

    dudara


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    #171
    daenerysstormborn3
    Closed Accounts Posts: 7,213 ✭✭✭daenerysstormborn3


    Thanks Dudara.

    First off, thanks to people offering to have a look at the laptop. Fortunately my boyfriend and I know our way around a laptop ourselves and a friend of ours is in IT but we don't want to mess around with the laptop ourselves in case Sony try to use that against us.

    So New Year's Eve the laptop was left in the Sony Centre to be sent to Sony. After being told by the guy in the Sony Centre that I would have to contact Sony myself about the matter once it was sent to them, from the 3rd of January I tried contacting Sony myself to speak to someone about it. The first time I called them they told me to send an e-mail so I could be assigned a case number and someone would then call me. This went on for 3 weeks. I tried to call every number I could find on the internet, each time getting through to a different department who couldn't transfer me internally to the right department or give me the correct number. 3 weeks of e-mails in which Sony promised someone would be in contact within 24 hours/48 hours.

    The laptop was returned to the Sony Centre last Monday, in the box there was evidence that the laptop had not been sent to Sony until the 10th of January. The guy in the Sony Centre said the laptop had been returned with no fault found. So I continued to try to speak to someone in Sony.

    Eventually last Thursday I spent 2 hours ringing different numbers and I got through to a very nice man in Sony PrimeSupport who as a staff member of Sony complained about the online system Sony have for getting phone numbers. On their website you have to input your case number to get the correct phone number but the website kept freezing on me and this guy in PrimeSupport after he had put in a case number, even as a staff member (albeit from another department) he couldn't override it. He rang someone else and eventually got me the number for someone in VAIO.

    The man I spoke to in VAIO was extremely difficult to understand and he had difficulty hearing/understanding me, the line was really bad and there also seemed to be a short delay on it and most of what he said probably got lost in translation. Ultimately, he told me that I was not entitled to a refund for the laptop as there was nothing wrong with it.

    So my boyfriend collected the laptop on Thursday of last week and we expected it to work without problem but of course within a few hours the same problem presented itself. We gave it a few days and tried a few things ourselves but on Monday afternoon my boyfriend returned the laptop to the Sony Centre and told them he wants a refund by Friday. I got a phone call yesterday morning from the guy in the Sony Centre to say that he is working on getting us a refund but he is getting the run around from Sony and it could take some time. I told him I had nearly a month of that to put up with so hopefully he could persevere. He said he was supposed to be getting a call from someone this morning about the refund and he would do his best.

    I have been on the receiving end of the worst customer service I have ever experienced from Sony and I am never ever buying a Sony product again. The level of incompetence shown by them is absolutely ridiculous. In the box that the laptop was returned in there was a note with a screen wipe "for my inconvenience" and instructions on how to use the screen wipe. We were not given a report of what tests were performed on the laptop and the event log had been wiped clean so we couldn't check what they had done. I don't think that's good enough, whether you are technically minded or not I think you should automatically be provided with a report of some sort about the work carried out on your laptop. The guy I spoke to that I couldn't understand said something vague about it being a software issue, not a hardware issue so not their problem but I wouldn't be 100% on what his actual words were and he wouldn't repeat himself. I still have no laptop. Hopefully by Friday the refund will be processed.


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    #172
    BostonB
    Closed Accounts Posts: 18,056 ✭✭✭✭BostonB


    If it were me I'd just run it on a live CD, video the fault. Then put the video up online and leave a CD copy of the video with the laptop. You have to eliminate software as possible problem/excuse. A Live CD doesn't modify any on the Laptop at all.

    Even if you did modify the software, you should be able to return it to default . Anyone testing it may wipe it anyway.

    No offense to anyone. But a lot of people who work in IT, are terrible at fault finding because they have no interest in it, its just a job, not a hobby and look on it as a chore. So try a few people.


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    #173
    axer
    Registered Users Posts: 5,517 ✭✭✭axer


    BostonB wrote: »
    If it were me I'd just run it on a live CD, video the fault. Then put the video up online and leave a CD copy of the video with the laptop. You have to eliminate software as possible problem/excuse. A Live CD doesn't modify any on the Laptop at all.
    I agree with this. Just prove the issue is there and you will find it easier to get support.

    It looks like no-one is able to replicate the issue (that appears to be happening quite frequently) except the OP.

    I would either go with the above with possibly bringing the laptop into the sony shop and telling them you are going to stay for the short period of time required (as described earlier in this thread) for the issue to appear so that you can show them.

    If you cannot replicate the issue in the shop then it is possible that an extra external factor is at play. Maybe try it at a friends house etc.
    BostonB wrote: »
    No offense to anyone. But a lot of people who work in IT, are terrible at fault finding because they have no interest in it, its just a job, not a hobby and look on it as a chore. So try a few people.
    Yes, there are bad people in every industry - not particularly just IT.


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    #174
    daenerysstormborn3
    Closed Accounts Posts: 7,213 ✭✭✭daenerysstormborn3


    As it stands the laptop is in the Sony Centre and the staff there are sorting out a refund so advice regarding running the laptop in the shop or videos etc is unnecessary at this stage.

    Also, as pointed out pages ago, my boyfriend and I spent an hour in the Sony Centre one day when the issue first presented itself and the fault could not be re-created. I don't know why.

    Sony should have considered all possibilities when the laptop was sent to them for repair, whether it be an external issue or not. As I pointed out in my post we weren't even provided with a report of what was carried out or what they investigated by way of an elimination process (ie. well we tried a, b and c and the laptop worked fine, maybe it's d or e).


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    #175
    axer
    Registered Users Posts: 5,517 ✭✭✭axer


    pixiebean22 wrote: »
    As it stands the laptop is in the Sony Centre and the staff there are sorting out a refund so advice regarding running the laptop in the shop or videos etc is unnecessary at this stage.
    Ok, you did post that they were trying to get a refund so I assume a refund is not definite thus you should be taking other options into account.
    pixiebean22 wrote: »
    Also, as pointed out pages ago, my boyfriend and I spent an hour in the Sony Centre one day when the issue first presented itself and the fault could not be re-created. I don't know why.
    Yes, this is an important piece of information that ye could not replicate the issue yourselves in the shop thus I can see how sony may not have been able to either. Did you try the laptop in any other locations? i.e. friends house etc? If ye could give more proof of a fault then you could just get this sorted via the small claims court quicker.
    pixiebean22 wrote: »
    Sony should have considered all possibilities when the laptop was sent to them for repair, whether it be an external issue or not. As I pointed out in my post we weren't even provided with a report of what was carried out or what they investigated by way of an elimination process (ie. well we tried a, b and c and the laptop worked fine, maybe it's d or e).
    They cannot test external factors like that. They can just test the laptop in a place where extrernal factors do not come into play and if it works there for them fine then they can only assume that the laptop is fine which is all they care about.


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    #176
    daenerysstormborn3
    Closed Accounts Posts: 7,213 ✭✭✭daenerysstormborn3


    Yeah, we tried it in different rooms in the house, in my boyfriend's brother's house and his friend's house, all different localities.

    Yes I know they can't test external issues but one would expect that they would at the very least suggest something to me to get the laptop performing 100%.


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    #177
    axer
    Registered Users Posts: 5,517 ✭✭✭axer


    pixiebean22 wrote: »
    Yeah, we tried it in different rooms in the house, in my boyfriend's brother's house and his friend's house, all different localities.
    Could ye replicate the issue in all of those places also? and did it take long for the issue to appear in those places?
    pixiebean22 wrote: »
    Yes I know they can't test external issues but one would expect that they would at the very least suggest something to me to get the laptop performing 100%.
    They can't suggest such a thing if they cannot replicate the issue and dont know what is causing it for you. It would be shooting the dark.

    I wouldn't count on a sony refund here (and as the shop said it could take a while), I would push to try and narrow down the problem and show that the issue is with the laptop and get the small claims court to resolve it then.


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    #178
    daenerysstormborn3
    Closed Accounts Posts: 7,213 ✭✭✭daenerysstormborn3


    Yes, issue presented itself in those other places as well. Same time frame as at my own house.

    Great after sales service then.

    The only way this is going to be resolved is by my boyfriend getting a refund for the laptop. I want nothing more to do with Sony as soon as this is sorted out.


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    #179
    BostonB
    Closed Accounts Posts: 18,056 ✭✭✭✭BostonB


    I can't imagine of any external issue that would effect a laptop, running on battery not connected to anything, that isn't obvious. Like electrical interference, or heating/colling issues.

    Customer service returning items they can't replicate faults with isn't unique to Sony, unfortunately. Unfortunately I think theres a risk you'll get the laptop back again.

    Sometimes you've got to play the game like Dell support walking you updating the software, and bios on a laptop when the problem was the track pad buttons fell off. Thats the level your dealing with. Ditto retail staff.


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    #180
    daenerysstormborn3
    Closed Accounts Posts: 7,213 ✭✭✭daenerysstormborn3


    My boyfriend called into the Sony Centre today and I am pleased to say progress has been made.

    The guy in the Sony Centre is hopeful to have a refund at some point next week, unfortunately he is now being given the run around by Sony as well but obviously in his position he should be able to get further than me with them.

    Fortunately, as the laptop has been in the Sony Centre since Monday they have obviously been running it and having a look at things and the same fault that has presented itself when I used it at home has occurred in the shop. The staff in the Sony Centre have been able to take pictures and video to provide Sony with to help with the refund claim.

    What I understand from my boyfriend is that the guys in the Sony Centre have seen this thread and although the owner is unhappy with the shop being badmouthed, nothing that I have said in this thread has been fabricated and I stand by everything I have posted as being 100% the truth. I also believe that I am well within my rights to make it known the treatment I have received and the standard of the product provided. The staff's main concern at this point is that this matter is brought to a satisfactory conclusion for everyone involved.


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    #181
    axer
    Registered Users Posts: 5,517 ✭✭✭axer


    BostonB wrote: »
    I can't imagine of any external issue that would effect a laptop, running on battery not connected to anything, that isn't obvious. Like electrical interference, or heating/colling issues.
    Didn't see anything to say that the laptop was not plugged in/connected to anything in the thread - maybe I missed that. Other options when not connected to anything are generally all software related (except the likes of a fan being covered causing over heating etc - there probably are other scenarios too but that is just one off the top of my head).


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