Friday, December 08, 2006

My experience with Sony India Audio System & Services

Had been thinking for a long time about sharing my experience with Sony Audio car systems in India. In June 2004, when I bought my new car i had a belief that Sony Audio Car systems are the best, and I went out to buy a Sony Xplod car music systems (Sony Xplod Audio Model No 3300S) with 2 front and 2 rear speakers, all with proper bills and one year warranty from a Sony Authorized Dealer

Musicar ( West) 25100600
Bali Nagar, West Delhi

Things worked great for about year and a half (except some skipping, which could be attributed to the bad roads in Delhi). In February 2006 (Barely a year and a half I bought the player) the car CD player stopped playing quite a few cd's. Then I decided to take the system to a Sony Authorized Service Center

Star Electronics
2/3 West Patel Nagar (basement)
Delhi
Tel: (011) 25884450, 25884451

(This is now shifted to Naraina)

First of all, the people at the service center don't have the skills to remove the player from the car, and I had to get it done from a nearby shop (where a small kid could do that tough job in a few minutes) . After giving them the player to check the problem I got a call from the Service Center that the CD lens need to be repaired for which I would need to shell out around 2500 Rs. I enquired that will I get any warranty on the lens, which i s being repaired. I was told no, the only warranty I would get is on labour of service which would be also valid for 30 days. I had a talk with Sony Customer Care via the phone and e-mail and got the same response. Having no other option except believing that Sony Authorized Center would be installing a genuine Sony lens (rather than a refurbished one) I got my Sony Car Audio repaired for a bill of approx Rs. 2700. I took the delivery of this set in the first week of March and as is the norm had to get it installed back into the car from another shop.

Barely eight months after the incident in October 2006, the same problem started cropping up again in my set. I had no other option but took my set back to the same Sony Authorized Center (obviously following the same protocol of first getting it removed from some other shop), and after a day got a call from the Authorized Center that I would need to get the lens replaced again. When I told them that I had got it done barely 8 months back, the reply that I got was that there is no warranty on spare parts, so we can't do anything. Strange to believe that a Sony CD lens does not last for more than eight months. Nevertheless I got the CD player back from the Authorized Center without getting it repaired and have been following up with Sony India people via e-mail as given below

  1. 17th October 2006, Dropped email to mktginfo@ap.sony.com. Got a response same day to provide my contact no so that the concerned person could look into the matter.
  2. 17th October 2006, Replied back to the previous mail specifying my contact number.
  3. 18th October 2006, Got a mail from Sony India , that they had assigned one person to look into the matter and do the needful accordingly.
  4. 20th October 2006, Didn't hear anything from Sony India or the assigned person. Dropped a reminder to Sony India. Got no reply.
  5. 4th November 2006, Still didn't hear anything from Sony India. Dropped second reminder. Got no reply.
  6. 25th November 2006, Dropped another mail to Sony India. Got no reply..
  7. 26th November 2006. Dropper another email to Sonyindia.Care@ap.sony.com id also. As usual got no reply.


After this experience, I would not like to make any decision or comments about Sony India, especially the after sales service. It's for you, the consumers to judge what's good or bad for us and make a prudent decision rather than just going blindfolded after a well known brand . FYI - I dumped that Sony Audio System and went ahead to buy a Pioneer music system, which hopefully should be having a good after sales service based on my experience with Autocop India. (As a matter of fact Pioneer music systems are being distributed in India by Autocop).

January 3, 2007 update

Got a call from Sony, and they confirmed my details and told me that they would come back to me after having a talk with the service center.

January 12, 2007 update
No response from Sony as of now after their call on January 3, 2007.

6 comments:

Bijesh said...

It's a well written article. I can feel the grief and gust of a customer. I too had this type of hard experience with big brands. The best option is to pass this information for others, so that people refrain from buying thier products!!

Vikram said...

Well I totally agree with you that the best option is to build awareness among the people about the differences in services standards being offered in India in comparison to some foreign countries. In fact as far as I know, this is not a case of just a single company but most of the big BRANDS operating in India.

Shah said...

Please post this over www.mouthshut.com

Anonymous said...

Hmm .. Well written.
It deserves to be at acousticsforyou.com/forum/ too!

Anonymous said...

http://www.complaintsboard.com/complaints/sony-india-c2737.html#comments

Anonymous said...

try these....

services@ap.sony.com
sonyindia.care@ap.sony.com
mktginfo@ap.sony.com
bppmktg@ap.sony.com
servicehead@ap.sony.com