Hi,
I bought the Sony Handycam DCR HC-30 (# 349749)from Virginia,US on Aug-2004 for 600$. I hardly used it and just 1 year, 6 months later I noticed it was not working. I took it to the official Sony repairing centre in Mumbai,India (Sonus Electronics &services pvt Ltd.,Santacruz(west), Mumbai-54, India). They charged me 15$ for the inspection charges. The repairing cost they said was 605$ (28,750 Indian Rs/-). As the repairing cost was more than the piece I refused to get it repaired.
The reason for failure they told me was the IC chip inside the hadycam failed. I consistently asked them why it failed. As I am the eletronics engineer myself, I just can not believe that the in modern age the IC can fail like this that too from the reputed comapny such as SONY. This is not the customer's mishandling but it is the manufacturing defect. Now I have following question:
1) How come the cost of replacing the part is more than the original entire piece that too after 1 yrs and 6 months?
2) Why now onwards I have to go for the expensive Sony Camcordes? I can get the other brands with similar features for far less price.
3) My investment in buying the Mini DV tapes, the memory card is wasted as no longer I can use this damn piece.
Thanks,
Shailesh Naik

Chowhound
Comic Vine
GameFAQs
GameSpot
Giant Bomb
TechRepublic