Keep trying, and keep asking to speak to someone's supervisor on the phone until you can get someone who can authorize the return of your system.
There should be ample documentation of your calls and problems, meaning it shouldn't be difficult to document the ongoing nature of the problems you've been having.
If it comes to it, don't be afraid to lodge a complaint with the BBB and even take them to small claims court. Odds are Sony won't even bother sending someone to show up and you'll be awarded a default judgment. And if they do show up, I'd say you have a pretty good chance of the judge ordering Sony to refund your money. You will probably have to give them the system back, but it doesn't sound like that would be any great hardship.
Just be sure to throw about the threat of small claims court when speaking to someone in management. Generally, large companies would just as soon avoid any kind of legal proceeding against them.
You can also try taking your story to the local TV station and newspapers who may decide they want to do a story on it. Especially if they have some kind of pro-consumer column or regular segment. That would be something Sony would most certainly not want. They would not want to risk that getting picked up on a national feed and generating a PR nightmare.
While I will caution you to be careful what you say, I will also say that you should complain often and loudly to anyone who will listen about your plight. While odds may be slim, sometimes these things have a way of tapping a vast reservoir of pent up frustration other people in a similar situation have.
But for starters, just keep asking to speak to a person's supervisor if you find yourself getting nowhere with someone. Persistence is often the key, and it's about being such a pain in the ****, it's quicker, easier, and most importantly, CHEAPER, to just give you a refund.
My husband wants HDTV, so when our desktop crashed, he bought a new Sony and two new hybrid tuners, (analog and digital). We were told we needed two to watch one program and record another. Basically it has been a nightmare. Brand new, straight out of the box, my local cable provider (Time Warner) could not find a compatible cable card to install. Two months later, the cable lines to the house all having been replaced twice, after visit 10 by 11 different cable guys, and 5 cable cards I still do not reliably receive HDTV. The Sony technical support department has been unable to fix the problem, I have called at least 30 times. It has gone to the top level of technical support at Sony at least 5 times. I was told it is a known Vista issue, a software conflict and I am not the only one. The desktop cannot even detect the tuners much of the time, and all are "certified for Vista" and sold by Sony. Sony customer support is telling me I cannot return the desktop. Why, I have had it for over a month! I was laboring under the mistaken belief that they could get it to work! I am trying to get Sony to take it back, no luck so far. But I do find others with the same complaint. Could you maybe review hybrid tuners? I do not think mine are compatible with Vista.
the above is about a new Sony VGC-LT29U running Vista Ultimate, a pair of ATI TV Wonder digital cable tuners model A636 "certified for Windows Vista"
networked with a Netgear WNR 3500 router compatible according to the Microsoft website
the cable modem from Time Warner is by Arris
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