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Question

LCD TV- SONY- Never Buy!

by Jun 27, 2016 5:36AM PDT

Dear All,

I had purchased a SONY LED TV 55" in India soon after 15 days of installation (wall mounted), some horizontal and vertical lines began to appear on the screen. The third party service agency claimed that the lines were caused due to physical damage caused by us. We were shocked and asked them for a written explanation as how there could be no physical damage when no one even touched the TV.

Below is their response:
----------------------------Quote-------------------------------------------------
Thank you for patronizing Sony products.
This is in reference to your e-mail addressed to our Service Management in regards to the Sony BRAVIA Television Model: KDL-55W800C bearing serial no. 4502005.

We sincerely apologise for the inconvenience felt by you.

We had received your service request at our Authorized Service Centre – M/s. Aar Vee Info services dated on 13th June 2016 vides Job no.: J52599810 for symptom Display damage. Upon physical inspection of the product by our engineer, it was found that the Display panel has been damage and broken due to external cause.
As we mentioned in our Warranty Terms and Conditions, this service is not covered under Warranty even if the product remains within the warranty period. Warranty will be Void.

We would like to inform you that the Display screen in question has protective plastic sheet which is also called ‘polarized sheet’, to protect the screen from any external /physical damage due to which no external marks are visible. As an inherent property of Liquid Crystal Display, spill of liquid crystal is observed only when there is any external force applied on the Display screen. That when the Television in question is turn on, broken line is visible on the screen due to external pressure. Normal failure will not have such symptom. It is clear indicator of physical impact / damage on the lcd screen . Photographs attached, clearly indicate the damage part of the Display Screen.
We have shared the service estimate Rs. 57,818/- for Display panel to you by our Service Executive. We request you to approve the estimate, so that, we can carry out the necessary service in your set.
We regret that we are unable to comply with your request to service the product free of cost or offer any discount in the service estimate. We solicit your kind understanding in this regard.
Assuring you of our best services always.
Warm Regards,

Sony India Pvt Limited

Nilima Dharve
Customer Relation Officer – West
------------------------Unquote----------------------------------------------

I am an Engineer myself and the explanation provided baffled me as the Polarized sheet is like a plastic film, does a plastic film crack?
Also, after the sheet is the Glass Panel and then the Liquid crystals. If there is no damage to the Glass screen then how come there could be spillage of liquid?

Also LCD are so often frequently manhandled in mobile phone? The obvious outcome is the screen shattering (similar to glass shattering)?

So how can this be so different? The fact is that SONY has sold its stake in LCD manufacturing facility (S-LCD) to Samsung and now buys from them.

If anyone can please guide me to fight this battle with SONY, please do reply

Discussion is locked

10 Posts
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Answer
You may have missed a small hairline crack unfortunately
by Jun 29, 2016 8:00PM PDT

IME it can happen sometimes during installs and moving them around as such. Sorry for the bad luck Sad

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Re:You may have missed a small hairline crack unfortunately
by Sanket Gang Jun 29, 2016 8:42PM PDT

Thanks for the reply, but we have checked over it again and again there is no hairline crack. The company engineer's could not find it.

Anyways, what do you say about the explanation given by SONY.

Sanket

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Let me be more blunt
by Pepe7 Jun 30, 2016 7:27AM PDT

You might have missed something when it was delivered, or, per Bob's message, the handler's bumped it in a way that exacerbated the unknown damage to the LCD screen.
This has nothing to do with overall Sony quality per se.

The fact that you may be a pedigreed 'engineer' means very little in context here, amigo. Go ahead and keep on fooling yourself that it remotely even matters.

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Re:Let me be more blunt
by Sanket Gang Jun 30, 2016 7:49AM PDT

Hey Pepe,

Firstly, I mentioned I am an engineer as I wasn't happy with the reasoning given by SONY. And it would help if an engineer or someone who has technical knowledge could deliberate this issue.

Secondly, my post's title reads, " Never buy SONY", even what you say is true, but isn't it SONY responsibility to investigate? I have suffered don't want others to suffer as simple as that!

Thirdly, isn't it SONY' responsibility to show the crack even if it is hairline crack?

Admit it SONY is irresponsible, I would contesting this in court and would update you on the outcome.

Sanket

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You are looking for a purple unicorn
by Pepe7 Jun 30, 2016 2:28PM PDT

Technical knowledge does not matter in this case. Nobody knows authoritatively what condition was present when the HDTV was received, and when the person installed it for you. We are done now.

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Answer
Took a reading of the manuals at link.
by Forum moderator Jun 29, 2016 10:06PM PDT
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I must clarify this statement.
by r. proffitt Forum moderator Jun 30, 2016 2:38PM PDT

I neglected to mention the wall mount that was documented was for Sony's own kit for portrait mounting. I didn't find Sony mention a normal landscape wall mount or kit but admit I only skimmed half the PDFs there.

This is how some companies tell us "don't do that" or "do so at your own risk."

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The same just happened
by Stoiken Jul 25, 2016 12:07PM PDT

Purchased a $11900.00 4k projector in 2014. Unboxed and installed by a professional. A couple of weeks ago it stops working. Same professional is called to take it down and bring it down to Sony authorized service center. I'm now told the same thing..."found that the Lens has been damage and broken due to external cause.
As we mentioned in our Warranty Terms and Conditions, this service is not covered under Warranty even if the product remains within the warranty period. Warranty will be Void". And ladies and gentlemen the topping on the cake?...the cost of repair is $9800!!! A dozen calls to Sony only gets you to an agent sitting in a cubicle somewhere reading of a computer screen telling you they can only advise what the "escalation team" has said. Absolutely unheard of customer service. Out of pocket $12000 and no one at Sony seems to care.

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Ouch.
by r. proffitt Forum moderator Jul 25, 2016 12:16PM PDT

If you feel you have a case, documents and more, it's time for small claims court.

These stories are just sad and bad. The gear is IMO a little too fragile.

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Answer
(NT) Yo, why wouldn't you buy a LED TV
by Aug 1, 2016 7:36PM PDT
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