NIGHTMARE: Sony vaio power adapter brick burned!!

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calgirl2

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hi everyone,

my name is kathy and ive been having an issue identical to this guy's: "If [the Vaio power adapter brick] fails by finally catching on fire, even if it's five years later on, potentially there are thousands of these adaptors around which are going to do the same thing."

has anyone else had this problem???

seeing how Sony charges $30 for phone tech support (i guess to weed out all the people who complain about newbie stuff), i had to resort to the live chat function. the aftermath is posted below:






LiveAssist Transcript


chat id : f7c758ec-2415-414f-844b-664e8ab31d2c

Problem : vaio laptop power adapter fried and sizzled


Ager_ > Hi Kathy. Welcome to Sony Online Support. I'm Ager. Please allow me a moment to review your concern.
kathy > i have a vaio laptop of about 5 years and in the past couple weeks, the power has not effectively reached my laptop
kathy > my screen kept flickering due to alternating between power modes
kathy > i noticed the flickering was a result of my cord being moved
Ager_ > Thanks for waiting, Kathy. I'll be glad to assist you in providing the required information.
Ager_ > The Sony VAIO is supported by a different Sony division. Shall I escalate the chat to the concerned department?
kathy > ok
Ager_ > Please stay online while I transfer the chat to our VAIO Support team.
Ager_ > Please wait, while the problem is escalated to another analyst

Elida_ > Hi kathy. IÂ’m Elida. Please allow me a moment to review your concern.
kathy > i have a vaio laptop of about 5 years and in the past couple weeks, the power has not effectively reached my laptop
kathy > my screen kept flickering due to alternating between power modes. i noticed the flickering was a result of my cord being moved
kathy > the cord and power brick get extremely hot and i cant even touch them
kathy > last night it finally sizzled and smoke came out and i unplugged it. it left a really strong burning smell in my room for hours
Elida_ > Thanks for waiting, kathy. I'm sorry that the Power Adapter fried. I'll be happy to assist you with this.
kathy > i have read online that there have been similar incidents
Elida_ > I'm sorry, we are not aware of this being an issue.
kathy > you should google it. it comes up a lot.
kathy > is there a way i can call customer support about my complaint without being charged an obscene $30?
Elida_ > You can contact our Customer Information Services Center (CISC) at 1-888-476-6972 for the required assistance.
Elida_ > They should be able to help you.
Elida_ > They are available 24 hours a day and 7 days a week
kathy > it says itll charge me $30 per incident
Elida_ > They should not be charged if the Notebook is under warranty.
Elida_ > Is there anything else I may assist you with today?
kathy > i told you my notebook is about 5 years old
kathy > its not under warranty
kathy > but this seems to be a sony problem if your equipment burns
kathy > i really dont think it is appropriate to charge me for help for faulty equipment
Elida_ > I will forward your valuable feedback to the concerned department for initiating the necessary action.
kathy > please explain that to me in non passive terms
Elida_ > Kathy, I will forward your feedback to the concerned department.
kathy > im not doing a customer satisfaction survey. this isnt "feedback"
kathy > i want to speak to someone who actually will answer my questions. how do i get to talk to someone?
kathy > bc you really arent answering my questions. i say "my power fried" and you say "ill forward this." that is not helping me.
Elida_ > Are you trying to purchase the new Power Cord?
kathy > do you not understand english?
kathy > this is a complaint about faulty equipment, so clearly i am trying to get sony to fix the equipment
kathy > or replace
kathy > im not trying to buy. if i wanted to buy, id be at the store website not the helpdesk site
Elida_ > Since the Computer is not under warranty, it is not possible to replace the Power Adaptor in the Service Center.
kathy > give me the number of the complaint dept that is not some stupid technical support line that will charge me
kathy > you cannot make faulty equipment that wont live beyond a few years and then say "too bad buy a new one"
kathy > food has expiration dates. power cords dont.
kathy > this is not an isolated incident. there clearly has been other complaints about ~5 y/o power adapters nearly catching fire. this is completely unacceptable
Elida_ > Do you wish to speak to our Telephone Support Team?
kathy > if you dont charge me for it.
kathy > im not calling about some dumb computer problem that would deserve a $30 fee.
Elida_ > Is is required to purchase the Power Adapter to resolve the issue.
Elida_ > It cannot be replaced since the Computer is not under warranty.
kathy > Sony replaced the power brick for another customer who had the same problem. his computer was also 5 years old
kathy > its documented in many news/tech articles
kathy > i want to send in my power adapter. i want you to examine it. i want you to deem it faulty and replace it for me.
kathy > you realize that this thing could have burned down my house
kathy > this isnt a problem resulting from negligence or wear. this is a problem of faulty manufacturing
kathy > i really dont appreciate you avoiding my problem
kathy > is this the perks of hiding behind a chat room? push my problem to different departments until i give up?
kathy > rest assured that this chat log will be published in every tech forum on the internet, and it will be coupled with the article of other customers whose houses nearly burned down because of faulty sony equipment
Elida_ > Kathy, it is required to purchase the Power Adapter to resolve the issue.
Elida_ > Sony does not replace any hardware part without the Warranty.
kathy > well clearly sony needs to recall these things then
kathy > the issue resolution does not REQUIRE me to buy a power adapter. it requires me to get a new one. and i expect that sony admit some fault in this
kathy > why should i incur more charges to pay for an expensive adapter and shipping charges because sony doesnt know how to wire electronics properly?
kathy > you guys obviously cant make batteries and apparently you cant make adapters either
kathy > you act as if there is no such thing as customer complaint and recall. as if problems no longer exist as soon as the customer walks out the door and warranty expires.
Elida_ > Please contact our Customer Information Services Center (CISC) at 1-888-476-6972 for the required assistance.
Elida_ > They should be able to help you.
Elida_ > They are available 24 hours a day and 7 days a week.
Elida_ > Thank you for contacting Sony Online Support. Please feel free to contact us for further assistance.
Elida_ > Analyst has closed chat and left the room





she "hung up" on me!!!
:(
 
The sony online talk help people are just a bunch of people who only have access to the sony website and a VERY few other cony manuals. The only reason I know this is because my wife's cousin worked there for 2 months before getting tired of it. Contact the Better business bureau in your local area...i think it's BBB.org or something like that. I would say this would fall under the faulty battery/power issue they are having, but what do I know....you can always complain to the BBB though. Just my two cents.
 
thanks for the comments guys. im so frustrated because i need my laptop for work! for now, im just gonna buy a universal sony power adapter on ebay (since i dont even trust the original model anymore) and save myself some cash too. i see a macbook in my future :p

anyhow, i really wanted to post to the bbb.org site but i cant figure out which sony division im complaining against, and i dont even know their full contact address, which bbb.org requires. i will try to figure this out!!
 
Calgirl2-
Here's an address I found on Whitepages.com

Sony Corporation of America - Operation Headquarters
One Sony Drive
Park Ridge, NJ 07656

Just go to whitepages and search Sony in NJ. Most of their offices in the US are there....hope this helps!
 
wow....just.....wow

keep at their necks, and get as much from them as you can. if they still do nothing, keep posting this in more and more places, every i mean every forum out there, send emails everywhere with someething that tells people to forward it to their freinds, till they finaly get the picture, and do something about it
 
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