I'm really irritated with the service I'm getting from Sony and I want to know what are other people's experiences.

I sent my A1U for repair about a month ago. The tape mechanism stopped working. First I took it to a local electronic repair place where they told me that even if they fix the mechanical problem, it'd still have to be sent in to sony for some programing stuff. After I sent it in to sony, it took a week to get an estimate even though the website said 48 hrs. Even if you reject the estimate they'll charge you $130. The estimate came to 3 hrs of labor and parts which total $520. I approve it. I called back 2 weeks later and they said they're waiting on a part. I called again this week and the receptionist said she doesn't know what's going on. She said a technician will call me back but I haven't heard anything in two days.

I have repairs done on Canon ZR40, Canon GL2, and Sony GVD-1000 (which I think is part of the consumer line). If memory serves me right, I believe I got a flat rate for the estimate before sending it in for repair. I also remember none of these repair took anywhere close to a month. I would've expect better service from sony's professional line.

Is my experience common? What other company better when it comes to service? I usually never think about these things when buying a camera but this might have impact on my next major purchase. Thanks for reading.

I don't know where you sent it but I've sent 2 cameras into Sony Pro service in NJ and had nothing but GREAT service from them. When I sent them my 150 to be gone over (1400 hours of operation and almost 1000 of tape run) I had them R&R the heads and fix the menu wheel (they also did something else but I can't remember so it had to be a nothing repair) -flat rate of $575.00 at the time. Sent it out and in 8 days it was back in my hands. When the one of chips blew out on my 170 it was NC and I had the camera back within 6 days counting a weekend.
Perhaps it the center you sent it to.

Don

Mines was sent to LA.

It depends less on Sony and a lot more on the actual people who got hold of your stuff.

After over a month, I've finally got my camera back but the memory stick I had was missing. I've called them about this and they said they'll look into it. I can't believe I'm getting such awful service.