One week out of warrenty my camera just shut off. I took it to a authorized repair center and they said something about processor failure. $900 to fix. I decided to mail it to sony to see what they thought. They told me it woulb be $600 to fix. I paid the $600 and they said it would be fixed. 4 months later still no camera. They were claiming a part was on back order. Finally they got the part and they said I would have my camera back in 2 weeks. 3 weeks passed and I got a letter in the mail saying the found more problems and they needed another $600. I about flipped. So I sent them another $600. Its been 9 months now and still no camera. I hate sony. They are all a bunch of corprate pricks. I will never buy a sony product again. My friends TRV 900 did the same thing. They advised her that it wasnt worth fixing. I just got a Avid NLE and I have no damn camera. It's like a bad dream. I hate sony.

Man I am sorry to hear that. That really sucks big time. I dont really have anything to say accept I hope that doesnt happen to my VX or Im going to flip out.

I finally got my camera back and guess what? It's still messed up. Yes you herd me correctly. Sony charged me $1,200 took 9 months, and still the camera has alot of problems. I cant get into the menu settings and it has grey bars through the screen on playback. Death to Sony!

Sorry dude.

I feel your pain. Only thing I could suggest is next time, if they are planning to charge you that much, cut your losses and buy a brand new cam. Sony stuff is usually good about not breaking, but if my VX2000 ever croaks I will either fight for a return, or just buy another. Sucks...

=)

I sent that camera in for firewire port problem, I never saw it for 2 months, I thought that was excessive. I feel for you.

Sony isn't too well known for their quick and agile repair work.

In this case it would seem to me that you have a case to make with Sony. Were I you, I would call and ask to talk with the repair facility manager about the issues. Offer to fax or email the history you've shared with us to that person.

If you don't get satisfaction out of that interraction, then go for the Sony US President. Write him a letter with the details of your complaint and ask him to resolve the issues to your satisfaction.

In spite of your problems, it is inconceivable that a large company want's to treat customers in this manner. At least we all hope that is the case.

Dude, bring this to court.
If u win u will be able to buy 200 ++ VX 2000's.
I feel your pain.....

Unless you are talking Small Claims Court (at least here in California) the cost to benefit ratio gets way out of line in a hurry. It is unlikely you will get any attorney to take it on without you paying up front. The amount you could win would be not a whole lot more than you have spent unless you can somehow claim consequential damages. An unlikely event.

Except for Small Claims Court (if your state has them) the cost of trying to win will greatly exceed the payback unless you are talking personal injury.

And until you attempt to recover your loss or get Sony to fix the camera, you are unlikely to be victorious in any case.

Winning a judgement is one thing.

Collecting is another!!!

Actually not.

If you get a judgement, you can, with a bit more work, get a Sherrif's Deputy to padlock their doors until they pay up. Works most every time, I'm told.

Greetings! May I also suggest that you drop a line to the State Attorney Gerneral's office in the state where the repairs were performed with a carbon copy (that is an old phrase isn't it!) to the State AG in your state.

Outline the difficulties that you have had, the amount of money spent and the amount of time taken. Give all info that you have: such as names, dates, when you called.

What can they do? Probably not much. They will generate a letter to the particular Sony shop with the question of "Why?' somewhere in the middle. I will bet that the Sony folks will not like a letter sitting in the middle of the desk from the AG though... Never know. You might get some action on it.

Later!

I just bought a vx2000 and I hope that I do not have simalar problems, I did pay for a 4year warranty through GE. So I hope that protect me.

As for your problem, did you send them cash or did you use your charge card? If you use your charge card, especially visa or mastercharge you may be able to go to them and have them apply pressure. You could write them a note outlining your problem with them and ask the credit card company to investigate why you were charge for service you did not recieve. It has worked for me in the past.

If you sent them cash, whoever you call always get their name.
But you will get better results if you write a register letter to the President, or Vice president of customer service. Outline everything that happen, send copies of cancel checks, enclose any name and dates you have.

good luck

I can't believe that you paid 1,200 dollars to fix this thing.

Thats nearly half the cost of the camera!! Imagine a brand new 20,000 car breaking down and having to pay 10,000 dollars and wait four months to get it fixed.

This is rediculous.

If I were you I would be screaming!!

Something like this happened to an Alienware system I ordered. There were so many problems. Waiting around for them to fix the problem did nothing.

What you have to do is stick it too them. Call them up and email them 20 times a day a demand to talk to a product manager, a supervisor, etc. Even if they say that they are going to take care of the problem...just keep calling them and bugging them. Believe me they will get so sick of it they will make it a priority as they should.

THEN after its all said and done, report them to the Better Business Bureau. In fact, do that now.


This whole thing is really unfortunate. But in the end, if you're warranty has expired, there probably isnt much you can do about getting your money back. But for God's sake these guys should have this thing repaired in a reasonable time.

I bought my VX2000 from a local trustworthy camera shop in my town. The dealer told me that if I EVER have problems with the cam, to NEVER send it back to Sony. He said that would be my worst mistake. They advised me to give the camera to them and they would take control of the repair process for me.

Where did you buy the camera?

I've removed the last post from this Thread for the reasons I've listed below.

It is very inappropriate, in this newsgroup, no matter that you were posting for a humorous effect, to even remotely suggest that someone commit insurance fraud by purposefully destroying insured equipment.

There are two reasons:

A. Posting this type of content on a site such as this places the site owner at legal and perhaps criminal risk. A slight risk but a risk all the same. Only the site owner can decide whether or not to accept such a risk.

B. Equipment insurance for video gear is hard enough to obtain and very expensive given the amount of coverage. We don't need more insurance companies thinking that accidental equipment destruction was committed on purpose.

I didn't even have to ask Mike to take out that post. He already knew it was the right thing to do. That's why I invited him to moderate this forum.

Mike, thanks very much for your diligence in this regard. As a rule, we won't tolerate such inappropriate material anywhere on our community boards.

Now we'll return to our regular programming. Thanks again,

Purchasing an expensive item from the internet does not always result in a savings.

This is why buying a huge purchase like a camera should be done locally from a dealer in your area. The dealer usually has more clout with his SALES REP. than low priced internet box houses.

Now, don't get me wrong. I order over the internet for things like tape,batteries and camera accessories BUT never would I purchase a large ticket item that requires immediate attention if a problem occurs.

Lou Bruno

Everyone has a different level of trust, I guess.

I've bought 2 cameras from B&H with absolutely no problems. In fact, they are easier to buy from than my local dealer who rarely has what I want in stock and always wants list price. And his level of support isn't any better than B&H's. In fact, if I don't like something, he won't take it back as will B&H.

But I am careful from whom I purchase. And I know exactly what I want so I don't want nor need hand holding when I buy on-line.

When I do need help I'm happy to ask the dealer and then pay his price.

I would take them to small claims court without hesitation. Just go prepared, with complete documentation (and keep your cool). Ranting is one thing, but (court) action will resolve the matter.

If court doesn't work I advise making a PUBLIC stink about it. Company's like Sony's have a brand to protect. Hit them where they hurt.

Just read this thread (July 30). Based on blacksvn's nightmare, I wouldn't touch a Sony with a barge pole! That is one major reason I went with Canon--the XL1 Owners' Club. Recently, I had to send my XL1s to repair for a problem shortly after I bought it. Canon fixed it--no charge--and had back to me within 10 days (including shipping both directions) from the time I sent it. THAT is a valuable item to consider when purchasing anything, especially a camera!

Yes, that's what I have to say about Canon too. They have very good support in the US/Canada.

Canon also has great support here in Japan. I took in my xl-1 in on a wednesday afternoon and asked them to get it back to me asap, by the following tuesday they had put in a new drum assembly and I had it back that afternoon.

Not being in the same town as the repair center is scarry. When things like this happen, having to deal with this problem long distance can be tiring. I'm lucky to live 10 min. away from the Canon service center and 15 from the sony service center, if something like this happened I would stay at their customer service counter and not move or let anyone else get helped until they solved my problem. I agree with Brad, email and call them everyday and ask what is being done and don't lose your cool with them. Calling enough times they will all know about you and your problem and they will want to get your problem solved so they can get you out of their hair.

Going through a lawyer also seems like a good idea. I hope I don't go through this problem over here, getting a lawyer is impossible(way too expensive) plus even if I did win, I wouldn't collect anything, (people have had their kids killed in accidents and they collect maybe $2,000 and it takes years to make the companies pay up, if they ever pay at all) the legal system here sucks big time.

Make a big stink out of it, Sony will hate the bad press. Good luck.