My Sony SDM-X82 LCD monitor is giving me troubles again (this is the 4th time). It has just passed the warranty. Well, even if it is still under warranty, I wouldn’t bother calling them. They just keep sending you refurbished units that are worse. In fact, the current one was a refurbished unit they sent when the old one died. It had problems when it first arrived. But now it’s becoming worse. Basically, the image would sometimes suddenly go off. I had to turn it off and one again. Sometimes I have to do this multiple times. This was exactly the same problem the 3 times before. They simply didn’t do anything to fix it!

What’s worse than a poor quality monitor? Its services!! Here is something I wrote the first time I had it repaired. I had gone through it a couple of times more. Anyway, I just ordered an LG and it’s on its way. There is simply no way that I buy any SONY product again! I have taken the monitor apart hoping to find some bad soldering point or something. No luck so far

Here is my complaint in Oct 2003:

I bought this SONY SDM/X82 monitor in August 2003 and it died a month later. I called technical support. They gave me an address to send in and told me it takes up to 2 weeks to get repaired. I sent in the monitor and it was delivered to them on Oct 3rd. Nothing happened there after.

Two weeks later, last Friday, I called in again to inquire the status. They told me they can not find the work order for my
monitor. I was supposed to have an work order. But nobody ever told me about this nor gave me the order number. So, they said they were going to contact the service center and call me back a bit later.

I waited for several hours and no one called me. I called in again. This time, they told me they can not find the monitor. They
asked for the tracking number of the shipment and we verified it was delivered on Oct 3rd to the correct address. They again promised to inform a superviser and call me back on Monday. Monday passed and I still have not heard from them.

Tuesday, I called in again. This time, they told me that the status shows the monitor is sitting in the service center. But it could take 4-8 weeks to get it repaired. I asked her why I was informed otherwise and she told me they made a mistake. I then asked is there anyone responsible for this mistake and she told me “no”. I asked her if there is anything they can do, she also told me “no”, without any explanation. I asked if there is anyone that can change the decision and was also told “no”.

The only thing they did was to leave a note for the service center asking them to expedite. They told me this takes a day or so to get through and let me called again on Thursday to inquire the status. Who knows what will happen on Thursday. Everytime I called in, they promised somthing. But none of them, not a single one, was ever honored.

I am very pissed off. I purchased the monitor in August, used for only less than a month and had to send it for repair for 3 months (Now I just wish I could get it back in 3 months). I will be without a monitor (which I need everyday) for 3 months, get a refurbished monitor in December but pay the price in August. And meanwhile, I have to spend half an hour every other day to make phone calls. Man, I got to work much more seriously than they do and I have a life too. I have dealt with other technical support too, specially, Apple. Apple always have my unit serviced in exactly 3 days, including the time spent on shipping. I believe it should be similar cases for other compnaies. I have bought a lot of stuffs from SONY before. But this will be the
last one and I will tell my story to every potential customer. I will post my story on the web as widely as possible, to let everyone know that SONY technical support and customer service SUCKS!

Although I am so unsatisfied, I can not find a place to complain. I can not reach a higher authority than the people I called.

Customer Service #: 800-222-7669
Tech Support #: 866-357-7669
Monitor model: SDM/X82
Event ID: E22547153