Why not?

I loved my Sony. When it arrived brand new in its box. All shiny and super fast. I'm talking about my Sony VAIO PCG GRV670 laptop. It was great! A 16" screen and loads of physical memory.

That was in May 2003. I needed my Sony for work and I live between the US and Europe, so I also wanted to be sure that I was purchasing a product for which I could get backup anywhere in the world.

"Of course sir," said the Sony salesperson, "Sony is a Global company and, in the unlikely event of your computer developing a problem, you can reach a Sony centre in many different countries."

I traveled backwards and forwards and although my Sony was heavy and the charger was almost as big as the computer, I was a happy Sony customer.
Until December of that year.One day, it refused to boot up - or, a better way of putting it, was that the screen remained blank, whilst the fan ran and the unit made assorted noises. In panic, I switched it off. And then on again. Being very dependant on the information in my computer, I needed it every day to work effectively. Beads of perspiration formed on my brow as I waited fro signs of life and suddenly, up popped the familiar SONY logo and windows booted up and my screen worked.

Three weeks later, back in the US, it happened again and this time it wouldn't boot up again - at all.

A quick call to the SONY service centre connected me first with their wonderful and charming computer voice thingy called MAX, who really is very charming and apologises when he doesn't hear one correctly and then, after Max, with a technician. She told me to unscrew the back panel revealing the memory sticks. I was to remove these after disconnecting the power and then reinsert them. Presto! My Vaio was once again alive and stayed alive...for another two weeks.

Fourteen days later, my computer had died and no amount of removal and reinsertion of the memory sticks helped in the slightest. I was stuck on the other side of the Atlantic and I had no support. Well, that's not quite right. After paying a $35 fee to get registered with the European SONY Organization, a technician then informed me that they couldn't repair my laptop in Europe because the motherboards were different.

"But I thought SONY was a global company and you would be able to repair my laptop anywhere and you can just order the bits from the States and..." I spluttered.

"Well yeeess, we COULD HAVE done that, had you paid the $290 worldwide coverage fee." the technician replied. Well no one at SONY, back then when they were all smiles and behaving ingratiatingly, told me I would have to pay a $290 fee to get worldwide coverage.

There was nothing to do but to wait till I returned to the US four weeks later. Once back in America, I contacted Sony again and they sent me a box via FEDEX. My computer, my dead computer, was packed lovingly in the box and sent to SONY in San Diego. Four days later, free of charge because it was still under warranty, my SONY was miraculously back in my hands, raring to go all except two points:
1. I had specifically asked SONY NOT to delete the hard drive under any circumstances, because, due to the nature of the problem, I was unable to back everything up. They deleted it.
2. It had a virus, installed with loving care, but probably not intentionally, by the SONY repair people.

I reformatted my drive, loaded all my programmes and set about trying to save what I could. All's well that ends well I thought. That was February, getting on for March.

No chance.

In May, my computer started acting slow. I downloaded SPYBOT, ADAWARE and all the others. I cleaned and cleaned my hard drive. I spent late nights with only a bottle of Single Malt Laphroig whisky to comfort me, hunting spyware programmes that I didn't have. I scanned for viruses over and over with no luck. And then, my beloved SONY started shutting down on me.

This was shortly after I had installed Windows SP2. So naturally I thought that had something to do with it. I called Microsoft, who were very friendly and very helpful, but who were unable to help. By chance, in September, I noticed that I only had 256MB of RAM instead of 512MB! Soon after that, scanning for viruses and running more than one programme at the same time would cause the computer to shut down completely. Now seriously concerned that it was a hardware issue, although, how could it be? I had had the unit back from SONY barely 5 months.

I called SONY and was able to talk to a technician, who, after charging me $35 because my computer was out of warranty, gave me the SONY instant repair solution: unscrew the back, disconnect the power, remove the two memory sticks, wait a bit, and reinsert them. I did as I was told ('cos I'm like that) and HEY PRESTO! 512MB again. I was thrilled because next day, a Sunday, I was due to fly back to Europe.

"What do I do if it happens again?" I asked the wonderful technician, who went by the name of Jason.

"It won't happen again," said Jason. ,p>Well Jason, thanks for your help, but no thanks, because the next day, 60 minutes before my flight, sitting in the United Airlines Red Carpet Club Lounge at San Francisco International Airport, sipping a powerful Bloody Mary, I switched my computer on only to find that I was back down to 256MB. I was unable to work on the flight because my computer shut down every time I opened more than one document. In Germany, I was able to work only sporadically. I returned a couple of weeks ago and, having contacted SONY USA from Europe, a telephone call which cost me around $30, there awaited me upon my arrival, the now familiar SONY box, delivered presumably by a friendly FEDEX person. I packed my computer in the box and sent it off to SONY.

The result? SONY tells me my mother board is fried again. Why, they don't know, but they will repair it ,b>FOR A FEE OF $723.36.

Yes, I explained, I know it is out of warranty, but surely you cannot be serious. I've had this unit for one and a half years. It has been down for 25% of that time or longer. The problem you repaired in February has re-occurred. AND YOU WANT ME TO PAY? No way! I would far rather spend the $750 on a 44 Magnum or a TEC-9 to shoot my computer with. Imagine buying a BMW, having the engiine blow up on you after eight months, having BMW replace it, the new engine then blow up again after another six months and BMW calmly saying, the bill will be $10,000 (half the price of the original car)!

SONY is sending me my computer back and I will receive it today, unrepaired. I don't know what I will do with it, but what I do know is, that I will devote some time and energy to warn others who are considering buying a SONY laptop:

DON'T BOTHER.

This is not a company that takes care of its customers. This is not a company that apologizes for building what is patently a piece of technical crap and selling it to you for $1,636. Oh sure - there are Sony Vaios out there that have probably been running for years without a glitch. But this particular one was a piece of electronic junk. And expensive to boot. So, when buying SONY, caveat emptor, and buy DELL or IBM or HP or any of the other brands instead, because from all the experience I have gathered, they WILL try to solve your problems. As of last week, I own a DELL desktop and I will be buying an IBM or DELL laptop. My company employees will now get DELLS or COMPAQ laptops. An order has already gone out for the German branch for 7 DELL desktops and 4 laptops. The UK branch will follow as soon as the SONYs that they are using become obsolete or break down.