My Experience with Sony Support after Receiving a Damaged TV

LHaydo95 on 05/05/2022 - 19:32

Hi everyone, I have already posted this to whirlpool but decided I would like to give my experience some more exposure and maybe prevent this happening from someone else who may be deciding to buy a Sony TV. I apologise in advance for the length of this post.

Initial Whirlpool post:

On 05 March I ordered a 75" X90J from the online Sony store. I was eagerly awaiting the delivery of the tv which arrived on 18 March. My partner was home to receive the delivery and noticed when the truck rocked up the tv was not secured and was leaning on another object. There was however no physical damage to the box.

Upon getting home from work we unboxed the TV. Upon unboxing we noticed that the screen of the tv was badly cracked at the bottom above the sony logo. The cracks also ran across the length of the tv. I was completely deflated, I put the tv straight back in the box. I thought to myself "it's okay I'm sure this happens often enough that Sony will be able to provide me with a replacement in no time" – I was very wrong.

First thing next morning I rang Sony Support and let them know what happened. The customer service rep told me I would need to take photos of both the tv and the box. I informed the consultant that I had already returned the tv to the packaging so I was required to unbox the tv a second time to take photos.

I took the photos as asked and sent them in an email to the customer rep. As it was a weekend I was told that I would receive a response on the following Monday (21 March). I received a response from the rep on the Monday stating;

"I got a feedback from the management team, the tv is declaared out of carton damage based on provided photos. This can be repair but with charges, or i can offer again a new tv for trade in discount."

Needless to say I was infuriated. I sent a response which included an inquiry into how they believe the damage to the tv was caused, that I will not accept any less than a full refund or replacement and that I would contact the ACCC. The response to this email was as follows;

"As per checking by our management team, based on the photos this is damage out of the carton box."

The customer rep completely disregarded what I had to say. I then replied with a professionally drafted email stating what had happened, my rights under ACL and my intent if I do not receive a refund or replacement (submit complaint to Office of Fair Trading Queensland). My complaint was not escalated until the Sony Facebook team replied to a message my partner sent. They replied to me this morning with this:

"Given the photos and information you have provided, the issue being reported is consistent of being a Physical damage in nature. Hence, the warranty of the tv cannot be applied should you wish to repair the unit. We can still book the unit for repair, but charges will apply. Alternatively, we can look at a trade in option instead if cost of repair would be uneconomical.

Whilst we understand that this is not the resolution you were expecting to have, we would still want to let you know that this case has been reviewed thoroughly with consideration."

Once again they have made no effort to address anything I have said. It's pretty clear that there is in fact no care for customers whatsoever. I have now submitted an Official Complaint to Office of Fair Trading Queensland.

Apologies for the essay. What are your thoughts on this matter? Any advice would be appreciated.

28 Mar 22 - I sent another email to Sony asking if the TV had been checked prior to sending and to provide evidence of such. This is the response I got:

"SONY BRAVIA TVs have gone through numerous inspections and quality checks to ensure that our products roll off the production line in pristine condition prior to packaging.

On our end if you want further information you can send or file a complain to [email protected]"

As you can see once again they do not answer my question at all I replied and pushed the point further to which they said:

"As I've mentioned Sir, after the inspection prior to packaging it will automatically dispatch, after inspection then packaging then lastly it will be dispatch."

I received a response from Office of Fair Trading QLD who said they will soon contact Sony. If they fail to get a resolution I may just contact my bank to get a chargeback.

06 Apr 22 - Still haven't heard back from fair trading.

I went to send Sony support an email notifying them that I will be requesting a chargeback from my bank.

It seems they have now blocked my email address as my emails are failing to be received. (System undeliverable identified as spam)

12 Apr 22- Yet another update. Fair trading have got back to me with another request from Sony.

They have requested me to once again take the TV out of the box to measure the distance from the cracks in the centre to all sides of the TV. So I will once again take the TV out and set it up to get the measurements.

I attempted to organise a chargeback through my bank however they denied it as it was a shipped item.

03 May 22 - Fair Trading was unable to help any further. Sony still refuse to replace or refund. Here was their response to fair trading:

"Sorry for the delay, this has been under investigation with our factory team extensively.
Our opinion is that it is highly unlikely that the TV was damaged in transit to the customer. From all details provided it appears that the TV was damaged after it was removed from its carton.

Im not sure how the customer will progress but as previously mentioned we can offer a remedy via repair quotation or a subsidised replacement TV at factory pricing.

I have provided as much of a technical summary as I can below. Essentially the details that are missing is how the customer handled the product whilst removing it from the carton. I can only speculate how the damage occurred, but we can never know what occurred exactly.

In summary

No abnormalities were observed at the factory or manufacturing site in Malaysia.
75” TV sets are handled by an automated robot during packing process, no human error or physical touching of the TV screen occurred during packing.
From CCTV footage, there were no abnormalities found during quality control inspection and no abnormality found during the packing process."

I just don’t know what to do at this point. I’m not even angry anymore just sad and disappointed.

05 May 22 (currently) - I have contacted my bank once again to see if they can do a chargeback, I gave them more information regarding the situation as well as the VISA chargeback code. I am awaiting a response from them. I have also applied for free legal advice regarding the matter. Should the chargeback request be denied I will have no option left but to go through QCAT. Below are some photos of the damage to the TV.

https://imgur.com/a/llZxjQA
https://imgur.com/a/cDYiW5I

I have been extremely disappointed by the way I have been treated from Sony, especially as a long time loyal customer. I saw a similar post to mine regarding receiving a damaged tv from them which got resolved so I was quite confident they would be able to help me. Again apologies for the length of the post, however I think it's important people are made aware of how Sony treat their customers. I would appreciate any thoughts or advice on the matter.

Electrical & Electronics 75inch Sony TV UHD TV

Related Stores

Sony Australia
Sony Australia

Comments

  • Jason Genova on 06/05/2022 - 11:01

    another one post crapshoot

    • solidussnake on 08/05/2022 - 08:43

      Did you even read anything OP said…. My god what a useless comment

      • eddyah on 15/05/2022 - 10:41
        +1

        Sadly the internet is full of uninformed peeps that type to quickly - all he had to do was READ the post ahaha

    • moo on 15/05/2022 - 11:14

      Just thought I’d come on to post and let you know that I have downvoted your comment.

      Thank you.

      • wtfnodeal on 15/05/2022 - 12:25

        I think ozHunterNSW meant the TV OP received may not be a brand new but a returned TV from a retailer or another customer that Sony sold to OP as a brand new TV. Dick Smith had been doing this long time ago and was on the news that it sold a returned and repackaged external hard drive from a customer as a brand new one to another customer and it contained virus and still had some pirated movies in it. I personally also bought a brand new computer tablet from an online store that had scratches on the screen and noticed there was a seal on top of another broken seal on the box. Same goes for Amazon that some Ozb comments here said they bought brand new games from Amazon but received ones with finger prints on the game discs.

  • spurf on 06/05/2022 - 12:47
    +4

    I recently bought a "seconds" TV from Sony's eBay store and after unboxing found the top of the screen was pushed back past the bezel making the screen curve and leading to major light bleed. They are so slow at communication (3 - 5 days to reply) and took a fortnight to deliver so was pretty peved as was purchased to replace a dead TV.

    I got impatient waiting for them to sort out whether they were going to replace or refund and ended up gently pulling the screen back into the bezel using a suction cup. There was a bit of dust or something between the LCD and the diffuser but managed to get it to fall out of the viewing area by pulling gently again with the suction cup. Screen looks perfect now and am trying to wrangle a partial refund instead as they insist on the TV being returned 1st before they will issue a replacement which will likely have something else wrong with it.

    I reckon OP's set was reboxed like mine and palmed off as new. There was no way mine occured in transport as the section that was pushed in was protected by thick polystyrene which was undamaged. It's a shame that Sony's post-manufacturing service is so bad as the product itself is awesome.

  • spurf on 06/05/2022 - 12:48

    Oh and the idea to video unboxing is a really good idea and will try to remember in future 👍

    • AdosHouse on 06/05/2022 - 18:49
      +5

      And yet the video means absolutely nothing, a token gesture at best. What's to say the TV wasn't taken out of the box, broken, put back in the box, and then videoed being taken back out of the box.

      I'm not supporting Sony here, just pointing out that no tribunal/court will say the video is conclusive proof. You MIGHT have better standing if you video it from the truck arriving to unboxing.

      • Payne on 09/05/2022 - 10:06

        The only way I think this kind of video might work is if you start recording at the point the TV is delivered (assuming you're home).

        That way, you get to see the entire process from how it looks in the truck, to how it's unloaded, to how it's unboxed.

  • lothus777 on 06/05/2022 - 19:07
    +1

    Looks like I will be purchasing TVs from retail stores instead

    • AdosHouse on 06/05/2022 - 19:08
      +1

      Just make sure you check the condition before leaving the store.

      • PopCounty on 06/05/2022 - 21:43
        -1

        Then there would be no one to blame but himself if the tv gets broken while unpacking at home 🙂

      • Nebargains on 07/05/2022 - 20:58

        How's that even possible? Most TVs are packaged up to their eyeballs and you wouldn't be able to see the screen without pretty much unboxing it.

        • AdosHouse on 07/05/2022 - 21:14

          Exactly, you would have to unbox it, check it, then rebox it.

        • ahappysloth on 24/07/2024 - 13:59

          Getting the TV up to the TV unit can be a bit tricky sometime!

  • somehotbassist on 06/05/2022 - 21:17
    +6

    I really feel for you OP because this happened to me! Except it was a Samsung TV purchased from VideoPro. The first TV had a massive crack across it. The courier was TNT from memory. VideoPro organised a courier to pick it up, then sent another one… And the second one was also cracked! And again we repeated the process. I was frustrated at the time but reading your story now, I feel very lucky that VideoPro handled it so well (though coordinating the pickups and delivery times were annoying).

    I hope you get this sorted. I personally will not risk ordering from Sony after hearing about your experience.

  • garetz on 06/05/2022 - 22:25
    +1

    The damage you see could of easily happened to the tv while in transit without visible damage to the carton, it just needs to hit a sharp edge just in the right way lightly, you can clearly see the focal point.

  • nektminute on 06/05/2022 - 22:27
    +2

    sorry to know this OP. I had a very bad warranty experience with sony and i wouldnt recommend them to anyone. demand for a technician to come visit whom you can explain if you are lucky they might consider

  • QFFlyer on 06/05/2022 - 22:55
    +1

    Sorry to hear OP - I'll add my 2c, as I had the exact opposite experience to you - 65" TV I bought around Nov/Dec 2017. Late 2019 (just after the 2y warranty had expired) it developed a line through the image, it was watchable but annoying, maybe something which would have got worse. No damage or any way it could have been knocked, hit, etc., just a fault in the panel or circuitry, I assume.

    Anyway, I was going to claim on Amex's extended warranty, since Sony's had expired, but Amex wanted a price for repair/replacement to assess the claim. I contacted Sony for this, and they just sent me a new TV (collected the old one too, of course). I was really pleased with the service, ok warranty or not it's reasonable to expect a TV to last longer than two years, but given I didn't have to argue at all, I was happy.

    On another note, I have noticed an overall drop in quality of Sony's products in recent years, which is a real shame. Their original Bravia LCDs (and WEGA CRTs, for those who remember those!) were really great quality (I still have a 40" Bravia LCD in the bedroom which must be 10y old now), but since around the time they started making them wafer thin I've heard so many complaints about quality, it's made me reconsider future purchases. I've also had a 50" develop complete panel failure spontaneously at around 4y old, as in one arvo it was working fine, then the picture failed entirely, as if it'd been hit hard (but it hadn't, it literally just happened all of a sudden while it was on). I bought it from a mate very cheaply a few years before, so it didn't owe me anything and I just took it to the recycling centre, but still.

    • RedSky1 on 07/05/2022 - 17:26

      Yeah similar opposite experience here..

      Single pixel row failed from top to bottom on a mid grade KD-65X9000F TV that was 2.5 years old, I paid $2.2k (RRP much higher, this is OzBargain after all)
      I have no kids, big pets or anything that could have physically caused it without me knowing and the TV is in perfect as new physical condition so just a screen/component failure right.

      I contacted Sony and they had me take it to the local authorised repairer and initially said that I would have to pay to repair as out of warranty.

      However once the quote came back as a new screen required at a total cost of $1300 I contacted Sony support again mentioning the ACL quoting the exact wording ‘acceptable quality’ and 'safe, lasting, with no faults', and they contacted the repairer and covered the new screen including the TV delivery cost back to me. TV basically as good as new again. Can't complain really.

      • solidussnake on 08/05/2022 - 08:47
        +1

        You and Qfflyer both had high end TVs fail with in a couple years and still think Sony is good because after they made you lug a 65" to their repairer and you had to force them to do the right thing, that would worry me big time if the panels failed that fast…

  • Kegsta on 06/05/2022 - 23:33
    +20

    This is why I like Hisense, they care about their reputation as they are trying to build it up.
    I purchased a 50" N7 a few years ago for about $750 for my parents.
    About 18 months later it stopped powering / produced a funky picture when it did. I put in a claim and a few photos later Hisense sent out a brand new 55 inch Q8 when they were just released worth about $1200 at the time at my parents live in a rural area away from any technicians.

    I was very happy and have purchased multiple Hisense products since. Not just TVs but fridge, washing machine as I now trust the brand will look after me if something goes wrong. (And they are usually the best bang for buck product anyway)

    • jatyap on 07/05/2022 - 00:47
      +2

      I don't know why you got negged, or who did it, but here's one vote to cancel it out. Also, cheers for bringing up good options wrt value for money.

    • solidussnake on 07/05/2022 - 10:15
      +3

      Especially when they back their products with a 3 year warranty just shows they stand behind their products without having to battle the big companies with ACL laws

      • AdosHouse on 07/05/2022 - 13:37
        +2

        I agree. So many brands say they have the best TVs, but they won't back that with warranty. While the ACL will protect the consumers, how many thousand upon thousands of times have brands dodged costs simply because they said "warranty is only 1 years, bye" and the consumer doesn't know about their rights and just accepts it.

        I remember one time talking to a workmate, discussing fridges, I mentioned my Mitsubishi fridge has a 5 year warranty while their much more expensive Kelvinator fridge only has a 2 year warranty. They said that is because my Mitsubishi is a no name generic brand and it needs a 5 year warranty because it will break so much. Damn I felt stupider talking to that person.

        • solidussnake on 07/05/2022 - 13:43

          Yeah I have heard Samsung and LG have cleared up their act these days, and also retailers like JB… A couple examples one of the guys here on ozbargain had a 4-5 year old 65" OLED that had severe burn in I told him to contact LG and quote his ACL rights and they came out in a week and replaced his panel free of charge also my time at JB I had seen them fully refund a 55" FHD samsung after 7 years so its good to see some cleaning up their act !

          • AdosHouse on 07/05/2022 - 13:47
            +2

            @solidussnake: Thankfully more and more consumers are finding out about their rights.

            And then along comes MSY going "hold my beer".

    • pufffdragon on 08/05/2022 - 22:44

      Love the Q8. Glad you got looked after.

  • tyvod on 07/05/2022 - 07:49
    +1

    Damn… sorry to hear that. Im getting the exact same TV delivered today. I will definately take a video while unboxing

  • Weezle on 07/05/2022 - 09:37
    +2

    Sorry to hear.

    This is the reason I always buy from a bricks and mortar store

  • dji1111111 on 07/05/2022 - 10:16
    +1

    OP, you should try again with the chargeback route. I can't believe they refused to do a chargeback because it's a shipped item.

    In the future, I don't recommend you post these things on online forums. They will usually viciously come up with fictitious scenarios to turn you into a liar instead of a victim. You aren't going to get much help or useful advice here in most cases and often terrible advice.

    Most people here have zero clue about their rights and think that being naive and not claiming their consumer rights is somehow being "big" while the smarter ones who know their rights are just whingers.

    Recently posted about a tyre damage done from a pot hole when driving into a shopping centre and it was ridiculous how toxic these people are and how it's not the shopping centre's problem lol
    Well, they can eat sh*t because they admitted their liability and paid up with very little resistance. Meanwhile the idiot armchair experts on ozbargain turned me into a liar and a whinger trying to claim compensation for my own fault

    • lonewolf on 07/05/2022 - 11:18
      +8

      yup, I gotta say, I am surprised how some members on here are so toxic towards fellow members. Ozbargain used to be such a friendly site, but last few years it has changed somewhat. Everytime someone comes on asking for advice or help, they are met with a lot of sarcasm and insults. I am very cautious of coming on here asking for advice or even posting as there seems to be some really toxic people on here. If they got nothing constructive to say, you would think they would just move on rather than comment… I ended up having to block a couple of members.

      • dji1111111 on 07/05/2022 - 13:37
        +1

        Glad to know I'm not the only one.
        Seems like they feed off harassing others.

      • burningrage on 07/05/2022 - 13:52
        +1

        You have to think from the other side.

        In my opinion, many recent questions are either:
        1. Something that can be researched easily with a clear answer;
        2. Something that is clearly wrong but were asked anyway hoping to find loophole. Recent example was a guy who bought a ski pass at $49 thinking it was a "deposit" when he failed to recognize it was actually downpayment and he proceeded to change his credit card to use a burner one to avoid direct debit
        3. Something that has been addressed many times and OP failed to search before asking. Recent example was about being scammed at Ebay or gumtree when there are heaps of horror stories about selling at both platform and consensus were to pay by cash in person.

        These are some examples but I generally agree with the relative ease for many people to neg indiscriminately creating a somehow unwelcoming atmosphere.

        But please dont let this put you down.

        • lonewolf on 08/05/2022 - 11:32
          +1

          Heres the catch While i understand what you are saying and agree to a certain extent. Your point no.1 and 3 (quite similar) whether or not its true still shouldnt stop people from asking a question in the forum. Because sometimes its all about the right wording in the searches so people may search but not find what they are looking for and other times the searches may be old and so they are thinking there might be changes to it now or even that just because you find it posted somewhere else doesnt mean its right or even that its trustworthy advice. People prefer to ask questions in forums where they trust that forum / people. And the thing is if we just tell everyone always to not ask a question that may have been asked before or a similar question asked before. Then pretty much we can tell people to never ask a question. As probably 99% of all questions have been asked at some point on the internet.

          Of course the thing is, how accurate are the answers given, are the questions easy to find and how recent is the information. In a forum its about communicating and part of that is also about helping one another and providing advice or support. I have a chat group with a bunch of school friends, and almost every time someone asks a question on there, there is one guy who always goes "just do a google search". I remember asking for some advice, he told me the same thing, sent me a link on google to what he thought was a good answer. I almost followed through then another friend intervened and said that the post with the advice is the wrong advice and it will do damage if i follow through with it. So sometimes just because its on some youtube video or forum somewhere doesnt make it good advice.

          To your point no.2 , I feel the same way that people shouldnt be lying or trying to get out of things. But i think on these forums its few and far between. At least in cases which can be proven that they are doing this. Because i notice on here alot of times when people ask, others just assume they are lying without actually knowing the truth or the facts. while there have been some scenarios where people have been able to deduce over time that the person was lying. Even still thats part and parcel of any large group of people, but we shouldnt judge everyone as a guilty party due to only a few…

      • BartholemewH on 10/05/2022 - 08:09

        I don't disagree regarding the toxic comments, but if you're the lonewolf I'm thinking, we've been on the web forever. I know my responses have mellowed over time.

        • lonewolf on 10/05/2022 - 12:25

          haha, yup, I think possibly my comments have mellowed out over time too, then again there are a lot more new users on ozbargain than there was when it started. I think with that has come this group of people who value getting a positive next to their comment (possibly due to social media conditioning) than being nice and hence a lot like to do these snarky or sarcastic comments but others are just in the mood to troll or have a go at someone due to them not being happy with themselves (either from having a bad day) or just in general.

    • Haydo95 on 07/05/2022 - 14:09
      +5

      Yep I called my bank on Thursday requesting chargeback again. Last time I did it they called me back within the hour saying they couldn't so I'm hoping that because I have yet to hear back from them it means it may be going through. In regards to posting this - it's a way for me to vent as this has become an incredibly frustrating thing for me, my anger has been through the roof. Not only that but if I can stop this happening to at least 1 person then it is worth copping the negative/toxic comments from strangers who have no idea what has actually happened.

      Am I having a whinge? Sure, but I think it is well justified and snarky comments from a couple of users will not discourage me in any way.

  • lachhelix on 07/05/2022 - 10:38
    +2

    Let me tell you - Sony support is absolute garbage which is why I'll never buy a Sony product.
    Which is a total shame because they make great OLEDS (when you get one that isn't rubbish because of their crappy QA)

  • Daabido on 07/05/2022 - 11:00
    +1

    Avoid LG too for anything ACL. Fair Trading are a toothless tiger.

    • solidussnake on 08/05/2022 - 08:53
      +1

      How so ?? a fellow ozbargainer I helped recently had his 4 year old out of warranty OLED panel replaced free of charge due to burn in I think that pretty good these days, although years ago they were really bad and were fined by ACCC

      • mboy on 10/05/2022 - 11:35
        +1

        I'll chime in too to say late last year LG replaced my OLED panel 3 years out of warranty after it developed a very thin (and only discernable against certain colors) vertical line. Literally, an issue that you wouldn't even notice if you didn't know about it, but it irked me so I contacted LG support. 1 week later, I've got TV repair guys changing the panel at my house.

  • Kranbone on 07/05/2022 - 11:21

    I can't blame the company for their stance. According to your post, the box was undamaged and the conclusion that they draw is no damage in transit. That's a fairly reasonable conclusion. Surely part of the box would be damaged or marked, if the TV had been damaged in transit.

    • AdosHouse on 07/05/2022 - 13:43
      -1

      No because cardboard boxes can easily allow damage through without showing damage.

      Have a look at how cardboard is shaped. https://media.istockphoto.com/photos/corrugated-cardboard-pi… , the corrugated part can easily collapse upon impact, pass the shock through, and then bounce back. Much like thin plastic bumpers on cars.

      • Harold Halfprice on 07/05/2022 - 17:08
        +3

        I work in manufacturing and packaging for products like this is engineered and tested.

        They don't just throw it in a cardboard box with some packing foam and hope it is sufficient - and they don't rely on corrugated cardboard for protection alone.

        If the packaging wasn't visibly damaged, it means it did it's job of spreading out and dispersing the force. There's no way you're going to get a crack in the glass like the one in the second picture, and at the same time have the packaging look perfectly fine.

        I agree with Sony's assessment that it's out of carton damage. However, whether it occurred before being put in the packaging or after OP took it out is up for contention.

  • coolroy on 07/05/2022 - 11:36
    +5

    You can damage a tv inside a carton via dropping the box so that it hits the ground parallel to the base of the carton.

    In this case there would be no obvious sign of carton damage in transit yet the shock passed through to the base of the TV occurs and with the resultant damage as seen in pics supplied by op.

    Was the packaging inside the carton up to the task?

    Why not get large tv screens fitted with a impact/shock device prior to the TV leaving the factory?

    • solidussnake on 07/05/2022 - 12:40

      The 4k oled first gen ones had the upright, shock damage indicator on the boxes which would turn red and if they were red upon delivery to the stores they would reject those ones back to LG, these days none of those exist, possibly because of improved manufacturing and stronger panels

      • AdosHouse on 07/05/2022 - 13:44
        +5

        Or more likely because LG didn't want consumers rejecting deliveries, and would rather you received a broken TV which they can then blame you for once you opened the box.

  • Aap Ke Papa on 07/05/2022 - 12:17
    +2

    I would like to mention too. I once bought Sony tv from Harvey Norman and screen was cracked out of the box.
    To my surprise, Harvey Norman accepted it as dead on arrival and gave me a replacement.

    • DemocracyManifest on 07/05/2022 - 13:53

      It makes sense, there’s probably a threshold on how much stuff is ‘accepted’ as damaged/unsellable, it’s not worth anyone’s time to deal with it. OP unfortunately has learnt their lesson going direct

  • velcrochicken on 07/05/2022 - 12:26
    +5

    Sony are the absolute worst for aftersales service. Ill never buy a tv from them again. You may or may not have damaged the tv but its impossible for them to determine 1 way or the other with 100% certainty. Thus they should be resolving this for you.

    I've had better service from eko (tv from bigw) than I had with Sony.

  • try2bhelpful on 07/05/2022 - 13:42
    +1

    I think Sony’s default is to deny damage or blame the customer. In my experience they denied there was an issue with my noise cancelling ear phones, despite the same fault showing up when you Googled the issue. When I explained that my other, identical model, headphones didn’t have the issue they caved and sent me a brand new pair. However, I did have to fight them for it.

    This is the sort of issue I would be concerned about with getting a TV delivered. If the TV has been dropped, flat, any distance then it may not show up as box damage. I like the idea of videoing the unboxing.

    We had to screw on the base of our LG 65” C1. It was terrifying because we had to attach it horizontal then slide it forward and tilt it, to reduce the strain on the panel, to bring it to vertical. We left the plastic on and had put it on a blanket to do the attachment. It made it easier to slide. These thin panels are just so scary to get from horizontal to vertical.

    My only quibble, with the OP, is who has only one person to unbox a 75” TV? It took two of us with a 65”.

    • Haydo95 on 07/05/2022 - 13:54
      +1

      Was definitely not unboxing myself. I had my partner helping me hence why I was saying "we" at the start of the post. There is no way one person would be able to unbox and lift that TV safely by themselves.

      • try2bhelpful on 07/05/2022 - 13:55
        +1

        thanks for clarification.

  • Supercool on 07/05/2022 - 13:42
    +3

    I also had issues with a 60" TV from Sony. Came out the box with a defect (dent with dead pixels) in the screen. It didn't look like impact damage. Sony support suggested I had damaged it too. Very frustrating poor service.

    Took it back to JB Hi-fi where they accepted the return and exchanged, they were great.

    • try2bhelpful on 07/05/2022 - 13:49
      +1

      This is why I like bricks and mortar stores. You turn up in person they are more likely to help.

  • DemocracyManifest on 07/05/2022 - 13:54
    -1

    I’m not game to buy a TV over 40”, they just look like an accident waiting to happen

  • Minus1000TalentPlan on 07/05/2022 - 14:27

    only options either argue it in claims tribunal which is not binding or court where you can expect to pay for it. If ACC has a lot of complaints from that retailer they will start to investigate and take action again the retailer. Some retailer a good and offer that additional service at a small fee or no cost where they will replace it at their own cost.

    What retailers should be offering is insurance for deliveries I would gladly pay an extra $100 or so for a new TV if its damaged when unboxing it.
    Consumer laws are a joke unless you are mega rich or a professional lawyer good luck finding the time and money going to court.

  • zombrex on 07/05/2022 - 14:44
    +1

    Wow, that is disgusting behaviour by Sony.
    There is no way they can definitely say the TV was not damaged in transit or when it was loaded and unloaded into the delivery vehicle.
    This does not pass the common-sense fairness test.
    Keep fighting and don't give up you deserve a refund.
    They are 100% responsible for ensuring the product arrives in an acceptable state. The delivery company is their customer not yours.

  • mmd on 07/05/2022 - 14:49

    This has happened to somebody here who had a similar issue.
    From memory they got a replacement/refund despite it being their fault i.e. they unboxed the tv from the box instead of following the instructions (which was to remover the box from the TV).
    Have a search and see what they did to get an outcome.

    • Haydo95 on 07/05/2022 - 15:08

      Yeah I saw that, which is why I was quite confident I would get a replacement/refund from Sony. Unfortunately it doesn't say exactly what the OP did but Sony ended up approaching them to offer a refund/replacement.

  • try2bhelpful on 07/05/2022 - 16:35
    +2

    My suggestion in investigate if you are eligible for the small claims tribunal and get a stat dec saying the goods were broken when you opened the box. If you are eligible I would tell Sony you will see them in the Small Claims Tribunal court to cover the cost of replacement. There is a fee for this. Sony may fold to avoid the hassle.

  • lazybones1987 on 07/05/2022 - 17:17

    Sorry this has happened to you. I hope you find a meaningful resolution.

    Not this is of any comfort, but I want to share my recent customer service experience with LG regarding my 55 CX OLED. When I was dusting my TV one day, I noticed a small bump on the back of the panel. I didn't experience any issues with the quality of the TV however. I decided to give them a call in case it caused an issue down the track. They asked me for some photos, then arranged for a repairer to come and take a look. To my (pleasant) surprise, they replaced the panel on the spot without me asking for it.

    • try2bhelpful on 07/05/2022 - 17:25

      Nice to know, I have two LGs.

    • MrKnowItAll on 07/05/2022 - 23:35
      +2

      We had a great experience with LG too, some of the LEDs on our 75" TV were starting to turn purple (seems to be a common thing with age / high brightness and our TVs see a lot of use with kids shows streaming alllll day!) and they sent out a repairman pretty quick. He recommended replacing the actual screen / backlight but they had no ETA on the parts. LG called up and offered us a store credit to the value of the initial purchase (despite being 3 years old and out of warranty), ended up upgrading to a 86" LG panel for only $800 out of pocket - very pleased and will continue to buy LG.

  • YellowDieselGolf on 07/05/2022 - 18:37
    +2

    I’ve unboxed two 65” Sony TVs this year and that area of the screen is protected by foam.

    That damage is really strange.

    • Wasabi Ninja on 08/05/2022 - 23:31

      100% this.
      And the stand is not connected, so people not familiar with these tvs will pull it out the box/foam and rest it on the ground. Next thing you know a crack exactly like OP’s.

    • subwoofer on 09/05/2022 - 10:07

      I just find it strange that TV can be severely damaged yet the box is unscathed with not even a puncture.

  • trapper on 07/05/2022 - 18:46

    I attempted to organise a chargeback through my bank however they denied it as it was a shipped item.

    Wow that is not good. Goods arrived broken, you can definitely chargeback this.

    • Kranbone on 08/05/2022 - 14:13

      I'm unsure the chargeback would work and if investigated, could be deemed as fraud as technically, you received the goods.

      I think the better option would be to raise a claim (some credit cards have insurance).

      • trapper on 08/05/2022 - 22:05

        You ordered non-broken goods. So no, you do not have the goods you ordered.

        • Kranbone on 08/05/2022 - 23:49

          There is a dispute to whether the goods arrived safely without damage and that the damage was done by the customer.

          As part of a chargeback the card owner would need to be honest about the findings from Sony and fair trading case.

          EDIT: I also believe with some cards, a claim takes priority over a chargeback where you are eligible to make a claim. Further to this, the process has to be initiated within 120 days or so.

          • trapper on 09/05/2022 - 11:12

            @Kranbone: Of course the card owner needs to be honest. lol

            No one is telling OP to concoct a lie here.

  • bart2 on 07/05/2022 - 19:23
    +5

    I use to deliver tvs and white goods for hisense. I once delivered a 75 or 85 inch tv and the customer asked me to unbox it. It had a massive crack up the middle of the screen and if i recall correctly it was a curved tv.

    Theres a likely chance it was damaged in the warehouse by a forklift driver that applied too clamping pressure when lifting the tv up with the forklift. I seen this happen way too often. This was at hisense distribution warehouse though not sony.

    Forklifts would look like this
    https://imgur.com/a/vlcjces

  • RobotWizard on 07/05/2022 - 20:46
    +3

    I bought refurbished wf1000xm3 from Sony’s own ebay store which they claim would come with 1 year warranty. I didn’t really use it much to start with but when I did start going for walks I noticed it was giving low battery error warning around hour or so, I contacted Sony support and they asked me to ship the earphones to their repair centre for inspection.

    Once posted they took couple of weeks then replied back saying this is normal operation and it’s only supposed to last 2 something hours instead of their cLaiMeD 6 hours time with DXX Audio turned on.

    Something else I noticed was after my earphones came back they were full of finger prints on case and on earphones so they couldn’t even be bothered wiping them down after testing them.

    It only costed me $100 or so but was good lesson for me to never buy any Sony products in future.

    • chrisn26 on 07/05/2022 - 21:06
      +3

      Interesting story. Seems like Sony has gone downhill since the glory days of the trintron/walkman/discman when stuff were made in Japan. I found this video quite illuminating https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eSHgFkYEb2o

      • greatlamp on 08/05/2022 - 11:52
        +1

        Yep, about the time the Apple ipod came out, Sony decided to double down on the proprietary formats and ports, and maintain their sky high pricing. (Remember minidisc? ATRAC? Firewire instead of USB? Compulsory encryption instead of drag and drop mp3s, the Sony VAIO laptops that cost more than an IBM thinkpad…).

        As their software was hot garbage, and their build quality not much better (beautiful designs but easy to break), they lost their reputation to the emerging Korean brands.

        Sony's good reputation is now 20 years out of date. The best panels are made by LG and their chief competitor is Samsung.

        These companies don't deserve loyalty. Hisense is trying really hard to gain market share in Australia, they provide lower prices and better warranty. Unless you need an OLED, they are worth serious consideration.

  • T3J on 07/05/2022 - 21:19

    I was debating Sony for my next 4k set after a good decade of more of nothing but Samsung (5 sets of various sizes and from 720p to 4k) which has given us no problems whatsoever, after reading this saga I'm sticking with Samsung. I know this can be luck of the draw and in the past i was badly badly let down by LG warranty through no fault of my own and have never purchased LG anything ever again. Now i know there would be people with the exact opposite experience to me and LG makes some great sets, but no principle I just wont. It's a shame we are all left to our own when things go bad by all these companies, its hard to know who to trust these days when making a pricey purchase.

    • jai881 on 09/05/2022 - 22:33

      me too mate. It's all you can do.

      I once bought an MSI 260 GTX. It would artifact and crash my PC unless I downclocked it.
      Got it RMA'd under Umart, the replacement was also screwed up and had like 2cm thick thermal paste applied to it and was absolutely chock full of dust.
      I will never, ever buy anything MSI ever again.

  • [Deactivated] on 07/05/2022 - 21:31
    +1

    Just don’t buy from Sony direct, trying to buy cheap was the problem, if bought from a shop would of been swapped or refunded same or next day. Doesn’t pay to be a tight arse when it comes to big tv’s with delivery.

    • Haydo95 on 07/05/2022 - 23:04

      Yeah unfortunately paying over $1000 less than the brick and mortar stores was too tempting.

      • bbinc on 08/05/2022 - 08:49

        Have you checked if your Visa has purchase protection? That would cover ‘out of the box’ damage. BTW JB has online price matching

        • Haydo95 on 08/05/2022 - 11:29

          It’s a debit card not a credit card. Also I don’t think they can price match Sonys EPP store.

          • garetz on 09/05/2022 - 02:56
            +2

            @Haydo95: You were foolish to use a debit card, any purchase online should always be through a credit card, no wonder you didnt get a charge back.

            • Pootie Tang on 09/05/2022 - 03:30

              @garetz: Why? I've never had an issue with a debit card

              • JayEmmGee on 09/05/2022 - 07:04

                @Pootie Tang: You don't get any of the same protections purchasing with a debit card you do with a credit card. Basically unless it's fraud you are out of luck on debit.

  • hasher22 on 07/05/2022 - 23:18
    +1

    I am sorry to hear OP, this sucks and yes major corporation customer service sucks. Sony, Samsung, Apple, Optus, eBay… they all give cookie-cutter responses and don't answer the question directly.

    As someone stated go to AFCA about your bank. When I worked for a telco, the telco ombudsman hands out crazy fees to the telco if the complaint isn't resolved.

    For example:
    First complaint, level 1: Telco gets charged from the TIO approx $250
    If the complaint isn't resolved and the customer goes back to the TIO again, goes to level 2: TIO charges like $1000 or more
    If the complaint isn't resolved from the 2nd complain, it goes to level 3 and TIO charges telco like $4000+

    But the level of fees changes every year, but the levels are still there. The higher the level, the telco, or in your instance, the bank better resolve your chargeback.

    I would go through the AFCA route.

  • FareEvader on 08/05/2022 - 01:01
    -2

    This has happened to my friend and girlfriend's brother… can't remember if it was Sony but I have a feeling it was…

    • Ash-Say on 08/05/2022 - 07:06
      +1

      What a crap advice. Since when the banks have started siding with the vendor just because they are huge?

      If AFCA complaint reaches to case management, it's straight away charge of close to $1000. The more they drag, it could cost them well over $3000 just to compete AFCA complaint.

      It is not commercially viable for them to keep on dragging things. Notwithstanding that, they are more stringently regulated by APRA and ASIC.

      • [Deactivated] on 08/05/2022 - 07:12
        -5

        No, it's not bad advice, charge backs are for when the merchant is engaged in fraud, not a warranty dispute. If you want to cause problems for yourself with the bank, start making frivolous charge back claims and see how far it gets you. And it is commercially viable for them to pay fines greater than the value of the TV because it stops every tom, dick and harry who drop their TV from scamming them for a free replacement.

        • dji1111111 on 08/05/2022 - 08:11

          Once again you know nothing yet pretend like you are an expert based on a few bits and pieces you may have picked up over the course of your life (which sounds like a very short one based on your logical reasoning which is terrible at best)

          Chargeback is not just for fraudulent transactions. Here you go, straight out of commbank website

          The goods and services purchased were not as described or defective

          Time to hang up the boots and not write non sense advice online because you are really bad at it.

          • Kranbone on 09/05/2022 - 06:14
            -1

            @dji1111111: The problem here is that there's a dispute in that the vendor says the goods arrived safely as described and that the damage occurred due to customer. Despite fair trading being involved, they've not found in favour of the customer.

            I'm all for a chargeback where something is defective but I think this would be difficult as he would have to disclose the vendors findings as well as fair trading not supporting his stance.

            In this scenario, we don't know 100% who was at fault, factory, delivery, consumer.

            • dji1111111 on 09/05/2022 - 08:34
              -1

              @Kranbone: Another person who has zero clue…
              Do you see a chargeback scenario where there is no dispute? Lol
              If the vendor is not disputing the goods were damaged on arrival, we wouldn't be here geez. Isn't that way obvious?

              Do you even understand how fair trading works? Clearly you don't. Fair trading does not find in favour of anyone. They have zero power to enforce anything. All they can do is mediate and coerce the vendor to do the right thing. If they still refuse there is nothing they can do for consumers.

              I really wish people who know nothing would not post non sense really

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