Last year we bought ourselves a new Sony Cybershot. Handy little camera, worked like a dream until this summer. Suddenly the "on" button would generate little more than a few blips on the screen and then shut back down, no matter how many new batteries we tried feeding it. Rather frustrating when the Boy Wonder is doing something SOOOOO CUTE that the moment MUST be captured.
It was still under the manufacturer's warranty, so I called Sony. The conversation went kind of like this:
Me: My camera is only 9 months old and refuses to turn on.
Them: Have you checked the batteries?
Me: Yes, I've put in 3 new sets of batteries, it still won't turn on.
Them: Are you sure you're using the right batteries?
Me: Oh right....probably shouldn't be attempting to shove those "D" cells in that tiny slot. (OK I didn't really say that, but jeez.)
Them: Well, let me give you an address, you will have to ship the camera to us, and we will attempt to repair it.
Me: Pardon me...do you mean that I will have to pay to ship YOUR faulty camera to you?
Them: But we'll pay to send it back.
Me: But you want ME to pay to send it. Even though it's YOUR equipment that's failing.
Them: Well, yes.
Apparently Sony thinks nothing of allowing their customers to shell out more cash to resolve a problem with their faulty merchandise. I spoke to a manager, same song and dance. I reluctantly took the address and reference number, but the camera must have sensed my angst because it started working again before I could send it out.
Fast forward to last week. Same problem, and this time I tried FIVE sets of batteries, to no avail. Only now, Sony's warranty is expired, and the Target extended warranty we bought has kicked in. So I called Target's warranty number:
Me: I'm having a problem with my camera, it isn't powering up and I tried several sets of batteries.
Them: OK. Let me confirm your address...
Them: We will be sending you a box with a Return label - just pack up the camera and drop it off at your nearest FEDEX. We will take care of the problem and send it back to you. If it can't be fixed, we will send you a new one at no charge.
Me: COOL!
FOUR DAYS LATER, there was the promised box, with the promised shipping label, and instructions on what to do. We dropped it off today, so it's on its merry way to the Target fix-it people. Totally worth the extra $20 we paid for the extended warranty. I would have spent that just to ship to Sony in East Japippy, California.
So Target, while you may have screwed the pooch with the car seats, I forgive you. Because the customer service I got was far better than anything I had expected, and you followed through.
Just do yourselves a favor - hire a better copyeditor.
6 comments:
We have no Target here. Sigh. It's sad when you're amazed that someone has good customer service though isn't it?? It should be standard.
Wow! I'm glad Target is so helpful. We've had warranty issue with several different companies lately, and I have NOT been impressed.
That's great that they are doing such a good job. I was actually impressed that they sent out the $25 gift cards to the customers that ordered the car seats...although they shouldn't have made the mistake in the first place :-).
I had a similar experience with the purchase of a sony playstaion. Sony has terrible customer relations skills and they do not stand behind their warranties.
I'm glad to hear that everything is on the way to being sorted out.
I knew there was a reason I liked Target! And a great reason to buy the extended warranty when buying electronics at Target - I'll definitely rethink my automatic 'No Thanks' for that in the future! ;)
I have also had similar Sony "Customer Service" experiences, years ago. Now I don't care if Sony is cheaper, I refuse to buy Sony and will spend more to not buy Sony. In my books, Sony is carp.
But that's definitely awesome that Target took care of the situation so easily and with little effort on your part!
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